Describes the Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) Program, which replaces drill and practice with thinking skills activities for grades three through six. The HOTS curriculum, which is built around commercially available software, is reviewed; special teaching techniques that emphasize teacher-student dialog are presented; and benefits for at-risk…

Applied simple difference and regression methods for determining discrepancies between Intelligence Quotient (IQ) and achievement to second- and fifth-grade IQ, reading and math achievement scores. Simple difference discrepancies covaried with IQ and produced disproportionate ethnic representation for both grades in reading and for second graders…

Research on the schema theory of comprehension and cultural schemata, on background cultural knowledge, is reviewed and related to reading comprehension theory and practice. In line with the research findings, several activities for pre-reading, reading, and post-reading are described, with suggestions for teacher preparation and classroom use.…

Although middle and high school teachers rightfully view the teaching of subject-area content as their primary responsibility, there is an increasing recognition that they must also play an active role in ensuring that students are not left behind because of reading problems. This report emphasizes that middle and high school teachers do not need…

Scientific and everyday knowledge domains are compared so as to reveal the distinctive differences between their goals and the cognitive processes used to attain them. The main goals, working goals, learning difficulties, knowledge structure, concept specification, knowledge organization, role of school science, program-solving instruction, formal…

Studies second, fifth, eighth grade, and college undergraduate students' changes in the ability to draw inferences. Examines the generation process of the inferences. Finds that the ability to draw inferences increases with age; backward inferences are most likely to be drawn when the text is encoded; whereas forward inferences are most likely to…

Examines the extent to which the effect of gender of a target person on evaluators' judgments reflects evaluators' tendencies not to use the evaluee's gender because they assume case information is more valuable. Results with 144 female and 92 male college students in 2 studies demonstrate that evaluators do use gender stereotypes. (SLD)

This study compared the literal and inferential comprehension abilities for textual, functional, and recreational text genres of 195 students who were deaf or hard of hearing. Literal comprehension exceeded inferential comprehension for males but not females. Educational setting (special class, resource room, or fully mainstreamed) influenced…

There is widespread understanding of the need to evaluate teacher education programs. Unfortunately, the history of teacher education program evaluations is spotty, evolutionary, and limited in scope. Probably the most fundamental reason that program evaluations are limited is that there has not been a clear, consistent, and shared framework for…

This report evaluates the evidence on how migration may promote or hinder development in countries of origin, and explores possible win-win solutions for both sending and receiving countries. The analysis of recent OECD data of foreign-born nationals into Europe documents the presence of multiple migration patterns and reveals that the EU lags…

The purpose of this study was to analyze the effects of a two-way immersion elementary school program on academic achievement at the end of the elementary school and the end of the first year of junior high school. Longitudinal high stakes test data in reading, writing, and mathematics were collected on native English speakers and native Spanish…

To explore the impact of the communication medium on building common ground, this article presents research comparing learner use of reception strategies in traditional face-to-face (FTF) and in synchronous computer-mediated communication (CMC). Reception strategies, such as reprises, hypothesis testing and forward inferencing provide evidence of…

The purpose of this article is to identify the perceptual skills of expert teachers and offer suggestions for teachers to learn to see like an expert. Being able to perceptively read the critical cues in a learning environment allows teachers to recognize present problems, anticipate potential problems, link immediate problems with previously…

Of all the areas within public elementary and secondary education that are experiencing rapid change, none is experiencing more turmoil than school finance. This publication contains papers commissioned by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) to address the twin concerns of what additional school-finance information NCES should…

The pragmatic expressions of Argentine Spanish (e.g., "bueno, viste, no? mira") are defined as deictic signals. They are deictic because they indicate elements of the communicative situation: transitions between text segments, conversational roles, or the social relationship between participants. They also signal contextual suppositions…