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This paper describes findings from the Science Students in Primary School (SSIPS) project in which undergraduate science specialist student teachers were placed in primary schools where they "co-taught" investigative science and technology lessons with primary teachers. Students and teachers planned, taught and evaluated science lessons together. Almost six months after the student placement, a survey of children's attitudes to school science revealed that these children enjoyed science lessons more, and showed fewer gender or age differences in their attitudes to science than children who had not been involved in the project. Confidence audits completed by student teachers before and after the project indicated significant increases in confidence in many aspects of science teaching. The authors discuss how this model of collaborative planning, teaching and evaluation can both enhance initial teacher education and improve children's experience of science. (Author)

The purpose of this study was to examine the factor structure that underlies students' perceptions of intellectual progress and personal growth and to suggest additional ways of using survey information. The study was based on a sample of 68,650 students who completed the American College Testing College Outcomes between 1999 and 2001. From the Progress scale of 26 items, researchers identified four factors: General Education and Skills; Critical Thinking; Science, Mathematics, and Technology; and Career Preparation. From the Growth scale of 36 items, four other factors were identified: Academic and Whole Person Skills; Social Interaction Skills, Political and Societal Awareness; and Personal and Spiritual Values. These two sets of factors were similar across institution type, especially with regard to items in each factor that had the highest factor loadings. In addition, factor means were computed for each institutional type so that colleges can compare their results with those of similar institutions. (Contains 12 tables and 22 references.) (Author/SLD)

This publication results from on ongoing collaboration between the U.S. Secret Service and the U.S. Department of Education. Its goals are to determine whether it could have been known that incidents of targeted violence at schools were being planned and whether anything could have been done to prevent them from occurring. Results from the Secret Service's Exceptional Case Study Project (ECSP) are used to organize planning. This report describes the Safe School Initiative, defines "targeted" school violence, and discusses the prevalence of school violence in American schools. The methodology of this study, sources of information, and an analysis of survey responses are also discussed. Incidents of targeted school violence are characterized, including characteristics of the attacker, conceptualization of the attack, and signaling, advancing, and resolving the attack. Implications of study findings and the use of threat assessment as a strategy to prevent school violence are presented. Appendix A lists incidents of targeted school violence by state; Appendix B lists these incidents by year; and Appendix C is a list of resources. Contact information follows the appendices. (Contains 13 references and 2 Web site resources.) (RT)

This paper examines trends in second language communication strategies (CSs), explaining that when language learners concentrate on form or accuracy, they encounter problems, and when they recognize the mismatch between their linguistic resources and communicative intentions, they try to solve these problems using CSs (e.g., appeals for help, literal translation, circumlocution, approximation, and coinage). The paper presents an historical overview of CS research, definitions of CSs offered, and the various taxonomies proposed in the literature, which include the following: Varadi's taxonomy, Tarone's taxonomy, Bialystok's taxonomy, Faerch and Kasper's taxonomy, Corder's taxonomy, the Nijmegan Group taxonomy, Dornyei and Scott's taxonomy, and the author's taxonomy, which was based on a pilot study conducted to assess the suitability of tasks for eliciting strategic behavior and the quality of the data collection procedures. The paper also discusses data elicitation methods and data analysis procedures, and it highlights the major problems with existing taxonomies and their classification of CSs into different categories. After looking at the teachability of CSs, the paper concludes that research into CSs has made an important contribution to second language learning, and this research has made much progress during the decades since 1972, when the term "strategies of second language communication" was introduced. (Contains 71 bibliographic references.) (SM)

This paper summarizes work from a dissertation that examines the determinants of public school performance, focusing on the roles of incentives and parental involvement. The thesis presents theory and related empirics. In the theory, it analyzes the effects of competition on public school productivity, with and without parental involvement, as well as the parental involvement decision itself. In the empirical work, it measures the relative impacts of competition and collective parental pressure on school performance and the strength of interactions between them. The thesis makes three main contributions. First, it presents a conceptual framework for understanding how the sorts of incentives public schools face in practice affect school productivity. Second, the research provides empirical evidence that highlights collective parental pressure as an important determinant of school performance, as measured by achievement tests. Third, it provides estimates that cast doubt on the common presumption that greater competition will raise public-school productivity uniformly. The thesis concludes by discussing policy implications and offering a few brief thoughts about unresolved issues. (Author/WFA)

