Jeremy Finn

University at Buffalo, The State University of New York | SUNY Buffalo · Department of Counseling, School, and Educational Psychology

Through a synthesis of test publisher norms and national longitudinal data sets, this study provides new national norms of academic growth in K–12 reading and math to help reinterpret conventional effect sizes in time units. We propose d΄, a time-indexed–effect-size metric to estimate how long it would take for an “untreated” control group to reach...

This chapter considers the relationships of student engagement with ­academic achievement, graduating from high school, and entering postsecondary schooling. Older and newer models of engagement are described and critiqued, and four common components are identified. Research on the relationship of each component with academic outcomes is reviewed....

Early education interventions have been forwarded as a means for reducing social disparities in income and health in adulthood. We explore whether a successful early education intervention, which occurred between 1985 and 1989, improved the employment rates, earnings and health of blacks relative to whites through 2008. We used data from Project ST...

ABSTRACT  This study examined variability in foreign language courses taken by students in American high schools. The conceptual model for the study depicted engagement in language courses as being shaped by (1) the school's offerings; (2) school policies and practices that determine access for some or all students, and (3) student choice: the focu...

Despite the fact that misbehavior in school is a pervasive problem to educators and despite its adverse consequences, few researchers have examined the range of misbehaviors by students, their antecedents, or their consequences. The authors used data from the National Education Longitudinal Survey of 1988 (NELS:88) conducted by the National Center...

The idea that small classes are desirable for instruction is not new; indeed, it dates back at least to biblical times (Angrist & Lavy, 1996). In the 20 th and 21 st centuries, small classes, a distinguishing feature of American private schools and a fundamental component of all remedial programs, have been posed as a way to bolster student achieve...

Researchers examined the relationship between small-class participation in the first four years of school and course-takingpatterns in high school. Using original data from Tennessee’s Project STAR (Student-Teacher Achievement Ratio) withhigh school transcripts for 3,922 students from the STAR experiment, the hypothesis that class size is related t...

This investigation addressed 3 questions about the long-term effects of early school experiences: (a) Is participation in small classes in the early grades (K–3) related to high school graduation? (b) Is academic achievement in K–3 related to high school graduation? (c) If class size is related to graduation, is the relationship explained by the ef...

The authors examined the conditions that promote or discourage engagement in the classroom among kindergarten students. Engagement included learning behaviors (ontask behavior) and pro- and antisocial behavior. The authors examined 3 policy-manipulable features of kindergarten classrooms: (a) whether the class met for a half day or full day, (b) cl...

Small classes in the elementary grades have been shown to boost students’ academic performance. However, researchers continue to seek a consistent, integrated explanation of “why” small classes have positive effects. This article forwards the hypothesis that when class sizes are reduced, major changes occur in students’ engagement in the classroom....

Tennessee's Project STAR, a randomized experiment involving almost 12,000 pupils, demonstrated convincingly that small classes in the early elementary (K-3) grades increase pupil performance, reduce the test-score achievement gap between or among different social groups, and can have long-lasting effects. The benefits are greater for minority stude...

In this paper, the authors examine several factors related to class size. The purpose of the presentation is to: (1) trace the evolution of class-size research; (2) briefly describe the Student Achievement Ratio (STAR) class-size experiment; (3) summarize the early and the later student outcomes of STAR participants; (4) outline the research-demons...

Explains difference between class size and pupil-teacher ratio. States that terms should not be used interchangeably. Asserts that effective class-size-reduction efforts must include early intervention, duration, and intensity. Reports results of recent studies of the effects of Tennessee Student Teacher Achievement Ratio (STAR) Project on student...

Investigates practices of high schools that encourage or discourage students' enrollment in advanced mathematics courses. Uses data from transcripts of more than 22,000 graduates of 305 public high schools. Important findings concern the effects of graduation requirements and course offerings on the courses taken by all students and by particular s...

Despite more than 600,000 teacher aides in American schools today, research provides little information about their classroom activities, their qualifications for carrying out their duties, or their impact on student achievement and behavior. This investigation asked whether the presence of a teacher aide in the classroom has any noticeable impact...

