Children in six 1 st-grade classrooms (N = 80) differing in amount of daily letter-sound instruction were administered tests of phonemic segmentation and of reading and spelling 60 regular and exception words 3 times during the year. Repeated measures results indicated no classroom differences in phonemic segmentation. However, classrooms with more letter-sound instruction improved at a faster rate in correct spellings and readings. Individual growth models analysis indicated that phonemic segmentation scores obtained in October predicted overall performance in reading and spelling. Growth in segmentation predicted overall performance in spelling but only predicted end-of-year differences in regular-and exception-word reading. Finally, better reading of regular words in October was associated with faster growth in spelling, and better spelling of regular words in October was predictive of May word reading.The "great debate" over the relative merits of code-emphasis instruction versus meaning-emphasis instruction in beginning reading continues as passionately as ever (

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Precourse tests of computational skills in algebra and trigonometry and of formal operational reasoning have been correlated with performance in the algebra-based introductory physics course for 80 students. The correlation coefficient for mathematics and physics was 0.345 (p<0.001) and for formal operational reasoning and physics was 0.435 (p<0.001). However, a multiple regression analysis of the combined effect of mathematics and formal operational reasoning on the total physics grade yielded a multiple R of 0.518, R2=0.268. This study found that the combination of precourse measures of mathematics computational skills and abstract reasoning explained over 25% of the variance in the final physics grade distribution.

The conceptualization of masculinity and femininity as separate and independent dimensions is an underlying assumption of the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI) and the Personality Attributes Questionnaire (PAQ). This assumption was examined by a factor analytic technique to identify possible factors within each measure. Initial factor analysis of the BSRI employed a principal components extraction rotated to an oblique position through the use of the Harris‐Kaiser Type II method. Subsequently, the intercorrelations of the oblique factors were subjected to a principal components extraction, which in turn was rotated to the varimax criterion. Factor analysis of PAQ also employed principal components extraction, rotated using Varimax criteria. Sixteen first‐order and 16 second‐order factors were identified for the BSRI, with 6 first‐order and 9 second‐order factors designated as major factors. Six first‐order factors were identified for the PAQ, with 4 labeled as major. No single, independent, masculine or feminine factors were identified for either the BSRI or the PAQ, although several factors represented or approximated constellations of sex‐typed items. The results suggest that more than two dimensions of masculinity and femininity, as well as other personality variables, are being measured by the instruments.

Sixty students in a second semester freshman physics class were administered a test of formal operational reasoning. The composite logical test score was correlated with students’ final examination grades and yielded a correlation of 0.49. Furthermore, the composite correlation distribution provided evidence that the ability to employ formal operational reasoning is a necessary, though not sufficient, condition for student success in physics. These results point to the importance of seriously considering including, within the framework of physics courses, interactions and experiences designed to develop logical reasoning.