A study examined the use of dialectic (Learning) journals in a grade 3 social studies class during the 1993-94 school year. The topic was "Communities Need Each Other," and categories used for the journals were: (1) What I Learned; (2) What It Means; (3) What It Means To Me and My Family; and (4) What It Means To The World. The eight subjects…

A series of studies involving 19 elementary students with severe emotional disturbance (SED), who were identified as aggressive, and 19 typical students in different types of educational settings, investigated the relationship between school environments and the aggressive behavior of children with SED. The social interactions of the children who…

The news on Channel One, with its impression of vague anxiety, looks and sounds like regular television news, only more so. In either case, the news is just "filler"--its real function is not journalistic but commercial, meant to lead into advertisements (ads). Mass advertising tends to assume that its audience will not be studying it…

This pilot study on international relocation examined the adjustment experiences of 68 children, age 9 to 11 years, who relocated to Vienna, Austria either from their native country or from another overseas setting. The study proposed an additive model of adjustment which took into account potential sources of adjustment within the relocation…

Test developers continue to struggle with the technical and logistical problems inherent in assessing achievement across different languages. Many testing programs offer separate language versions of a test to evaluate the achievement of examinees in different language groups. However, comparison of individuals who took different language versions…

Intended for students taking the Grade 12 Diploma Examinations in English 30, this "questions booklet" presents 70 multiple choice test items based on 8 reading selections in the accompanying readings booklet. After instructions for students, the booklet presents the multiple choice items which test students' comprehension of the poetry,…

Intended for students taking the Grade 12 Diploma Examinations in English 30, this "readings booklet" presents 8 reading selections from fiction and nonfiction. After instructions for students, the booklet presents (1) Robert Penn Warren's poem "Summer Afternoons and Hypnosis"; (2) an excerpt from an interview with William…

This book presents descriptions of 17 courses in education, the humanities, social sciences, business, and the arts that acknowledge cultural diversity and invite students to understand and respect that diversity. Many of the courses focus on student-centered approaches to instruction. Following an introduction by the editors, syllabi in the book…

The Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) is a periodic, integrated system of sample surveys on elementary and secondary schools in the United States that collects information on school and district administrators and teachers in public and private schools. This technical report is one in a series of methodological studies relating to the SASS of the…

A research project aimed to show the rationale, procedure, and implications of an interdisciplinary multimedia-hypertext for composition research. The project, undertaken for 2 semesters, was for an English 102 "Writing about Literature" course which also looked to improve students' writing and critical thinking skills. In a classroom…

Seven combined or multi-grade classes, ranging from grades 2 to 5, were the focus of a qualitative, naturalistic inquiry. In each of the four elementary schools visited for the study, the decision to have combined classes had been made shortly before school started for administrative reasons. The study sought to determine the manner in which the…

One important and promising application of item response theory (IRT) is computerized adaptive testing (CAT). The implementation of a nominal response model-based CAT (NRCAT) was studied. Item pool characteristics for the NRCAT as well as the comparative performance of the NRCAT and a CAT based on the three-parameter logistic (3PL) model were…

This book offers teachers a convenient means of broadening their understanding of reader response theory and criticism and applying this theory to the teaching of literature in high school and college classrooms. The book is designed to arouse individual teachers' interest in reader response theory and encourage them to apply it to their teaching.…

This paper reports findings of a study examining the appreciation of editorial cartoons as a function of personal characteristics rather than group membership. The variables examined were self-consciousness and the ability to utilize humor as a coping mechanism. Appreciation of editorial cartoons during the 1992 presidential campaign was measured…

This paper reports on existing studies and uses meta analysis to compare and synthesize the results of 20 studies from 8 research reports comparing the ability measure equivalence of computer adaptive tests (CAT) and conventional paper and pencil tests. Using the research synthesis techniques developed by Hedges and Olkin (1985), it is possible to…