Provides study skills, reading efficiency, and reading effectiveness tests designed to show the student that his reading is actually improving. (RW)

Pretesting not only helps determine the benefits of a training program, it can actually help trainees learn more. (Author/SSH)

Despite a growing literature on evaluation methods suitable for applied settings, few investigators address the separation of service and research. This article recognizes obstacles to field studies. The authors specify practical strategies for entering service environments and for designing, implementing, and measuring an experimental…

Undertaken within the framework of the best example theory of categorization, this study investigates category acquisition as a function of initial exposure to only good exemplars and as a function of exposure to single as opposed to multiple exemplars. Six severely handicapped children, ranging in age from 8 to 18 years, participated. (Author/MP)

Reports outcome measures obtained from patients, therapists, and clinical observers in the Penn Psychotherapy Project. The relationship between residual gain score and ratings of benefits suggest that posttreatment ratings of outcome take account of the fact that amount of change to be expected depends on initial level of functioning. (Author)

Two experiments were carried out in which groups of children (mean age = 68 months) were matched on number, length, mass, and liquid conservation scores and then trained on a distance-layout task developed by Inhelder et al (1974). (Author/MP)

This study attempts to explicate the manner in which motivation and intelligence interact in the production of creative responses in low-creative subjects. Results showed instructions to respond creatively and verbal reinforcement to be important in increasing creativity in such students. (GK)

The rationale for use of instructional sensitivity in the empirical review of test items is examined, and the results of a study that distinguishes instructional sensitivity from other item concepts are presented. Research is reviewed which indicates the existence of instructional sensitivity as a unique criterion-referenced test item concept. (RL)

Discussion of visual media and television literacy focuses on a course that was developed to improve the visual literacy of 12- and 13-year-old students in the United Kingdom. Testing for the experimental and control groups is explained, and implications for the development of television literacy are suggested. (23 references) (LRW)

Discusses two approaches to data analysis in pretest-posttest research designs in which researcher has not formed groups based on pretest or used pretest information in assigning participants to groups, thus ruling out two-way analysis of variance. Describes use of repeated-measures analysis of variance and two-group analysis of covariance in…

Describes the results of an effectiveness evaluation of an "intelligently coached simulation," the SINCGARS Tutor, that was developed to train military officers how to operate a SINCGARS radio. Posttests showed officers trained on the computerized tutor performed more accurately than a group trained on the actual equipment. (Author/LRW)

Multi-level hierarchical linear modeling was used to compare growth curves for children receiving instruction aimed at single orthographic-phonological connections. Growth rate on phonics probes was significantly faster for the group receiving multiple-connections treatment. Urges school psychologists to recommend multiple strategies for helping…

Twelve graduate students in an instructional-design course completed guided reflections on seven course components. Regression analysis of pre/posttests showed that reflection had no significant impact on performance. However, 83% felt it helped them recall, understand, and apply principles. (SK)

Examines the effect of group size in problem-based learning on the problem-solving skill, self-directedness, and technical knowledge of 72 students in a dental education program. Discusses results of pretests and posttests, students' reactions, and implications for instructional design. (Contains 34 references.) (Author/LRW)