The California Critical Thinking Skills Test: College Level (CCTST) is a standardized test that targets core college-level critical thinking skills. It has been characterized as the best commercially available critical thinking skills assessment instrument. Building from CCTST validation studies in 1989 and 1990, this paper proposes avenues for…

The Multicultural Reading and Thinking (McRAT) Program of the Arkansas public schools is described, and results of a study of its effectiveness are reported. The McRAT Program is a process that empowers teachers to refocus instruction and restructure standard curricula for higher order thinking. The multicultural emphasis provides a meaningful…

This Vocational Instructional Management System module provides information regarding instructional/teaching strategies and cognitive/learning strategies as well as other information for successful learning to assist Missouri building trades teachers and special needs students in confronting building trades competencies with a strategic plan. Ten…

Some potential relative advantages of performance assessment strategies over paper-and-pencil tests using short-answer and multiple-choice item formats are discussed. The major advantage of the multiple-choice test is its ability to sample a large number of learning outcomes efficiently. However, performance assessments are increasingly being used…

Previous studies of the development of correlational reasoning have focused on the interpretation of relatively simple data sets contained in 2 X 2 tables. In contrast, this study examined age trends in subjects' responses to problems involving more than two continuous variables. The research is part of a multi-year project to conceptualize…

This entrepreneurship curriculum guide for South Carolina educators addresses the psychomotor, cognitive, and affective domains of learning. There are 10 units: (1) conducting the initial feasibility study; (2) determining financial feasibility; (3) establishing a legal structure; (4) analyzing available time; (5) preparing a marketing plan; (6)…

The title question is discussed in six sections. Structural variables and issues are discussed in subsections concerning: the sex of child, the kindergarten program's day length, type, entrance age, group size, classroom aides and arrangements, and policies on promotion, failure, and retention. Interpersonal variables are explored in terms of…

This four-part guide is designed to help community college instructors understand and respond to individual differences in their students. First, the preface lays out a framework for an in-depth examination of individual learning differences by posing the following questions: (1) Is learning a single function or a composite of different types of…

This study examined young children's cognitive engagement during classroom book reading with different types of books in Greek kindergarten schools. Twenty teachers read four books--two fiction (familiar/unfamiliar story format) and two information books (expository/narrative text). As expected, children's and teachers' cognitive engagement was…

The past decade has witnessed a proliferation of state standards and their associated tests in public schools in order to hold schools, teachers, and students accountable for learning outcomes and achievement. In this qualitative study of eight world history and world geography teachers, the degree to which the Virginia Standards of Learning…

This study investigated the grouping effect on student achievement in a chemistry laboratory when homogeneous and heterogeneous formal reasoning ability, high and low levels of formal reasoning ability, group sizes of two and four, and homogeneous and heterogeneous gender were used for grouping factors. The sample consisted of all eight intact…

A literature review was conducted in an effort to locate programs that could improve opportunities for learning for middle graders, and particularly educationally disadvantaged middle graders. Of the more than 200 programs that were reviewed, about 80 were identified as having promising components for middle grades educators. Section I discusses…

This document contains a list of recommended essential mathematical skills and outcomes developed for Arizona students from primary through secondary grades. These skills have been developed by using a spiral structure of individual clusters of objectives that are taught at an initial level and then retaught at higher levels as students progress…

Based on the premise that systematic instruction in social decision-making and problem-solving skills is a developmental right of all children, this book provides an in-service training program for teaching a set of social decision-making and problem-solving steps that are essential for success in school, in the family, with friends, in the world…

A study examined the relationship between Collegiate Assessment of Academic Proficiency (CAAP) critical thinking test scores and the extent to which students met core general education course requirements at Northeast Missouri State University (NMSU). Data used in the study were collected in required sophomore examinations as part of an…