Familial/individual predictor variables related to reading disability were assessed, using 66 lower-to-upper-middle-class second graders. Subjects were evaluated as preschoolers, at age 60 months, and at the end of grade 2. Familial reading problems and individual differences in vocabulary, phonological awareness, and early literacy skills were…

Argues that the best alternative to assigning children to grades on the basis of birth date alone is to implement a child-centered and process-oriented curriculum for younger children and push back the academic curriculum to the upper grades. Suggests this allows children to develop at their own pace. (RS)

Discussion of library instruction for teaching the use of computer-based searching techniques focuses on a study conducted at Evergreen State College to determine novice and experienced users' information seeking habits, and to create a multicultural teaching model for researchers that acknowledges the users' conceptual frameworks. (15 references)…

Those who indiscriminately advise all teens to pursue baccalaureate degrees mistakenly assume that most high school graduates are ready for college-level work, will graduate, will find better jobs, and won't be harmed if they fail. Postsecondary education at the certificate or associate's degree level can lead to rewarding, high-wage occupations…

Discusses the merit in having every English-as-a-Second-Language learner speak during every session to practice English as opposed to the value of allowing a period of silence until the student is ready to speak. It is crucial to provide a stimulus for meaningful interaction and to follow up with opportunities for each learner to use an individual…

Reviews current literature about personal, demographic, situational, and cognitive attributes that affect computer-aided decision making. The effectiveness of computer-aided decision making is explored in relation to decision quality, effectiveness, and confidence. Studies of the effects of age, anxiety, cognitive type, attitude, gender, and prior…

Summarizes the conduct and results of the Seattle Longitudinal Study, an investigation that has assessed mental abilities in more than 5,000 adults and has followed some for as long as 35 years. Integrative findings are presented on age changes, cohort differences, factor structure, individual differences, and interventions. (SLD)

Advocates that language anxiety can play a significant causal role in creating individual differences in both language learning and communication. This paper studies the role of anxiety in the language learning process and concludes that the linguistic coding deficit hypothesis errs in assigning epiphenomenal status to language anxiety. (57…

A case study examines the experience of a middle school mandated to provide differentiated instruction for academically diverse learners and considers factors affecting movement toward differentiated classrooms. Clarity in defining the concept is discussed, along with administrative barriers, issues related to changing expectations, and need for…

Discusses issues raised in "The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life" (Richard Herrnstein, Charles Murray), a controversial book that looks at the role of intelligence in shaping social structure. The authors' methodology, approach, and interpretations of statistical data are criticized. It is suggested that a…

Argues that an evolutionary perspective can unite the study of species-typical development and individual variation. Provides examples from the domains of personality, social, and intellectual development. Maintains that understanding the ways in which genes and environments work together helps developmentalists identify children who need…

Examined differential treatment of siblings in families with a disabled child and other families. Assessed connections between differential treatment, both children's adjustment, and sibling relationships. Results revealed greater levels of differential treatment in families with disabled children but no context differences in the correlations…

Discusses an empirical study that examined the relative efficiency of individual differences variables and user-based situational variables as predictors of the actual information/knowledge needed by users to accomplish word processing tasks. Information seeking versus information use is discussed, and results of canonical correlation analyses are…

Argues that knowing the temperamental differences of young children can assist classroom teachers in being more responsive to children's various needs and in providing developmentally appropriate classrooms. Recommends ways to adapt the classroom environment for many interaction and learning styles. (MM)

Argues that a new definition of affect that focuses on the subjective understanding of interpersonal events, can be used to expand models of how observed family behaviors are related to adolescent psychosocial outcomes. A method for examining adolescents' subjective understanding of family behaviors, the video-recall method, is illustrated in a…