Seventh-grade Level Research Articles

Reading Grade Level of the London House Personnel Selection Inventory Series (PSI)

A series of readability analyses were conducted on the London House Personnel Selection Inventory, using the SMOG Index (McLaughlin, 1969) for the determination of reading grade level. The SMOG Index, a regression-derived formula, was calculated first by determining the number of polysyllabic words occurring in a subsample of 30 text passages. Then, the reading grade level required for comprehension of the entire text was determined. The results indicated that each of the nine versions of the London House Personnel Selection Inventory (PSI) is readable at the seventh grade educational level. In addition, each survey item of one version of the PSI was analyzed using a modified version of the SMOG Index. The results of this analysis also yielded the same seventh grade level of reading difficulty as the first SMOG analyses. It was concluded that the majority of those screened for employment with the survey typically exceed the reading comprehension levels of the average seventh grade student; and the jobs for which they are screened require at least that level of reading comprehension.

Nation Will Receive AIDS Brochure in 'Largest Government Mailing Ever'

BEGINNING LATE THIS MONTH, postal carriers will have nestled in their pouches another government document on acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). They will be delivering an eight-page brochure to each of 108 million households in the United States, making this the largest ever public health education effort and "the largest government mailing ever," according to Robert E. Windom, MD, Assistant Secretary for Health in the Department of Health and Human Services. The pamphlet is written in a question-and-answer format, targeted for a seventh-grade reading level. Questions will include "Should You Get an AIDS Test?" "What Does a Person With AIDS Look Like?" and "Is There a Cure?" There also is information about how to care for a person with AIDS and a quiz to determine the reader's understanding of the material. Readers are referred to their physician in several places in the document. Those persons wishing more information are advised to

Lonelines in pre-through late adolescence: Exploring the contributions of a multidimensional approach

A multidimensional loneliness measure was administered to 444 subjects in the 11-17 age range. The four-scale instrument probes for loneliness in relationships with parents and peers, and for aversion to and affinity for aloneness. All subscales were shown to exhibit high reliability and excellent factorial validity. With regard to age effects, a marginally significant increase was found for parent-related loneliness, accompanied by a sudden drop at the seventh-grade level. A decreasing age trend emerged in both peer-related loneliness and aversion to aloneness. A set of variables pertaining to subjects' social integration (number of friends, quality of friendships) and psychological functioning (outlook on the future) accounted for a sizable portion of the variance in all four scales, particularly in peer-related loneliness. Implications of these findings are discussed and suggestions for future research are outlined.

A new science and engineering career interest survey for middle school students

AbstractThis study describes the development and validation of a science and engineering (S/E) career interest survey (CIS). This 56 question survey was developed to measure the overall S/E career interests of 7th through 9th grade students. In the CIS, a S/E career is characterized as one which requires the completion of at least a four‐year college program with a major in science, science education, or engineering. The CIS is divided into four major parts. In Part I (30 questions), students are expected to select from occupational activities, while in Part II (20 questions) they are to select from various occupations. Part III (5 questions) and Part IV together make up the CIS internal verification scale. The CIS test‐retest reliability coefficients for one week and eight months were calculated as 0.96 (n = 57, grades 7–9) and 0.78 (n = 1937, grade 8), respectively. The KR‐21 estimate for the CIS was calculated as 0.92. Criterion‐related validity coefficients were calculated in two ways: (a) CIS scores were correlated with the Kuder GIS science subscale (r = 0.75, n = 45, grades 7–9), and (b) CIS scores were correlated with a CIS internal verification scale (r = 0.59, n = 127, grades 7–9). Evidence to support the construct validity of the CIS was collected by two methods: (a) for 7–9 grade students (n = 45), the CIS score was found to correlate 0.75 with the scientific subscale and −0.42 with the artistic sub‐scale, of the Kuder GIS. (b) the second method compared the scores of known groups. Test results for students in grades 7‐9 (n = 127; n = 1937) showed a statistically significant difference between the scores of boys and girls on S/E career interest. The readability of the CIS was seventh grade level.

