Because earlier research suggests that children's and adolescents' achievement motivation is mediated by their implicit beliefs and theories about schooling, 70 students (half girls and half boys) in a middle class suburban school district in grades 3 through 12 were interviewed about several dimensions of knowledge about education, including…

This paper examines the educational philosophy underlying Waldorf Education, focusing on Rudolf Steiner's concept of "vital" or etheric energy and comparing Piaget's and Steiner's stages of cognition. The paper begins with a discussion of school readiness and the trend toward lowering the school entry age, and maintains that this trend…

This paper describes a practicum in which a comprehensive daily writing program was implemented to determine the effectiveness of the writing process in improving the self-esteem as well as the reading skills of first-grade students. The target group was 11 first graders who, out of a class of 25 students, had failed the comprehension part of the…

One hundred freshmen students at the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) School of Medicine were surveyed using the Lancaster Approaches to Studying Inventory to determine if the success of students at a highly selective combined baccalaureate/MD degree program is affected by their different approaches to learning. Analysis of the survey…

From ancient times through the early centuries of this country's history, early puberty has been considered the proper time to go to school. Now, however, educators and psychologists have brainwashed the public into thinking that public schools can outparent families. The state has taken over education and removed children from the home at too…

This paper describes an external evaluation study of the Responsive Environment Early Education Program (formerly known as the Responsive Environment Program for Spanish American Children), an educational intervention program for "high risk" (low birth weight) 3-, 4-, and 5-year-old children in Clovis, New Mexico. Major goals of the…

One of 10 reports in a longitudinal study of Project Head Start submitted by NTS Research Corporation to the Administration for Children, Youth and Families, this document presents the individual testing battery used for the fall 1979 cohort. The first chapter identifies the skill areas to be tested in an analysis of Project Head Start's…

KINDERGARTENS IN FOUR PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS (ONE NEGRO, TWO PUERTO RICAN, AND ONE MIXED) IN NEW YORK CITY WERE STUDIED TO DETERMINE WHETHER A POSITIVE DEVELOPMENTAL EFFECT HAD RESULTED FROM A SUMMER HEAD START PROGRAM. THE PERFORMANCE OF 179 FORMER HEAD START CHILDREN WAS MEASURED AGAINST 388 OF THEIR NON-HEAD START CLASSMATES. SEVEN…

HENSLEY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, CONSISTING OF 72 STUDENTS AND 3 TEACHERS, HAS INCORPORATED 12 EDUCATIONAL TELEVISION PROGRAMS AS A REGULAR PART OF THE CURRICULUM IN THE FIRST 6 GRADES. GRADES 1 AND 2 VIEWED PROGRAMS IN SCIENCE, SPEECH, ART, MUSIC, AND STORY TIME. GRADES 3 AND 4 VIEWED SERIES IN MUSIC, SCIENCE, ART, AND SPEECH, WHILE GRADES 5 AND 6 WERE…

The purpose of this study was to compare two instruments for screening preschool children for potential learning problems. The two instruments used were the Metropolitan Readiness Tests (MRT) and the Wizard of Oz Preschool Preliminary Screening Program. The children tested on both measures were members of a self-contained kindergarten class. MRT…

This paper probes the conditions of student life and the needs of identity, self-esteem, and sense of personal worth and potency which can affect the students' readiness for learning. A number of crucial factors interact with the teacher's efforts to provide learning opportunities and to stimulate interest in curriculum resources. In creating an…

Materials and methods of instruction, adequacy of facilities, teacher quality, and motivation are influential factors in the quality of learning. Language and verbal ability are functions determining achievement in all subject areas. A reading and social science curriculum was designed from this perspective, using a previously-developed listening…

The educational park environment that the District of Columbia schools are planning is seen as a learning environment consisting of a cluster of facilities, services, technological resources, and staff, and operating within a flexible administrative structure conceived and designed to optimize the advantages of the economies of size. The study,…

The study described here was intended to test Basil Bernstein's contention that different types of speech patterns can be identified for lower and middle class children, and that lower class children may, because of their speech behavior, have difficulty in performing cognitive tasks necessary for success in the school situation. Spontaneous…

The development of an entry skills behavior package designed as lessons to prepare the culturally divergent children of the Southwestern United States for beginning reading instruction in existing school programs is described. The series of 135 discrete lessons teaches auditory discrimination, associative vocabulary, listening comprehension,…