A study of item response theory in language testing research investigated the influence of sample size on (1) the statistical test of data-model fit and (2) the invariance of parameter estimates. Data were drawn from a 1993 administration of the examination of Dutch as a second language to about a thousand candidates, using results from only the…

This preliminary study investigated the perceptions of the research process of teachers who had newly become researchers and, in particular, it sought to explore the relationship between teacher-conducted research and professional growth. Six experienced English as a Second Language (ESL) and English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers were…

Theories of learning and instruction usually are grounded in psychological and epistemological assumptions. However, these theories ignore the child in relation to his or her cultural and institutional context and ignore the schoolteacher from the social context that regulates the process of transmission and acquisition of knowledge and skills.…

This paper describes a quantitative method to investigate the enrollment motives of students, and reports on the application of the method at the University of Utrecht (The Netherlands). The paper discusses environmental, educational/organizational, and image factors influencing a student's choice of a particular university. A quantitative…

This paper reports on an exploratory cross-cultural study of the attitudes of first and second grade students toward the use of microcomputers in instruction. Questionnaire responses were compared among three groups: Japanese students in Tokyo, Japan; American students in Sanger, Texas; and Japanese students attending a special school for Japanese…

In 1990, a study was conducted at Columbia College (CC) to determine whether a predictor variable could be constructed for student nonsuccess in beginning mathematics courses. For the purposes of the study, nonsuccess was defined as earning a grade of D, F, or No Credit either at the time of withdrawal from the course or as a final grade. The…

This study explores the effects of different methods of selecting school district trustees and the effects of expenditures per pupil on the perceived quality of education. It also examines the success of South Carolina's Education Improvement Act of 1984 (EIA). The dependent variable was the ratio of private school to public school enrollment in…

This report from the California State Postsecondary Education Commission updates California college-going statistics for recent graduates of the state's public and private high schools through fall 1988. Rates are shown for the University of California, the California State University, the California Community Colleges, and independent California…

Designed to assist community college instructors in the difficult task of grading students, this seven-part guidebook provides philosophical, theoretical and practical advice. Section I covers common problems associated with grading, the need for grades, and the link between grades and subsequent performance. Section II, "Limitations of Grades,"…

An objective measure of Erikson's ego-identity construct is being developed. The total scale includes seven relatively independent subscales designed to reflect the residuals (part conflicts) of Erikson's psychosocial stages of development. An initial item pool of 194 items has been reduced to 113 items by means of judgemental and statistical…

This second volume of the final report contains the statistical tables, coding key, and the rating manual for the coding key. Data on interrater reliability, factor analyses, and discriminant analyses are included and described. The manual for the coding key includes the data base and/or criteria for each item to be coded. (MNS)

By comparing the first and fourth editions of a research methods text, the author identifies and discusses some major changes in educational research metholodogy that have occurred over the past 20 years. Some of the changes relate to ethics and legal constraints in conducting research, research and development, evaluation research, the…

Teaching children with Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) can be the most challenging to preschool teachers because of the complexity of this brain disorder. A child s life is affected, whether its communication and language, social and play skills, activities of daily living, self-regulation behaviors, and sensory impairments. Therefore, a teacher…

The Cooperative Extension Service has been a key partner in the design, implementation and evaluation of leadership development programs. To evaluate the effectiveness of their training and the effects of response shift bias on outcomes using a self-report measure, one hundred forty-seven County Extension Agents participated in this leadership…

It has been an ongoing concern among academicians teaching social sciences to develop a better methodology to ease understanding of students. Since verbal emphasis is at the core of the concepts within such disciplines it has been observed that the adequate or desired level of conceptual understanding of the students to transforms the theories…