Compares attitudes of Maine elected school officials, teachers, and community members on 18 educational issues including teacher and administrator salaries, merit salary increases, teacher competency exams, tenure, collective bargaining, truancy/drop-out rates, student competency exams, graduation requirements, discipline, substance abuse,…

This study compares the rates of single renewal and return from the home loan of English language books of The Ohio State University Libraries across subjects and patron status. The chi square test of equal proportionality is used to make comparisons between data sets. Ten sources are given. (Author/EJS)

This report is based on a test that was arranged in April and May of 1997 among first- and second-year students at Tallinn Pedagogical University who studied the Finnish language as a general subject and among the students of the eleventh and twelfth grades in some Estonian secondary schools. There were among 105 Estonians and 25 Russians among…

As mandated by Congress, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) surveys the educational accomplishments of U.S. students and monitors changes in those accomplishments. NAEP tracks the educational achievement of 4th, 8th, and 12th graders over time in selected content areas, and has been tracking achievement for 30 years. The goals…

Compares five commonly used English-Spanish language dominance instruments according to area of language measured, domain assessed, developmental comparability, and language variety or dialect. Examines the proficiency information provided and the validity, reliability, and norming of the instruments. Concludes that the tests are not comparable…

Discussion of the use of computer drills in education focuses on a study designed to compare the effect of a progressive state drill with the effect of having high school students implement their own strategies using flashcards. The use of sequential analysis is explained, and student attitudes are examined. (26 references) (Author/LRW)

Critics charge that the use of standardized examinations for initial teacher certification fails to measure teacher competency accurately and results in high failure rates for minorities. Compares minority bias review panels in Illinois and Pennsylvania, and finds greater minority involvement and attention to minority culture in Illinois' test…

Describes study that investigated the relationship between participation in a business simulation game and performance on a final exam in a principles of marketing course. Past research on business games is reviewed; the use of midterm exam performance level as a pretest variable is explained; and question classification is described. (44…

Describes an evaluation of variability in the percentage of subject searching in an online catalog among branch libraries of one university. The results reported include variability by time of day, day of week, and week of semester. The value of this type of information for library administration is discussed. (CLB)

Seven formats of educational testing were compared according to student preferences/perceptions of how well each test method evaluates learning. Formats compared include true/false, multiple-choice, matching, multi-digit testing (MDT), fill-in-the-blank, short answer, and essay. Subjects were 1,440 university students. Results indicate that tests…

Investigates the availability of syntactic cues to verb meaning. In Experiments 1-3, adult subjects' judgments of verbs' semantic similarity were compared with other adults' judgments about the syntactic properties of the same verbs. In Experiment 4, subjects paraphrased sentences formed by pairing verbs with unaccustomed sentence frames. (54…

The national examination systems of Ethiopia and South Australia are compared with an eye toward identifying problems in the Ethiopian system. Authentic assessment, which has never been a part of the examination system of Ethiopia, should be introduced along with other innovations patterned on the Australian system. (SLD)

Discusses research to determine whether the methodology used in English-as-a-Second-Language classes affected scores on the Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills. Test results of students in a Los Angeles school district exposed to a comprehension-based approach were compared to those exposed to a grammar-based approach. (21 references) (CFM)

Adolescents in New Zealand (492 boys and 468 girls) completed a 22-item scale concerning their self-perceived strengths. Parent, peer, and school attachment, part-time work, and number of physical activities in which they were involved (NPAs) were central for boys. Girls' strengths were best predicted by parent attachment and NPAs. (TJH)

Using a schooling model and Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) data for 79,428 Californian students, questions raised by school comparisons based on SAT results were addressed: the role of demographic/academic characteristics in student SAT participation, and the relationship of participation rates and examinee/school demographics to SAT performance.…