Evaluating a School-Based Behavior Curriculum for Adolescents : An Attempt to Produce Both Affective and Cognitive Growth / Marvin Pasch and John Gallagher.

The revised edition of "The New Model Me" is an affective curriculum based on Ojemann's "Causal Approach to Behavior" that assists youngsters to understand how needs and personal resources interact within a particular immediate physical setting to produce behavior. In addition, the curriculum attempts to teach key concepts and principles and to improve students' reading efficiency and comprehension. After 18 weeks of curriculum exposure (during January to June, 1982) 422 students from 11 classrooms in several states, representing grades 8-12, were assessed on curriculum specific and general social science content, attitudes toward self and significant others, and reading comprehension and efficiency, to determine the effectiveness of the curriculum. Revised forms of the first edition's knowledge examination and the Personal Attitude Survey (PAS) were used. Reading comprehension and efficiency were assessed by corresponding subtests of the Iowa Silent Reading Tests (ISRT). Analysis of the results showed that the curriculum was highly effective in all areas, except in attitudes and reading efficiency. Reading comprehension showed significant improvement for already strong readers but no improvement for low readers. A site-by-site analysis of results found that significant results were more likey to occur in classrooms taught by teachers who had prior experience with the program. (Author/BL)

Microfiche. [Washington D.C.]: ERIC Clearinghouse microfiches : positive.