Differential item functioning (DIF) occurs when the responses of students with approximately equal ability differ systematically based on their group membership. Idaho contracted with the Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA) to provide the Idaho Standards Achievement Tests of reading, language arts and mathematics at grades 4, 8 and 10. The tests included items in the NWEA Rasch-calibrated item bank and items written by Idaho teachers that were equated to the item bank metric. NWEA provided...
Topics: ERIC Archive, State Standards, Standardized Tests, Test Items, Item Analysis, Sex Differences,...
The under-representation of women in physical science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (PSTEM) career fields is a persistent problem. This paper summarizes an extensive review of the literature pertaining to the many issues that surround this problem. The review revealed a wide range of viewpoints and a broad spectrum of research methodologies used to analyze the multiple factors associated with the under-representation of women in PSTEM career fields. It used four frameworks to...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Career Choice, Career Development, Educational Environment, Environmental Influences,...
This study examined gender differences in attitudes toward mathematics of undergraduate students. The Attitudes Toward Mathematics Instrument (ATMI) was administered to students enrolled in introductory mathematics classes (Pre-Calculus, Calculus, and Business Calculus) at two Southeast universities, one a large state university and the other one a small private liberal arts college. The subjects of the study were 275 college students; 141 attended the state university and 134 attended the...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Elementary Secondary Education, Higher Education, Liberal Arts, Preservice Teacher...
This research investigated the relationships among teacher expectancy, student perception, and student self-concept. A sample of 1,598 Taiwanese elementary school children in grades 3-6 were administered a school self-concept scale and a measure of their perceptions of teachers' positive and negative oral feedback in academic and nonacademic domains. Homeroom teachers were asked to identify students for whom they had high or low expectations. Although amounts of all four types of perceived...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Elementary Education, Elementary School Students, Elementary School Teachers,...
Since Hall and Sandler's original work on the chilly classroom climate for women, which was published in 1982 by the Project on the Status and Education of Women of the Association of American Colleges, there has been much controversy and debate about its existence. Critics point out that the original work was nothing more than a literature review, no data were collected, and much of the information presented was anecdotal in nature. Proponents of the existence of the chilly climate maintain...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Educational Environment, Females, Gender Issues, Higher Education, Sex Differences,...
The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of middle school students gender on their illustration of a gender-neutral historical image and on their attitude toward social studies. The sample consisted of 15 males and 15 females randomly selected from each of grades 5, 6, 7, and 8. Data collection instruments included a Likert-type questionnaire and a creative/constructive projection test. Data analysis used the t-test for independent means. Results indicate a significant difference...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Illustrations, Imagery, Middle School Students, Middle Schools, Sex Differences,...
This study investigated the relationships among environmental noise (i.e., location, type, and constancy) and graduate student preferred learning styles (visual-overhead transparencies, auditory-lecture, kinesthetic-activity), gender, and age differences. The participants were 43 graduate students, who were currently teachers with experience ranging from 5 to 30 years. Six were male, and 36 were female; 76.7% were White, and 16.3% were African American. Participants completed a survey and...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Age Differences, Cognitive Style, Graduate Students, Graduate Study, Learning, Noise...
This study examined anxiety as a mediator on the relation between exposure to violence and victimization mediated by gender. The sample consisted of 1,311 seventh graders attending 8 middle schools in a small southern city. Gender was found to be a significant moderator for the relation of exposure to violence and victimization; therefore, subsequent analyses were conducted separately for males and females. Differences were noted on measures of anxiety, exposure to violence, and victimization,...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Anxiety, Junior High School Students, Junior High Schools, Sex Differences,...
The papers in this collection fall into three categories. Part 1, "Overview of Research," includes "New Directions in Language Anxiety Research" (Dolly Jesusita Young) and "Native Genderlects and Their Relation to Gender Issues in Second Language Classrooms: The Sex of Our Students as a Sociolinguistic Variable" (Lydie E. Meunier). Part 2, "Research Studies on Learner Variables," includes "Weakest and Strongest Learners in Intensive Language...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Adult Learning, Arabic, Curriculum Development, Demography, Educational Research,...
This report describes the background and academic preparation of high school graduates who planned to major in engineering upon college entry, presenting the information by gender and race/ethnicity. Data come from 12 years of research on 750,000 students from the graduating high school classes of 1991-2002 who registered for the ACT Assessment and planned to major in an engineering field upon college entrance. Over 12 years, the number of students planning to major in engineering decreased....
