Abstracts of important research on cognitive style, which has implications for individualized instruction, are presented. Studies are presented which investigate the effect of early childhood coorelates of cognitive style, consider the impact of family environment on the highly intelligent and highly creative adolescent, examines similarities and…

Presents findings from a longitudinal study of reading comprehension development that revealed a negative relationship between the amount of time kindergarten and first-grade teachers spend reading to their students' reading achievement. Results are discussed in terms of a "displacement theory." Students' reading achievement is related to their…

Researchers used a fifth-grade videodisc fractions program to examine accountability in mastery learning programs. Four classes were randomly assigned to two treatments (those who were and were not aware of participation in mastery learning). Results revealed standardized mean differences for achievement favoring knowledge of being in the mastery…

This study examined preferences for computer graphics among elementary school students. Researchers constructed high female interest, high male interest, and equal interest pictures; then students rated their interest in them. Girls rated high female interest pictures highest and high male interest pictures lowest. The opposite was true for boys.…

The effects of students' conceptual levels and teachers' instruction patterns on students' motivation to learn academic course content were investigated. An examination of 63 students indicated that for low-conceptual-level students, direct teaching methods maximized motivation to learn course content. For high-conceptual-level students, nondirect…

Study investigated elementary student teachers' propositional knowledge of classroom management, examining their conceptions of control. Elementary student teachers completed a survey with two tasks designed to elicit thinking about rule-based, dominance, and nurturance conceptions of classroom control. Results indicated rule-based conceptions…

This review includes recent research that manipulated features of cooperative learning as well as studies of the relationship between interaction in small groups and outcomes. The analysis examines the kinds of discourse that are productive for different types of learning and moves toward studies of task and interaction. (SLD)

This article discusses the importance of studying interest and reviews research on the association between interest and prior knowledge to conclude that there is a substantial linear relationship between the two. A model of the interest-knowledge relationship is updated, and the similarity between interest and curiosity is explored. (SLD)

Nearly 140 studies of motivation in African Americans were reviewed. The review is organized around five topics that are subsumed under three assumptions about the relationship between ethnic minority status and motivation. African Americans appear to maintain a belief in personal control, have high expectancies, and enjoy positive self-regard.…

How educators define and study school effectiveness is shaped by "policy mechanics" who attempt to define inputs that raise student achievement and by classroom culturalists who focus on implicitly modeled norms in the classroom. This article reviews how these two paths are informed by research in developing countries. (SLD)

This article summarizes results from tests that have allowed examinee choice of test items. It paints a bleak psychometric picture for the use of examinee choice within fair tests. Choice is anathema to standardized testing unless the aspects that characterize the test are irrelevant to what is being tested. (SLD)

Reviews two models for assessment, the measurement model and the standards model, their underlying assumptions about learners, and the resulting implications for performance-based test development. Discusses the current testing debate, defines terms such as "authentic assessment" and "performance-based assessment," and discusses attempts to use…

Analyzes the relationships among antipolitics, institutional choice, and democratic governance. Presents the main arguments against democratic governance in education and discusses recently proposed alternatives to democratic governance in education. Considers the implications of democratic governance for educational reform in the United States…

Integrates an iteration of a recently developed theoretical empowerment framework with field-based data collected in a case study of one urban elementary school principal. Illustrates how school leaders can lead without violating the rights and professionalism of those with whom they work. (SLD)

Examined the influence of subject matter knowledge on students' recall of and interest in scientific exposition by assessing the topic knowledge and domain knowledge of 209 college students reading 2 passages from the physics domain. Findings tend to support a three-stage model of domain learning with an interactive picture of knowledge, recall,…