This study examined the degree of organizational autonomy of public school teachers and midlevel administrators and its relationship to commitment to schools and job satisfaction. Teachers were less committed and felt less autonomy than administrators. School reform implications are linked to the findings of the study. (JD)

Examines mathematical models of style analysis, focusing on the pattern in which literary characteristics occur. Describes an autoregressive integrated moving average model (ARIMA) for predicting sentence length in different works by the same author and comparable works by different authors. This technique is valuable in characterizing stylistic…

Describes an empirical evaluation of the relationship between study time and achievement. Discusses a model describing student determination and allocation of study time in a given period. Concludes that test results fail to support the theory that college students identify and use study time in order to maximize achievement. (KO)

Results from a study of 61 learning-disabled (LD) elementary students provide evidence that the Handwriting Scale included in the Test of Written Language is a valid measure of LD students' handwriting and that LD students have handwriting difficulties. (IAH)

This article describes a functional experiment designed to evaluate the ability of 128 preservice teachers to interpret pupil problem-behavior nested in two distinct learning settings (cooperative and traditional). (IAH)

Employs a pragmatic philosophical perspective to argue that there is no incompatibility at either the level of practice or that of epistemology between qualitative and quantitative methods of educational research. (FMW)

This study examined journals in the field of library and information science to determine the institutional affiliation of authors and their use of descriptive versus inferential statistics. It was found that academic librarians published more research but relied on descriptive statistics, whereas faculty published less, but used inferential…

Describes a study that compared holdings figures from the OCLC database to productivity measures from the "Journal Citation Reports" section of "Science Citation Index" and publisher circulation figures to determine whether there is a systematic relationship between easily gathered holdings and circulation figures and less…

Studies the effect of item order on test scores and completion time. Students scored slightly higher when test items were grouped sequentially (relating to text and lectures) than on tests when test items were grouped by text chapter but ordered randomly, or when test items were ordered randomly. Found no differences in completion time. (Author/LS)

Findings from a study of 273 Australian teachers provide strong support for a functional relationship between professional development and dimensions (energy, enthusiasm, satisfaction) of teachers' professional self-perception. (IAH)

A study of the contribution of institutional characteristics to the National Academy of Sciences' reputational ratings of faculty found that program characteristics do influence ratings, but an "institutional halo" effect also exists, indicating that faculty reputations and program quality are more complex phenomena than implied by…

Statistical analyses of class size influences on student achievement generally lack a solid theoretical foundation. This paper uses the assumptions and methods of economic theory to study "rational" teacher behavior and prove that increasing class size reduces student achievement. Although the suggested model is elementary and simplified, it lays…

Determining the optimal number of choices on a multiple-choice test is explored analytically from an information theory perspective. The analysis revealed that, in general, three choices seem optimal. This finding is in agreement with previous statistical and psychometric research. (SLD)

Studies children's use of transformation (as a cognitive process) in identifying altered musical phrases in four phrase songs. Continuous Response Digital Interface (CRDI) software was used to record the children's responses. Includes statistical tables. (MJP)

Presents a thorough overview of earthquakes in New Zealand, discussing plate tectonics, seismic measurement, and historical occurrences. Includes 10 figures illustrating such aspects as earthquake distribution, intensity, and fissures in the continental crust. Tabular data includes a list of most destructive earthquakes and descriptive effects…