The difference in gain scores produced by traditional pretests and those produced by retrospective pretests when compared to posttest scores on the Science Teaching Efficacy Belief Instrument for preservice teachers was investigated in this study. Results indicated that gain scores using the traditional pretest produced significant improvement in…

Consider Adequately Yearly Progress (AYP) a misnomer, or least an understatement; satisfying its mandates demands a far greater than adequate effort. Established in the No Child Left Behind Act, AYP requires that districts and schools show a minimum, prescribed level of growth in student achievement, until the year 2013-2014, when every eligible…

Advanced Placement social studies courses are being used more and more to improve the credentials of college applicants. Those teaching these courses are under increasing pressure from parents and school administrators to allow more and more students to take the AP courses and to improve the AP scores of students. The present standards movement…

Because of No Child Left Behind and the pressure of high stakes testing, many school districts are looking for ways to raise test scores and gain or maintain adequate yearly progress. A successful after-school math tutoring program, a partnership between a rural school district and the local university, is summarized in this article. Keys to this…

Suicidal ideation assessment has been employed as an early screening method for identifying adolescents who are at risk for engaging in suicidal behaviors. While recent evidence has emerged that gifted adolescents do not have a higher rate of suicidal ideation, research on the psychological and personality characteristics of gifted youth have…

Thirty years ago, at the close of the tumultuous 1960s, futurist Alvin Toffler wrote a bestseller, "Future Shock," which warned of the effects of accelerating change, or what Toffler described as "the dizzying disorientation brought on by the premature arrival of the future." In the section of the book which was on education,…

Research shows that misconceptions about human blood circulation and gas exchange persist across grade levels. The purpose of this study was twofold: (1) to investigate the prevalence and persistence of blood circulation misconceptions among prospective elementary teachers; and (2) to evaluate the effectiveness of learning activities for…

The United States has been swept up in the "Harry Potter" phenomenon, with film adaptations, companion readers, and literary critique and analysis following J. K. Rowling's books on the adolescent wizard's adventures. The book has also touched off a reaction from conservative Christian institutions seeking to ban the books in school…

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…

This paper describes part of a project called Modeling Across the Curriculum which is a large-scale research study in 15 schools across the United States. The specific data presented and discussed here in this paper is based on BioLogica, a hypermodel, interactive environment for learning genetics, which was implemented in multiple classes in…

Background: Autism is rarely diagnosed before three years of age despite evidence suggesting prenatal abnormalities in neurobiological processes. Little is known about when or how development becomes disrupted in the first two years of life in autism. Such information is needed to facilitate early detection and early intervention. Methods: This…

The current study is framed within an ongoing effort of probing students' attitudes and expectations about knowing and learning physics, which has driven several investigations during the past decade. The questionnaire we developed focuses on physics students' views regarding a variety of specific learning activities, which are presented by title…

This paper provides an analysis of the controversy surrounding the standard setting process conducted by ACT Inc. for the National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB). This process is the most thoroughly planned, carefully executed, exhaustively evaluated, completely documented, and most visible of any standard setting process of which the author is…

The PLS-4 (Preschool Language Scale, 4th edition) is a psychometrically sound instrument constructed to assess language skills in children from birth to 6 years 11 months. It is a useful diagnostic and research tool that can be used to identify current comprehension and expressive language skills and can measure changes in language skills over…

Study abroad professionals have attempted in recent years to bring a statistical objectivity to the evaluation of the American study abroad experience. The complexity of international education is such that it is far from easy to move towards significant, objectively measurable, and comparable outcomes. This article presents a preliminary…