This study explored the efficacy of web-based instruction in topics in elementary school mathematics in fostering teachers' confidence and competence in using instructional technology, and thereby promoting more positive attitudes toward using computers and Internet resources in the mathematics classroom. The results indicated that students who…

This article evaluates the utility of the Early Authors Program, a 12-month early literacy intervention emphasizing highly meaningful language interactions that was implemented in childcare facilities in an ethnically and linguistically diverse, urban, low-income community. Children learn to be writers and readers by creating their own…

A persistent problem in the evaluation of field-based projects is the lack of no-treatment comparison groups. Frequently, potential comparison groups are confounded by socioeconomic, racial, or other factors. Among the possible methods for dealing with this problem are various matching procedures, but they are cumbersome to use with multiple…

A relationship between experimental and statistical controls is considered in an effort to show how this relationship affects the power of an experiment. Statistical rather than experimental controls are often used to reduce the effect of subjects at the extremes of individual difference. This results in attrition of actual experimental subjects.…

The purpose of the study was to determine whether higher shorthand speeds were achieved by high school students in a 1-year shorthand course through the use of Simplified Gregg Shorthand or through the use of Diamond Jubilee (DJ) Gregg Shorthand. The control group consisted of 75 students enrolled in Simplified Shorthand during the years…

In a public school setting administrators are frequently under local pressure to make a new project service available to all eligible children. However, comparable control groups for project evaluation are often absent, and although random assignment to treatment groups remains the most systematic method of providing controls, this is not often…

The relationship of speech training to the written English of selected Negro students using substandard English in an elementary school was investigated. The limitations to the study are: (1) The elementary school is a small rural school with an enrollment of about 500 white and 80 Negro students; (2) The school has only one part-time speech…

The quality of research on groups has been notoriously poor. This article is an attempt to respond to the research and evaluation deficit by providing some methodological approaches that might encourage group researchers and practitioners to attempt high quality research. (Author)

To study the effects of planned seriation experiences on the acquisition and retention of seriation abilities of four-year-old children, fifty children from four preschool centers were assigned to control and experimental groups and tested before and after exposure to the experiences. Data analysis indicated that the experimental group had higher…

Eighty preschoolers participated in a study of the usefulness of the lure-retrieval paradigm. Four treatment conditions were compared: In addition to play and training conditions, a questions condition and an alternative-materials control group were employed. Results prompted discussion of theoretical and methodological issues surrounding the…

The need to attend to both methodological and social concerns is demonstrated in two examples: one where the unchecked effects of the social consequences of a methodologically rigorous research design invalidated the evaluation and a second where explicit trade-offs between methodological rigor and social costs enabled the evaluation to proceed.…

The effects of fluency intervention strategies on students fluency rate, comprehension, and word identification were the focus of this study. Both the experimental and control groups were first grade classes, taught by the same teacher, at Elder Primary School in Sandersville, Georgia. The study was conducted over a 15-week period. The results of…

See related article by Delores Kessler Kennedy and Paul Weener, CS 705 857. (RB)

See related article by James L. Wardrop and Diane L. Essex, CS 705 856. (RB)

The purpose of the study was to test the effectiveness of having fourth-grade pupils learn spelling with a series of tape recorded lessons (seven dwarfs). (Author)