Using Mark Twain's "Huckleberry Finn," John Knowles'"A Separate Peace," and Maya Angelou's "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings," a study examined the effects of Astute Activities--teaching techniques which increase students' cognitive ability and creativity--on student performance in two senior English classes in a small…

The four issues contain articles on the diagnosis and treatment of learning disabilities (LDs). Article titles and authors include: "Learning Disability Specialist Looks at Foreign Language Instruction" (Elissa Fisher); "Physician Questions Reliability of Central Auditory Processing Tests in Diagnosing LD" (Daniel Schwartz); "Educator Urges…

Issues in the education of gifted and talented students from minority language groups are discussed, including the definition of giftedness and how it affects minority language students, the reasons for underrepresentation of this group in gifted programs, commonly used techniques for identification of students in this group, and the suitability…

A program was designed to reduce the academic gap between aptitude and achievement of 150 gifted underachievers in grades 5-8 who had been removed from a Georgia-funded gifted program due to poor achievement test scores and were subsequently enrolled in the Atlanta Public School System's locally funded gifted program. The program also sought to…

This paper reviews eight major problem areas concerning testing practices of interest to professionals practicing psychology in the schools. These areas, identified by the Task Force on Psychology in the Schools of the American Psychological Association, include: (1) test use; (2) diagnostic versus placement tests; (3) informed parental consent…

Drawn from the proceedings of the 1985 Western College Reading and Learning Association, as well as articles submitted for juried selection, the papers in this journal issue focus on reading, learning assistance, developmental education, and tutorial services at the college level. Titles and authors of the papers include (1) "Reaching New Heights:…

Exceptional Mexican American students face difficulties not experienced by their Anglo counterparts because the educational system is not set up to deal with members of ethnic and cultural minorities. Spanish-speaking students face the problem of gaining competence in their first language while learning English as a second language. Standard…

A study examined the relative effectiveness of three alternative delivery systems for secondary vocational education--vocational high schools, comprehensive high schools, and area vocational centers. It also ascertained how well secondary vocational education is serving women, minority groups, handicapped individuals, economically disadvantaged…

The characteristics of the talent pool that will be available to the teaching profession is largely controlled by institutions and agencies that either have only a passing interest in the education of teachers (major universities) or by those that have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo (schools of education that are dependent on…

This publication contains 14 papers, most of which were written by instructors of higher education in Australia and Great Britain. Following an introduction, the first five papers are "The Development of Children's Map Ability" (Simon Catling), "Published Guidance to Pupils on Atlas Mapwork Skills" (Herbert Sandford),…

This paper reports on data collected during the 7-month pilot operation of a diagnostic and counseling service for intellectually advanced children and their families established in conjunction with a longitudinal study of such children. A summary of data on the first 24 cases handled by the service (involving children aged 3 to 11 years)…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 17 titles deal with the following topics: oral language characteristics of college freshmen; the language development of a modern day "wild child"; children's understanding of relational terms; the relationship of…

Test fairness or bias may be defined in many different ways, and the existence of possible bias is difficult to demonstrate. Sociolinguistic analysis may be used to check for fairness or bias in test directions, test content specifications, or test items. Four sociolinguistic principles are held to be relevant for this task: (1) pragmatics--that…

This student booklet on choosing an occupation is one of six in the Employability Skills Series, a set of instructional materials designed to teach secondary students and adults the skills involved in getting and keeping a job. The competency-based material is oriented to young adults but written at approximately the fifth-grade reading level. (An…

This teacher's manual is designed to accompany a reading kit intended to provide high interest reading materials for late adolescent and adult elementary-level readers (see note). Introductory information discusses the development of the reading exercises from unedited stories dictated by students (the Learning Experience Approach) and…