The effect of selected driver and instructional variables on attitude change of school bus drivers was examined. A total of 113 male and 69 female in-service Texas school bus drivers participated. The course of instruction, totaling 20 classroom hours, consisted of 11 units related to driving efficiency. Driver attitude was measured by a multiple-choice check list, administered prior to and following the course of instruction. A significant positive change occurred in those variables related to driver age, educational attainment, and number of classroom participants. Those variables involving course participation status and sex difference resulted in no significant positive attitude change. These findings may prove helpful in designing training programs for school bus drivers.

The purpose of this study was to determine significant differences in test scores between LLD and MBI Special Education students. The records of thirty-seven LLD and fifty-six MBI students between the ages of six through eleven were obtained from a small Texas school district. The results indicated no significant differences between groups on WISC Full Scale, Performance and Verbal scales or on WISC subtests scores. No significant differences were found on WRAT scores. Significant differences were found on the Bender-Gestalt Test for Children and the Visual Aural Digit Span Test at the nine- through eleven-year level. No differences were found at the six- through eight-year level.

The present study was designed to investigate whether a good reader, by the fifth grade, will have attained sufficient knowledge of the language structure to enable him to more exactly and more appropriately reconstruct mutilated texts than a poor reader, matched for verbal intelligence level. Four 250-word cloze-treated passages were administered to twelve deficient and twelve non-deficient sixth grade readers, matched according to sex and the verbal portion of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children. Analyses of variance failed to show any significant differences between good and poor readers except for a weak indication that good readers produced more exact replacements.

This study tests whether positive reinforcement consisting of a positive word, eye contact, and a smile would improve the self-concept of students. Sixty boys and girls in two sixth-grade classes were given an adaptation of Gordon's, How I See Myself scale. A baseline consisting of positive reinforcements given by the teacher to the students was taken. Then a positive reinforcement schedule was instituted by the sixth-grade teacher. The experimental group of thirty students received a mean of 24.78 positive reinforcements per class; the control group received a mean of 1.1 positive reinforcements. The subjects were again given the HISM scale, and no significant score differences were found between the experimental group and control group.

The problem under investigation was the predictive value of a preschool screen. The subjects were 111 kindergartners. First, the need for a preschool screen was established. Second, the literature concerning other preschool devices was reviewed. Third, a specific screen was assessed in terms of validity. Fourth, a consideration of the predictive value of this screen in relation to scholastic achievement as indicated by the Metropolitan Readiness Test was made. A multiple regression analysis was performed, and the cross-validation of a number of prediction equations and cutoff scores was significant. Although statistical significance was achieved, high-risk youngsters could not be accurately identified. This research indicated that the instrument evaluated shows promise if refined by additional research.

This study measured the relationships between locus of control, students' perception of the schedule of teacher reinforcement, and academic achievement. The Intellectual Achievement Responsibility questionnaire, Perception of Teacher Reinforcement scale, and Wide Range Achievement Test were used to measure these variables. All subscores of the Intellectual Achievement Responsibility questionnaire correlated significantly with achievement for the females, but no relationships were found for the males. Perception of the teacher as partially rewarding was significantly correlated with reading, spelling, and total achievement for the males and with reading and arithmetic achievement for the females. Perception of the teacher as partially punishing was significantly correlated with arithmetic achievement for the males, but was not related to achievement for the females.