Most research on the positive effects of class-size reduction (CSR) has occurred in the elementary level (Word, Johnston, Bain, Fulton, Zaharias, Lintz, Achilles, Folger, & Breda, 1990; Molnar, Smith, Zahorik, Palmer, Halbach, & Ehrle, 1999). Is CSR an important variable in improving education in the middle grades? Can small classes be…

This article deals with school districts' K-8 configurations. Cincinnati, Cleveland, Milwaukee, New York, and Philadelphia are among the districts making the change, driven by a small body of research and a rising pile of anecdotes suggesting that K-8 configurations help academic performance, decrease discipline problems, enhance parent…

In November 1996, the voters of Montgomery County approved by referendum an amendment to the County Charter that changed the County Council's review and approval cycle of the six-year Capital Improvements Program (CIP) from an annual to biennial cycle. The referendum specified that in odd-numbered fiscal years (on-years) the County Council would…

This preliminary study examined the meanings, models, and strategies of rural students in grades 3-8 for solving simple, whole number division problems. Findings suggested that students have multiple meanings for division words such as "share" and "fair share." Cultural factors and diversity in the classroom may be associated…

The problem addressed by the practicum was that the computer literacy of teachers and students varied from grade to grade and classroom to classroom, as did the amount of use of the computer. The goal of the practicum was that the participating teachers would improve their knowledge and skills and use the computer for professional and personal…

As of September, 1987, school enrollment in the Canadian province of Manitoba was 209,352, an increase of 395 pupils over the previous year. Public school enrollment was 199,390, up 353 from the previous year. This was the second consecutive increase in school enrollment following a steady decline from 1971 to 1985. The largest increase per grade…

"Primary Mathematics" is a magazine for primary grades teachers. It contains activities which can be used, or adapted for use, with children over a wide ability range. It also contains articles on the teaching and learning of mathematics. The material in this book was selected from 18 issues of "Primary Mathematics" published…

Elementary school mathematics programs based on textbooks can be analyzed according to mathematical concepts and skills that cause students difficulty by using a telephone assistance service. The Mobile County Public School System's (MCPSS) Homework Hotline in Alabama was used to collect data from callers requesting help with homework from…

This study examined students' knowledge associated with AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) and attitudes toward AIDS patients in three remote rural Oregon school districts. Subjects were 139 females and 149 males in 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10 grades. The questionnaire used in the study was designed to obtain information concerning knowledge and…

A proposal by the trustees of California State University to purchase a 350- to 400-acre site for a permanent upper-division and graduate off-campus center of San Diego State University in the city of San Marcos is considered. The proposal is evaluated in light of criteria contained in "Guidelines and Procedures for Review of New Campuses and…

Directors of Research and Evaluation in school districts were surveyed about their methods in making school enrollment projections. The questionnaire covered school district size, minority enrollment, staff responsibility for performing projections, acceptable levels of accuracy, methodology used, special considerations, and use of the data. Fifty…

In traditional North American Indian societies, decisions are made by consensus rather than by authorities. Americans for Indian Opportunity (AIO), an organization concerned with the issue of tribal governance, considers poor communication and disagreements about issues of power, resources, and recognition to be among the causes for conflict…

Although technological innovations have been widely adopted in elementary schools, efforts to implement these have generally not been successful. Past research on innovation has largely ignored the social context in which implementation occurs. This research examines how the implementation of the microcomputer is affected by the traditional social…

This paper reviews some literature on the emergence of formal reasoning and reports a study of reasoning performance of 213 middle grade students in relationship to grade level and chronological age. While a number of large-scale studies have indicated that formal reasoning emerges in a regular progression across age ranges and grade levels, few…

This experiment explored how incorporating the importance of task strategy use and positive achievement beliefs into cognitive modeling affected self-efficacy and skill acquisition. Students deficient in division skills received cognitive modeling of division solution strategies and practice opportunities. For one group of students the cognitive…