A major commitment of the National Research Center on Learning Disabilities (NRCLD) has been to work with school sites that are implementing RTI. The work with these schools began in November 2002 after the U.S. Department of Education requested that NRCLD identify, describe, and evaluate the implementation of responsiveness to intervention (RTI)…

This report is the methodology report for the National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972 follow-up in 1986. The fifth follow-up survey of the National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972 (NLS-72) took place during spring and summer of 1986. A mail questionnaire was sent to a subsample of 14,489 members of the…

Sixty-six mothers and 34 preschool teachers were compared on two types of adult-child interaction. Although both groups were similar on some tasks, mothers asked for more responses, made more direct requests and commands, and gave more explicit and corrective feedback following children's errors. (MH)

Describes a year-long project where the specialist teachers (music, art, drama, and creative movement) attempted to integrate their instruction into the rest of an elementary school's curriculum. Discusses the initial planning, procedures, and information collected for research purposes. Includes verbatim responses from teachers, students, and…

Argues that happy separations are characterized by good relationships between teacher/caregiver and parents and ample time for parents to be in the classroom environment. Provides 10 suggestions for easing the transition for children starting or changing schools to ease the separation anxiety and to make transitions as smooth as possible. (SD)

Discusses two problems related to young children's arrival to and departure from child care centers: parents who have a hard time separating from their children in the morning; and children who cry and do not want to go home at the end of the school day. (AA)

Examines the stories that teachers tell each other in the staff room. Identifies and characterizes these stories according to what they reveal about teachers' concepts concerning power and the teachers' role. Explores how these concepts develop in the wider sociocultural climate of the school. (MJP)

Reveals a need for concern on the part of social studies educators about the attitudes of preservice elementary teachers towards social studies. Many preservice elementary teachers evince little interest, and even some hostility, toward the subject. Recommends various strategies for correcting this. (MJP)

An analysis of costs associated with the dental licensure process looks at the financial costs to both dental and dental hygiene license candidates, financial costs to the dental school, temporal costs to schools and candidates, financial costs from loss of clinic income and faculty and staff productivity, curricular time spent in board…

A 25-item Likert-type survey constructed to measure teachers' attitudes toward mainstreaming was analyzed using item response theory (IRT) and confirmatory factor analysis with responses of 917 Canadian teachers. A three-factor model fit the data well. Both factor scores and IRT scores can be used in discriminant analyses. (SLD)

This study compared the use of dialog and response journal formats in a graduate class for literacy educators. Data from student journals, interviews, and questionnaires indicated that students comparably completed each type of entry and believed the two formats served similar functions (promoting collegial consultation, improving task engagement,…

Two data collection designs, counterbalanced and spiraling (Angoff's Design I and Angoff's Design II) were compared using item response theory and equipercentile equating methodology in the vertical equating of 2 mathematics achievement tests using 1,000 eleventh graders and 1,000 twelfth graders. The greater stability of Design II is discussed.…

Evaluates the measurement equivalence of an English-language version of the Trier Personality Inventory, using statistical methods based on item response theory to identify items displaying differential item functioning (DIF). Results with 295 U.S. and 213 West German undergraduates and 203 U.S. college students indicate significant agreement in…

Eastern Michigan University's Collaborative School Improvement Program initiates school-level improvement by training teachers and administrators in collaborative decision making. A survey of professional staff in 14 participating schools revealed the importance of focusing on student learning outcomes, addressing attainment obstacles, and…

Studied gender differences in answers to constructed-response mathematics items on approximately 500 papers from grades 7 and 10 from the Kansas Assessment Program. Rubric-relevant variables were highly predictive of holistic scores and accounted for some of the gender differences, especially in grade 7. (SLD)