A structured reinforcement system, in which learning disabled students earn tokens for on-task activities, is an effective way of managing classroom behavior. An 11-step process of initiating such a program is described. (CL)

Systematic observation of four elementary students at time of referral and one and two months after special education placement revealed considerable variability among students in amount of academic time allocated and engaged in. Changes in instruction and student responding as a function of special education intervention were inconsistent across…

Goal-directed persistence of 44 mentally retarded young children on tasks used to assess mastery motivation among nonretarded infants was examined to determine whether retarded children were motivated to solve or work on tasks that were slightly challenging to them. Results indicated significant age-related increases in children's goal-directed…

An environmental modification involving a portable partition designed as a distractor shield was found to increase the mean level of on-task performance of four profoundly retarded adults in the classroom. Additionally, the increase in on-task behavior was accompanied by increases in student task productivity. (Author/CL)

Using a minute-by-minute observational chart, classroom activities and student involvement may be recorded. Such a record is valuable for noting students' and teachers' time on task. (JW)

Fourteen mildly retarded adolescents who participated in a mathematics program involving games (dice, cards, dominoes, boards, and spinners) performed significantly better than 14 Ss in a control group who completed traditional drill and workbook exercises. Experimental Ss also had higher time-on-task scores. (CL)

ALT (academic learning time) was obtained on 60 nonhandicapped and 60 mainstreamed handicapped students in elementary physical education classes. Results indicated that Ss in individualized instruction settings engaged in a significantly greater amount of ALT than Ss of nonusers, with no significant difference between mainstreamed handicapped and…

Three procedures for increasing the disabled students' academic learning time(ALT)by maximizing allocation time, engagement time, and success rate are discussed, and a direct instructional model for enhancing ALT in both regular and special education environments is described. (CL)

Investigated the feasibility of adding haptic and auditory displays to traditional visual geographic information systems (GISs). Explored differences in user performance, including task completion time and accuracy, and user satisfaction with a multimodal GIS which was implemented with a haptic display, auditory display, and combined display.…

Uses alternating treatments designs to compare on-task levels in 4 students diagnosed as emotionally disturbed while working on control and experimental independent seat-work mathematics assignments. Control and experimental assignments were similar except experimental assignments contained additional briefer mathematics problems interspersed…

Undergraduate students enrolled in a classroom consumer economics course (n=25) were compared with 11 who received their instruction via the Internet. Students enrolled in the online section scored higher on the posttest and reported that they spent more time on course assignments. (Contains 16 references.) (JOW)

Discusses research on the relationship between time and learning. Includes suggestions for improving learning time. (PKP)

Discusses how instructional time can be increased and better utilized within the current school framework. (ZWH)

Interviews with construction industry personnel (15 employers, 14 instructors) in Ireland found satisfaction with a new standards-based apprenticeship system that focused on competence rather than length of apprenticeship. Criticisms were related to problems in gaining access to training courses. (SK)

Previous research from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) presents student reports of time spent on homework and teacher reports of amount of homework assigned. However, no research using recent, nationally representative data has investigated the amount of homework expected of and completed by a cohort of students as they…