There is a time when every adult and most children are faced with the death of a close friend or relative. Understanding can be established through developmental counseling programs at various age levels. The seventh-grade program discussed here can help counselors develop successful approaches for their own students. (Author)

This work investigated the young child's ability to respond appropriately to the intended, as opposed to the literal, meaning of one class of such utterances, requests for action. An action-based response heuristic is proposed to explain the apparent ability of two-year-olds to deal with indirect speech acts. (Author/SW)

Immediate reinforcement of what has been learned is of prime importance. Ideal testing procedures are those that show students at once the rightness or wrongness of their answers. For reading comprehension, multiple choice is recommended; for production (oral or written), constructed responses (an example is given) are recommended. (IFS/WGA)

One hundred and eighty fourth-grade boys completed tasks where they were given stimulus patterns in one or two sensory modes (auditory or visual) and asked to identify equivalent patterns in the same or in the other mode. Correlations between mathematics achievement and modality matching ability were significant with "striking" variation…

The results of this study indicate that teacher expectations can have a substantial impact on student achievement, but that the strongest single predictor of teacher expectations is the student's achievement record. (JD)

The study compared the performance of severe and mild learning disabled children to normal children on a problem-solving task. The three types of children were assessed on the Matching Familiar Figures task. Results indicated that on the MFF, LD children, as a group, were more impulsive than normal children. (Author)

Boys (N=55) aged 8-11, categorized as impulsives by the Matching Familiar Figures test, participated in a study comparing the effects of three different techniques, designed to change an impulsive cognitive style on response accuracy and response latency. Subjects trained to increase response latency did show a significant increase in latency.…

This study examined response bias in 108 female adolescents randomly assigned to one of three groups: (1) interactive computer interview; (2) face-to-face interview, or (3) self-administered questionnaire. Results showed no significant group differences on reports of sexual behavior, substance use or symptomatology. (Author/BS)

Proposes addressing the issue of multiple roles and transitions in the dual-career pattern, and of career socialization by gender. Considers development of more egalitarian attitudes and behaviors in society the major issue. Advocates studies on socialization for changing work and family patterns and for role flexibility and interchangeability;…

Responds to Dr. Schuh's assessment of developments in the Association of College and University Housing Officers-International (ACUHO-I) in their journal, volume 16, number 2. Addresses the issues of the educational value of housing, need for outcomes research, involvement of women and minority groups, future of the central support services…

Discusses findings of a survey of college students' preferences in teacher-written evaluations of final drafts. Using results of the survey and other research, makes the following suggestions for improved teacher student communication: (1) omit grades, (2) balance praise with criticism, and (3) resist the impulse to dominate student texts. (JG)

Subjects, ages 3 to 5 and 9 to 11, were shown a videotape that presented either a frightening stimulus directly or a character's fearful response to a threatening stimulus that was suggested rather than shown directly. Both self-reported emotional reactions and physiological responses were consistent with a cognitive-developmental view of the…

Assuming vectors of item responses depend on ability through a fully specified item response model, this paper presents maximum likelihood equations for estimating the population parameters without estimating an ability parameter for each subject. Asymptotic standard errors, tests of fit, computing approximations, and details of four special cases…

Examines how teacher evaluation effects students' willingness and motivation and hence the writing process. Analyzes results of a survey measuring student responses to several kinds of evaluation of their essays. Concludes that informal evaluation (e.g. peer evaluation, conferences, ungraded writing) improves students' attitudes. (JG)