Topics: ERIC Archive, College Bound Students, Engineering Education, Females, Higher Education, Majors...
This study investigated the effectiveness of an approach to teaching an advanced research class by comparing test scores of male and female students on a test of research fundamentals before and after the course. Four classes, between 2001 and 2003, all taught by the same instructor, incorporated article critiques (based on an instrument from V. Wilson and A. Ongwuegbuzie), a critique-based examination, and an oral presentation of a grant application completed by the student. There was complete...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Graduate Students, Graduate Study, Research Skills, Sex Differences, Kennedy, Robert...
Immigrants compose an increasingly large share of the U.S. labor force and growing share of low-wage workers. Immigrants' hourly wages are lower on average than those for natives. Immigrant workers are much more likely than native workers to drop out of high school. Three-fourths of all U.S. workers with less than a ninth grade education are immigrants. Nearly two-thirds of low-wage immigrant workers do not speak English proficiently, and most of these workers have little formal education. Two...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Dropout Rate, Educational Attainment, Employment Patterns, English (Second Language),...
This report, part of a series that offers population and housing data collected by Census 2000, presents data on the educational attainment of people over age 25 years in the United States, describing education distributions for the country, including regions, states, counties, and places with populations of 100,000 or more. Overall, U.S. education levels were high and rising in 2002. Age differences in educational attainment were large, with the middle-aged population having the highest levels...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Age Differences, Bachelors Degrees, Census Figures, Doctoral Degrees, Educational...
This paper uses an earnings function to model how class size affects the grade students earn. It tests the model using an ordinal logit with and without fixed effects on 363,023 undergraduate observations. It finds that class size negatively affects grades. Average grade point average declines as class size increases, precipitously up to class sizes of ten, and more gradually but monotonically through class sizes of 400 plus. The probability of getting a B plus or better declines from 0.9 for...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Class Size, Classroom Environment, Grades (Scholastic), Higher Education, Minority...
In 1970, 55 percent of the US population over age 25 had completed high school or some college and 11 percent had completed 4 or more years of college; by 1999, those figures had reached 83 percent and 25 percent, respectively. A comparison between 1982 and 1992 high school seniors found more completing some postsecondary credits (from 53 percent to 76 percent) and higher percentages completing degrees (from 27 percent completing an associate degree or higher to 29 percent completing a...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Academic Education, Academic Persistence, Associate Degrees, Bachelors Degrees,...
Faculty gender ratios vary considerably across institutions, and past research has shown that certain characteristics of institutions have a significant effect on these gender ratios. Understanding the drivers of faculty gender ratio variation is important since the concentration of women in particular types of institutions contributes to gender differences in earnings, career patterns, and employment outcomes. This study tested the hypothesis, drawn from theories of organizational behavior,...
Topics: ERIC Archive, College Faculty, Gender Issues, Higher Education, Sex Differences, Rajeswaren, Anita...
This document presents the results from an economic impact analysis in detail by gender, ethnicity, and entry level of education at Hillsborough Community College. The information in this volume is intended to supplement the main report on The Socioeconomic Benefits Generated by Hillsborough Community College. The main study focuses only on the overall economic impacts generated by community colleges without reference to gender or ethnicity differences. These results were kept separate from the...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Community Colleges, Cross Cultural Studies, Data, Economic Impact, Economic Progress,...
This paper describes a current national study funded by the Office of Special Education Programs, the Special Education Elementary Longitudinal Study (SEELS). SEELS is a 6-year study (1999-2005) that will document the school experiences of a national sample of school-age students with disabilities by following students as they move from elementary to middle school and high school. The study is following 14,000 students from 300 school districts and 40 state-operated schools for deaf and/or...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Age Differences, Demography, Disabilities, Disability Identification, Elementary...
This report, based on data from Follow-up Information on North Dakota Education and Training (FINDET), describes the employment status of North Dakota University System (NDUS) graduates for the year 2000 who were employed in the state 1 year after graduation. Approximately half of these graduates were either employed in North Dakota or re-enrolled in North Dakota institutions 1 year after graduation. Approximately half remained in the state 1 year following graduation. More North Dakota...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Age Differences, College Graduates, Educational Attainment, Employment Level,...
This paper presents findings from a district-wide survey of 7th grade students in a semi-rural school district where 23% of the students are Latino. Participating students completed the California School Climate and Safety Survey which assesses student perceptions regarding general school climate and personal safety-related experiences. Information on academic achievement was obtained through students school records. Students perceptions of school climate significantly predicted GPA across...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Academic Achievement, Educational Environment, Ethnicity, Grade 7, Predictor...
