Purpose: Listening is the gateway to learning in the mainstream classroom; however, classrooms are noisy environments, making listening challenging. Therefore, speech-in-noise tests that realistically incorporate the complexity of the classroom listening environment are needed. The aim of this article was to review the speech stimuli, noise…

Designed to provide teachers in early childhood education and other interested educators with criteria for evaluating the quality of plot, characterization, and style in picture story books, this instrument uses a set of eight criteria for evaluating these literary elements. Each criterion is followed by statements that illustrate different ways…

The relative worth of any evaluation instrument depends on user needs and the material being evaluated. Potential users of a good computer assisted instruction (CAI) instrument include purchasers, authors, reviewers, and publishers of CAI materials. Although each user has unique needs, a good instrument will serve both to educate and discriminate,…

Teacher selection is one of the most important managerial decisions made by school administrators. A laboratory study was performed to assess the impact of interpersonal performance styles on decisions made by administrators in interview situations. Research methodology and results are discussed. (DF)

Four experiments involving 18 individuals (ages 14-55) with profound multiple handicaps found that 12 stimuli used in a preference assessment represented a comprehensive stimulus set for identifying preferences, though the utility of the set could sometimes be enhanced by caregiver opinion. Results also indicated that preferences identified were…

The relevance of testing to curriculum is measured by the closeness of fit between test items and major program objectives. In this paper two procedures for analyzing the curriculum/test overlap are compared. The first method obtains a detailed analysis of a priority area of the curriculum. The process brings the curriculum into alignment with the…

Presents a measure of the relative standing of professional journals in an aggregated journal citation matrix. The results of the application of the measure to a network of geographic journals during two time periods are reported and discussed. (35 references) (Author/CLB)

Strategies are discussed that provide a theoretically sound, valid, and practical framework for evaluating the processes used in identifying gifted/talented students. The strategies stress assessing the relevance of instruments used, their reliability and validity, their limitations, and using a variety of evaluation techniques. (JDD)

At a workshop exploring practical methods that elementary and secondary teachers may use to analyze texts, three parallel texts were subjected to three forms of analysis: subjective analysis, examination of cohesive ties, and linguistic analysis of selected text variables such as word and sentence length. The subjective ranking of the passages'…

Summarizes the similarities between classification systems for catalog selection and information retrieval systems, and discusses system characteristics that allow the use of measures such as recall and precision in system evaluation. (27 references) (Author/CLB)

Explores editorial decision processes and outcomes using manuscripts reviewed for "Rural Sociology" from 1978-81. Examines 10 characteristics of successful and unsuccessful manuscripts and finds 5 characteristics constituting a discriminant function model: number of review rounds, author membership in Rural Sociological Society, referee…

The use of curriculum based assessment (CBA) to ensure learning disabled and low achieving students adequate educational opportunity remains the focus in this direct and comprehensive third edition. The additions to this edition are in the way of providing detail and explanation in the context of current and emerging issues in educational…

This article discusses the assessment and evaluation of infants and toddlers with disabilities or at risk for developing disabilities, recent contributions to knowledge of assessment of infants and toddlers, current practices, and future trends. The paper cautions against using one test for all purposes or using a test with an insufficient…

This collection of 66 assessment instrument profiles was compiled to address the issue of multidisciplinary evaluation of infants and toddlers, aged birth through 2 years, and the identification of family needs. Six categories of instruments are included: (1) developmental screening, (2) developmental tests, (3) specific screening, (4) specific…

This study describes a computer based, performance rating information processing system, performance rating theory, and programs for the application of the theory to obtain ratings free from the effects of reviewer stringency in reviewing abstracts of conference papers. Originally, the Performance Rating (PR) System was used to evaluate the…