A comparison of the effects of full- and half-day kindergarten programs in Southern California provides evidence that longer programs promote skill and knowledge acquisition, enhance students' self-confidence and cooperation, help convince the community of the district's intent to strengthen elementary schools, and may encourage increased…

The goal of the report is to provide useful information to Indiana policymakers as they debate the merits of full versus half day programs. This report sought to answer three questions: (1) What does the national research say about the effectiveness of full day kindergarten; (2) What does the Indiana data say about full day kindergarten; and (3)…

A study involving 3 elementary students (ages 8-10) investigated the treatment effects of choice making with academic assignments. Students at risk for emotional disturbance (ED) in a general education setting participated. These were children who exhibited aggressive behaviors and were judged to be achieving below their grade level by their…

This action research project describes an intervention to increase attending and on-task behaviors in first- and second-grade students. The problem of inattentive behaviors was documented by means of teacher, student, and parent surveys and teacher observations. The intervention used behavioral management, organizational strategies, role playing,…

This report discusses the findings from an evaluation study of the Learning Without Limits program in the fifth grade at Riverdale Elementary in the Shelby County Schools district, Memphis, Tennessee. The overall purpose of the evaluation was twofold: (a) to provide formative evaluation data to Riverdale School to use as a basis for improvement…

Concurrent validity studies are reported for the School Attitude Measures (SAM), a recently developed school affective assessment procedure. The studies were conducted at three grade levels (5th, 8th, 11th) with a total sample of 153 subjects. Results indicated that the SAM shows promising concurrent validity related to the criterion measures…

Investigated behavioral differences between high- and low-achieveing inner-city children (N=136) using the academic engaged time model. Findings suggested that high- and low-achieving inner-city children spend a large proportion of time engaged in academic tasks, with high achievers spending somewhat more time than low achievers. (WAS)

Student involvement in 24 science classes (grades 8, 9, 10) during instruction involving teacher exposition, exposition with prop, and demonstration was videotaped. Findings indicated that only nine teachers used class demonstrations and that the increased levels of pupil attention and task involvement increased during demonstration lesson…

A study conducted on students' average time-on-task not only identified important findings and implications for preservice and inservice teacher training but also proved that a positive, productive atmosphere can be achieved between school district personnel and researchers throughout the study. (CJ)

Investigated relationships among college students (N=76) science achievement, engaged time (observed and perceived), personal characteristics of academic aptitude, reasoning ability, attitude toward science, and locus of control. Among the results reported are significant relationships between engaged time measures and achievement, and between…

To determine how television viewing affected the quality of recreational reading, logs were completed on the amount of time fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-grade students spent on reading and on watching television. Results indicated that students who watched a lot of television and who did little reading tended to choose books of lower quality.…

Education courses can make a difference in classroom practices. Research indicates that the application of educational concepts has improved teaching in several areas: understanding child behavior, constructing and interpreting tests, monitoring and increasing academic learning time, and applying principles of child growth and development.…

Examines how English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) students choose a prompt from several options on a timed-writing exam. Researchers interviewed 26 students after observing them taking a writing exam. Findings indicate that students' background knowledge, question type, and topic specificity influence their decision and that time is not an…

Investigated public librarians' interactions with patrons seeking geographic information with a sense-making (timeline) survey. Digital geographic data collection and information systems were utilized less in public libraries, and users had more complex needs than perceived. Explores implications for altering reference interviews and makes…

Describes a study of graduate students that investigated whether a lengthened HyperCard stack treatment could promote problem-solving ability and reduce computer anxiety. The study was based on previous research that compared BASIC programming with HyperCard. Highlights include authoring languages and the effect of different instructional formats…