In an archival study, the academic outcomes of 653 students with disabilities and 41,357 students without disabilities attending Dawson College (Quebec) were compared over a 12-year period (1990-2002). Students with disabilities were more likely to have been enrolled in a pre-university program, less likely to enroll in a continuing education program, were on average a year younger than the general college population, and entered Dawson with lower high school averages. Results indicate that...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Academic Achievement, Academic Persistence, College Outcomes Assessment, College...
The Newspaper Division of the proceedings contains the following 22 papers: "Framing Freedom: Hoosier Republican and Democratic Newspaper Editors Frame Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation" (David W. Bulla); "Quantifying Newspaper Quality: 'I Know It When I See It'" (Philip Meyer and Koang-Hyub Kim); "Cultural Convergence: An Examination of Intergroup Bias and Journalism" (Vincent F. Filak); "Keep Up with Time: Top Story Updates in Seven U.S. Online...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Audience Awareness, Case Studies, Change Strategies, Cooperation, Credibility,...
This paper presents a theoretical and empirical analysis of the largely ignored issue of the determinants of the educational attainment of adults by immigrant generation. Using Current Population Survey (CPS) data, differences in educational attainment are analyzed by immigrant generation (first, second, and higher order generations), and among the foreign born by country of birth and age at immigration. Second generation American adults have the highest level of schooling, exceeding that of...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Age Differences, Blacks, Educational Attainment, Elementary Secondary Education,...
This report discusses trends in the physics academic workforce and the implications of these trends for the future academic job market. Data are from a survey of physics departments that was completed by 722 departments, a response rate of 94%. The number of physics faculty increased almost 5% since 2000, and much of this growth resulted from increases in the number of temporary and nontenure-track faculty. The percentage of women on physics faculties increased in 10% of the total, and more...
Topics: ERIC Archive, College Faculty, Doctoral Degrees, Educational Trends, Higher Education, Physics, Sex...
In fall 2002, the American Institute of Physics asked the 735 physics departments, the 34 combined physics and astronomy departments, and the 37 separate astronomy departments in the United States to provide information on both their current student enrollments and the degrees they conferred in the previous academic year. Data were received from 93% of the departments, and data for nonresponding departments were estimated using survey responses from previous years. After about a decade of...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Academic Degrees, College Graduates, Educational Trends, Higher Education, Physics,...
This paper reports the results of a factorial experiment investigating the reactions of male students to a hypothetical English course offered at the community college level. The participants (n=136) consisted of students enrolled in English 1010 courses at 4 community colleges in a Southeastern state. The independent variables were gender of student, gender of the author assigned, and the type of reading assigned (narrative/expository). The dependent variable was a composite rating of student...
Topics: ERIC Archive, College Students, Community Colleges, English, Gender Issues, Higher Education,...
Volunteering is often seen as an essential element in active citizenship and community participation, and existing literature suggests that those who volunteer young are more likely to volunteer through later stages of life. Analysis of Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY), which identified factors that contribute to volunteering for Australian school students between 16-20, found that the following four variables that significantly contributed to volunteering activity: (1) gender...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Citizen Participation, Citizenship Responsibility, Community Involvement, Females,...
Patterns and trends in the vocational-technical course taking of public high school graduates between 1982 and 1998 were examined in a study of high school transcripts for the graduating classes of 1982, 1990, 1992, 1994, and 1998. The source data came from the following five studies: (1) High School and Beyond Sophomore Cohort, First Follow-up Survey, (2) High School Transcripts Study, 1982; (3) National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988, Second Follow-up Survey; (4) High School Transcript...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Academic Achievement, Academic Records, Course Selection (Students), Data Analysis,...
As part of efforts to improve services for children from birth to age five, the Maryland Joint Committee on Children, Youth, and Families charged the State Department of Education with identifying and implementing, by school year 2000-01, an early childhood assessment system that would provide baseline information on children entering kindergarten. This report provides state- and county-level school baseline information for 2002-03, the second year that all kindergartners in Maryland were rated...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Child Development, Child Health, Comparative Analysis, Counties, Early Experience,...
This report is the 11th in a series of biennial reports on the status of women and minorities in science and engineering. The reports are mandated by the Science and Engineering Equal Opportunities Act (Public Law 96-5 16) which was amended in 1998 to include persons with disabilities. The primary purpose of this report is to serve as an information resource on the participation of women, minorities, and persons with disabilities in science and engineering. Like its predecessors, this report...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Disabilities, Employment Level, Engineering, Ethnic Groups, Females, Higher...
