This is one of two volumes of papers drawn from the twenty-first annual meeting of the National Reading Conference held in 1971. Focusing on research and teacher training concerns relating to mature reading, the 43 papers are arranged into the following categories: advanced organizers, cloze investigations, language investigations, measurement…

A test development plan is described to evaluate police enrolled in the law enforcement basic training course developed by California's Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST). Some general test methodologies are discussed: performance tests, knowledge tests, and situational tests, including role playing simulations and…

The role that measurement error plays in the regression effect is discussed with particular reference to the RMC models for evaluating the effects of Elementary Secondary Education Act Title I programs. The norm referenced evaluation model assumes a theory of growth where the relative ranking of students remains the same from pretest to posttest…

A systems model of academic department performance is proposed and an empirical test of the model in a set of 20 departments is reported. A review of research into departmental functioning is also presented. Departmental input and process variables were examined in relation to eight departmental outcomes including: (1) student satisfaction with…

A technique that institutional researchers can use to assist department chairpersons in balancing student needs and faculty resources is described. Basic institutional research office data is combined with departmental data so that the department heads can justify their needs, plan recruiting, select students to achieve a balance of faculty…

Models for assessing prior learning or noncollege learning are discussed. The increasing variety of interests, ages, and levels of maturity among prospective college students requires that higher education institutions face the issue of granting credit for noncollege learning. It is suggested that the key issue for colleges and universities is how…

The impact of federal student aid programs on higher education and policy implications are discussed. Historical information on federal aid is presented. Large amounts of federal support are devoted to student assistance funding, which is channeled into the institutions in the form of tuition or housing costs. The student aid programs are designed…

Which model provides a more accurate picture of future job responsibilities and professional standing for middle-level administrators in colleges and universities: the robot, or the reinsman who has ability, courage, and control but stays in the background? Competing forces are described in this speech: the institution's desire for stability and…

The feasibility of standardized assessment of features of children's organization of knowledge and the demonstration of differences in organization between stages of development were investigated. It was possible to standardize developmentally derived instruments, in the same way as empirically derived tests because such evaluations concern the…

Research on the comparative utility of varying numbers of rating statements per set--using an external criterion of recognition of rater profiles for evaluating "goodness" of the sets--was conducted on 132 noncommissioned Air Force officers. Groups of subjects rated groups of their peers on 20 factors, on a subset of 10 factors, and on a…

The contributors to the panel discussion reported here are divided on whether the Brown decision was an attack on racial separation or an affirmation of parents' right to choose which schools their children attend. Nor do they agree on the role social science research has played in school desegregation litigation. Some contributors claim that the…

This document reports some of the findings of a national assessment of seventeen-year-olds on consumer knowledge, skills, and attitudes. An introduction describes the development of the survey, the probability sample, the administration of the assessment, and the format for reporting the results. Chapter 1 of five chapters summarizes the responses…

The primary purposes of this project were to develop catalogs of performance objectives and performance guides based upon validated tasks performed by incumbent workers and to disseminate and diffuse catalogs through inservice activities. The five catalogs developed were based upon tasks performed in the occupations of banking clerk, diesel…

Locating and describing successful articulation efforts among postsecondary institutions in local communities was the goal of a joint study by the American Vocational Association and the American Association of Community and Junior Colleges. Nominations of community-based programs were solicited from state directors of vocational education and…

Presented is a paper developed by the Learning Research and Development Center at the University of Pittsburgh and which is intended for science education researchers. Two major recommendations for the orientation of research in science education are proposed. The first is that currently espoused goals of science education should be reexamined…