Data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress and accompanying machine-readable documentation are currently maintained on the National Military Command Information Processing System (NIPS) data base management system. National Assessment's data management and file processing systems, however, are not well-suited to secondary users.…

The problem was a study of the content found in five commonly offered basic business courses in secondary schools to determine whether the subject matter in each course is sufficiently unique to justify the continued offering of the current series of courses or whether the content is so repetitious that further consideration of the consolidation…

This paper is a report of the development of a systematic process for locating instructional design alumni and recruiting them to provide feedback from their workplaces. The purpose is to make alumni part of the process for program improvement. The process for tracking, contacting, and gathering data from alumni is described. In addition, the…

The project described focuses on working towards improving the quality of curriculum, instruction and evaluation procedures in the New York City Police Department. The problems facing competency-based training programs are reviewed, as are the specific problems of the New York City program. Attempts to improve the present training procedure…

This paper presents the eight major categories of recommendations made by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics' (NCTM's) booklet "An Agenda for Action," that are considered components of programs designed to improve mathematics education, and as a by-product, raise mathematics scores of pupils on standardized tests. The three…

Data from a 1979 survey of American state agencies for higher education indicate that obstacles to modifying and/or terminating academic programs can be placed into eight categories. The eight categories and a variety of coping devices are discussed, and a conceptual coping process model is proposed. (Author/MLW)

An analysis of data collected from 30 urban districts indicates that there are encouraging developments in urban education which are exemplified by a number of successful programs. These include work-study programs, arts in education programs, programs which incorporate community resources, and alternative education programs. Five generalizations…

Since the inaugural meeting of the Southeastern Association of Community College Research in 1975, the research conducted at community colleges, as well as the issues facing researchers, have remained fairly constant. Research has been consistently understaffed and the themes of research have tended to focus on relating student progress to…

Journalism educational practices have constrained students and left many of them ill-prepared professionally. A new journalism program being prepared at Ithaca College replaces the hierarchical model of education with a more "dialogic" approach, and demonstrates ways in which students can become more active participants in their own…

A national curriculum in physical education for the elementary and secondary schools will not solve the problems prevalent in current physical education curricula. In terms of feasibility, it is not clear that a consensus could be reached among physical educators or that a national curriculum could change local programs, or that it could be…

Because the structure of a writing program establishes its content and values, a writing program should be integrated with other aspects of English studies to avoid being merely an add-on to the college English department. Several planning strategies can assist in promoting this integration. A writing program should involve all related campus…

The concept of collaboration, which underlies the design and structure of the Teacher Center Policy Board, has been widely accepted as an effective mechanism, but this acceptance is to a large degree without sound basis. A number of assertions can be supported about the ineffectiveness of collaboration: (1) collaboration in teacher education is…

The Aircraft Instrument Comprehension (AIC) Program is a self-instructional program designed to teach undergraduate student pilots to read instruments that indicate the position of the aircraft in flight, based on sequential instructional stages of information, prompted practice, and unprompted practice. The program includes a 36-item multiple…

An expanded model of treatment evaluation is presented, and connections to stress and coping theory are examined. Examples are taken from a research program on the long-term outcomes of alcoholism and depression. Implications for assessment and diagnosis, program design and improvement, and stress and coping theory are explored. (SLD)

This paper contends that much of what passes as "educational research" has all the appearance, but little of the substance, of scientific research and that the educational community should realize this fact and condemn the imitation, while working to improve scientifically based and conducted projects. Problems in the field center around (1) the…