VIEWERS' PERCEPTIONS OF VELOCITY AND DISTANCE IN TELEVISED EVENTS

Subjects from third-grade, seventh-grade, and college-age levels who differed with respect to photographic skills and knowledge were asked to judge the comparative velocity and distance traveled by two trains on videotape. In each of four comparisons, the velocity and distance traveled by both trains were equal, but photographing the trains with lenses of different focal lengths produced apparent differences between the velocity and distance traveled by the trains. Both children and adults frequently interpreted the effect of lens focal length as actual differences between the two trains in velocity and distance traveled. Hands-on experience with the tools of visual media only slightly mitigated against this tendency. The implications of this study are that many viewers do not understand how television production techniques manipulate perceptual information, and may thus be misled by their use.

Children's Social Interactions in the Context of Moral and Conventional Transgressions

NuccI, LARRY P., and Nucci, MARIA SANTIAGO. Children's Social Interactions in the Context of Moral and Conventional Transgressions. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1982, 53, 403-412. Observations were made in 10 schools at the second, fifth-, and seventh-grade levels of the forms of responses teachers and children provided to moral and social conventional transgressions. A total of 439 moral and 1,045 social conventional events were observed. It was found that the responses of both teachers and children to social conventional events differed from their responses to moral events. Children were much more likely to respond to moral events than to conventional events. Their responses to moral events revolved around the intrinsic (hurtful or unjust) consequences of the actions upon victims. Children's responses to conventional transgressions focused on aspects of the social order (that is, rules, normative expectations). Children showed an increased tendency to respond to convention with age. Teachers were more likely to respond to social conventional than to moral events. Their responses to the two forms of transgression complemented the responses made by children. Both the teacher and child forms of response to transgression changed with child age. In a second aspect of the study it was found, through interviews of children about ongoing events, that the children made a conceptual discrimination between the observed moral and conventional events.

A Six-Year Study of Sex Differences in Intellectual Functioning, Reading/Language Arts Achievement, and Affective Development

Summary An ANOVA procedure compared at the seventh-grade level 52 girls and 42 boys (matched upon school entry according to age, socioeconomic levels, readiness-test scores, and intelligence) on three measures of intelligence, four measures of achievement (reading vocabulary and comprehension, spelling, and language arts), and twenty affective measures (personality, self-concept, and attitudes). Girls outperformed boys on measures of language arts and spelling and on six affective measures. Significant interactions (sex, type of elementary schooling, and intelligence level) appeared to lack any meaningful consistency. The superior language arts and spelling achievement of girls, along with their affective advantages, may be mistaken as superior reading skills.

A comparison of the PIAT and WRAT: A closer look

A sample of 46 white fourth-grade pupils was administered the PPVT, WRAT, and PIAT, except for PIAT Reading Comprehension and General Information. Subjects were selected randomly from those pupils whom classroom teachers judged to be doing at least average academic work. Mean grade equivalents, as well as intercorrelations, were examined for PIAT and WRAT subtests. No sex differences were found for PPVT IQ, age, or most achievement scores. Mean grade equivalents generally ranged between the sixth-and seventh-grade levels. Nearly all PIAT-WRAT intercorrelations were positive and significant, and highest for the similarly labelled subtests. Substantial differences were noted in mean grade equivalents. WRAT Reading and Spelling exceeded their PIAT counterparts by approximately one grade level. In contrast, PIAT Mathematics exceeded WRAT Arithmetic by more than one grade level. The possible effects of differences in item content and task structures on performance were discussed. Implications for practitioners involved in psychoeducational evaluations were considered.

ASSESSING THE READABILITY OF THIRTY‐NINE BEHAVIOR‐MODIFICATION TRAINING MANUALS AND PRIMERS

Thirty-nine behavior-modification training manuals and primers, sampling various topical areas, were subjected to a readability analysis. Reading-ease scores were computed by the formula developed by Flesch. The texts sampled ranged from very difficult (appropriate for college graduates) to fairly easy (appropriate for readers at the seventh-grade level).