This paper summarizes work from a dissertation, the main contribution of which was to develop and estimate a new empirical framework for analyzing the equilibrium outcomes of families' choices for choosing a particular residence. The principal component of the framework is a random-coefficients discrete-choice model of the residential location decision. This specification provides a form for utility, considering a household's preferences for a wide range of community features, including many that depend directly on how households sort across communities. The resulting estimates provide a complete picture of a households preferences for the location, schools, crime, environmental amenities, sociodemographic composition, housing characteristics, and price, as well as how these preferences vary with its own characteristics, including its place of work, race, education, and income. The objectives of the dissertation were to provide insight into the underlying factors that drive matching of households with their schools, thereby expanding understanding of the issue, and to expand the conceptual and empirical framework for thinking about many of the economic and social issues related to the interactions of the local public economy, education market, and urban land and labor markets. (Author/WFA)

This study examines women's experiences in pursuing careers in the arts or music. Data for the study was gathered through a survey mailed to a random sample of women graduates (n=73) from an internationally known school for music and art. While most survey questions were closed-ended and focused on demographic information, the most revealing information was found in participants' responses to open-ended questions which asked about specific events and college experiences that had encouraged or discouraged them from pursing careers in their majors. Grounded analysis of the data revealed connections between the messages women received and how such messages affected their careers. Messages were grouped according to the following characteristics: tone (positive or negative); whether the message applied only to women or could be equally applied to men; the sender and the sender's relationship to the woman. The study notes that the fields of music and the arts are almost devoid of cultural diversity and concludes that neither education nor society encourage women to freely develop their talents and creativity. It finds that in order for women to succeed in music and the arts, they must develop a strong self-esteem and the skills to contradict negative messages. (CH)

This paper discusses the dangers of technological momentum. Technological momentum is defined as the increase in the rate of the evolution of technology, its infusion into societal tasks and recreations, society's dependence on technology, and the impact of technology on society. Topics of discussion include changes in response to user needs, instructional technology, opposition to ways educational technology is used, the background of technological momentum, the first computers, changes as a result of technology, technology in daily living and entertainment, competition, importance of control, dehumanization, loss of teacher and student characteristics, reduction of achievement levels, administration, and interaction. (Contains 15 references.) (AEF)

The purpose of this study was to investigate the nature of students' responses to an innovative curriculum unit in which I attempted to help students build bridges between traditional practices and beliefs about aspects of health and conventional western science concepts. This paper reports on the responses of one articulate student, who has given the pseudonym Lystra. Lystra was a member of a class of forty students whose ages range between 12 and 17 years and who attended a secondary school that was situated in a rural community. The class was exposed to a unit of five lessons that was designed to help students to access conventional western science concepts by comparing the traditional and western science ways of knowing. Lystra's responses obtained from classroom discussions and activities and pre- and post tests on the unit were analyzed qualitatively in order to discern themes and patterns. Further post-hoc analysis of the responses within Jegede's (1995) collateral learning model revealed that Lystra had engaged in parallel, dependent, and secured collateral learning. The implications for further research into science teaching and into the assessment of science learning are discussed. (Contains 23 references.) (Author)

A brief survey of several comprehensive reviews of studies of the effects of desegregation on black achievement makes it clear that the experts are still in disagreement, and it is in the hope of finally bringing about a consensus on the subject that the National Institute of Education (NIE) has established a representative panel of experts to review the evidence and pass judgment on this issue. The 19 studies selected for review and analysis by the NIE panel did not include cross-sectional studies or longitudinal studies without a control group; all the selected studies fulfilled a quasi-experimental design, with pre- and post-tests as well as a segregated control group. Analysis of the studies in terms of each reseacher's own significant tests and the meta-analysis technique employed by the NIE panel shows no significant and consistent effects of desegregation on black achievement. There is virtually no effect for math achievement. For reading, the best that can be said is that only a handful of grade levels show substantial positive effects, while the large majority of grade levels show small and inconsistent effects that average out to almost zero. The fact that only a small fraction of these studies show substantial effects strongly suggest that factors other than desegregation are the real causes of the large achievement gains that are documented. (CMG)

