Investigated the moderating influence of parents' negative self-feelings on the relationship between parental educational attainment and children's self-perceived parental expectations and between children's self-perceived parental expectations and academic performance. A significant relationship existed between parental educational attainment and…

Meta-analyzed data from six national studies of elementary through high school students to determine the relationship between amount of television viewing and educational achievement. According to a complex viewing-achievement model, for small amounts of viewing, achievement increased with viewing, but as viewing increased beyond a certain point,…

Examined teacher and student roles in, and reactions to, a student-centered instructional geometry program using the Geometer's Sketchpad booklet. Seventh graders worked cooperatively using the computer-based instructional tutorial. Observation, survey, and interview data indicated that the teacher had difficulty relinquishing control of learning,…

Analyzed the 1994 Grade 4 Maryland National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) regarding the effects on reading achievement and engagement of: students' amount of engaged reading, parental education, gender, balanced reading instruction, and reading opportunities. Amount of engaged reading predicted reading achievement after controlling for…

Examined similarities and differences in high school language teachers' practical knowledge about teaching reading comprehension. Teacher surveys indicated that part of teachers' practical knowledge was shared knowledge. Four scales of unshared practical knowledge were distinguished. On the basis of those scales, four clusters of teachers were…

Presents an analysis of affirmative action policy that takes into account students vastly different social contexts of choice. Defends affirmative action as necessary because of its role in combating oppressive educational structures, fostering more favorable social contexts of choice for students, and thus supporting self-determination.…

Examines the nature of the "consensus" reflected in educational standards used to orient high-stakes assessment programs and considers the discourse of standards creation and how standards are used to orient assessment development and performance judgments. Discusses the theoretical perspectives of J. Habermas and H. Gadamer. (Author/SLD)

Studied the validity of teacher judgments based on the Work Sampling System (WSS), a curriculum-embedded performance assessment for preschool to grade 5. Results for 345 K-3 students in 17 classrooms demonstrate that the WSS correlates well with a standardized, individually administered psychoeducational battery and is a reliable predictor of…

Analyzed the quality of intellectual reasoning of a class of high school students with standardized reading scores in the bottom quartile on 1 day of instruction and examined the knowledge base of the teacher to coach and scaffold a different intellectual culture among students who were underachieving. Findings show the development of an…

Studied levels of principled moral reasoning of 145 teacher education students in comparison with 2 composite samples of students with other majors. Results corroborate earlier findings that teacher education students demonstrate significantly lower principled moral reasoning scores and suggest that levels of moral reasoning may affect ethical…

Developed two empirical measures designed to assess educators personal and professional beliefs about diversity, the Personal Beliefs about Diversity Scale and the Professional Beliefs about Diversity Scale. Results of reliability and validity studies of the scales, including pilot tests and field studies that involved 756 preservice and…

Evaluated multidimensional students evaluations of teaching (SETs), workload (workload for students), grades, perceived learning, and background variables through confirmatory factor analysis of previously published data. Results show that SETs and teaching effectiveness can both be improved by increasing good workload and decreasing bad workload.…

Provides empirically based insights into preferences, perceptions, and responses of parents of students with special education needs to the 1990s restructured school system in England. Uses analyses of quantitative/qualitative data generated by a large-scale research study on school choice. Reveals depth and range of problems encountered by these…

Discusses informed consent regarding research with children in educational settings. Considers issues that arose in the process of gaining their consent to participate in research on children's understandings of parental involvement in education. Raises questions about distinctions between providing information and teaching and conducting ethical…

Demonstrates that average A/AS level results secured by English institutions from year to year are very stable. States correlations decrease substantially when account is taken of intake characteristics. Shows that predicting future value added performance from past trends is unreliable. Discusses implications of findings. (BT)