Thomas Weinstein

The Effects of Homework on Learning: A Quantitative Synthesis.

This paper synthesizes empirical studies of homework and of various homework strategies on the academic achievement and attitude of elementary and secondary students. A computer search yielded 15 p...

Psychological Models of Educational Performance: A Theoretical Synthesis of Constructs

This paper reviews eight theories or models presenting holistic conceptions of student learning in classroom settings (Bennett, 1978; Bloom, 1976; Bruner, 1966; Carroll, 1963; Cooley & Leinhardt, 1975; Gagné, 1974; Glaser, 1976; Harnischfeger & Wiley, 1976). To be included, a model or theory was required to describe variables important to the performance of individual learners or single instructional tasks. Most models also derived implications for the organization of curriculum and/or group instruction. Following discussions of the eight models, major constructs posited by different theorists are cross-tabulated and related to factors of the model of educational productivity (Walberg, 1980).

The Effects of Teacher Questioning Levels on Student Achievement: A Quantitative Synthesis.

AbstractA recent meta-analysis showed large effects of teacher use of higher order questions on student achievement (Redfield & Rousseau, 1981) and contradicted Winners (1979) previous review which showed the research to be inconclusive. For this reason, a quantitative synthesis was conducted to estimate the quasi-experimental and experimental effects of teachers’ questioning strategies on academic achievement. Fourteen studies, which contrasted effects of predominantly higher cognitive questions and predominantly factual questions, were examined and were compared with the results of the earlier reviews. Higher cognitive questioning strategies have a small positive median effect on learning measures but not as large as has been suggested by the previous meta-analysis (Redfield & Rousseau 1981). Moderate and even large effects may exist but remain to be demonstrated.

Computer-Assisted Instruction With Exceptional Children

This paper examines the literature concerning computer-assisted instruction (CAI) among exceptional children. Two approaches to meta-analysis were used: a vote count and a computation and analysis of effect sizes. Using 22 studies, the effectiveness of CAI with exceptional children was determined to be largely effective on the basis of the vote count, which ascertained whether or not a study reported positive results. Six studies were eliminated from the second analysis—that of calculating effect sizes—because they did not report sufficient statistical information. The median effect size was .52, a moderate positive effect. On the basis of the meta-analyses, CAI appears to be effective with exceptional children, especially those at lower levels of learning. Suggestions for future research regarding CAI use with exceptional children were made.

Academic and Occupational Performance: A Quantitative Synthesis

Computer searches of three data bases and hand searches of four major review articles yielded 35 studies of the association between academic and occupational performance in various fields completed since 1950. The study-weighted mean of the 209 correlations is .155, and the standard deviation is .176. Although highly significant, academic indicators such as grades and test scores account on average for only 2.4% of the variance in occupational performance criteria such as income, job satisfaction, and effectiveness ratings. Predictions of occupational performance from academic indexes were somewhat higher in business and nursing, somewhat lower in teaching and engineering, and not significant for MD’s and PhD’s. The correlation magnitudes depend on several characteristics of the studies and their populations.

Childhood Traits and Environmental Conditions of Highly Eminent Adults.

respected biographies show their distinctive intellectual competence and motivation, social and communication skills, general psychological wholesomeness, and both versatility as well as concentrated perseverance during childhood. Most were stimulated by the availability of cultural stimuli and materials related to their field of eminence and by teachers, parents, and other adults. Although most had clear parental expectations for their conduct, they also had the opportunity for exploration on their own. Our research combines psychology and &dquo;Cliometrics,&dquo; the quantitative study of history, after Clio, the muse of history. The criterion of eminence employed (the number of words written about each man in biographical dictionaries and encyclopedias) proved technically reliable; but the ratings of traits and conditions are no doubt distorted to

Classroom Process Differences in Inner-City Elementary Schools

Abstract Prior school effectiveness research was extended in this study by an examination of classroom processes in urban elementary schools that have been identified as effective/efficient (E/E) and ineffective/inefficient (I/I), based on both data envelopment analyses (DEA) (Anderson & Walberg, 1994) and multiple-regression analyses. Achievement test scores and school demographic data were used initially to determine the efficiency and effectiveness ratings of 167 elementary schools from a large urban school district in the south central region of the United States. Four schools were randomly selected from the population of I/I schools. Systematic classroom observation and classroom learning environment measures were collected from each of these schools. The results indicated several classroom process differences between these E/E and I/I urban schools. In the I/I schools, for example, students were observed interacting with their teacher only about 47% of the time and there were no classroom interactio...

Effects of Computer-Based Instruction on Secondary School Achievement: A Quantitative Synthesis

AbstractA meta-analysis of 43 studies of the effects of computer-based instruction (CBI) in secondary schools showed that CBI programs produce, on average, small but significant improvement in stud...

Efficiency and Effectiveness Analysis of Chicago Public Elementary Schools: 1989, 1991, 1993

This article reports on research designed to respond to a set of problems normally associated with the assessment of school performance. It is more concerned with specific resource effects in specific schools than with effectiveness and efficiency in the use of individual school resources in the assessment of a system s performance over time. The emphasis is on the overall performance of the entire set of elementary schools in the Chicago Public School System rather than on the resource use in each school. Joining standard regression techniques with the results of data envelopment analysis, the basic questions asked are the following: Are there discernible changes in the performance of Chicago elementary schools following the fundamental school reforms of 1988-1989? Are these changes in the desired direction? The results suggest encouraging improvement in schooling outcomes over the period of study.

The Production of Achievement and Attitude in High School Social Studies

AbstractTo probe a psychological theory of educational productivity, social studies achievement and attitude test scores of 2,001 17-year-old high school students (from a National Assessment of Educational Progress sample) were statistically related to each other and to indicators of constructs that prior research shows are associated with learning outcomes. In eight linear and log-linear, ordinary least-square regressions with from 7 to 15 independent variables, several production factors are significant-socioeconomic status, home environment, traditional instruction, time or amount of study, and (negatively) leisure-time television viewing. Also, item-learning correlations yield clues for improving learning productivity. Systems regressions, however, reveal ambiguity in the causal relations in that measurement error and exogenous and reverse causes may account for the significant findings.