Speech Compression: Personality Correlates of Successful Use

Blinded veterans were asked to listen to four sections of a seventh grade level biographical sketch that had been recorded at progressively faster rates (1.0, 1.5, 2.0, and 2.5 times the initial rate of 194 words per minute) through use of a commercially available electronic discrete time compressed speech device. After each section, multiple choice questions were asked. Variables such as age, use of hearing aid, education level, Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale Verbal IQ, and scale scores of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory and the California Psychological Inventory were analyzed for possible relationship with the subject's maximum comprehended compression rate. Younger veterans whose personality tests indicated better psychological adjustment tended to be more successful in comprehending compressed speech.

Children’s Physical and Interpersonal Characteristics that Effect Student-Teacher Interactions

AbstractResearch on the impact of student characteristics on the quality of the teacher-student interaction was investigated in an ecological setting. Ss for the study were classrooms and teachers at the kindergarten, fourth, and seventh-grade levels. Ratings of teacher-student interactions were analyzed as a function of the characteristics of the child. Analysis of the data suggested that physical characteristics of the child had a more potent influence on the teacher-student interaction during the first week of the school year.

The Effectiveness of Tutoring Underachievers in Reading and Writing

Systematic data to confirm the effectiveness of tutoring are rarely gathered. In this study, the effectiveness of tutoring underachievers in reading and writing at the fourth, seventh, and tenth grade levels was checked. Subjects were defined as underachievers if their obtained STEP reading and writing scores were lower than the scores predicted on the basis of their CTMM scores. Subjects with the largest discrepancies were randomly assigned to one of two tutorial arrangements or to a control group. Tutoring produced significantly greater end-of-year gains on the STEP tests at all three grade levels and these were sustained 2 years later for Ss tutored as seventh and tenth graders. At all three grade levels, there were significantly greater frequencies of tutored, as compared to control Ss, who reached their predicted potential or better. This difference was present 2 years later.

A case study on the semiotic signs during a lecture of Cartesian plane

The use of signs in the teaching of mathematics plays a crucial role in students' cognition. Trying to understand what signs both students and teachers use in the mathematics classes may help us understand their meaning making processes. From this point of view, this paper aims to reveal the use of semiotic resources both by students and a teacher while lecturing Cartesian plane in seventh grade level. The study group of this qualitative study consisted of a teacher and her 29 seventh grade students. Two lectures delivered by the teacher on the Cartesian plane have been video-recorded. The semiotic analysis to make meanings from the linguistic and visual signs expressed through gestures and discourses has been conducted. According to the analysis of the data, links were explored between the signs in the class to present what the students and teacher actually were trying to say and how the signs used were reflected on the other side. What is more, the unclear directions and the in\-con\-sis\-ten\-cies between the discourses and gestures of~the teacher misled the students' thinking, which was revealed during the mathematical tasks. It seems that the teacher assumed that students think the same way with her.

Visual-Haptic Aptitude: Effect on Student Achievement in Reading

Earlier research efforts had indicated that students' perceptual orientation was a significant factor in the development of skill in using some forms of graphic communication. This investigation focused on the relationship between perceptual aptitude and the development of reading skills. The findings indicate that mean level of reading achievement for non-vidual or haptically inclined students is likely to be form one half to one full grade level below their more visually oriented classmates at the seventh grade level.