This study used data from the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study, which consists of a two-wave panel of approximately 2,500 second generation students in Florida's Dade County public schools, to investigate the impact of non-immigrant/involuntary minority enrollment in second generation Hispanic students' academic achievement. Students completed the survey in eighth and ninth grade, then again in their senior year of high school. The survey collected data on students' age, sex, place of...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Academic Achievement, Cubans, Educational Environment, Gender Issues, Grade Point...
This document profiles programs for women in technical professions that are offered through the European Commission's Leonardo da Vinci program. The following programs are profiled: (1) Artemis and Diana (vocational guidance programs to help direct girls toward technology-related careers); (2) CEEWIT (an Internet-based information and communication technologies program for women in rural Ireland); (3) CuWat (a project to introduce the concept of equal opportunities for women and women into...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Access to Education, Career Choice, Career Guidance, Educational Opportunities,...
The academic achievement of students in health occupations programs at High Schools That Work (HSTW) sites in 1996 was compared to academic performance levels at HSTW sites in 1994. Health occupations students at HSTW sites improved their average reading scores from 269 in 1993 to 278 in 1996. During the study period, the gap widened between HSTW students in health occupations programs and vocational students nationally. The average reading, mathematics, and science scores of students at the...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Academic Achievement, Allied Health Occupations Education, Comparative Analysis,...
The science achievement of career-bound students at High Schools That Work (HSTW) sites in 1996 was compared to performance levels at HSTW sites in 1993 or 1994. HSTW sites studied in 1993 improved their average science scores from 270 to 283 in 1996. Vocational students at HSTW sites scored higher in science (average score, 283) than did the national sample of vocational students in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (average score, 267). Fifty-three percent of the 260 sites...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Blacks, Educational Policy, Educational Trends, Enrollment, Enrollment Trends,...
The mathematics achievement of career-bound students at High Schools That Work (HSTW) sites in 1996 was compared to performance levels at HSTW sites in 1993-1994. Forty-nine percent of the 260 HSTW sites improved their average mathematics scores over the period, with the percentage of career-bound students meeting the HSTW mathematics goal of 295 increasing from 36% to 44%. Although male students' performance improved significantly over the study period, that of female and African-American...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Blacks, Comparative Analysis, Educational Policy, Educational Trends, Females, High...
Good news about reading achievement of career-bound students at High Schools That Work (HSTW) sites includes the following: (1) 60% of the 260 sites that tested students in 1993/94 and again in 1996 saw improvement in reading scores; (2) the performance of all students majority and minority improved significantly; (3) HSTW sites widened the gap between their career-bound students and vocational students nationally; and (4) students completing business, marketing and health concentrations had...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Academic Achievement, Curriculum Development, Curriculum Evaluation, Educational...
The characteristics and pathways of school leavers in Australia were examined by analyzing data on the cohort of Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY) young people who were in year 9 in 1995 along with data on previous cohorts of teenagers. Only 79% of members of the study cohort remained in secondary school until the end of year 12. In some respects, during the late teenage years, noncompleters fared better than completers who did not enter higher education. Noncompleters were more...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Aboriginal Australians, Academic Achievement, Adolescents, Career Development,...
This study used data from the National Educational Longitudinal Study of 1988 and follow-up data collected in 1990, 1992, and 1994, to examine the characteristics and personal/educational factors related to gifted high school dropouts (n=3,520). Results indicate: (1) many gifted students left school because they were failing school, did not like school, got a job, or were pregnant; (2) most parents whose gifted child dropped out of school were not actively involved in their child's decision to...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Academic Aspiration, Dropout Attitudes, Dropout Characteristics, Dropout Research,...
The majority of candidates who take the Tests of General Educational Development (GED) take those tests within 2 years of leaving school, but this study highlights the demographic profile and performance of candidates who, for a variety of reasons, waited anywhere from 24 to 54 years to attempt to obtain the GED high school equivalency credential. The sample consists of 10,177 adult candidates, between the ages of 40 and 70, residing in the United States who took the GED tests in 2002. The GED...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Academic Achievement, Adult Dropouts, Demography, Educational Attainment, High School...
The role of gender in presidential communications and leadership on campus was studied through an exploration of the language 2-year college presidents used to describe their own leadership. The study also considered whether gendered concepts of leadership were reified by campus members. Participants were two community college presidents, one male and one female, and interviews were also held with staff and faculty members. Findings show that language descriptors used to describe the presidents...
