This report is one in a series of reference documents designed especially to assist educators who are directly involved in the revision and improvement of content standards. It presumes a basic understanding of the purposes for standards and the process of standards review and evaluation. This document is intended to be a desktop reference volume…

Students, whether they are academic or vocational-technical majors, need to interpret social studies problems by use of the scientific approach rather than by the use of fatalism, supernaturalism, and superstition. To ensure this outcome, secondary school curricula must provide enriching experiences through modern instructional techniques which…

Describes a year 12 preemployment science course which includes (1) the study of human physiology; (2) construction, maintenance, and repair of science materials; and (3) teaching science to year three and four students at a local primary school. (DS)

Offers teaching plans for the use of dramatic films in teaching French in Grades 11, 12, and 13, and discusses their significance for the leisure-time activities of adolescents. (IFS/WGA)

Radio dramas deserve wider use in foreign language teaching because of their important place in current Anglo-American literary production, and also for their pedagogical value of providing training in auditory comprehension. Suggestions are given for obtaining materials. (IFS/WGA)

School-based alcohol use prevention studies frequently employ designs in which schools are assigned to treatment conditions while observations are made on individuals. This article presents estimates of school-level intraclass correlation for measures related to alcohol use among students in grades 9 and 12 and discusses their use in planning new…

Presents a study that uses measures of neighborhood characteristics and school problems as a means to predicting students' success on achievement tests. Focuses on students in tenth, eleventh, and twelfth grades. Reports that students who live in neighborhoods with no racial inequalities achieve well in social studies. Includes references. (CMK)

Evaluated is a course for twelfth graders to demonstrate a variety of aspects of applied science. The basic structure and content of the course are described. The evaluation results including achievement, interest/difficulty with other courses, lateral transfer, and attitudes are reported. Examples of problems and application questionnaire are…

Differences between students with and without written parental consent to take part in a sensitive health survey were studied for 2,705 9th and 12th graders with active consent and 3,533 with only passive consent who took a less sensitive survey. Implications of differences are discussed. (SLD)

Examined alcohol use in relation to leisure time use and attitudes toward school climate among 222 high school sophomores and seniors. Found heavy alcohol use correlated with participation in social and vocational activities. Heavy users enjoyed school and school subjects less, had greater potential for conflicts with teachers, and received lower…

Investigated relationship between perceived physical attractiveness and frequency of substance use among 1,297 adolescents. Female adolescents who rated themselves as unattractive were more likely to use illicit psychoactive substances than those who rated themselves as average or attractive. Perceived attractiveness did not contribute to…

Analysis of 19 language features in impromptu essays written by 96 students (half males, half females) from grades 4, 8, and 12 enabled researchers to identify the gender of the writer 84-87 percent of the time. Further analyses established a relationship between this "gender-linked language effect" and subjective attributional ratings by…

Surveyed grade 10, 11, and 12 students (n=285) regarding types of demands they faced, how well they thought they coped with demands, and level of stress experienced in those situations. Results suggest adolescents with greater coping resources demonstrated lower levels of stress and less frequent stress symptoms. (Author/ABL)

Relates various types of educational spending to mean mathematics achievement and its social distribution among students using a nationally representative database of 7,217 12th graders. Spending on instruction and capital expenditures was related to differences in achievement between socioeconomic status groups, with lower spending associated…