Argues that statewide performance based assessments are a waste of time and money and can discourage students. After describing problems with performance based assessment in several states, the paper suggests that it is more important to restore students' respect for and interest in education by offering challenging curricula rather than dull…

A survey of 436 faculty at one university concerning usefulness of student ratings of teaching found little resistance to ratings in general or their use in faculty evaluation. Usefulness of feedback was viewed differentially, with feedback on interaction with students seen as most useful, followed by feedback on grading practices, global ratings…

Presents a case study illustrating learned helplessness orientation in preschool children and how adult responses to a child's successes and failures directly influence a child's perception of his or her abilities. Suggests that teachers should compliment successes by highlighting the ability demonstrated and address failures with comments…

Annual evaluation of the speech perception performance of 34 prelingually deafened children, grouped into those who received cochlear implants either before or after age 5, found open-set word recognition performance was significantly better for children implanted before age 5. Amount of daily use of the implant significantly affected all measures…

Paper describes two assessment projects that provide examples of how preservice physical educators design, implement, and understand assessment, focusing on formative assessment. A volleyball project occurred in a middle school where students had physical education twice weekly. A gymnastics project occurred in an elementary school where teachers…

Bachelor-level and master's-level social work students (n=959) in field placements and recent graduates (n=134) were surveyed to assess the impact of personal attributes, supervisory characteristics, and 11 instructional skills on their evaluation of their field instructors. Results show the most influential variables were those representing…

This article provides information on orthopedic impairments and the unique knowledge and skills required to provide these students with an appropriate education. Information on current practice is provided, as well as training and technical assistance models that can be used to help provide teachers with the necessary training. (Contains…

The role of self-perceptions in peer selection was examined among seventh-graders and third-graders. Findings indicated that when evaluations (supposedly of unfamiliar peers) related to specific competence domains, seventh-graders preferred positive peers to negative peers, whereas third-graders selected peers who viewed them as they viewed…

Describes how a version of the Tuckman Teacher Feedback Form (TTFF) was used to measure teachers'"personality" factors as perceived by students. The instrument included 28 sets of bipolar adjectives to use in describing the teacher. Findings revealed that the application of technology to instruction improved students' perceptions of…

Recommends including essay questions on state economics examinations to prevent misclassification of students. Briefly reviews the literature arguing that certain groups of students do poorly on multiple choice tests. Discusses California's experience with adopting a combined-format type test. (MJP)

Production of 19 word-initial two-segment consonant clusters was examined in 12 children (ages 6-16) with cochlear implants, including 6 using oral communication and 6 using total communication. Results showed that 48% of the clusters were correctly produced (75% correct for oral communication users and 21% correct for total communication users).…

Using a production-functions approach, analyzes data from the National Assessment of Economic Education to investigate whether spending more on high school economics courses improves student performance measured by the Test of Economic Literacy (TEL). Delineates procedure. Results show direct allocation of resources produces improved student…

Explores the myth that female children perform poorly in school. Claims that teachers use negative language in evaluation of females, regardless of performance; thus legitimatizing the exclusion of females and supporting patriarchy. Discusses problems of women in academia and concludes that the empowerment of women threatens male academic…

Explores what it means to think in a target language, discusses those factors determining planned and unplanned use of more than one language for thinking, considers the role of target-language thinking in improving language ability, and examines mental translation in the reading of intermediate college French. The article concludes that benefits…

The career paths, geographic mobility, domestic responsibilities, work roles, and self-reported professional performance levels were compared for 219 men and women faculty at Australian universities. Results indicated significant gender-related differences in most of these areas and have implications for representation of women in Australia's…