The standard approach to test validity requires a realist or externalist philosophical perspective. An idealist or internalist perspective results in a radically different interpretation of validity. If reality is mind-constructed and truth is agreement, then instruments cannot stand separate from what they purport to measure. (MT)

The author critiques parts of the report of the National Commission on Excellence in Education. He argues that the goals of national supremacy and individual gain ignore the role school could play in altering significant objective conditions of society and the ideology which justified those conditions. (MT)

This study examined the relationship between direct (essay) and indirect (objective) assessment of writing skills using 320 college students in remedial courses as subjects. Correlations and results of factor analysis are discussed. (MT)

Measurement of change is essential for documenting the effects of social programs, for refining social-educational programs, and for guiding policy decisions about resource allocation. (CJ)

This article explores the different conceptions of culture and cultural process and product goals in education to show how liberal education and multicultural education are related. (DF)

A survey of authors of elementary social studies methods texts indicates a lack of agreement on goals for the elementary social studies. Implications of this study are outlined. (JMF)

A definition of "the disciplines" is presented and a case for organizing curriculum on the basis of the social sciences is presented. Several arguments against the disciplines are discussed and rejected. (JMF)

This article describes the use of an ethnohistorical approach to construct a descriptive and analytical account of the Foxfire project, a controversial experiment in the collection and publication of folkloric materials by high school students. (IAH)

The Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975 (EAHCA) is examined with regard to the law's view of education. This inquiry maintains that EAHCA holds that education is not only academic instruction but also whatever makes academic instruction possible. (IAH)

A description of the background, objectives, design, and intended products of the Vocational Education Equity Study, a federal effort, conducted by the American Institutes for Research, intended to assess sex discrimination and sex stereotyping in vocational education at all educational levels. (SJL)

The author considers the role of the school, the teacher, and the curriculum in socializing children to our heterogeneous society. She outlines the "planned variation" curriculum design of Head Start and Follow Through to illustrate how differing social perspectives lead to the creation of different early curriculum experiences. (SJL)

The incorporation of play experiences into the school curriculum is discussed in relation to the political nature of curriculum decision making and the use of play as a curriculum strategy. (JN)

Inservice evaluation and professional development are part of the teacher's responsibility. Teachers need to take some responsibility as well for the implementation of social policy. Evaluation procedures are essential to school-focused inservice teacher education. (JN)

Surveys of college faculty members' current use of objective tests indicated that most respondents (N=38) did not use state-of-the-art procedures associated with construction and analysis of objective tests. Many were unfamiliar with basic testing terms and tools and did not understand the meanings of the terms and tools. (SM)

Developmental characteristics of students in middle schools (grades 5-8) are detailed and a social studies curriculum tailored to their particular needs is outlined. (JMF)