Showing papers in "Review of Educational Research in 1981"
TL;DR: The authors assesses the progress made in research on teachers' pedagogical thoughts, judgments, and decisions over the past decade and identifies areas of substantive and methodological research needed to improve the practice of teaching.
Abstract: This review assesses the progress made in research on teachers’ pedagogical thoughts, judgments, and decisions over the past decade and identifies areas of substantive and methodological research needed to improve the practice of teaching. Based on this research, we formulate “schema” or tentative “models” of teachers’ judgments, planning decisions, and interactive decisions. We then set forth recommendations for future research, including (1) the need to develop a taxonomy of critical teaching decisions, which link these decisions to their consequences in the classroom; (2) the need to intervene and alter teachers’ plans and decisions in our research, as well as describe them, with the goal of improving teaching; and (3) the need to link recommendations based on research to the implementation of them in practice.
1,127 citations
TL;DR: This article used meta-analytic methodology to synthesize research on the relationship between student ratings of instruction and student achievement and found that ratings of instructors were positively associated with student achievement, but not with specific rating dimensions such as skill and structure.
Abstract: The present study used meta-analytic methodology to synthesize research on the relationship between student ratings of instruction and student achievement. The data for the meta-analysis came from 41 independent validity studies reporting on 68 separate multisection courses relating student ratings to student achievement. The average correlation between an overall instructor rating and student achievement was .43; the average correlation between an overall course rating and student achievement was .47. While large effect sizes were also found for more specific rating dimensions such as Skill and Structure, other dimensions showed more modest relationships with student achievement. A hierarchical multiple regression analysis showed that rating/achievement correlations were larger for full-time faculty when students knew their final grades before rating instructors and when an external evaluator graded students’ achievement tests. The results of the meta-analysis provide strong support for the validity of s...
850 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the conceptualization and measurement of the control dimension is discussed from three theoretical perspectives: social learning theory, attribution theory, and intrinsic motivation theories, and evidence on the relationship between achievement and perceptions of control is summarized, and possible explanations for the relationship are discussed.
Abstract: Perceived control of events is one motivational variable that appears to affect children’s academic achievement. In this review the conceptualization and measurement of the control dimension is discussed from three theoretical perspectives: social learning theory, attribution theory, and intrinsic motivation theories. For each of these three perspectives evidence on the relationship between achievement and perceptions of control is summarized, and possible explanations for the relationship are discussed. Throughout this review similarities and differences among these orientations are pointed out. Specific recommendations are made for research which will advance our understanding of this relationship and which will provide the most useful information to educators.
360 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the meta-analytic technique was used to synthesize experimental research findings on the relationship between level of teacher questioning and student achievement, and the results showed that gains in achievement can be expected when higher cognitive questions assume a predominant role during classroom instruction.
Abstract: The meta-analytic technique was used to synthesize experimental research findings on the relationship between level of teacher questioning and student achievement. Twenty studies on teachers’ use of “higher” and “lower” cognitive questions were reviewed. Higher cognitive questions require pupils to manipulate information to create and support a response; lower cognitive questions call for verbatim recall or recognition of factual information. Effect sizes were computed to investigate the impact of program monitoring, experimental validity, and level of teacher questioning. Results show that gains in achievement can be expected when higher cognitive questions assume a predominant role during classroom instruction.
357 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, behavioral techniques derived from social learning theory to training social skills are reviewed. But, the focus of the review was on the use of cognitive-behavioral techniques.
Abstract: Behavioral techniques derived from social learning theory to training social skills are reviewed. Studies using both handicapped and nonhandicapped populations are included. The literature is divided into four broad areas for review purposes: (1) manipulation of antecedents, (2) manipulation of consequences, (3) modeling, and (4) cognitive-behavioral techniques. Issues such as conceptualization and definition of social skills, social skills assessment, and components of social skills are also considered. It is concluded that social skills training represents a potentially effective approach to successful mainstreaming of handicapped children. More research using between-groups designs, technique comparisons, discriminant analysis, and social validation of behavior changes is needed. The issues of generalization and maintenance are also discussed.
332 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a system is outlined by which common mnemonic devices can be classified according to the criteria of constructibility, discriminability, associability, and invertibility.
Abstract: In recent years the importance of mnemonic strategies in learning has been recognized. Through the use of special mnemonic devices some spectacular results in recall performance have been obtained. However, systematic research on mnemonic devices is only now starting to be done. Consequently, not much is known about techniques for optimizing recall performance with mnemonic devices or the suitability of using mnemonic devices in educational settings. To help remedy this situation four aspects of the study of mnemonic devices are discussed: (1) Reasons are given why research on mnemonic devices should be performed. (2) A system is outlined by which common mnemonic devices can be classified. (3) Because recall with mnemonic devices is mediated by cognitive cuing structures created by the user, properties are described which these cognitive cuing structures must have to be effective. The criteria of constructibility, discriminability, associability, and invertibility are discussed as important properties of ...