Topics: ERIC Archive, College Presidents, Communication (Thought Transfer), Community Colleges, Gender...
This article discusses the application of self-efficacy beliefs on career development. This theory was introduced by Hackett and Betz (1981) and has received many extensive studies. There are many factors that may influence career self-efficacy such as gender, culture, parental, and family backgrounds. The methods of increasing career self-efficacy are also discussed. (Contains 34 references.) (Author)
Topics: ERIC Archive, Career Counseling, Career Development, Counseling Techniques, Cultural Differences,...
Gender, racial, and ethnic differences occur in vocational and cognitive ability assessments when the average scores of various groups are not equal. Results of such assessments indicate that not all groups are equally represented at all points of the assessment continuum. Many attempts to reduce or minimize existing group differences have been unsuccessful, and current research has failed to account fully for the sources of these differences. This chapter provides a summary of group...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Cognitive Tests, Ethnicity, Measures (Individuals), Racial Differences, Sex...
This report tells the story of the inception and growth of the Gender Project of the University of Maine Cooperative Extension (UMCE) (Sanford, Maine) and shares the results of an evaluation study of program impacts on the lives of individuals, families, and communities over the past six years. Information in the report can guide the growth and expansion of educational programs and services statewide as funding sources are sought to support these new efforts. The report explains that in...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Attitude Change, Behavior Change, Educational Objectives, Extension Education, Focus...
This study investigated the effectiveness of a performance-based assessment (DISCOVER (Discovering Intellectual Strengths and Capabilities through Observation while allowing for Varied Ethnic Responses)) in identifying gifted minority middle school students. Research questions focused on examining the alignment between DISCOVER and Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences (MI), as well as assessing gender and ethnic differences. Middle school students (n=395) were mostly Mexican American and...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Ability Identification, American Indians, Disproportionate Representation, Ethnic...
This report builds on the analyses reported in "Knowledge and Skills for Life" by examining results from all of the 43 countries that participated in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2000. This report presents the distributions of performance in each country, not only average scores. In addition, it uses background information on students, their schools, and their education systems to examine a range of factors associated with levels of performance. By showing...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Academic Achievement, Educational Policy, Elementary Secondary Education, Foreign...
Most teachers believe that students' active involvement in the classroom promotes learning. To this end, they engage in a variety of behaviors designed to produce participation, one of the most common of which is "calling on students" in class. A recent survey revealed, however, that 56% of a college student sample either disliked or strongly disliked this teacher behavior, and only 12% liked it. The consistency and magnitude of these negative reactions to making public a student's...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Classroom Techniques, College Students, Higher Education, Sex Differences, Student...
A study examined gender differences in stereotypes, experience, and confidence for computer science (CS) first-year students. Questionnaires were distributed to freshmen students (n=241: 161 females, 80 males) in a required university seminar course. Overall, participants possessed very stereotypical attitudes of CS majors. Findings showed that men reported having more experience with computers than did women, and they also enjoyed working with computers more than did women. (Contains 27...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Behavioral Science Research, College Freshmen, Computer Science, Experience, Females,...
A study assessed gender differences in confidence for three academic areas of varying gender-type. The study used questions about chemistry (masculine), English (feminine), and art (neutral). Participants were general psychology students (n=361: 229 females, 132 males) who received course credit for their participation. Findings revealed that females underestimated their performance more than did males on chemistry and English questions. (Contains 49 references, 3 notes, and 1 table.)...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Art, Behavioral Science Research, Chemistry, English, Females, Gender Issues, Higher...
A study examined gender and student group differences in stereotypes and confidence for first-year and more advanced computer science (CS) students. In the spring of 2001, 18-page questionnaires were distributed to first-year students (n=30: 21 females, 9 males) and students enrolled in an introductory CS course (n=32: 11 females, 21 males) designed for students considering majoring in CS. Findings showed no gender difference in computer confidence for first-year students, but females in CS had...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Behavioral Science Research, College Freshmen, Comparative Analysis, Computer...
This study tested whether mental rotation performance of 186 high school students (80 males and 106 females) in grades 9 through 12 in art and nonart classes on Vandenbergs Mental Rotations test (S. Vandenberg and Kuse, 1978) was affected by gender, visual-spatial activities, strategies used while performing the test, and the ease of test taking. The major findings were: (1) males outperformed females; (2) students scored higher if they participated in visual-spatial activities in their past;...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Ability, Academic Achievement, Art, High School Students, High Schools, Sex...