Scores on the Home Observation for Measurement of Environment (HOME), designed to reflect parental support of early cognitive and social development, were correlated with elementary school achievement five to nine years later. Results supported the predictive value of the instrument for school achievement among low-income families. (Author/DB)

Students should have input about the teaching that affects them, but, as faculty often assert, students are not competent judges of a professor's expertise. However, an instrument which elicited students' nonjudgmental descriptions of their teacher's behavior could add valuable information to an evaluation dialogue with the professor concerned.…

Goal setting is examined as an influence on student learning and self-evaluation. Goal setting results in increased motivation, on-task behavior, effort, and persistence and conveys information concerning individual performance capabilities and personal accomplishments. (JN)

A study of Spanish-speaking elementary school students enrolled in an English as a second language program revealed a significant relationship between pupil placement status and subsequent student achievement. Methods and findings relevant to identifying schooling effects and linking these to school practices, and study of bilingual programs are…

Setting motor performance standards has long been an important process to physical educators. However, theoretical advances appropriate for standard-setting have been made only in the last decade. Issues in standard setting are discussed, procedures are reviewed, and gender differences in motor performance are considered. (Author/JN)

The Committee for the Study of Credentialing in Nursing of the American Nurses' Association assesses credentialing mechanisms in nursing (including accreditation, certification, and licensure) and recommends establishment of a nursing credentialing center to study and conduct nurse credentialing. The last four chapters of its final report are…

Successful and least successful fifth graders read and studied difficult or easily understood stories. For both groups, cued recall was higher on stories which made sense. Only the successful students were aware of having difficulty with the less-understandable stories, and allowed themselves more time to study them. (Author/GDC)

Analyzes the process of making peer evaluations. Factors on which peer evaluation is based are extremely subjective and unconscious. Concludes that until peer rating systems are developed that are reliable and valid, their use should be strictly supplementary, or on an experimental basis. (Author)

Students' course evaluations were related to 16 background characteristics for 511 undergraduate courses and 221 instructors. Each separate variable explained less than five percent of the variance. The four most influential background variables were: prior subject interest, expected grades, workload/difficulty, and percent enrolled for general…

A study is discussed that examined: the instructional weaknesses and strengths of a teacher education curriculum course, the specific teaching behaviors that students liked and disliked, and specific recommendations which students felt would promote greater teacher effectiveness and improve learning. (Author/MLW)

Senior high students who were given concepts simultaneously learned more than those who received concepts successively. A second variable, instructional control strategy, contrasted an adaptive (computer-assisted) control strategy with learner control. Performance was above the criterion level for the adaptive condition, but below it for learner…

From her experience at the University of Tennessee, the author suggests motivation techniques for correspondence students: identify problem areas early through brief student evaluation of the course and instruction, encourage good rapport between student and instructor, provide study schedules and rapid feedback, and prepare the student for the…

Data from a longitudinal study of Jefferson Medical College graduates were analyzed to determine levels of clinical competence in the first postgraduate year and relationships between postgraduate ratings and performance during medical school. It is concluded that in a substantial number of cases good and poor performance in the first postgraduate…

Groups of medical students were compared with respect to ward-performance scores and scores on identical examinations to determine whether students with previous clerkships are likely to perform better in their internal medicine clerkships. It is concluded that previous experience apparently does not have a beneficial effect on student performance…

Reports a research study of the different perceptions of teacher effectiveness of Black students and White students in junior and senior high schools. (EF)