To better understand the nature of students' approaches to literary understanding, a study compared the meaning-making approaches of traditionally judged above and below average readers. In all, 144 protocols were analyzed from 24 students (12 seventh graders and 12 eleventh graders, half in each class judged as above and half as below average…

Distance educators must become more connected with and responsive to their students by developing their understanding of how unity, diversity, and interdependence operate in learners' environments. Many of the holistic strategies for promoting connectedness with female distance learners in particular have strong links to existing feminist…

As high-stakes use of tests increases, it becomes vital that test developers and test users communicate clearly about the accuracy and limitations of the scores generated by a test after it is assembled and used. A procedure is described for portraying the accuracy of test scores. It can be used in setting accuracy targets during form construction…

The International Resilience Project was launched to determine the role of parents, teachers, other adults and children themselves in promoting resilience in children. In this study, 589 children and their families or caregivers participated; most children were 9-11 years old, with children ages birth to 6 years represented also. Subjects reported…

This paper outlines a model for assessing and managing psychological depth in outdoor and experiential group work, and presents two case studies of the complexity of such management in real life. The model contains eight levels of emotional risk and presents four criteria for assessing the level to which a particular event or discussion may lead…

This book discusses the emotional experiences of young children and explores the connections between emotions, socialization, and healthy relationships. The introductory chapter discusses the nature of emotion, emotional and social competence, and the study of young children's emotions. Chapter 2, "Emotional Expressiveness," describes…

The aim of this study was to explore a method of improving the objectivity, reliability, and efficiency of scoring performance assessments that involve constructed written responses. Millman (1997) has suggested an alternative to using model responses at each score category. The proposed strategy, hypothesized to increase scorer reliability and…

In 1997, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting commissioned Market Facts to conduct a survey of Americans' views of commercial activities by public television and public radio stations. The general objectives were to get an up-to-date reading of perceptions and attitudes among the general population and among groups of special interest defined…

Intended for grades K-8, this book will help teachers and students launch their own author study programs, making powerful connections with authors while nurturing a community of readers. It argues that, with author study, all students form mentor relationships with authors; gain access to the world of authors and books; develop a wide range of…

This paper describes the process of "contemplation writing" for one urban sixth-grade class. The paper describes the daily give-and-take between teacher and students, relates the way in which the teacher instructed his students about how to concentrate and observe before the writing process actually began, discusses the writings that…

Art education can be used as a focal point in studying peace education and gender issues. One aspect of peace education is the field of human relations and that can include issues of gender. Basic concepts of patriarchy, sexism, feminism, and women's liberation can be studied through art. Finnish art education curriculum provides three areas for…

As part of the Folktale project, which explores similarities and dissimilarities in the response to literature from and in different cultures, advanced undergraduate students in classes on literary interpretation or literary history analyzed a Danish, a Greenlandic, and a Turkish folk tale. Two male and two female students in classes on literary…

The effectiveness of five methods used to estimate the population parameters of a variable of interest from a random sample in the presence of non-response to mail surveys was tested in conditions that vary the return rate and the relationship of the variable of interest to the likelihood of response. Data from 125,092 adult Alabama residents in…

Patterns of responses to the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) that typify deliberate deception of others (faking good) were studied using 100 undergraduates at the University of Alabama (Tuscaloosa) who were given extra course credit for participation in the study. Females constituted 73% of the final subject pool. Each…

A detailed investigation of the statistical procedure of W. Stout (the computer program DIMTEST) for testing the hypothesis that an essentially unidimensional latent trait model fits observed binary response data from a psychological test is presented. One finding is that DIMTEST may fail to perform as desired in the presence of guessing when…