The purposes of this study were to analyze (1) the changes over time in the state anxiety level of children in a computer-assisted program of reading instruction and in classroom reading instruction, (2) the changes in state anxiety patterns as related to gender, achievement level, and ethnicity, and (3) the difference in anxiety levels of the students while in computer-assisted reading instruction and classroom reading instruction.

The purposes of this study were (1) to survey the amount of time spent by elementary educators in reading professional literature; (2) to survey elementary educators' purposes for reading professional literature; (3) to survey the availability of professional literature to elementary educators; (4) to survey the circumstances which encourage or discourage the reading of professional literature by elementary educators; (5) to survey the types of sources of professional literature used by elementary educators; (6) to compare the amount of time spent by elementary teachers, elementary administrators, and elementary teach educators in reading professional literature; (7) to compare elementary teachers', elementary administrators', and elementary teach educators' purposes for reading professional literature; (8) to compare the availability of professional literature to elementary teachers, elementary administrators, and elementary teacher educators; (9) to compare the circumstances which encourage or discourage professional reading among elementary teachers, elementary administrators, and elementary teacher educators; and (10) to compare the types of sources of professional literature used by elementary teachers, elementary administrators, and elementary teacher educators.

The problem of this study was to trace through available sources the history of Norma and Mel Gablers' work concerning the curricular appropriateness of textbooks and interpret in terms of motivation, scope, and effectiveness the identified impact of their work. The purpose of this study was to present a comprehensive report documenting specifically that which the Gablers have done, said, and represent. A chronology of events of the Gablers' textbook involvement from 1961 through 1981 has been recorded. Material written and/or distributed by the Gablers through their organization, Educational Research Analysts, has been reviewed and summarized with extensive documentation to convey the philosophy and intentions of the Gablers since their work in this area began. Specific passages of textbook content petitioned against by Norma Gabler before the Texas State Textbook Adoption Committee have been presented as organized around the Gabler outline, "Textbook Reviewing by Categories." Media presentations featuring the Gablers have been reviewed for the purpose of informing others about what types of information have been presented to the American public about this issue and to offer a glimpse into the human nature characteristics of the Gablers as personalities. Professional educator reaction into this probe of textbook content is offered …

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of specialized skill instruction on the ability of sixth-grade students to solve mathematics word problems. Subjects were 578 sixth graders from eight elementary schools. Researcher-developed materials were used based on seven identified content strands. Specific sections of a widely used achievement test were used to identify ability groups in both reading and mathematics and served as the pretest and posttest measures.

The focus of this study was to determine the unique contribution of I.Q., gender, instructional organization, time on the computer, classroom instructional time, ethnicity and total instructional time to the predictability of achievement gain in a computer-assisted instructional setting in reading. The sample consisted of 2,000 students in grades three and five from a large suburban school district in the Dallas - Fort Worth area. The students were given the Iowa Test of Basic Skills to determine reading achievement gains and the Cognitive Abilities Test to determine I.Q. levels. The study was conducted over a five month period during the 1984 - 1985 school year. Using multiple regression, the data were analyzed.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of a transitional first grade program. A comparison of reading and math achievement and school attitude was the focus of the study. The study utilized a pretest/posttest design. The group of regular first grade students who qualified for the transitional program but attended regular first grade was the control group. The group of transitional first grade students was the experimental group. The regular first grade students received formal instruction in all academic areas. The experimental group received no formal instruction. All students were pretested and posttested using the Iowa Test of Basic Skills and the Minnesota School Attitude Survey. Testing was administered to small groups of five or less by the researcher. Scoring was done also by the researcher. An analysis of covariance was used to determine if a significant difference existed between the groups. The analysis of covariance did not produce a significant F at the .05 level when applied to the Iowa Test of Basic Skills except for reading for boys in both groups. The numbers in each cell were low and no further comparisons were made. Due to a testing date that was approved late in the …

This investigation compared achievement of boys and girls in second grade who were seven years old in June, July, and August of 1983 to the boys and girls in second grade who were eight years old in September, October, and November of 1983. The students were tested using the Iowa Test of Basic Skills using the following areas: reading, total math, and composite scores. The study also looked at the correlation of sex and age of students who had been retained in first grade. A comparison of teacher grades to standardized test scores and ability grouping was also presented. One way analysis of variance was applied to the test results. A chi square test of independence was conducted on students retained in the first grade to determine if interaction between sex and age was indicated. Older children scored higher in all three areas measured, while girls scored higher in reading. This may seem contradictory, but is not. Age was significant beyond the .05 level, while sex was significant beyond the .001 level. This difference is explained by the extremes in means for younger boys and older girls. Since first grade curriculum emphasizes reading, this gave girls a definite advantage over …

The purposes of this study were to determine if a kindergartener's developmental stage correlates with subsequent scholastic achievement, to determine whether developmentally younger children who repeat kindergarten attain higher academic achievement than developmental 1y younger children who do not repeat kindergarten, and to investigate the relationship between head circumference, developmental age, and achievement. Ninety-seven kindergartners of various ethnicity and socio-economic status were administered the Gesell School Readiness Screening Test to determine developmental age and were followed academically for three years. Head circumference was noted periodically to measure brain growth. The hypotheses predicted significant positive correlations between developmental age in kindergarten and scores on later achievement tests. Further, it was predicted that children below 5.3 years in developmental age who delayed entrance to first grade would score significantly higher on first grade achievement tests than match-paired promoted students. It was hypothesized that there would be significant correlations between head circumference growth and (a) gains in achievement test scores and (b) developmental age at kindergarten. The first hypothesis, tested by Pearson Product Moment Correlations, established the existence of significant correlations between developmental ages of test subjects and their scores on four academic achievement tests. The results indicated that developmental age was a …

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of participation in a Computer-Assisted instructional program (CAI) on fourth grade student attitudes and achievement in reading and mathematics. This study, based on Campbell and Stanley's quasiexperimental design 10, utilized Diascriptive Reading software for the CAI mathematics group and Milliken Math Sequences software for the CAI mathematics group and was completed by 242 students. The time span between pretests and posttests was seven months. Iowa Tests of Basic Skills, Level 10, Form 7/8 was used for achievement testing and Estes Attitude Scale was used for attitude testing. Analysis of covariance was used to determine significance at the .05 level. The findings for this study were: 1. Reading Comprehension posttest scores were significantly higher for the control group than for the reading experimental group; 2. Reading Comprehension posttest scores were not significantly higher for boys than for girls within the reading experimental group; 3. Total math posttest scores were significantly higher for the mathematics experimental group than for the control group; 4. Concepts and Computation math subsets posttest scores were significantly higher for the mathematics experimental group than for the control group. There were no significant differences between the posttest scores …