Briefly describes Italy's day care system for infants and preschoolers and contrasts some practices with those of American day care programs. (ED)

This summary presents the major findings of recent research carried out at the Center for Research on Elementary and Middle Schools at Johns Hopkins University and published in "Ability Grouping and Student Achievement in Elementary Schools: A Best-Evidence Synthesis." The center examined more than 100 studies of five ability-grouping…

Intended for teachers and administrators, this document provides an annotated bibliography of research since 1960 that deals with effects of grouping elementary school students, below the junior high level, according to their ability. The 34 annotations are arranged in three categories: research concerned with the effects of ability grouping on…

Focused on the topic of ability grouping in reading instruction, particularly at the elementary level, this annotated bibliography contains 31 references to articles and papers entered in the ERIC database between 1983 and 1989. The citations include articles discussing recent research on ability grouping, and possible alternatives to ability…

This study explored the effectiveness with which Catholic secondary schools served students from low-income families, with particular emphasis on the usefulness and results of tracking. Teams of researchers spent one full week in each of three Catholic secondary schools on the east coast gathering data through interviews with students, teachers,…

A meta-analysis of findings from 31 separate studies showed that ability grouping has significant positive effects on the academic performance of elementary school children. The benefits of grouping tended to be small in the typical study of achievement --an increase from the 50th to the 58th percentile for the typical student in a grouped class.…

Outlines aims and program strategies for school districts to consider in attempting to cope with four problem areas associated with racial imbalance: imbalance in the black minority school population across a school district; segregation resulting from current school attendance boundaries; segregation or resegregation resulting from…

UNDER PRESSURE FROM CORE, THE BERKELEY SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS ESTABLISHED A CITIZENS' COMMITTEE TO INVESTIGATE AND PRESENT FACTS REGARDING THE EXTENT AND THE EFFECTS OF SCHOOL DE FACTO SEGREGATION IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS. IT WAS FOUND THAT THE HOUSING PATTERN AND THE BOUNDARY LINES OF THE SCHOOLS HAD RESULTED IN THE ENROLLMENT OF 79 PERCENT OF THE…

A SAMPLE READING UNIT IN SCIENCE IS PRESENTED FOR DISADVANTAGED STUDENTS AT THREE LEVELS OF ABILITY. THE READING LESSON IS COMPLETE WITH ILLUSTRATIONS OF ELECTROMAGNETS. FOLLOWING THE SUPPLEMENTARY UNIT ARE THREE SAMPLE OBJECTIVE TESTS FOR THE DIFFERENT ABILITY LEVELS. EACH SET OF QUESTIONS IS DESIGNED BOTH TO TEST KNOWLEDGE OF SCIENCE FACTS…

DURING THE FIRST YEAR OF THE PROGRAM, CONSULTANTS PARTICIPATED IN PRESERVICE AND IN-SERVICE TRAINING AND THEY WERE ASSIGNED TO JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOLS AND ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS. FIFTH, SIXTH AND SEVENTH GRADE STUDENTS WERE INCLUDED IN THE PROGRAM. DURING THE CURRENT YEAR, WHICH IS THE SECOND, SEVERAL STEPS HAVE BEEN IMPLEMENTED. THE FOURTH AND EIGHTH…

STATISTICAL DATA WAS COMPILED FROM A DETAILED STUDY IN ONE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SYSTEM OF CLASS COMPOSITIONS, DISTRIBUTIONS OF ABILITIES, AND ACHIEVEMENT BY RACES. PROCEDURES USED IN CARRYING OUT THE STUDY AND MAKING THE ANALYSES ARE OUTLINED. ALL OF THE STATISTICAL DATA IS SUMMARIZED IN A SERIES OF TABLES. BASED ON THIS DATA, SEVERAL CONCLUSIONS CAN…

THIS BIBLIOGRAPHY LISTS MATERIAL ON VARIOUS ASPECTS OF HUMAN INTELLECT. APPROXIMATELY 50 UNANNOTATED REFERENCES ARE PROVIDED TO DOCUMENTS DATING FROM 1955 TO 1966. BOOKS, REPORTS, JOURNAL MATERIALS, AND SOME UNPUBLISHED TITLES ARE LISTED. SUBJECT AREAS INCLUDED ARE (1) INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT, (2) ABILITY DIFFERENCES BETWEEN INDIVIDUALS, RACES,…

THE RELATIVE EFFECTIVENESS OF TWO APPROACHES FOR TEACHING READING TO FIRST-GRADE CHILDREN AT HIGH, AVERAGE, AND LOW ABILITY SCORE LEVELS WAS INVESTIGATED, AND THE VARIABLES THAT DIFFERENTIATED BETWEEN HIGH AND LOW ACHIEVERS UNDER BOTH APPROACHES WERE COMPARED. THE TWO APPROACHES WERE--(1) THE FRIES LINGUISTIC METHOD, AND (2) THE SCOTT, FORESMAN…

In an attempt to determine whether a 2-year open-door institution known for its services to the academically weak would be suitable for academically superior students, the Instructional Council of Skagit Valley College requested comment from interested faculty, and polled "better" (GPA 3.0 or higher) students to determine their degree of…

Social class discrimination in the schooling process is less a product of teachers' attitudes than of the systems by which schools group students. Although class bias has been demonstrated in grading practices and other key decision points, numerous studies have shown that teachers are less to blame for inequitable learning situations than…