The purpose of this investigation was to extend our knowledge of the effects of small classes in the primary grades on pupils' academic achievement. Three questions were addressed that have not been answered in previous research: (1) How large are the effects of small classes relative to the number of years students participate in those classes? (2...

The purpose of this investigation was to extend our knowledge of the effects of small classes in the primary grades on pupils’ academic achievement. Three questions were addressed that have not been answered in previous research: (1) How large are the effects of small classes relative to the number of years students participate in those classes? (2...

This manual draws together evolving information about how group size influences what the group does and how learning tasks may be designed and employed to accomplish desired outcomes. The manual includes ideas from research on class size and its outcomes; theories of learning and development; and validated experiences of expert educators. It provid...

The federal class-size-reduction initiative and programs such as Wisconsin's Project SAGE (Student Achievement Guarantee in Education) provide funds for a variety of "small-class models," including intact small classes with one teacher, team-taught classes with 30 or more students and 2 full-time teachers, "push-in" or "pull-out" classes with 25-30...

After years of debate, speculation, and research, Tennessee's Project STAR produced clear answers to the question, “Do small classes result in improved academic achievement in the elementary grades?” This article describes the features that made STAR unique and summarizes the findings with regard to pupil performance and behavior. New analyses show...

This paper summarizes class size research conducted primarily since 1970. The paper discusses various relevant issues for use in policy, in schools, and in additional research. Several studies over the years have focused on: the issue of small being better and less being more and emphasized the STAR (Student Teacher Achievement Ratio) education exp...

Eight of the thirteen chapters describe investigations of adults' literacy skills based on analyses of the National Adult Literacy Survey. The studies describe how work contributes to literacy, associations between literacy skills and reading practices, reciprocal effects of education and literacy, gender differences in literacy abilities, the rela...

Project STAR and other studies show that small class size-especially in primary grades-can raise student achievement and increase equity. But in addition to citing research, proponents must clarify misused terms and counter the familiar arguments that block moves toward smaller classes.

A sample of 1,803 minority students from low-income homes was classified into 3 groups on the basis of grades, test scores, and persistence from grade 8 through Grade 12; the classifications were academically successfully school completers ("resilient" students), school completers with poorer academic performance (nonresilient completers), and nonc...

A sample of 1,803 minority students from low-income homes was classified into 3 groups on the basis of grades, test scores, and persistence from Grade 8 through Grade 12; the classifications were academically successful school completers (''resilient'' students), school completers with poorer academic performance (nonresilient completers), and nonc...

This report summarizes the findings of some recent pivotal studies of class size, especially as they relate to students at risk. Of particular note is a large-scale study of class size, which was designed to test the conclusions of G. Glass and M. Smith (1978) and G. Robinson (1990) about the advantages of small class size. This study, Project Stud...

This analysis focuses on school offerings and practices that limit or increase the course work taken by particular groups of students. The National Commission on Excellence in Education has recommended minimal requirements for high school graduation consisting of 4 years of English, 3 years of mathematics, science, and social studies, and one-half...

This chapter describes how to use SPSS for Windows to perform simple linear regression analysis. Because a scatterplot and correlation coefficient are indispensible in interpreting regression results, procedures for obtaining these are reviewed as well. The SPSS output for simple regression analysis includes many results that are redundant. This is...

This book is a self-teaching guide to the SPSS for Windows computer package. 'It is designed to be used hand-in-hand with The New Statistical Analysis of Data by T. W. Anderson and Jeremy D. Finn, although it may be used as a stand-alone manual as well. This guide is very easy to follow since all procedures are outlined in a straightforward, step-b...

The expression, “A chain is only as strong as its weakest link,” may be construed as an admonition to consider the variability of the links as well as their average strength. In comparing distributions, averages alone are not always adequate. Figures 3.5 and 3.6 show two telephone waiting-time distributions with equal means (1.1 seconds) but very d...

In this chapter we present some methods for treatment of categorical data. The methods involve the comparison of a set of observed frequencies with frequencies specified by some hypothesis to be tested. In Section 14.1 the hypothesis is that one categorical variable has a specific distribution. A test of such a hypothesis is called a test of goodne...