The decision by the National Institute of Education panel on the effects of school desegregation to select (for meta-analysis) a small group of preferred studies based upon criteria chosen in advance of examining the studies was, in principle, a mistake. One usually cannot know until the data have been examined which of several competing methodological criteria are most important. In the case of the effects of desegregation on minority achievement, Crain and Mahard in their 1982 review of 93 desegregation studies found a methodological error so specific to desegregation research that it was not even recognized as an error until the review was done. The error was that studies of the effects of desegregation on minority achievement will underestimate any effects when using subjects who have not been in desegregated settings since kindergarten or Grade 1. Whereas Crain and Mahard found 20 studies of blacks in desegregated settings since kindergarten or Grade 1, the panel discarded all but one of them because they did not fit their chosen-in-advance criteria. Of the 20 studies identified by Crain and Mahard, 16 showed consistent positive outcomes and only 2 were negative. If the principal function of selecting a superior subgroup of studies is to find the consistency of results which is masked by error in an unselected sample, Crain and Mahard succeeded, and the panel did not. (CMG)

It appears that relatively little thought has been given to the methods for reviewing, synthesizing, and reporting the results of a set of empirical studies on a given substantive topic. The question is raised as to whether the studies that have been reviewed constitute a population or a sample, and if a sample, whether they are representative or biased or random so that inferences can be tested with confidence. The purposes of this study were to: describe the various methods used for specified aspects of reviews and syntheses, determine the frequency of the alternative methods, critically evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of these methods, and suggest ways in which more powerful and valid reviews and syntheses can be done. The primary source of data was a content analysis of a random sample of reviews and of a sample of allegedly exemplary reviews. The author concludes that although such reviews are important to science and social policy-making, many integrative reviews are done less rigorously than is currently possible. This paper and the recent work of Gene Glass suggest several ideas for improving the prevailing methods for reviews. (Author/CTM)

A study to determine the relationship of a teacher's characteristics and experience to a learner's cognitive attainment of law-related content is discussed. Over 1,000 learners and 57 teachers who had participated in a Law in a Changing Society Workshop provided data for the study. The workshop provided participants with law-related materials and instructional techniques for standard social studies curricula at various grade levels. Classroom sets of data covered five subject areas: fifth grade United States History, seventh grade Texas Studies, eighth grade American History I, ninth through 11th grade American History II, and 12th grade Civics. Control groups were comprised of classes with teachers who neither attended the workshop nor received law-focused materials. Instruments for both teachers and students contained affective and cognitive items. Results indicate that differences among teachers regarding content knowledge, instructional skills, and teaching experience result in cognitive attainment differences among classes of learners. However, the effect of the individual teacher is more pronounced in the upper grades. (KC)

This paper provides an overview of educational materials available for parents to use in facilitating their children's learning. The primary focus is on developing parental support systems which extend learning into the home through creative and effective use of materials. General considerations such as the larger social context of the learning process, historical changes in family interaction patterns, the role of play, and the role of the community in children's learning are briefly discussed. The current status of mass market materials is discussed in more detail, with consideration given to materials for different age groups, materials concerned with contemporary society (those concerned with human ecology, nutrition, health education, consumer education, social relations, etc.), and materials designed to offer parental support in fostering informal learning in children. Also covered are special home-school-community programs that foster parent-child interaction with respect to school learning; publications on parenting; and inadequacies and gaps in the mass market supply (sex-stereotyped materials; lack of consumer guidance in toy selection; lack of multicultural materials; safety problems; lack of creative educational materials; lack of materials adapted to the needs of handicapped children and their families; and lack of materials reflecting current knowledge about child development). A plan of action for materials development and distribution is recommended for implementation by the National Institute of Education. (Author/SS)

