This longitudinal study evaluated the effects of a preschool project designed to serve children between 3 and 5 years of age in a disadvantaged inner-city area in Dublin, Ireland. The preschool, established in 1969, emphasized the development of children's cognitive skills and established structures to increase parents' involvement in their…

This longitudinal study examined the relationship of care quality in children's homes and external day care settings to children's emotional expressions and to problem and competence behaviors. Subjects were 123 children (63 males, 60 females) mostly from middle-class Swedish families. When children were 29 months old, data about quality of care…

Using data from a larger intervention study of youth at risk for substance abuse, this study examined the impact of school transition on middle school and high school youth at high risk for alcohol and other drug abuse. Subjects for the larger study were 279 students from 30 secondary schools; approximately 10 students from each school were…

A year-long study in 1991 that aimed to develop self-assessment skills in one third-grade class in Australia is reported. The roles that the length and naturalistic features of the study played in the success of skill development are explored. The class contained 20 students, ages 8-9 years, present for the whole school year (four 11-week terms).…

In 1989, the Australian state of Victoria introduced a major curriculum reform in postcompulsory education. Curriculum requirements are set out as guidelines to allow schools to vary content and approach while still meeting prescribed work requirements. Assessment responsibilities have shifted from externally set and examined tasks to school-based…

This paper on recruiting and retaining minorities details the difficulties and successes of Gainesville College (Georgia) to induct and retain minorities from 1993 to 1998. During this five-year period, Black enrollment at the college decreased by 9.1% (from 84 to 77), while Hispanic and Asian enrollments increased by 61.2% (26 to 67) and 35.7%…

This report uses newly developed techniques of statistical analysis to assess the separate and joint influences of home, school, and neighborhood in Lothian (Scotland, United Kingdom) and to show that deprivation in each of these areas depresses young people's educational attainment. The results reported here come from the first phase of a…

The second phase of a longitudinal project to describe and monitor speech communication programs at small colleges, expanded the data available on programs and provided an indication of program changes in the 3-year period since the first phase, which gathered initial data on the programs. The pilot study conducted in the first phase involved a…

A British longitudinal study of language acquisition was followed up for further information on the relationship between language acquisition, language aptitude, and second language learning. One of the original cohorts (n=23), now in secondary school, was originally studied for native language learning achievement and was now being studied for…

To establish that measures of vocational identity are sensitive to variations in development, researchers need to demonstrate that different patterns of scores on these measures predict subsequent coping with later tasks of vocational development. This study investigated the ability of the Vocational Identity Scale (VIS) to predict coping with a…

This report summarizes a 1989 update of a 1986 survey on the diffusion and utilization of audiovisual media and equipment in Japan. A comparison of the two reveals the advancements in types of audiovisual equipment available to schools and social education facilities in Japan which have developed in only 3 years. An outline of the equipment…

Early childhood special educators recognize the necessity of establishing indices of reliability and validity for instruments that provide an index of developmental status. Many such instruments present little empirical evidence regarding psychometric integrity, particularly for a non-normative sample. The 341-item Battelle Developmental Inventory…

A case study investigated the writing processes of an adult native speaker of Portuguese in a number of writing tasks in his native language (L1) and in English, his second language (L2). Writing samples over a 14-month period were examined. Most data were collected in thinking aloud protocols for 10 written tasks of varying degrees of familiarity…

Data from a 20-year longitudinal study of 125 males and 126 females born to Black teenage mothers in a Baltimore hospital between 1966 and 1968 were analyzed to identify early childhood, middle childhood, and early adolescence determinants of functional literacy. All 251 subjects were interviewed in 1987, and 202 of them completed a document…

Discussion of the evaluation of training programs for teachers of English as a Second Language consists of: (1) characterization of general approaches; (2) review of reasons for interest in program evaluation; and (3) description of a University of Northern Iowa (UNI) evaluation project that uses a portfolio approach extending 3 years beyond…