Reports on a study where subjects were asked to evaluate the level of musical intensity expressed in various music excerpts. Defines musical intensity as that which conveys strong, ardent, or concentrated emotion. Compares subjects' ongoing evaluation (continuous) with a single concluding (summative) evaluation. Includes a list of orchestral…

As part of an undergraduate course, 147 preservice teachers graded components of an imaginary eighth grader's language-arts portfolio over a 10-week period. Subsequent participant interviews revealed that grading was influenced by the prescribed grading policy, but also by the perceived appropriateness of assessment instruments and the holistic…

Examines the question of Russian teachers' attitudes toward the profession and toward the work in a specific educational institution. Finds that teachers' sense of social well-being results from the perception of their social position, whereas their sense of professional well-being is discussed in terms of self-assessment of personal and…

Applies the theory of planned behavior to understanding faculty attitudes regarding the provision of academic adjustments to students with disabilities. Examines the behavioral, normative, and control beliefs that underlie the components of the theory to provide information about appropriate methods of intervention to positively influence faculty…

Extends dynamic model of cognitive growth proposed by van Geert in three directions: (1) added a term to consider exposure to material to be learned; (2) developed method to apply model to cross-sectional studies; and (3) developed procedure to scale cognitive abilities tests with items of varying difficulty. Tests model with 2- to 15-year-olds'…

An exemplary teacher who perfected portfolio writing techniques with his seventh-graders fears that abandoning KIRIS (Kentucky Instructional Results Information System) for a more conventional testing system will discourage students' riskier ventures. Talented teachers must balance teaching writing as an artistic process with meeting concrete…

Communities that have been exposed to high levels of stress and where religiosity is salient are ideal contexts in which to examine the role of religion in stress processes. The present study examines the protective function of religiosity among Black women in a South African township. The women (N = 172) were interviewed about sources of stress,…

Recent discoveries about brain function explain how best practices in adult learning may lead to adult learners' developmental growth.

Violence exposure among rural youths is a significant public health problem, yet little research has been conducted on violence in this setting. This study explored rural youths' direct and indirect experience of violence in the neighborhood, school, and home. The author used hierarchical regression analyses to explore youth violence exposure,…

The present research describes the development and pilot testing of a new instrument, the Responses to Interpersonal and Physically Provoking Situations Schedule (RIPPS), designed to measure the reactivity of students with and without attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD) in the naturalistic setting of the classroom. For this study, 29…

The current study elucidated the reasons for athletic performance differences between individuals who (1) engage in similar workloads, and (2) develop in similar environments. 8 elite and 11 sub-elite swimmers, with confirming data provided by 17 of their parents and 6 of their coaches, participated in this investigation. Findings revealed that…

Addressing a gap in process-oriented understanding of relations between marital conflict and children's adjustment, propositions of the emotional security hypothesis from a family-wide perspective were tested in a longitudinal research design. Participants were 181 families and their 11-12 year-old-child (115 boys, 76 girls) living in Wales, in…

Managers in 281 schools of all types in 20 LEAs in England completed a survey about teacher absence and its causes. This paper reports reasons for teachers' long-term absences in those schools, examining the link between age and ability to report for work. Head teachers' views on the impact of school stress on teacher attendance are also explored.…

In fall 2002, the University of Hawai'i at Manoa (UHM) Board of Regents approved a new structure for teacher education programs in the College of Education (COE). The new Institute for Teacher Education (ITE) provides coordinated oversight for four programs: the Bachelor of Education (BEd) in Elementary Education, Bachelor of Education (BEd) in…

Based on Bronfenbrenner's (1999) ecological perspective, a longitudinal, prospective model of individual differences in the quality of home environment (Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment--HOME) was tested in a sample of 179 Brazilian children and their families. Perinatal measures of family socioeconomic status (SES) and child…