A national investigation of the impact of basic skills testing on teacher education students and program content and evaluation indicated that students who lack basic skills are being eliminated from programs, faculty are paying more attention to basic skills in their courses, and changes in support activities have occurred due to test results.…

Northern Kentucky University has implemented a proficiency testing program to screen candidates for admission to the teacher education program. When students are at the sophomore level, four tests are administered: (1) reading proficiency, measured by the Iowa Silent Reading Test; (2) writing proficiency; (3) speech and listening proficiency; and…

The United States is not doing as well as it could in assessing educational outcomes in the 1980s. The assessment movement of the 1980s indicates that its institutional memory is poor, and when coping with outside pressures, it is slow to recall how it coped the last time it was under pressure. It is important to remember such events and pressures…

Survey responses from 517 member institutions of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education are reported. The first section depicts the nature of the institutions (public land grant, public non-land grant, independent liberal arts, church-related liberal arts, private university, and predominantly black), and the patterns of…

Participants in this conference of educators, convened to consider methods of evaluating teacher education students, focused upon the relationship between candidate quality and teacher effectiveness. Questions under consideration included: (1) pre-admission field experiences students should demonstrate; (2) optimum scores on aptitude and…

The academic characteristics of freshmen entering the University of California, Berkeley (UCB), major problems in secondary education, and ways that the university can affect the quality of secondary education are examined. Data on entering freshmen for 1970-1980 indicate that UCB freshmen have consistently scored higher on admissions tests than…

The California Basic Educational Skills Test (CBEST) was developed as the means by which applicants for teaching or service credentials could demonstrate proficiency in reading, writing, and mathematics. Demonstration of proficiency in these skills was required for the issuance of a credential starting February 1, 1983. When examinees registered…

This document, consisting of 7 chapters, 20 figures, and 261 tables, provides large amounts of statistical data on most aspects of United States education, both public and private. The chapters cover (1) all levels of education; (2) elementary and secondary education; (3) postsecondary education, including college and university education and…