This paper provides a general overview of a major study of student absenteeism as well as a narrower look at the problems associated with measuring student absences. The study data came from questionnaires completed by students, teachers, and administrators at six high schools in two urban districts in the western United States; interviews with…

The suspected sources of confounding in current meta-analytic studies of computer based instruction (CBI) are uncontrolled effects of instructional method and/or the John Henry Effect (i.e., compensatory rivalry). To determine which confounding is most plausible, a random 30% sample of the 128 studies which formed the original Kulik meta-analyses…

This presentation uses the premise that educational practice currently derives little benefit from the mass of ongoing research as a starting point for a reassessment of the values and goals of research. Particular emphasis is placed on the relation between research and educational practices involving 4-year-olds. The first part of the discussion…

A group of 11 experienced junior high school teachers, identified as having problems with classroom management, received materials and workshops based on findings from a large-scale descriptive study of classroom management. Observation data from two classes per teacher were used to assess the level of implementation by treatment group teachers.…

Recent national concern about the levels of adults' literacy skills has resulted in a demand for expanded and more efficient basic skills programs. In turn, governmental agencies at all levels, politicians, and community organizations are seeking continually increasing amounts of information about a variety of topics pertaining to literacy…

These proceedings contain 58 papers. Selected brief titles are: "Teaching Reading in Advanced English to Adult Chinese Students" (Bao); "Analyzing the Training of Trainers and Adult Educators" (Boshier); "Knowledge Utilization in Social Work Practice" (Baskett); "Adult Education in the U.K." (Bright); "Developing Media Literacy in Adults"…

Two studies are reviewed to determine their relevance to proposed legislation (H.R. 2620) concerning athletic scholarships. The review was conducted at the request of U.S. Representative James J. Howard who proposed the bill. H.R. 2620 would require colleges to graduate at least 75% of their scholarship athletes within 5 years in order for…

This paper summarizes and analyzes data from studies of differential validity and differential prediction for blacks versus whites and females versus males. Forty studies on racial differences and 53 on gender differences were selected from searches of the ERIC, PsychInfo, and Dissertation Abstracts International databases; Buros' Mental…

This paper presents a critique of various theoretical traditions in the study of schooling. Both the predominant liberal tradition of social and educational theory, with its roots firmly in structural functionalism and human capital theory, and the more radical reproduction tradition, which builds largely on Marxian and Weberian analyses of…

Using 20 comparative research studies, this paper compares advantages and disadvantages of family day care and center care. The results are discussed in terms of (1) the effects of family day care and center care on the intellectual, emotional, social, and physical development of young children and their parents; (2) the environmental differences…

This executive summary presents the major results of the longitudinal evaluation of Project Developmental Continuity (PDC). A Head Start demonstration project initiated by the Administration for Children, Youth and Families (ACYF) in 1974, the PDC aimed to stimulate the development and implementation of comprehensive programs linking Head Start…

From six institutions in the Illinois Department of Corrections school district, 359 adult male inmates served as subjects for this research evaluation of basic skills. Three groups were in traditional self-paced instruction, and the other three groups were in Program Logic for Automated Training Operations (PLATO) computer managed instruction…

This paper reviews a sample of follow-up studies conducted by community colleges to determine the employment experiences of occupational program graduates. Part I discusses the types of follow-up studies conducted, including institutional follow-up studies of graduates from individual vocational programs, of all vocational graduates, and of…

Efficient methods of using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) to analyze National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) data files are discussed. One error in the NAEP SPSS file is discussed, and another error (which may be system-dependent) is mentioned. In addition, purely mathematical methods are used to address the…

This guide for writing research or technical reports discusses eleven basic elements of such reports and provides examples of "good" and "bad" wordings. These elements are the title, problem statement, purpose statement, need statement, hypothesis, assumptions, procedures, limitations, terminology, conclusion and recommendations. This guide is…