Statewide competency testing as a high school graduation requirement represents a threat to those who encourage broad notions of reading and writing, even when a number of testing innovations in reading and writing mean a step forward in education. In Alberta, Canada, the English exam comes in a non-academic and an academic version, and…

A survey of educational programs, background information about the Ute Tribe, and a summary of educational needs are followed by recommendations for improving the quality of education for Ute people. Part I gives a history of educational policy on the Uintah and Ouray Reservation from the first school in 1874 to the present. Part II describes the…

In structure and in function, the Japanese high school entrance examination--as exemplified by data from Chiba prefecture in 1986--survives as a prewar hierarchical cultural pattern. Postwar American occupation reforms offered "democratic education" in the form of a single-track system with 9 years of compulsory schooling; such a system,…

The Department of Defense Dependent Schools (DoDDS) is a unified school district operating schools in 20 foreign countries. As part of its efforts to assess the educational and social development of its students, DoDDS participated in the longitudinal study, High School and Beyond. The purpose of the present study was to describe those DoDDS…

A University of Alaska staff member, two local teachers, and two community members used on-site visits, observations, questionnaires, and interviews to assess development of the Manokotak school from its inception in 1947 to 1984 as perceived by community members, school staff, and students. Rural and cross-cultural, the Alaskan school served 117…

By focusing attention on comparative state performance in educating students, the Wall Chart (State Education Statistics, 1983) forced policymakers to consider state differences in student populations and the consequences of these differences for the outcomes of state systems of education. This paper presents the results of a study that attempted…

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) evaluated the writing ability of American students in 1974, 1979, and 1984. Data from 95,000 students were examined for trends over this 10-year period. Writing tasks, including informative, persuasive, and literary or imaginative writing were administered to national samples of students aged…

Televised portrayals of variables that are related to educational and occupational aspirations and educational motivation have the potential to influence viewers' attitudes, expectations, and behaviors in these domains. In order to test this premise, a study assessed messages about these variables and about drug use in the prime-time television…

A group of three brief conference papers, all concerned with methods to help Limited English Proficient (LEP) students succeed, is presented in this document. The first paper, "Integrated Content Language Approach" (Jose Galvan), suggests that LEP students who are at the intermediate level or beyond will benefit from programs integrating…

Immigrant children face serious problems in gaining access to a free public education. Many schools discourage immigrant children from enrolling; once inside the schoolhouse, these children continue to experience barriers to a comprehensive and effective education. Immigrant students lack the quality language assistance programs they need to…

The Significant Bilingual Instructional Features (SBIF) study identified, described, and verified features of bilingual instruction of a wide variety of limited English proficient (LEP) students. This report describes a two-year substudy tracing the experience of 85 LEP students from five nationally distributed sites representing varied…

Dialogue and research on racism since the mid-1970s have yielded increased controversy over the theories, foundation, and continued existence of racism. The chapters presented in this book provide various divergent views of what constitutes racism and frameworks for reducing it. The following chapters (and their authors) are included: (1)…

In its third funding year, Jamaica High School's Computer-Assisted Bilingual/Bicultural Multi-Skills Project used computerized and non-computerized instruction to help 132 native speakers of Haitian Creole/French and Spanish develop English language, native language, and content-area skills. The goal was to help these students participate…

The quest for excellence in American higher education has been accompanied by the implementation of basic skills requirements and the corresponding assessment programs. Assessment results could provide feedback for curricular improvement, although they are frequently used as indicators of institutional quality. A study is presented that compared…

The National Council of La Raza has developed five innovative community based demonstration projects to improve the educational outcomes of Hispanics. Three of the projects are designed to address high risk students; the remaining two address the needs of parents and teachers. Each of these projects is designed to be implemented by Hispanic…