The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) is a comparative assessment of the achievement of students in many countries. In the present study, a rigorous independent evaluation was conducted of a representative sample of TIMSS science test items because item quality influences the validity of the scores used to inform…

English education in Japan and Korea are similar in some respects. Although both countries are not completely but mostly monolingual societies, where citizens do not need English in their daily life, they have begun to realize the importance of English as a tool for international communication, and as a result their English education is becoming…

Describes research conducted in France on text readability and suggests that readability formulas give high scores to redundant texts that have no great interest and penalize texts with original information. Argues that a coefficient should be incorporated into readability formulas that reflects the nature of the text. (MKM)

The author examines the reading level of curriculum materials developed in Africa and discusses the findings which suggest that readability indices have a high potential of being useful in the formative stages of curriculum development. (Author/RM)

To determine whether social studies texts used in the intermediate grades of British Columbia (Canada) schools were easier than those analyzed in a 1974 study, the Fry Readability formula was applied to all the grade 4-7 social studies texts prescribed and authorized for use in 1979-1980. It was found that the British Columbia texts are extremely…

This project report critiques library print materials used to support grades 10 and 11 social studies curriculum in British Columbia. The data collected are intended to provide a ready reference for school librarians when considering the particular print materials listed. Four criteria were used: readability, format and style, organization, and…