Standardized tests can be a valuable part of a value-added assessment package which attempts to determine what students gain from the college experience in general, and from communications courses in particular. The critical issues concerning assessment center around who will evaluate what skills and values with which instruments. Within the…

Draws and extends from earlier papers and articles the author has presented and conversations he has had with colleagues over a 30-year period of time. Explores factors that have contributed to the decline in speech and theater education. (SG)

Reviews surveys on the status of the basic speech communication course. Identifies issues and concerns about instructional approaches, staffing, textbooks, philosophy, etc. (PD)

Secondary school forensic programs have long been under pressure from a variety of sources who question the educational value of such activities. Three relatively new issues will affect the growth and development of these programs: the "back to basics" movement, the spending ceilings imposed in local school districts by state legislatures, and the…

Evaluations of basic speech courses should be undertaken to benefit the students. Traditional evaluations in education typically do not assess the education of students, and departmental reviews seldom focus on how well students' needs are being met by specific courses. Evaluations should identify the skills and knowledge students need, and…

Recent surveys have shown that the basic speech communication course, designed to introduce students to the discipline and to meet their basic proficiency needs, is alive and growing rapidly. While this is generally good news, a more critical examination reveals a variety of issues in need of resolution. A significant amount of course time is…

Over one million students are enrolled in basic college speech courses each year, providing big business for publishers and authors of speech texts and an opportunity for abuse by faculty who have authored a text or who want to curry favor with a department head who has authored a text. Most multisection basic course programs taught by graduate…

Two hundred Iowa secondary schools were surveyed in the spring of 1975 to determine the extent and nature of curricular and cocurricular speech programs; a 63.5% response rate was obtained. Results in five major areas--curriculum, cocurricular activities, teacher characteristics, student teachers, and facilities and equipment--are summarized in…