Two experiments with approximately 377 newly enlisted Air Force personnel and 182 college students investigated the validity of a reading span test combining a knowledge verification task with a word memorization task. Results support the hypothesis that word recall reflects the amount of working memory functional in reading. (SLD)

Two experiments involving 227 children aged 5 to 18 years suggest that working memory operates as a general system independent of the subject's reading skill and that dynamic testing procedures enhance predictions of reading performance. Individual differences in working memory do not appear restricted to an academic domain. (SLD)

Different methods of measuring print experience were studied for 63 fifth graders who completed daily activity diaries. Book reading time estimate was correlated with new measures of reading time that use a checklist. Results support recognition checklist measures as convenient proxy indicators of children's print exposure. (SLD)

In 3 experiments, a total of 48 native English speaking and 55 English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) college students chose alternatives to replace missing logical connectors in expository passages. Differences in meaning and use of the four connector types and implications for improving ESL programing are discussed. (SLD)

Findings from 4 experiments with a total of 218 college students, in which the retention interval for second-language vocabulary words was treated as a between-subjects factor, indicate that long-term forgetting is greater for learners instructed to use the keyword mnemonic than for learners engaged in rote rehearsal. (SLD)

Effects of mothers' need for approval on children's expectancies for success and persistence during failure were studied for 90 fifth graders attempting to solve 4 puzzles, 3 of which were unsolvable. Parental and situational variables affect children's achievement cognitions and behavior. Implications for parental socialization of achievement are…

The association of typical intellectual engagement with various abilities, and the association of such engagements with broader personality domain and available performance measures were studied with 138 undergraduate students (61 males and 77 females). Results demonstrate that individuals differ in typical intellectual engagement and that those…

Effects of total extracurricular activity participation (TEAP) during the last 2 years of high school were examined using data for 4,000 students from the High School and Beyond Survey. Results support a commitment-to-school hypothesis in which identification with school and school values is enhanced by TEAP. (SLD)

The usefulness of global items in predicting weighted-composite evaluations of teaching was evaluated with a sample of 17,183 classes from 105 institutions. Results suggest that, because global items account for a substantial amount of variance, a short evaluation form could capture much of the information needed for summative evaluation. (SLD)

Eight articles are presented, which examine the following issues defining current research in education of the gifted: (1) identification of separate areas of giftedness; (2) stability and predictability of precocity; (3) fulfillment of potential; (4) socioemotional adjustment of gifted individuals; and (5) sex differences in giftedness. (SLD)

Relationships among low-level reading skills, sentence verification, and error detection were studied using 91 fourth graders. Error detection was best predicted by subjects' tendency to generate inferences while reading. Literal text comprehension depended on low-level reading; strategic reading competence reflected a tendency to go beyond…

Predictions from the internal/external frame of reference model of H. W. Marsh (1986) and gender differences in the structure of academic self-concept were examined through path analyses of data from 231 Norwegian sixth graders (117 males and 114 females). Implications for the study of academic self-concept are discussed. (SLD)

The effects of students' misconceptions, declarative knowledge, and stimulus conditions on students' solutions to a problem in basic electricity were studied for 80 undergraduates at Iowa State University (Ames). The implications of the findings of influence by knowledge and stimulus conditions are discussed. (SLD)

The distinction between remembering text information and applying the acquired knowledge (making inferences) was studied with a dissociation paradigm, using 110 undergraduates who performed verification and recognition tasks. The same variables did not affect performance on the two tasks. Text organization affected recognition but not verification…

The 1986 internal/external frame of reference model of H. W. Marsh was tested using self-concept and self-efficacy responses of 410 Australian fifth grade students. Support for the model was found only for self-concept responses. Results are discussed in relation to academic self-concept. (SLD)