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Two studies investigated factors affecting the scores of Hawaii students taking the verbal subtest of the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT). For the past several years, the mean verbal scores of Hawaii students have consistently been among the lowest 10% of all states. The first study addressed the identification of items and types of items that have been answered differentially by Hawaii students in comparison to mainland United States students. The items were identified through differential item functioning (DIF) procedures which assess performance differences between groups of individuals with the same overall scholastic aptitude. Results indicated that Hawaii students performed less well than the mainland reference group (students of equal overall scholastic aptitude) on the early items in each of the antonym sections and better than the reference group on the more difficult or later items in each section. Carelessness and unfamiliarity with the item type were identified as possible causes. The second study utilized a sample of Hawaii public school students who received brief instruction addressing the low performance on the types of items identified in the first study. Independent groups t-tests conducted between the treatment students and a sample from the original pool of 1988 examinees showed equivalence of performance on the pretest. Treatment students performed statistically significantly better than the comparison groups did after receiving the treatment. (Five tables of data are included. Contains 17 references.) (Author/RS)

1Boy Crusoe

By Allan Eric

Also published as" A Yankee Crusoe" . A 15 year old hard working and studious farm boy finds the lure of adventure on the seas as a merchant seaman more than he can resist. This is his story. " I was born in a little town in the State of Maine, near the close of the Civil War. My boyhood life did not differ materially from that of the average farmer's son in the remote country districts of New England--except, perhaps, that I read more and thought more. Hard work on the rugged soil, two terms each year in the little yellow country schoolhouse, a day's fishing now and then filled the early years of my life full to over-flowing. " What he gets is enough excitement and adventure to overflow his wildest dreams. How he experiences disaster and uses his wits and knowledge to overcome every problem makes for a great read. - Summary by Phil Chenevert