Telephone interviews were conducted with 308 adults in a large eastern metropolitan area as part of a study to discover levels of satisfaction with present television programing; awareness of and exposure to religious broadcasts; motivations for exposure to "The 700 Club," a nationally syndicated religious program; and potential utilization of Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) alternatives to traditional television fare. It was found that there was marked dissatisfaction with present television fare among a sizable segment of the sample, that more respondents were aware of religious broadcasting than watched it, that seeking spiritual guidance was the most important factor influencing exposure to "The 700 Club," and that the greatest interest in alternative programing was for prime time and early evening news. However, no strong and systematic relationship existed between satisfaction with present programing and interest in the CBN alternative--although people who felt there was too much sex and violence or felt there should be more censorship of present television programs were more likely to express interest in and view CBN alternatives. (TJ)

After seven judges had ranked 30 families for observed parental consumer teaching orientations and family television viewing habits, one family was selected for each cell of a 3X3 factorial design for age of children (3 to 5, 6 to 8, 9 to 11) and family consumer teaching orientation (high, moderate, low). These nine family groups were observed over three months in family group viewing situations. The observational records supported the view that children, including preschoolers, are potentially sophisticated viewers, able to deal with television advertising and affected by the family group's particular consumer-related skills and knowledge. The findings challenged the view that a child's ability to understand television advertising is determined at age-graded stages of cognitive development. As skilled interactants at early ages, children identify and define the nature of television commercials in relation to consumer-related levels of interaction with parents, make demands and requests of parents and others in relation to the character of viewing situations, seek out information about commercial content and other social events, plan future social actions toward and through television commercials, and negotiate various joint acts with others while situated in front of the family television set. (RL)

This booklet describes the Police/Student Relations (PSR) project, which is a new approach to delinquency prevention. The method which is outlined used parts of familiar program plans, but takes advantage of natural abilities and characteristics which allow children to continue functioning in a healthy way, changing their attitudes before they become involved in the juvenile justice system. After describing the program, the booklet devotes a whole chapter to explaining why this project is effective where so many others have failed. Research results of the PSR are reported, and instructions are given for ways to start such a program in a new neighborhood. Finally, a list of problems the teacher might do well to anticipate is presented. Samples and excerpts from the PSR instructional materials are included in the appendix. (Author/BP)

Several treatment approaches to cigarette smoking were investigated, including a nicotine fading procedure in which subjects changed their cigarette brand each week to one containing progressively less nicotine and tar; a self-monitoring procedure in which subjects plotted their daily intake of nicotine and tar; a combined nicotine fading/self-monitoring procedure; and a slightly modified American Cancer Society Stop Smoking Program. Smokers (N=40) were assigned to one of the treatment programs. Results at the six-month follow-up showed that the nicotine fading/self-monitoring treatment was the superior procedure on all dependent measures: abstinence rate (50%), daily nicotine intake (69% reduction from baseline), daily tar intake (71% reducation from baseline). While the combined treatment program produced success rates in the range of those obtained by the aversive rapid smoking procedure (the most successful procedure to date), the nonaversive combined program did not share some of the inherent limitations of the aversive procedure. Results suggest that the nicotine fading/self-monitoring approach may be a more reasonable treatment for persons with heart disease, emphysema and asthma, and may hold promise for the more general cigarette smoking population as well. (Author)

Youths who approved of adventurous, youth-oriented activities were likely to be more involved in delinquent behavior than those who did not, but no relationship was found between approval of more serious offenses and extent of delinquent involvement. Based on questionnaire responses from institutionalized girls in two juvenile reformatories, findings indicate that attitudes of those engaging in serious delinquent activity were similar to the attitudes of those who did not. This argues against the common assumption that delinquents have values different from nondelinquents. Instead, support emerged for the argument that delinquents drift into and out of delinquent behavior. It appears that individuals engage in delinquent behavior because they are periodically released from moral constraint. (BN)

