Objective: To predict psychiatric hospital length of stay (LOS) for a sample of Illinois Department of Children and Family Services wards across 4 fiscal years. Method: A prospective design was implemented using the Children's Severity of Psychiatric Illness scale, a reliable and valid measure of psychiatric severity, risk factors, youth…

The authors studied the relationships between adult workers' spiritual well-being and job satisfaction. Two hundred participants completed 2 instruments: the Spiritual Well-Being Scale (C. W. Ellison & R. F. Paloutzian, 1982) and the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire Short Form (D. J. Weiss, R. V. Dawis, G. W. England, & L. H. Lofquist,…

Because there is no commonly accepted view of what makes for good writing, automated essay scoring (AES) ideally should be able to accommodate different theoretical positions, certainly at the level of state standards but also perhaps among teachers at the classroom level. This paper presents a practical approach and an interactive computer…

The purpose of this empirical research study was to investigate what motivates students to provide formative anonymous feedback to teachers regarding their perceptions of the teaching and learning experience in order to improve student learning. Expectancy theory, specifically Vroom's Model, was used as the conceptual framework for the study.…

In a community sample of 116 children, assessments of parent-child interaction, parent-child attachment, and various parental, child, and contextual characteristics at 15 and 28 months and at age 5 were used to predict externalizing behavior at age 5, as rated by parents and teachers. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis and path analysis…

This project aimed to quantitatively measure the ability of first year science students to transfer their mathematical skills and knowledge to a physical context. An instrument used in earlier studies to measure transfer of mathematical knowledge was modified for this project, and tested with 49 student volunteers. This paper presents the Transfer…

The aim of the present study was to investigate the differential relationships between five dimensions of motivational climate and achievement goals, as the latter have been conceptualized by the revised achievement goal theory. Adolescents (N = 336, M age = 13.45 years, SD = 1.04) participating in a summer camp in southern Greece took part in the…

According to recent research, there is a strong relationship between the amount of out-of-school reading a student engages in and his or her success in school in reading (Anderson, Fielding, & Wilson, 1988; Stanovich, 1986; Taylor, Frye, & Maruyama, 1990; Walberg & Tsai, 1984). This relationship reveals the importance of investigating why so few…

Background: Phonological awareness tests are amongst the best predictors of literacy and predict outcomes of Key Stage 1 assessment of the National Curriculum in England at age 7. However, it is unknown whether their ability to predict National Curricular outcomes extends to Key Stage 2 assessments given at age 11, or also whether the predictive…

The authors investigated the extent to which classroom pedagogical practices and disciplinary course focus contributed to understandings of social justice outcomes among 406 undergraduate students enrolled in five college courses. They found that gender, enrollment in Intergroup Dialogue, service-learning, Introduction to Sociology courses, and…

We examined whether strategies of memorization, transfer through elaboration, and metacognition accounted for reading, science, and mathematics achievement across 34 countries. 158,848 fifteen-year-olds completed a reading literacy test and a questionnaire. Of these students, 88,401 completed a science test, and 88,590 completed a mathematics…

There is a substantial and persistent gap in achievement between children from different backgrounds [National Center for Education Statistics. (2002). "Children's reading and mathematics achievement in kindergarten and first grade". Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office] that can be traced to the preschool years [Snow, C. E., Burns, M.…

Purpose: We assess how perceived rewards and problems with caregiving work and supervision relate to intent to leave among direct care workers who are employed in provider organizations participating in the Better Jobs Better Care (BJBC) demonstration; we also examine how these relationships vary by provider type. Design and Methods: Direct care…

This study examines undergraduate students' academic achievement and its association with students' involvement with learning, students' relationships with faculty and students' relationships with peers at a Midwestern public University. To examine students' academic achievement, this study uses three years of data (2003-05) collected through the…

The Reading Rescue tutoring intervention model was investigated with 64 low-socioeconomic status, language-minority first graders with reading difficulties. School staff provided tutoring in phonological awareness, systematic phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and reading comprehension. Tutored students made significantly greater gains reading words…