Formulas to determine the necessary sample sizes for parametric tests of group comparisons are available from several sources and appropriate when population distributions are normal. However, in the context of nonnormal population distributions, researchers recommend Yuen's trimmed mean test, but formulas to determine sample sizes have not been…

Cognitive, motivational, and affective characteristics define classroom contexts, yet flow theory (e.g., M. Csikszentmihalyi, 1975) is 1 of only a few theoretical perspectives that interrelate these characteristics. The authors adapted constructs and methods from flow theory to examine the motivational, cognitive, and affective quality of…

In this article, the authors investigated the teacher practices that middle school students attend to when appraising their classroom's mastery goal structure. After students rated each item on the mastery goal structure scale, they wrote what their teacher did or said that led them to make that choice. Students' responses to the open-ended…

The authors designed a computer-based approach to enhance motivation and self-regulated learning. Participants of the quasi-experimental study were 6th-grade students (N = 151) who worked with a mathematics-learning software program during regular classroom instruction. In the 1st condition, students received attributional software-generated…

Although much research on teacher attrition and mobility exists, few researchers have addressed English teachers specifically. The present authors, using the 1999-2000 Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) and the Teacher Follow-Up Survey (TFS; National Center for Education Statistics, 2005) examined individual and school characteristics and…

The authors examined the use of effect sizes across an entire field, satisfying a goal J. Cohen (1997) suggested. They analyzed the extent to which researchers had reported effect sizes in the 5 major journals on gifted education between 1996 and 2005 and compiled data on the types of manuscripts published, whether researchers reported effect…

Federal standards established in 1997 allow respondents to select multiple-race categories. These new standards changed the single-race subgroup definitions that the government has required since 1977. Meta-analysis, research on long-term assessment trends, and other research involving historical comparisons must account for the definitional…

In this article, the authors examined whether there were different motivational profiles within a sample of kindergarteners (N = 110) learning science. The authors identified 3 profiles involving children's perceived competence in, liking, and ease of learning science by using cluster analysis. High motivational beliefs characterized the largest…

Using M. L. Maehr's (1984) theory of personal investment, the authors investigated associations among perceived peer relationships and achievement motivation during science class. Middle school and high school students (N = 253) completed a self-report questionnaire assessing peer classroom climate, achievement-related beliefs and values of a best…

It is important, when writing opinion essays, for students to consider and integrate both arguments and counterarguments to develop a final conclusion. In this article, the authors explored the effect of criteria instruction and a graphic organizer to promote integration of arguments and counterarguments. The researchers randomly assigned 84…

Students are often faced with the temptation of attractive activities, which may interfere with the learning task and result in detrimental effects on experience and performance. Seventy-seven students (50 girls, 27 boys; M age = 15.9 years; SD = 1.65 years) participated in an experiment that reflected the typical situation of students having to…

Recent interest in epistemic beliefs has given way to a proliferation of new measures. Yet, little is known about the psychometric properties of various measures when used with diverse populations. In this study, the authors explored the psychometric properties of a measure of existing epistemic beliefs, the Domain-Specific Belief Questionnaire…

Understanding students' conceptual deficiencies of fractions is an essential step toward effective teaching. The authors proposed a novel 2-component multidimensional item response theory (MIRT) model to analyze students' conceptual deficiencies of fractions in a group-wise fashion. They identified 5 latent classes for the 5th and 6th graders in…

The hierarchical linear model (HLM) is now commonly accepted as a useful modeling approach for multilevel data resulting from randomized field experiments. When multiple outcomes of interest exist, a multivariate extension of the conventional univariate HLM offers advantages over the usual application of separate HLM analyses for each of the…

Few researchers have considered the influence of school context, an important construct at earlier ages, on late adolescents' college adjustment. In a sample of second-semester freshmen (N = 266), the authors explored associations between a sense of school belonging and academic and psychological adjustment. Students' reports of belonging at the…