293 citations
TL;DR: Despite methodological flaws, available research can guide the design of teaching improvement programs, particularly those using student ratings feedback and concept-based training.
Abstract: Studies of interventions to improve college teaching cluster in five categories: grants for faculty projects, workshops and seminars, feedback from student ratings, practice-based feedback (microteaching and minicourses), and concept-based training (protocols). Seventy-one reports provide 97 analyses of dependent variables that are presumably affected by these interventions. Most comparisons (78%) support the intervention being studied, although the support rate in only those studies in which we have high confidence is considerably lower (62%). More exploratory qualitative studies as well as more rigorous experimental investigations, perhaps involving cross-campus collaboration, are needed. Despite methodological flaws, available research can guide the design of teaching improvement programs, particularly those using student ratings feedback and concept-based training.
220 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a review examines research on minority women in school administration and discusses changes directed at improving women’s access to leadership positions, focusing on the research area of women in administration, management and leadership.
Abstract: The research area of women in administration, management and leadership is receiving increasing attention. This review focuses on research published since 1974. The dominant approach has explained women’s underrepresentation in administration in terms of socialization to sex role stereotypes. In the past decade, other theories have been applied to explain women’s experiences in organizations. The processes of career socialization and structural characteristics of organizations maintain inequalities. Theories of devaluation of women and social power and status have been advanced to explain the behavior of men and women in organizations and in the larger society. The review examines research on minority women in school administration and discusses changes directed at improving women’s access to leadership positions.
153 citations
TL;DR: A recent review of the Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, cognitive domain, commonly known as Bloom's taxonomy, concentrated on its statistical properties as mentioned in this paper, with the focus on the claimed properties of neutrality, comprehensiveness, cumulative hierarchical structure and usefulness.
Abstract: A recent review of the Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, cognitive domain, commonly known as Bloom’s taxonomy, concentrated on its statistical properties. The present review complements and supplements this earlier one by concentrating on philosophical and educational issues. It covers unpublished studies as well as published literature over about a 25-year period. The focus is on the claimed properties of neutrality, comprehensiveness, cumulative hierarchical structure, and usefulness.
118 citations
TL;DR: This article reviewed the literature of input-output analyses of schools, with a differentiation between cognitive and non-cognitive inputs, and a structural causal model is offered at the end of the paper on the basis of the results of survey.
Abstract: This paper reviews the literature of input-output analyses of schools. Outputs are surveyed first, with a differentiation between cognitive and noncognitive ones. The effects of inputs on outputs are surveyed next, with a differentiation between student inputs and school inputs. Groups of student inputs include student background characteristics, school-related student characteristics, and student attitudes. Groups of school inputs include school conditions and instructional personnel. The literature is surveyed next by population samples, data aggregation, and statistical analyses. A structural causal model is offered at the end of the paper on the basis of the results of the survey.
115 citations
TL;DR: The authors categorizes the hypotheses that have related home television use to schooling, including time and energy displacement, interest stimulation, learning of school-equivalent content, acquisition of novel intellectual skills, and development of intolerance for the slow pace of class activities.
Abstract: The paper categorizes the hypotheses that have related home television use to schooling—hypotheses of time and energy displacement, of interest stimulation, of learning of school-equivalent content, of acquisition of novel intellectual skills, of development of intolerance for the slow pace of class activities, and of learning expectations with regard to what schooling is about and what it is for. Available evidence about overall effects suggests a small effect on reading growth, hints at a tendency for socially advantaged children to be most vulnerable to effects, generally, and is largely uninformative as to the validity of particular explanatory hypotheses. The utility of alternative research approaches, cross-sectional and panel surveys, laboratory and field experiments, and quasi-experiments are examined.
TL;DR: In this article, a critical evaluation of both the theory and the educational research carried out within its framework is carried out and a number of theoretical problems are raised which do not appear to detract from the overall framework but merely point to areas that need development.
Abstract: In recent years, considerable attention has focused on student-environment interactions in classroom settings. Numerous attempts have been made to depict the processes involved, often in terms of attribute-treatment interactions (ATI’s). Opinions differ about the net result of these efforts. On the one hand, there are those who note that few ATI’s have been reliably demonstrated, and point to inadequacies in both the theory and method being used. In contrast, there is a body of opinion which asserts that adequate theory and method already exist, within the framework of Conceptual Systems Theory (CST), and that there is sufficient empirical evidence to support this view. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the latter contention by undertaking a critical evaluation of both the theory and the educational research carried out within its framework. A number of theoretical problems are raised which, however, do not appear to detract from the overall framework but merely point to areas that need development...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors draw attention to the mutually reinforcing tendency of analysts to neglect the study of how resources are allocated within schools and classrooms and to presume that decision makers at less centralized levels of the educational system react passively to resource allocation decisions made at more centralized levels.
