This is a progress report of the Demonstration of an Improved Science Curriculum for Underachieving Students (DISCUS) project for 1968-69. This project is based on the premise that if underachieving junior high school youth are separated from their more successful peers, placed in a success-oriented environment, and provided with a series of…

A personalized system of instruction (PSI) was used to teach an undergraduate course in the principles and procedures of behavior modification. In most courses utilizing PSI, proctors grade quizzes and discuss the incorrect answers with the students. This study investigated the effect these discussions had on the students' quiz performance. The…

Student retention in Adult Basic Education (ABE) programs is the focus of this monograph. The means for solving the dropout problem in ABE programs are discussed from the answers to questions of why students enroll in ABE, what basic needs should be considered early in an ABE program, what procedures should be followed in orienting new students,…

This report summarizes four English Language Arts studies sponsored by the Wisconsin Research and Development Center for Cognitive Learning under the project title "A Structure of Concept Attainment Abilities": (1) "Selection and Analysis of Language Arts Concepts for Inclusion in Tests of Concept Attainment," (2) "Items to Test Level of…

Structured Key-word Analysis is a computerizable technique for objectively analyzing the natural language responses to open-end questions. Key-words are frequently used content words. Pairs of key-words that appear together in protocols either extremely often or extremely seldom (compared with the probability of co-appearance) are termed conjoint…

This paper describes the impact of the Regents' Test, an examination which all Georgia college students must pass before they receive their diplomas. The examination is designed to assess writing ability; some of the factors evaluated are adequate paragraph development, logic, effective and varied sentence structure, and precise diction.…

Describes what competitive grading procedures do to students and suggests alternatives. (RB)

Individual schools can assess the progress of their students using equivalent achievement test scores in subject areas at grade levels, between grade levels, and across subgroups of students. A demonstration of this procedure is presented. (Editor)

Educators have a need for a procedure to generate alternate forms of tests. The reliability of alternate forms generated from a table of specifications is examined, using 78 high school remedial mathematics students as subjects. (Editor)

An alternative method for measuring student achievement is suggested, using a combination of teacher statements, classroom observations, current questionnaires, oral and written tests, work samples, previous tests, school records, and child interviews. (MJB)

Attempted to investigate the effects of different levels of test anxiety on actual rather than simulated classroom test performance. The intent was to learn whether the effect of anxiety would be dependent upon or independent of several variables, such as test scores, sex differences, intelligence, and type of test items. (Author/RK)

The computerized program which is described is designed to score and analyze multiple-choice examinations, providing prompt and detailed testing information. (RAO)

A new approach to measurement in education is suggested which affords some hope that the traditional view of examining can be given a better justification. (JD)

It has long been recognized that students' performance on test questions may be affected by structural aspects of the test itself. Here, the extent to which items, placed at the end of General Certificate of Education tests, influence test taking is examined, and the effect on performance of items placed early or late is considered. (Author/RK)