THE SLOW LEARNER‐‐SEGRATION OR INTEGRATION

Professor Lynn suggests that two investigations carried out by Dr. Barker Lunn have yielded inconsistent results: the first (cross‐sectional) study showed that the attainment of children in streamed schools was superior and the second (longitudinal) study showed that streamed children did better on one set of tests and unstreamed children did better on a parallel set of tests. He suggests that the children in the first study were crudely matched for social class, and that both studies fail to solve the problem of streaming because of possible statistical distortions in the analysis.

Dr. Lunn replies that the apparently inconsistent results were due to the differences in the aims of the two stages. The cross‐sectional stage, examining absolute measures of attainment, was exploratory‐‐factors such as the individual pupil's social class, and his initial ability were not taken into account. The second or main longitudinal stage was concerned with the progress of one age group of children comparable in terms of sex, social class and ability throughout their junior school careers. In the latter stage the problem of social class was overcome by examining the progress of children who were comparable in this respect.

Dr. Lunn rejects Professor Lynn's statement that streamed children did better on one set of tests and unstreamed children did better on the other as a misrepresentation of fact. Non‐streamed schools in Sample A (working on both tests) tended to do better and streamed schools in Sample B tended to do better, although there were no significant differences between 85 per cent of the comparisons of mean scores.     

Can’t get there from here: The decision to apply to a selective college

In an attempt to increase applications from low-income students, some selective 4-year colleges are developing programs to target and attract low-income students. However, relatively little research has looked at factors important in the college application process, and in particular, how these factors differ for low-income students. This paper uses data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 (NLSY97) to analyze factors influencing students’ college application decisions, with a focus on the decision to apply to a selective 4-year college. We hypothesize that distance from a student's home to selective colleges may play a role in the application decision and differentially impact low-income students. Our results suggest that distance does matter, although the effects do not vary by family income level.     

Narrative abilities in hearing-impaired children: propositions and cohesion

Two linguistic microstructures, propositions and cohesive devices, were analyzed in story recalls by 11 primary and intermediate level hearing-impaired students. The students were enrolled in total communication, public day classes, and had severe-to-profound hearing losses. Four story conditions were presented: (1) easy structure--T.C.; (2) complex structure--T.C.; (3) complex structure with pictures--T.C.; and (4) create-a-story--pictures. Students watched and then retold or made up a story to a friend. Recalls were videotaped and transcribed by a deaf adult and the first investigator. Recalls of hearing-impaired students were significantly shorter than those found earlier for hearing students. When stories are very simple, hearing-impaired students generate mostly complete propositions, however as complexity increases, semantic errors result in fewer complete propositions.     

Noise and Stress in Primary and Secondary School Children: Noise Reduction and Increased Concentration Ability Through a Short but Regular Exercise and Relaxation Program

To assist in decisions about appropriateness of data aggregation, this paper describes and demonstrates analytic techniques developed and used in organizational psychology along with contemporary multilevel analysis. Using these analytic techniques, the relations of educational outcomes (student self-reported academic performance, sense of belonging, and educational aspirations) to the school environment (possible indicators of school quality) were examined. Survey data were obtained from students (N = 11,573 or 82% of the eligible students completed the surveys) who attended 31 middle school students. Results showed that at least some indicators might be represented as school-level phenomena, although the amount of variance explained by school membership was quite small. Results implied that the appropriate level of analysis is concept- and variable-dependent. For example, students' sense of belonging may likely develop by how respect and instruction are revealed to students, such as in classrooms. Future studies of educational effectiveness might consider other groupings of students and emerging theoretical frameworks of organizational effectiveness to determine what constitutes educational quality/effectiveness and their measures at specific organizational levels.