It is often the purpose of a statistical investigation to answer a yes-or-no question about some characteristic of a population. An election candidate, for example, may employ a pollster to determine whether the proportion of voters intending to vote for him does or does not exceed 1/2. The polio vaccine trial was designed so that medical researche...

In this section the theory developed in Part III is used to allow us to infer the characteristics of a population based on data from a sample. This is an essential part of statistical analysis because we often need to know about the parent population, but are not able to study every one of its members. For example, we might like to know what percen...

Frequently an investigator wishes to compare or contrast two populations—sets of individuals or objects. This may be done on the basis of a sample from each of the two populations, as when average incomes in two groups, average driving skills of males and females, or average attendance rates in two school districts are compared. The polio vaccine t...

In this chapter we return to the statistical relationship between two quantitative variables. In Chapter 5 the correlation coefficient is described as a symmetrie index of strength of association. In this chapter we examine the directional relationship of two variables. In many instances one variable may have a direct effect on the other or may be...

In Chapter 2 we start with the statistical information as it is obtained by the investigator; this information might be an instructor’s list of students and their grades, a record of the tax rates of counties in Florida, or the prices of Grade A large eggs in each of ten Chicago grocery stores averaged over the past 36 months. We refer to such stat...

Although for some purposes an average may be a sufficient description of a set of data, usually more information about the data is needed. An important feature of statistical data is their variability—how much the measurements differ from individual to individual. In this chapter we discuss the numerical evaluation of variability. A synonym for var...

After a set of data has been collected, it must be organized and condensed or categorized for purposes of analysis. In addition to graphical summaries, numerical indices can be computed that summarize the primary features of the data set. One is an indicator of location or central tendency that specifies where the set of measurements is “located” o...

Statistics enters into almost every phase of life in some way. A daily news broadcast may start with a weather forecast and end with an analysis of the stock market. In a newspaper at hand we see in the first five pages stories on an increase in the wholesale price index, an increase in the number of habeas corpus petitions filed, new findings on m...

Statistical inference is the process of drawing conclusions about a population of interest from a sample of data. In order to develop and evaluate methods for using sample information to obtain knowledge of the population, it is necessary to know how closely a descriptive quantity such as the mean or the median of a sample resembles the correspondi...

Much empirical data arises from experiments, in which the investigator interacts in some way with the units of observation and actually influences the conditions of the units leading to the measurements. Many other sets of data result from simply observing, that is, making a survey. It is to such investigations that we now turn our attention. Usual...

Statistical data are used frequently to answer questions about the association of two or more variables. When the variables have numerical scales, association may be examined through scatter plots and the correlational techniques discussed in Chapter 5. In this chapter we discuss methods for examining relationships between and among categorical var...

Throughout this book we have stressed the basic statistical concept of variability. When some measurement, such as height or aptitude for a particular job, is made on several individuals, the values vary from person to person. The variability of a quantitative scale is measured by its variance. If the set of individuals is stratified into more homo...

Statistical inference is discussed in Part Four of this book. Inference is the process of drawing conclusions about populations of interest from samples of data. In this chapter we introduce the terminology associated with population distributions. In Chapter 9 we present the theory used as a basis for drawing inferential conclusions. As the reader...

Each of us has some intuitive notion of what “probability” is. Everyday conversation is full of references to it: “He’ll probably return on Saturday.” “Maybe he won’t.” “The chances are she’ll forget.” “The odds on winning are small.”

Statistical data are often used to answer questions about relationships between variables. Chapters 2 through 4 of this book describe ways to summarize data on a single variable. In Chapters 5 and 6 methods are described for summarizing the. relationship or association between 2 or among 3 or more variables. Chapter 5 considers association among va...

The Nature of the Book This book is a text for a first course in statistical concepts and methods. It introduces the analysis of data and statistical inference and explains various methods in enough detail so that the student can apply them. Little mathematical background is required; only high school algebra is used. No mathematical proof is given...

