The planning and coordinating activities of the New Mexico State Commission on Postsecondary Education for the year July 1, 1977 through June 30, 1978 are described. The following areas are covered: funding recommendations, special studies, activities of the academic council, the year ahead, and statutory responsibility. Profiles of public and…

Changing student needs and strategies for adapting college or university programs to meet these needs are discussed. Significant changes in the composition of student enrollments during the past 30 years include an increase in the number of veterans, minorities, handicapped, older adults, women, and foreign students. Four possible strategies are…

This study, presented at the 1979 meeting of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) in San Francisco, examines the relationship between a student's mathematical problem-solving ability and the nature of the student's recall of information from previously-solved problems. Seventy-seven seventh-grade students completed tasks measuring…

This study involved the manipulation of question-asking in a learning task. The hypothesis that learners should ask the most questions when their knowledge was well-matched to the level of presentation was tested, using two levels of background knowledge and two levels of difficulty of material to be learned. The more simple instructional…

Measuring attainment of the program's objectives and describing the program's implementation are listed as two of the evaluator's major responsibilities. The description should include an explanation of the context in which the program was initiated, as well as the component materials and activities. This booklet has three purposes: (1) suggesting…

A classical model for achievement test development was influenced by: the educational tradition of selecting a sample of questions appropriate to a subject and counting the proportion of acceptable responses; the emphasis on obtaining a large and homogeneous sample of questions to insure reliability; and the tradition in psychological testing of…

To develop a comprehensive teacher observation instrument, 56 school practitioners submitted 200 critical incidents--descriptions and judgments of their observations of teacher-pupil interactions in the classroom. Five teacher roles emerged: instructional facilitator; instructional manager; instructional evaluator; instructional designer; and…

Four new versions of an acoustic structuring test were developed, administered, and analyzed in order to produce better tests and to contribute to better understanding of the abilities measured by these tests. The tests consist of tape recordings of patterns of musical notes played on an electric organ or an acoustic guitar. Item analyses and…

The papers and discussion generated by exchange visits of American and Soviet educators are reprinted or summarized. The purpose of the visits was to exchange information and to study each country's system of higher education. Seminars held in the United States concentrated on two topics: selection and guidance of students in higher education, and…

As part of the Competency Based Teacher Certification Project in Carroll County, Georgia, large samples of elementary and secondary school teachers and students were observed during a two-year period. Four low-inference observation measures were used to record teacher behaviors and student-teacher interactions: (1) Teacher Practices Observation…

The Behavior Rating Checklist (BRC) was developed in the Austin Independent School District to evaluate the counseling component in the Elementary Secondary Education Act Title I compensatory education programs for students in kindergarten through grade 5. The BRC was developed by: defining the behavior on which the counseling activities focused;…

This project was conducted to improve the quality and availability of information pertaining to opportunities in nontraditional occupations for use by teachers, counselors, and interested students. The major project objectives were (1) to review current employment patterns in California to identify nontraditional occupations; (2) to collect and…

The purpose of this study was to determine and report the impact of high school agricultural education upon the occupational success of 1974 graduates in Virginia and compare this data with nine other Southern states. One hundred sixty-eight 1974 graduates were identified by the 10% of the Virginia agricultural education departments selected for…

Several questions are frequently asked by parents and news media regarding the purpose, content, and interpretation of the Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills (CTBS)--the achievement battery currently used in South Carolina assessment programs. Proper interpretation of the CTBS, or any school district testing program, requires a sound…

The first topic of the conference was creativity. Papers delivered were Knowledge and Creativity by Theodore C. Denise and Hobert W. Burns; Potentiality for Creativity and Its Measurement, by J. P. Guilford; and Some Methodological Issues in the Study of Creativity by Robert L. