Investigates the relationship between overall comprehension and the comprehension of coreferential ties for second-language readers of Spanish literature. Significant correlations between overall comprehension and coreferent identification indicate that coreferential tie errors may be symptomatic of confusion about another entity in the text. (42…

Recent research shows lead poisoning is more widespread and even more dangerous to infants and young children than previously thought. A bill proposed in Congress would require schools and day-care centers to test for lead. Summarizes lead's health hazards and how to test drinking water. (MLF)

Evolution of one New York City school's assessment practices has proceeded on two fronts: development of individual teachers' classroom practices (recordkeeping, documentation, and evaluation); and development of schoolwide practices bringing staff together around critical questions of standards, curriculum, and school life. Parents have also…

This paper reviews the recent history of psychoeducational testing, examines attempts to link assessment with instruction within the information processing domain, and presents a model of a general assessment-instruction procedure that classroom and specialist teachers could use in effective remediation and instruction practices. (JDD)

Reports on a classroom project in which college-level psychology students developed a institutionwide course ratings questionnaire. Describes the data gathering, item development, and pilot testing phases of the project. Concludes that the students learned about tests and measurements by doing the project and that the institution benefited from…

Administered tests of cognition, language, and metaphor interpretation to 3 groups of 15 students: native English speakers (NESs) and 2 groups of students in an English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) course. ESL students performed less well than NESs on decontextualized measures of vocabulary and verbal analogies but equally well on measures derived…

Discusses the use of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages Oral Proficiency Interview for assessing the effect of study abroad on foreign language learning, and provides a detailed account of the use of the Portuguese Speaking Test as a means of assessing participants of a summer program in Brazil. (15 references) (JL)

Calculators are transforming mathematics instruction, freeing it from an arithmetic-driven curriculum. They have encouraged teachers to think more carefully about what is important to learn. Calculators should be used at all levels of instruction and on tests, including standardized exams. Meaningful educational reform depends on such a change.…

Within the next two decades, calculators will be standard tools in mathematics classrooms. They should be used regularly but carefully in classroom instruction and testing to allow use of realistic data and exploration of mathematical concepts, but not to allow finding the answer without understanding the question. (MSE)

Self-teaching booklets and computer media were evaluated for teaching diagnostic testing with first (n=49), second (n=41) and third year (n=71) dental students as a foundation for further development of clinical decision-making skills. Results found the media more effective than no instruction and equally effective to the traditional lecture…

Presented is a study designed to determine the effects of the order of test administration on attitude scores. The findings indicate that attitude scores may be significantly altered by the order of test administration. (CW)

Proposes a set of priorities for using language testing as an instrumental factor in upgrading second-language learning. These priorities are proposed as an outgrowth of the conviction that language tests can and should play an important role in the improvement of foreign-language teaching and learning. (JL)

Reports on an experiment investigating adult second language (L2) acquisition of Spanish object clitic placement by native speakers of English and French. Two experimental methodologies are compared: an on-line sentence matching task and an off-line grammaticality judgment task. (Author/VWL)

Examines what opportunities test takers have to display their knowledge of managing conversations in the second language in two types of tasks: nonscripted interviews and guided role-play activities. Data consists of 30 interviews and 30 role-play activities between near-native examiners and intermediate learners used in language exams in Hungary.…

Encourages parents and educators to apply political pressure through advocacy to make policymakers aware of special education issues concerning the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Discusses the importance of being familiar with current law, knowing how to obtain services, and being an advocate on a global level. Reminds individuals…