Phylogeny, Ontogeny, and Brain-Damaged Children

To the Editor:— I note with interest that the AMA discredits the unwarranted growing use of the Doman-Delacato treatment for brain-damaged children (205, Aug 19, 1968, adv p10). Doman and Delacato quote ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny as the basis of their theory. Applied to the development of reading and handedness, Doman and Delacato have things reversed.1 Phylogenetically, writing originated about 5,000 BC, but handedness developed during the Bronze age (1500 to 700 BC) Ontologically, the ability to read, may come as late as 10 to 12 years of age but right-left orientation may be as late as 12 to 15 years of age. Investigation of the tonic neck reflex for determination of cerebral dominance showed neither hemisphere dominant in 50% of the 500 children in the first three elementary grades1(total population done), and at the seventh-grade level 40% showed neither hemisphere dominant. Controlled studies by Freeman

Policy Issues

Recent social science research, most notably the Coleman Report and the report on racial isolation prepared by the Commission on Civil Rights, has produced one virtually incontestable finding: there is massive inequality in public school educational achievement along social-class and racial lines. That is, minority group students and students of low socio-economic status score significantly lower than their white middle-class counterparts on a variety of verbal and numerical tests. The Coleman Report indicates that differences between racial and ethnic groups are present at the first grade, and that these differences are not diminished with additional years of schooling. The result is that twelfth-grade Negroes in the urban Northeast read at the ninth-grade level and do mathematics at the seventh-grade level. Southern Negroes, Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, and Indian Americans achieve at even lower levels.

The Floating Teacher— Help for the Mathematically Disadvantaged

How can a youngster learn about primes and factors when he is not able to multiply? Such deficiencies are common among many pupils entering junior high school in areas of high population density and low income. They have not achieved in mathematics to the extent necessary to be able to cope with the mathematics concepts of the seventh-grade level. Teacher preparation, textbooks, and curriculum materials that are oriented to the “average” pupil have little specific provision for the mathematically disadvantaged pupil. Thus, provision must be made for these pupils to successfully learn mathematics.

The Effect of Distraction on Selective Attention

The effects of a vigilance distractor were investigated with respect to recall of task-relevant and task-incidental information on a memory task. 40 children per grade in the first, third, fifth, and seventh grades were given the task; half were tested under distraction conditions. It was found that recall of task-relevant material increased regularly with age, while recall of taskirrelevant (incidental) material showed no significant change with age level. Distraction had a very significant effect on the task-relevance performance but did not affect incidental performance except at the oldest grade level. No interaction was found between type of recall measure and distraction. Correlations between central and incidental performance were significantly negative at the seventh-grade level only. These findings are consistent with the information-processing model presented, which accounts for the development of selective attention processes. That attention and memory abilities increase with age during childhood is well known, but the reason for the improvement is far from established. To offer an explanation, Maccoby and Hagen (1965) have formulated an information-processing model based on previous work of Broadbent (1958). Broadbent conceptualizes the nervous system as a single communication channel with a limited capacity. Within this limited capacity, selective "filters" operate to separate relevant from irrelevant information. These selective mechanisms encode information on the basis of some fairly gross This study is based on a thesis submitted by the author to Stanford University as partial fulfilment for the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy degree. The author was a predoctoral fellow of the National Institute of Mental Health at the time. The author wishes to express thanks to Earl Whitaker, Assistant Superintendent of Schools, Redwood City, California, for his cooperation, and to Linda George and Richard Ashmore for their assistance in this study.

VERBAL DEVELOPMENT IN A MONGOLOID.

A mongoloid boy, IQ about 60, was taught to read and write using the kinesthetic method. He kept a diary from age 11 to age 45. Test data at age 45, various statistical word-counts and reading indices, and a Q sort of diary entries randomly selected from age 13 to 41 showed a reading vocabulary level maintained at or above the seventh grade level, and a writing level approximately comparable. Analysis using the formula developed by Parks of a 5,000 word sample showed a style similar to the spoken language of a bright five year old, yet with high redundancy with words of low rank and selectivity for words of high rank that statistically differentiated the two.

Thompson Smoking and Tobacco Knowledge Test

Abstract A smoking and tobacco knowledge test was constructed from valid and scientifically established concepts. Twenty-five multiple choice test items were refined to the point where the item difficulty approached ideal standards for test construction. Reading level of the test was established as appropriate for those who read at or above the seventh-grade level. The test can be used as a pre- and post-test to improve tobacco and smoking health teaching.