Two of the most popular assessment instruments for measuring college student educational outcomes are the College Outcome Measures Program (COMP) of the American College Testing Program (1987) and the Academic Profile of the Educational Testing Service (ETS). Characteristics of these tests were compared, and the sensitivity of each test to…

During the spring of 1981, a San Juan Task force of special education staff members developed revised criteria for the identification of students with specific learning disabilities (SLD). This report covers the second year of discrepancy criteria implementation. It examines the identification of 225 students with SLD during the first semester of…

Research indicates that the socioeconomic background of students of comparable ability affects career aspirations. (DE)

Essex Community College (Maryland) has instituted a one-credit course in career decision-making. The course is designed to aid the college student and the older adult in making a career-oriented assessment of personality needs, capacities, interests, and values with additional emphasis on local and national manpower needs. (Author/DC)

Three factors that may influence a high school graduate's decision to attend college are considered: his ability, the cost of attending college, and the socioeconomic status of his parents. Ability and parents' socioeconomic status appear to have the strongest influence, but family income was the least important factor. (Author/MW)

An approach to the assessment of classroom thoughtfulness is presented. The approach recognizes the importance of in-depth knowledge, intellectual skills, and dispositions; it also emphasizes general qualities of discourse such as teachers posing higher order challenges and students giving reasons. The approach is contrasted with those that…

Guidelines employed by the Neighborhood English Scheme (Brent) in London, England, to insure that student placement interviews are purposeful and effective are outlined. Ideally, a successful interview results in the student being placed in an English-as-a-Second-Language class that is at a convenient time and location, at an appropriate level,…

This paper, one of the nine-booklet Teacher Quality Series, examines ten popular assumptions that underlie many new proposals to solve the problems of the teacher workforce. It is argued that many of these assumptions are unsupported by research on teaching. It is also suggested that the ability to attract, train and keep good teachers depends…

Using data from the High School and Beyond longitudinal study, the relationships among gender and rural, suburban, or urban setting and academic ability were examined. Data reflect the population of high school sophomores and seniors in 1980. When the influence of socioeconomic status was controlled, gender and setting each explained little or no…

This exploratory study investigated claims regarding the impact of more selective admission standards on the characteristics of students entering teacher education at Michigan State University (MSU). The quota system at MSU, set in 1986, restricts the number of candidates admitted to the program in a given academic term. Comparisons were made…

Diagnostic testing confronts several challenges at once, among which are issues of test interpretation and immediate modification of the test itself in response to the interpretation. Several methods are available for administering and evaluating a test in real-time, towards optimizing the examiner's chances of isolating a persistent pattern of…

The Hiskey-Nebraska Test of Learning Aptitude (H-NTLA) (Hiskey, 1966) has been regarded by reviewers as one of the best instruments for assessing the learning abilities of hearing-impaired children. However, there has been a paucity of research on the validity of this test. Further, there is no established test-retest reliability, and questions…

The convergent and discriminant validity of a wide range of cognitive and social competence measures were investigated with 400 students (7-11) stratified by race (white and black) and educational placement (regular and special education for mildly handicapped students). The majority of special education students were classified as learning…

The effect of verbal and numerical reasoning and effort level on achievement of students in an undergraduate Test and Measurement course was investigated. Course achievement was measured by a teacher-made test of 40 items that produced a mean of 21.33 and a standard deviation of 6.73. The ability scores of the 24 students (Chamorros, Filipinos and…