Abstract: This review draws attention to the mutually reinforcing tendencies of analysts to neglect the study of how resources are allocated within schools and classrooms and to presume that decision makers at less centralized levels of the educational system react passively to resource allocation decisions made at more centralized levels. The purpose of the review is to demonstrate the importance of (a) striking a better balance between the level of attention given to resource allocation practices at macro compared to microlevels of decision making, and (b) learning more about the ways in which resource allocation decisions made at one level affect resource allocation practices at other levels of the educational system. The argument is supported by a detailed critique of exemplary studies drawn from the literature dealing with issues of equity and efficiency in the allocation of educational resources. Policy implications are given explicit attention throughout the review.
TL;DR: In this paper, 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.
Abstract: Several recent studies have developed measures of qualitatively different levels of understanding texts and complex academic topics. 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. The discussion of learning outcomes is broadened to include the critical evaluation and personal valuing of information. Conclusions are drawn for the teaching of “effective learning.”
TL;DR: In this paper, the relative power of the rank-sum test and its nonparametric counterparts under various population shapes is examined and it is further contended that Wilcoxon's ranksum test has power properties that make it preferable to the t-test in many, perhaps even most, non-normal population situations.
Abstract: Glass, Peckham, and Sanders discourage the use of nonparametric counterparts of the t-test even when it is known that data were sampled from non-normal (e.g., highly skewed) distributions. This paper contends that Glass et al. erred in taking this position and that their error was due, at least in part, to their failure to consider the relative power of the t-test and its nonparametric counterparts under various population shapes. It is further contended that Wilcoxon’s rank-sum test has power properties that make it preferable to the t-test in many, perhaps even most, non-normal population situations.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigate the relationship between the component dimensions of classroom structure and particular outcome variables and suggest that reliance on the current methods of assessing the implementation of classroom openness is inadequate.
Abstract: Recent reviews of the research on the effectiveness of open eduction continue to reveal the inconclusive nature of the results despite refinements in the methodology of research synthesis. Among the unacknowledged deficiencies in research syntheses that may contribute to the lack of clear-cut findings are the failure to consider discrepancies between the classification of open classrooms and the actual implementation of open education in these classrooms. These discrepancies derive from differences between classrooms in (a) the degree of implementation, and (b) the areas or component dimensions in which openness has been implemented. Evidence is presented that indicates that reliance on the current methods of assessing the implementation of classroom openness is inadequate. Investigating the relationships between the component dimensions of classroom structure and particular outcome variables is suggested as a potential strategy for yielding more meaningful results.
TL;DR: The objective of the paper is to examine the responses of the research community to the apparent need for more effective health education for children.
Abstract: Health education in one form or another has been a traditional part of public education at the primary and secondary school level. Common approaches have attempted to teach sound habits related to, for example, nutrition, safety, hygiene, physical activity, and more recently, smoking and the use of drugs. These approaches have been justified with reference to a generally accepted belief in the “desirability” of such teaching. More recently, additional emphasis has been directed at health education for children as the links between behavior and health have become more obvious and as the rapidly accelerating costs of treating rather than preventing sickness have been experienced. The objective of the paper is to examine the responses of the research community to the apparent need for more effective health education for children.
TL;DR: In this paper, a latent trait point of view is proposed to replace the DPP by an evaluation of the item information function for the mastery score, and an empirical study is conducted to compare the differences in item selection between both methods.
Abstract: Since Cox and Vargas (1966) introduced their pretest-posttest validity index for criterion-referenced test items, a great number of additions and modifications have followed. All are based on the idea of gain scoring; that is, they are computed from the differences between proportions of pretest and posttest item responses. Although the method is simple and generally considered as the prototype of criterion-referenced item analysis, it has many and serious disadvantages. Some of these go back to the fact that it leads to indices based on a dual test administration- and population-dependent item p values. Others have to do with the global information about the discriminating power that these indices provide, the implicit weighting they suppose, and the meaningless maximization of posttest scores they lead to. Analyzing the pretest-posttest method from a latent trait point of view, it is proposed to replace indices like Cox and Vargas’ Dpp by an evaluation of the item information function for the mastery score. An empirical study was conducted to compare the differences in item selection between both methods.