Between 1959 and 1975, television replaced newspapers as the public's major source of news. To examine this trend in further detail, a national sample of 1,519 adults were asked to construct diaries of their activities during one day in the fall of 1975. These adults were also interviewed for their use of television news and newspapers. In a static context, the media appeared to follow a supplementary rather than complementary/competitive pattern. In a cross-time context, however, free time increased significantly from 1965 to 1975, while time devoted to newspapers decreased. Moreover, television viewing increased dramatically, particularly among older people. Increased television viewing was found for younger people, but the younger age groups also gave evidence of a "tradeoff" between newspapers and more specialized media (magazines and books). The results suggest that American television's second stage of development, in which news and reality-oriented content increased, made inroads on newspaper reading habits. In its third stage of development, the coming age of more personalized packaging via tapes and discs, television may challenge the specialized media of magazines and books. (RL)

The role of women as higher education faculty and administrators is investigated in this portion of a review of the literature on academic women since 1970. The various types and orientations of the studies reviewed are discussed and analyzed. The topic of sex discrimination was found to dominate a majority of the research on faculty women. Two types of discrimination studies are discussed: descriptive and explanatory. The descriptive research tended to produce similar conclusions: faculty women's mobility, promotion rates, salaries, access to research and opportunity networks, are all subject to discrimination in relation to men. The explanatory studies examine such questions as why there is discrimination and how it works. Productivity and success elements are also examined in these studies that focus on the significance of the differences between males and females. The theme of discrimination was found to be central to the research on women administrators. In general the research shows that administrative employment patterns vary substantially by race and sex, and that salary differentials are most consistently related to sex. Examples from specific works are cited in the analysis of research on both women faculty and administrators. It is concluded that this literature review provides an assessment of the efforts to equalize the opportunities and advantages available to women. Recommendations for further study are included as well as an extensive bibliography. (SF)

Clinchy and Rosenthal's error classification scheme was applied to test results to determine its ability to differentiate the effectiveness of instruction in two elementary schools. Mathematics retention tests matching the instructional objectives of both schools were constructed to measure the understanding of arithmetic concepts and the ability to perform computations and algorithmic operations. Inter-school comparisons were made with respect to the types of errors made: computational, algorithmic, and omission. Fifth grade students in one school made significantly fewer computational errors than in the other school. In the remaining grades, there were no significant differences. Additional practice exercises were recommended to correct this error. Other students made significantly more algorithmic errors and a four-step approach to teaching algorithms was outlined to alleviate this weakness. Significant inter-school differences in omissions errors were noted in grades 5 and 6--the students concerned would also benefit by a more systematic approach to algorithm teaching. In sum, the error classification scheme can be used to evaluate instructional programs and to suggest instructional improvements. (CP)

A study was conducted to identify the independent and conjoint influence of attitude similarity and initial interactions on interpersonal attraction to relative strangers. The 124 college students who were participants in the study were informed that they would be working on a project with either an attitudinally similar or dissimilar stranger (based on an attitudinal measure previously administered). Half of the participants were then allowed to engage in an initial interaction with their partner and the other half were not. All of the participants completed a measure of interpersonal attraction. The results indicated that initial interaction and attitude similarity combined to influence attraction to relative strangers. Initial interaction had a positive impact on attraction, but only for individuals paired with attitudinally dissimilar partners. Individuals paired with attitudinally similar partners were more attracted to their partners than were inidividuals paired with attitudinally dissimilar partners, but only when they had not engaged in an initial interaction with the partner. (Author/FL)

Successful reading comprehension lessons given to primary grade children seem to incorporate the following four elements: (1) Two-thirds of lesson time is spent on the direct instruction of comprehension. (2) The major teaching strategy used is one in which the children's background knowledge of the text is explored first, before the text is read (experience-text-relationship method). (3) Questions are asked at a variety of levels, ranging from factual and literal to interpretive and critical. (4) Instruction is responsive, with the teacher's questions growing out of the preceding responses of the children. When the lessons of a teacher whose instruction incorporated all of these features were compared to those of one whose instruction showed only the third and fourth features, it was found, with minor exceptions, that the level of student achievement-related behaviors was much higher in the lessons of the first teacher than in those of the second. (Author/RL)