Investigated reading achievement and attitudes as a function of grade, gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status for 1,968 students in grades K-5 in Georgia. Findings show a small but significant relationship between reading achievement and attitudes toward reading. Ethnic differences were found with respect to reading achievement. (SLD)

Collected Stanford Achievement Test, Eighth Edition scores for 560 elementary school students in a mid-southern urban school district, two-thirds of whom were black, and half of whom were magnet school participants. Findings show statistically significant differences for magnet/nonmagnet and black/white groups. Adjusted posttest scores of black…

Studied the stability of scores on the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, Third Edition (WISC-III) over a 3-year period for 54 rural school students with learning disabilities. Mean full scale IQ scores did not change significantly between the measurement periods, but 20% of students showed significant change, and 33% of the sample showed…

Examined and categorized 203 teaching cases written by 8 groups of preservice teachers offering literacy-based arts lessons to elementary school students. Analysis revealed 11 major themes, 10 of which related to problematic issues. Only one theme highlighted the achievements and success of the preservice teachers as they recognized the increased…

Studied whether significant differences existed in the work cultures of schools with high student achievement scores and low student achievement scores focusing on six Florida elementary schools. Schools grouped based on student achievement were found to have significantly different work cultures, with more collaborative cultures in higher…

Explores aspects of implementing an elementary professional development school (PDS) with a faculty of 80 teachers over a 1-year period. Findings of this ethnographic case study report the visions of teachers in this PDS, the processes that impacted the sharing of teachers' visions, and the PDS efforts that encouraged teachers to explicate and…

Studied an elementary school in Casper, Wyoming, that functions without a principal. Each of the identified responsibilities of the principal is assigned to one or two individuals. Teacher teams appear to handle management responsibilities rather successfully, but are not addressing many of the leadership responsibilities of building principals.…

How four experienced elementary school teachers reflected on a social studies lesson they had taught and then viewed on videotape was studied. Teachers most frequently used experience and theory to explain their instructional approaches, and they appreciated the opportunity to reflect on their own practices. (SLD)

Whether there is a relationship between teachers' ratings of principal effectiveness and school-based council effectiveness was studied with 320 elementary school teachers and 19 elementary principals in Kentucky. Overall principal perception was correlated to successfully viewed school-based decision-making meetings, the basic source of…

Implications of the relationships among mathematics and reading achievement tests scores uncovered by testing 366 elementary school students with academic difficulties are discussed. Tests are the: (1) KeyMath-Revised (J. Connolly, 1988); (2) Peabody Individual Achievement Test-Revised (F. Markwardt, 1989); (3) Wechsler Individual Achievement Test…

The hypothesis that reading instruction designed to incorporate students' preferred reading styles resulted in greater achievement gain when compared to controls was tested with 198 third and sixth graders. Results support the hypothesis that incorporating reading styles in reading instruction result in greater achievement gain. (SLD)

A qualitative inquiry describes the sociocultural aspects of an urban elementary school serving as the context for a reading/language arts early field experience and examines how the sociocultural factors of this school contribute to the professional development of the preservice teachers who work there and their three supervising teachers. (SLD)

Rates of retention over a five-year period were analyzed by grade, school, and the socioeconomic status of each of 32 elementary schools in a Midwestern district. Analysis of variance revealed that schools of middle socioeconomic status retained students at a significantly higher rate than did schools of low or high socioeconomic status. (SLD)

The Lasting Benefits Study is following up the effects of small class size on the achievement of elementary school students in Tennessee's Student/Teacher Achievement Ratio Project (Project STAR). Results show improved achievement for participants in small classes up through grade 3 that last at least through grades 4 and 5. (SLD)