Correlational analysis is a cornerstone method of statistical analysis, yet most presentations of correlational techniques deal primarily with tests of significance. The focus of this article is obtaining explicit expressions for confidence intervals for functions of simple, partial, and multiple correlations. Not only do these permit tests of hypo...

In this investigation we examined the relation between teachers' ratings of the classroom behavior of 1,013 fourth graders and student achievement. Students were identified whose behavior was frequently inattentive and withdrawn, and others were identified who were disruptive. Norm-referenced and criterion-referenced achievement tests indicated tha...

The abstract for this document is available on CSA Illumina.To view the Abstract, click the Abstract button above the document title.

Pupil participation in elementary school classrooms is essential for learning to occur, while nonparticipation in early grades can initiate a cycle that culminates in total withdrawal—dropping out—in later years. This study explores the nature of participation and nonparticipation among fourth-grade students. A sample of 1388 youngsters was rated b...

Research on children at risk for school failure emphasizes the need to understand the ways in which pupils are engaged or disengage from class and school activities. This paper describes the development of a teacher rating scale that assesses the form and extent of participation among elementary grade pupils. The Student Participation Questionnaire...

A sample of 1755 pupils in 232 elementary-school classes in the State of Tennessee participated in a 3 year longitudinal study of the effects of reduced class size on reading and mathematics performance. Pupils and teachers were randomly assigned to one of three experimental conditions within each participating school: a small class with a median e...

A large-scale experiment is described in which kindergarten students and teachers were randomly assigned to small and large classes within each participating school. Students remained in these classes for 2 years. At the end of each grade they were measured in reading and mathematics by standardized and curriculum-based tests. The results are defin...

Tests for the equality of independent correlations are well-established in the literature, as are tests for the equality of 2 dependent correlations. However, tests for the equality of more than 2 dependent correlations seem not to have been studied. Motivated by a particular set concerning blood pressure for 3 cohorts, we provide large sample test...

A two‐part follow‐up study was conducted of students in grade 4 who had participated in the reduced class size experiment during the preceding years. Outcome measures included a range of norm referenced and criterion referenced achievement tests and teachers’ ratings of the youngsters’ effort, initiative taking, and disruptive behavior in the fourt...

Research on dropping out of school has focused on characteristics of the individual or institution that correlate with the dropout decision. Many of these characteristics are nonmanipulable, and all are measured at one point in time, late in the youngster’s school career. This paper describes two models for understanding dropping out as a developme...

Research on dropping out of school has focused on characteristics of the individual or institution that correlate with the dropout decision. Many of these characteristics are nonmanipulable, and all are measured at one point in time, late in the youngster’s school career. This paper describes two models for understanding dropping out as a developme...

Through their organization and curricula, schools either promote separate roles for males and females or operate to minimize differences. This study describes sex differences in science and reading achievement and attitudes for nationwide samples of 14-year-old children in the United States, Sweden, and England. There are largely the same sex diffe...

Throughout the world, schools perpetuate the sexual inequalities of their cultural and economic environments. Jeremy Finn, Loretta Dulberg, and Janet Reis review crossnational studies of educational attainment, such as those sponsored by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement and the United Nations Economic and...

Bulcock, J. W. & Finn, J. D., 1975. Explaining School Performance in Literature: Some Strategies of Causal Analyses. Scand. J. educ. Res. 19, 75‐110. This paper focuses on the cultural and personality resources of individuals and their school related skills as determinants of achievement in mother tongue literature. A path analytic approach is used...

The present study was designed to assess some of the attitudinal and ideological factors associated with varying degrees of "activism," or participation in political and social protest activities. A group of 110 undergraduate students at the State University of New York at Buffalo was divided into three activism sub-groups--non, moderate, extensive...

In the years 1895-1925 would-be lawyers could qualify for admission to the New Zealand legal profession either by passing University courses for the LLB, or by passing the Law Professional Examinations or, for some of the period, a mixture of both. Despite the fact it seems the Law Professional examinations attracted more than twice as many candida...

Typescript (photocopy). Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Canterbury, 1995. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 315-350).