This paper contains informal remarks on action research in social psychology from its post World War II origins to its current status. Kurt Lewin first described action research in the 1946 article, "Action Research and Minority Problems," as a three-step process of program planning, program execution, and follow-up evaluation. Ronald Lippitt and…

The "least restrictive means" test, a frequently used tool for resolving First Amendment cases in federal courts, is designed to insure that state-imposed abridgement of free expression is limited to the narrowest scope and the least impact necessary to fulfill a compelling state interest. Analysis of the history of the test since its…

The presence of F in the ABCDF grading scale results from the struggle between authoritarian and egalitarian philosophies over how best to support the school work ethic. Authoritarian forces have favored the precise 0-100 scale that centralizes power clearly in the hands of the teacher. Egalitarian forces have supported less precise measures, such…

Although the federal government's involvement in learning disabilities through task forces, legislation, and funding has been evident only since the 1960s and 1970s, the roots of learning disabilities can be traced back to the early 1800s. Learning disabilities are one of the newest categories officially recognized by the U.S. Department of…

Learner Verification and Revision (LVR) has been part of Florida's instructional materials adoption process since 1974, when state statutes required textbook publishers to provide written proof that their materials were revised based on student feedback before publication. Publishers were also required to collect student data and make revisions…

In the early twentieth century behaviorist Edward L. Thorndike began the development and use of measurement scales to replace personal judgment to evaluate student compositions in U.S. public schools. In 1912, utilizing the Fullerton and Catell equal difference theorem, Milo B. Hillegas released the first scientifically designed scale to measure…

This paper traces the evaluation requirements of the Title I/Chapter 1 Program since 1966 to the present, discusses the implications of the evaluations, and reports on the evolution of evaluation during this 20 year period. The evaluations are described in four phases: (1) from a nadir of low quality, utility and precision (1966-1974); (2) to a…