A hearing was held to consider the issues involved in funding the administration's proposals for certain educational testing. After opening remarks by Senators Kennedy (Massachusetts) , Specter (Pennsylvania), and Harkin (Iowa), the Secretary of Education, Richard W. Riley, spoke about the proposed tests. The Clinton Administration and Secretary…

This paper describes the organization, design, and adaptations of the North York's Benchmarks Project (Ontario, Canada). This project began in response to the interests and innovations of several schools within a large school board. Then the project moved to the regional and whole-board level, implemented as a top-down strategy. The term…

A study explored the nature and quality of teacher-developed assessment instruments. Teachers (n=228) from a range of grades, subjects, and school districts described patterns of test use, concerns about assessment, and use of performance assessment by completing an extensive questionnaire. The research was conducted to determine: (1) teachers'…

The relationship between education, social class, and upward mobility is examined, along with mechanisms inherent in keeping the status quo in education. The relationship between the student and the university is also explored. Although college is often seen as a mechanism of upward mobility, particularly among the poor and minorities, colleges…

Drawing from a review of the literature and a comparative study of evaluation techniques, this paper offers a rationale for the use of performance appraisal as a method of evaluating student writing. The literature review covers: (1) various roles played by composition teachers, including the students' audience of one, writing coach, and Socratic…

A two-year study designed to evaluate an elementary language arts program in the Grande Prairie School District (Edmonton, Alberta) through an assessment of student achievement was conducted from 1983 to 1985. A major focus of the study was the area of listening, and the listening tests and teacher's manuals presented in this document are intended…

Fiscal constraints have limited education budgets in developing countries. Increases necessary to expand access to highly subsidized and publicly provided education have not been forthcoming. Another concern is that education is being inadequately and inefficiently provided by the public sector. This study is an inquiry into the nature of the…

A study was conducted at Morton College (Illinois) to gain a better understanding of the factors which contribute to academic success in introductory nursing courses, and to investigate the relationship between the following variables: student grades in Fundamentals of Nursing I and II, Anatomy and Physiology I, and Rhetoric I; and their scores on…

Developmental programs which have reached a relatively mature level of operation and can serve as regional models and resources for each other and for emerging programs are identified in this national directory. Introductory material discusses the need for and purpose of the directory, the selection process used to identify outstanding programs,…

The Center for the Study of Evaluation (CSE) undertook a three-year study to provide educational policy makers with basic, new information on classroom achievement testing across the United States. Conducted from 1979 through 1983, CSE's research investigated a wide range of types of formal assessment measures as well as some less formal means for…

A study was conducted at Miami-Dade Community College (Florida) to assess the performance of ESL students on the College Level Academic Skills Test (CLAST) and the relationship of campus location, ESL credits earned, grade point average (GPA), and developmental coursework on CLAST scores. The study focused on all students who took all four…

A study was conducted to evaluate the academic success of students involved in the Saddleback Community College (California) District's pilot assessment and placement project, and to design and apply procedures for evaluating the placement instrument cut-off scores. A group of 124 entering students agreed to participate in the pilot project and…

A study was conducted at the University of Minnesota's General College to examine the relationship between probationary status and students' gender, ethnicity, and placement test scores. The study involved 186 students on Level 1 probation (i.e., students whose work had fallen below the academic standard for two quarters, including those whose…

This paper discusses the implications of research on effective schools and classrooms for teacher training programs. References to research focus on studies of schools and classrooms in which nearly all students demonstrated at least minimum mastery on standardized achievement tests of mathematics and reading. At issue are the questions of whether…

In June 1986, 281 Miami-Dade Community College (MDCC) students rewrote one or more sections of the College Level Academic Skills Test (CLAST) because, with few exceptions, they did not pass on a previous administration. A study was conducted to investigate the performance of these students on the four CLAST subtests and to compare their…