Meta-analytic methods were used to synthesize research on the relationship between student ratings of instruction and student achievement. Results provide strong support for the validity of student ratings as measures of teaching effectiveness. (Author/GK)

The question of whether skills in achieving understanding and retention of information at high levels of abstraction can be taught is addressed by analyzing some of the mental processes involved, and briefly reviewing a number of attempts that have been made to induce these processes. (Author)

Using criterion-referenced test item data collected in an empirical study, differences in item selection between Cox and Vargas' pretest-posttest validity index and a latent trait approach (evaluation of the item information function for the mastery score) are analyzed. (Author/GK)

This review of Bloom's taxonomy complements and supplements an earlier review which concentrated on its statistical properties. It reviews unpublished studies and published literature over a 25-year period. The focus is on the claimed properties of neutrality, comprehensiveness, cumulative hierarchical structure, and usefulness. (Author/DWH)

The author contends Glass, Peckham, and Sanders erred in discouraging the use of nonparametric counterparts of the t-test, even when it was known data were sampled from skewed distributions. He believes Wilcoxon's rank-sum test has power properties that make it preferable in most nonnormal population situations. (Author/DWH)

Early work by Bartlett in memory theory is contrasted with the more firmly entrenched empirical-associationistic notions of his time. Contemporary lines of research are then discussed within the perspective of this ongoing controversy. A more purely constructive model with active processing during retention, recall, and comprehension is presented.…

In an attempt to understand why the promise of educational innovation has not been realized, educational innovation, its ideological and paradigmatic underpinnings, and the major stages of the innovation process are critically examined. The centrality of power and the generation of correspondence and contradiction as key analytical concepts are…

Research review is conceptualized as a scientific inquiry involving five stages that parallel those of primary research. The functions, sources of variance, and potential threats to validity associated with each stage are described. (Author/PN)

The available methods for analyzing and interpreting data with multivariate analysis of variance are reviewed, and guidelines for their use are presented. Causal models that underlie the various methods are presented to facilitate the use and understanding of the methods. (Author/PN)

An analysis of the school climate literature, based on over 200 references, uses an organizational taxonomy to organize the diverse body of research and climate typologies. It draws conclusions about common findings and summarizes methodological issues common to school climate studies. (Author/PN)

A common criticism of student ratings of instruction is that they are affected by the personal style of the instructor rather than an instructor's ability to convey instructional material. It was found that instructor expressiveness had a substanial impact on student ratings but a small impact on student achievement. (Author/PN)

The authors review existing research which links three sets of variables: (1) organizational characteristics, (2) how efficacy operates within the individual, and (3) the individual and organizational effects with which efficacy has been empirically connected. Efficacy is defined in terms of the individual's expectancy of gaining valued outcomes…

Available experimental evidence is reviewed concerning the keyword method, a two-stage procedure for remembering materials having an associative component. The review examines subjects' memory for definitions, given vocabulary words; subjects' learning of other aspects of vocabulary, given definitions; group-administered keyword studies; and…

A meta-analysis of 128 studies of the relationship between self and achievement/performance measures reported correlations in the range of -.77 to .96 with an "average" correlation of .21. This average relationship was modified by several variables, including, among others, grade level of subjects, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, and…

The importance of the following is demonstrated: (1) striking a balance between the attention given to resource allocation practices at macro compared to microlevels of decision making; and (2) learning more about how resource allocation decisions made at one level affect practices at other levels of the educational system. (Author/GK)