Ways to improve the validity of assessment of college students are discussed. Validity problems often have occurred because the purpose of assessment was not clear. Traditionally, college students have been tested for admission and placement. However, the results of these tests have been used for other purposes, such as comparing institutions.…

This publication highlights resources that can increase educators' awareness of, and skill in, monitoring students' progress. The listed resources include: (1) computer search printouts of abstracts from ERIC educational journals and documents; (2) copies and summaries of excerpts from recent literature on monitoring students; (3) listings of…

The knowledge that 17-year-old students in a local city school district had of literature and history was assessed using the same test items administered by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). A review of national results of the NAEP examination in 1986 has highlighted the gaps in knowledge of this age group. The Austin (Texas)…

This final report describes the activities, results, and conclusions of a 3-year project whose major purpose was to improve test-taking skills of learning-disabled and behaviorally disordered students, with respect to standardized achievement tests. The project concluded that: learning-disabled and behaviorally disordered students exhibit deficits…

The Pre-Professional Skills Test (PPST) and the National Teacher Examinations (NTE) were examined as predictors of student classroom performance as measured by three instruments from the "Teacher Performance Assessment Instruments" (TPAIs) of W. Capie et al. (1979). Subjects were 305 teacher education students taking the student teaching…

The Reading Skills Committee of the New Jersey Department of Education determined that the Eleventh-Grade High School Proficiency Test (HSPT) reading test should be based on contemporary theories defining reading as a process and that requisite reading skills could best be identified in terms of text and tasks. The purpose of the test is to assess…

A preliminary study examined the interrater reliability, factor structure, and convergent validity of the Haak Sentence Completion (in which the respondent is given a sentence stem and asked to provide the remainder of the sentence) using a three-point scoring system. The subjects were 100 boys ranging in age from 6 to 11 years who were randomly…

Intended for use in college-level secondary-education methods courses, the module contains text, an annotated bibliography, and overhead masters. The first section explains the federal definition of learning disabilities (LD), noting the difficulty of measuring many of the characteristics identified in the definition and the resulting increasing…

Federal legislation and litigation concerning the rights of handicapped and limited-English-proficient (LEP) students is reviewed, and the dilemma of providing fair, accurate, and adequate assessment for LEP students considered for special education is examined. A recent shift from overrepresentation of LEP students in special education to an…

A statewide sustained effort to improve student learning in Missouri by adopting and adapting promising research-based educational practices is described. The concept of an Instructional Management System (IMS) with desired learner outcomes determining both instruction and testing was suggested to local school districts beginning in 1980. In 1985,…

Developed as part of the Arkansas Minimum Performance Testing Program (MPT), these item specifications relate to the eighth grade reading minimum performance test. There is one item specification for each instructional objective included in the MPT. Item specifications are intended to provide an overview of the general content and format of test…

The Learning Style Profile (LSP), developed in four phases from the fall of 1983 to early 1986, identifies perceptual responses, cognitive skills, study preferences, and instructional preferences. This study assesses the LSP Simultaneous Processing Skill subscale, which is modeled after the work of the Russian neuropsychologist, A. R. Luria.…

Designed to help school administrators and board members promote instructional excellence, this publication reports survey results involving over 35 school districts in Northern California, Utah, and Nevada engaged in instructional improvement efforts. Specifically, the report describes alternative strategies used to organize and manage three…

An extensive evaluation was conducted of a training program on industrial safety that was designed to change employee attitudes and behaviors in relation to energy control and power lockout (ECPL), i.e., closing down an assembly line while completing diagnostic or repair tasks. The research question was aimed at determining the effects of entry…

Kentucky's PACE program, which was designed to provide adult basic education and parenting skills training for parents, early childhood education for children, and parent-child interaction and learning, lacks proof for the validity of its theoretical base and service model. Questions that need to be resolved before widespread replication of the…