A study involving 233 seventh-grade students (123 females and 110 males) attending a metropolitan southeastern Idaho junior high school was conducted to determine predictors of seventh-grade mathematics achievement. The seventh-grade mathematics program consisted of 11 classes of four ability groups. The classes included a pre-Algebra class, four…

The Rasch model for test analysis is a latent-trait model, which specifies the relationship between observable test performance and the unobservable traits or abilities assumed under test performance. In most cases, the test constructor has no clue as to whether the latent traits postulated by the model are indeed the abilities he wants to…

This paper examines factors that contribute to or inhibit the academic achievement of black students. The study is based on a process model that seeks to define interrelationships among the following elements: (1) the societal context, which is the level of prescriptive ideologies and structures; (2) the institutional context, which is the level…

Systematic changes in their classroom environments occur when students make the transition from upper-elementary to junior high school. Students typically experience a transition from a self-contained classroom to departmentalized instruction in junior high school; they often also experience a transition from heterogeneous to homogeneous,…

In an ethnographic study of three recently desegregated junior high schools, the pressures placed upon teachers by students in different academic tracks were analyzed. Students in each track were grouped homogeneously in terms of race, social class and academic performance. The methodology of this study consisted of utilizing students' responses…

The physical education program at Phillips Exeter Academy (New Hampshire) is designed to benefit students who, while being academically gifted, have the normal range of athletic aptitude and interests. The primary objective of the overall program is to develop individual abilities and promote physical fitness. While some students enjoy and…

A DESCRIPTION OF THE MORE EFFECTIVE SCHOOLS PROGRAM IS PRESENTED. THE PROGRAM PROVIDES EDUCATION FOR 3- OR 4-YEAR-OLD CHILDREN. PREKINDERGARTEN CLASSES SHOULD HAVE 15 CHILDREN, AND OTHER GRADES A MAXIMUM OF 22 CHILDREN. THESE CLASSES SHOULD BE HETEROGENEOUSLY GROUPED, AND INDIVIDUALIZED INSTRUCTION SHOULD BE PROVIDED THROUGH FLEXIBLE GROUPING.…

Many secondary teachers perceive a wide range of studennt ability levels within a class as a constraint on effective teaching and classroom management. This study was conducted to determine which levels of teaching effectiveness, which learning environments, and which classroom management problems were associated with very heterogeneous classes,…

ACTIVITIES OF RESEARCH AND INSTRUCTION UNITS IN TWO MANITOWOC, WISCONSIN, ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS DURING THE 1966-67 SCHOOL YEAR ARE REVIEWED. RESULTS OF TWO CONTROLLED EXPERIMENTS CONDUCTED IN THE UNITS ARE REPORTED AND EVALUATED. IN ONE STUDY THE PERFORMANCE OF 82 THIRD GRADE PUPILS FROM ONE SCHOOL HOMOGENEOUSLY GROUPED FOR ARITHMETIC INSTRUCTION WAS…

THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS EXCERPTS FROM THE OPINION HANDED DOWN IN THE "HOBSON V. HANSEN" CASE. A SUIT HAD BEEN FILED IN 1966 IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS WHICH CHARGED THAT THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA WAS DISCRIMINATING UNCONSTITUTIONALLY AGAINST NEGROES AND POOR CHILDREN ON BOTH DE JURE AND DE FACTO…

To test the hypothesis that pupil achievement is inversely related to class size, a 5-year study (1959-1964) examined the relationship between class size and pupil achievement in reading and arithmetic. Data were taken from records of the Baltimore public school system for all 16,449 grade 3 pupils in the class of 1959, comprised of 6,568 regular…

Discussed is the responsibility of a public school system to provide for the education of gifted children, and evaluated are alternative approaches toward meeting this responsibility. Examined and compared in terms of academic effectiveness, administrative practicability, political acceptability, and economic feasibility are the following…

The effect of a major success-failure symbol in the school and source of both teacher and student expectations--homogeneous ability-grouping--was studied via a true experiment. Four hundred and twenty-one black high school and junior high school students in a suburban-city school system were arbitrarily and without fanfare moved up to the next…

This issue of a publication of the Harvard Center for Law and Education contains articles concerning: (1) the failure of the educational "tracking" system; (2) the need for decentralized educational decision-making by the principal; (3) an evaluation of ESEA Title I citing its failure and recommending a strategy for litigation; (4) the…

This evaluation sampled 150 pairs of schools (50 pairs of high schools and 100 pairs of elementary schools) eligible for ESAP funds, randomly designating one school from each pair as a control school to receive no ESAP funds and using a flip of the coin to so designate. The first volume of the report comprises four chapters and seven appendices.…