This paper discusses the practicum component of teacher education, particularly as it is implemented at the School of Early Childhood Studies (SECS) of the University of Melbourne (Victoria), Australia. The purpose of the practicum is to socialize students into their profession and give them the opportunity to acquire relevant skills. The three…

The Council on School Performance Standards, appointed in February of 1989 by the Governor of Kentucky, was charged with finding out what students in Kentucky should know and be able to do, and with determining the best ways to assess student learning. The Council met with six groups: community leaders; employers; parents; school administrators;…

Several leaders in education have concluded that the United States should have some form of national achievement testing. Such tests are proposed as part of the "America 2000" education strategy. Believing that the experience of other countries will be useful to educators, policymakers, and concerned citizens, the National Endowment for…

Information was gathered to determine the extent to which more authentic education assessments, including whole language assessments, are being implemented, and to identify which organizations conduct authentic education assessments. Materials used by the surveyed organizations were collected and catalogued into a compendium of authentic…

Results of a study to determine the amount of burnout experienced by Alabama public school teachers and principals that could be accounted for by stress related to the Alabama Performance-Based Accreditation Standards, job stress, locus of control, age, and gender are reported in this paper. Objectives of the study were to develop a measure of…

A study examined the employment qualifications, job content, training, and training needs of ambulance service and rescue squad workers in Nebraska. Based on the 268 mail questionnaires that were completed and returned out of a total of 338 sent out, it was concluded that the strengths of the various ambulance and rescue services vary widely. The…

A brief survey of several comprehensive reviews of studies of the effects of desegregation on black achievement makes it clear that the experts are still in disagreement, and it is in the hope of finally bringing about a consensus on the subject that the National Institute of Education (NIE) has established a representative panel of experts to…

This study assessed the usefulness of the dynamic testing approach to optimize testing procedures by reducing or eliminating bias, conceived of as error in measurement attributable to factors entering into performance which were not the target of the assessment. The study examined: (1) whether the dynamic assessment approach yields information…

A performance curriculum communicates with students, teachers, administrators, counselors, and taxpayers. Its heart is a series of statements which explain in observable terms what the teacher will accept as evidence that what is to be learned has been learned. Such statements allow: true teacher-pupil understanding; individually diagnosed and…

A study examined the impact of student employment on classroom knowledge. During the study, the researcher administered a branching questionnaire to 1,577 juniors and seniors from four high schools in Wisconsin, 59.6 percent of whom were working at the time of the survey and 14.1 percent of whom had worked during the past year. Despite the…

A faculty evaluation study conducted at Memorial University of Newfoundland for the Committee on Faculty Evaluation is described. Evaluation criteria/methods and recent research findings regarding student ratings of faculty instruction are considered, along with the advantages and disadvantages of formative and summative evaluations. Formative…

This paper examines, from the perspective of the teacher, the relatively unimportant place of science in the elementary school curriculum. Two case studies of science education (of eight commissioned by the Science Council of Canada) provided data about science instruction in the K-6 elementary setting. Data were collected by observations made…

A study was made to investigate factors contributing to the low performance of primary school pupils in Embu District, Eastern Province, Kenya, both in classrooms and on the Certificate of Primary Education Examination. Two rich rural schools, two urban schools, and two poor rural schools were selected for comparison. From each school, three…

Introduction: Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) projects are difficult to evaluate when implemented at most organizations. There are many variables and some of these are qualitative and hard to assess. However, there are other variables that could be measured and, thus, for a specific CSCW system, management could have a performance…

This introductory-level presentation demonstrates how to evaluate the materials and teaching in online courses. Topics covered include similarities with evaluation of on-ground teaching, factors unique to online courses, technological considerations, helping administrators unfamiliar with online courses, and national standards, rubrics, and…