The SCORER learning-strategies approach was used to teach 28 middle school students how to take tests. SCORER refers to Schedule, Clue, Omit, Read, Estimate, Review. Benefit of instruction was measured in terms of near and far generalization. Results are discussed and recommendations are made. (Author/MT)

An interest inventory was administered to 99 fourth-graders and used to personalize a pool of word problems previously selected by experts. Subjects were then administered tests with standard and personalized problems. Results indicated that personalization improved performance in selecting the correct process but not in computation of correct…

Over 4,000 fifth graders were involved in a study to determine the effect of teacher oral reading of test items on good and poor readers. The findings suggested that having teachers read test items aloud during standardized tests yielded higher scores for both groups than having students read for themselves. (Author/MT)

The effects of school entrance age on school performance and adjustment were examined by comparing six groups, each representing two months of the year. While there were age group differences in the entry year, there were none in subsequent years. (Author/MT)

This study investigated the reliability, validity, and utility of three measures of letter-formation quality of handwriting samples from third and fifth-grade students. Findings are discussed with respect to criteria for validating an assessment instrument. (Author/MT)

The relationships between two curriculum variables (graduation requirements and course offerings in various subject areas) on performance on the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) were studied among students in 150 comprehensive high schools. Results indicated that neither graduation requirements nor the number of course offerings bore a statistically…

The preferred and actual classroom learning environment of 1,675 students from New South Wales, Australia were investigated. Three distinct types of schools were identified--self survival, indifferent, and cooperative and motivated. Four preferred environment types were identified--peer conflict, individualization; teacher-managed structure, and…

The role of cognitive style in academic counseling was examined in 427 female teacher education majors by investigation of field dependence among the students in different areas of specialization. Results supported the contention that field dependence is related to choice of area of specialization in a manner consistent with field dependence…

A microcomputer technique was used to measure the attention span of 115 boys and 117 girls in kindergarten through the ninth grade. Attentional ability increased only up through the fifth grade, and both the false alarm rate and the interstimulus interval scores were related to behavioral activity during test sessions. (Author/CB)

To determine the effect of background music on on-task-performance (OTP), 26 fifth grade science students were observed for 42 class sessions over a four-month period. Time-series analyses indicated a significant increase in OTP for male subjects and for the total class. (Author/CB)

A study investigated the effect of scholastic level, teacher orientation on a control/autonomy continuum, and pupil gender on 459 elementary school students' intrinsic motivation to engage in school work. Results indicated that teacher orientation toward autonomy enhanced the intrinsic motivation of girls on two of three dimensions, and that of…

The potential effect of goal setting to improve the spelling performance of elementary school students was examined. While results tended to support the hypothesis that the setting of specific and difficult goals improved performance more than simply asking students to do their best, differences in group means were not significant. (Author/CB)

The effect of post-passage question generation on comprehension question performance was examined. Students who were taught to generate "think"-type questions for reading comprehension performed better than students who were told to read and reread a story for comprehension on higher order inferential comprehension test items, but not on literal…

A study examined the value of two different sets of variables as predictors of first-grade writing achievement. A set consisting of six variables measuring cognitive development was found not to predict writing achievement, while another set consisting of seven subtests of the Canadian Readiness Test was found to be a significant predictor.…

Urban high school minority group students with differential preschool program histories were compared to controls on measures of school achievement, school sentiment, and perceptions of preschool experience. No main long-term effects were revealed, although favorable student evaluations of preschool were observed. (Author/MT)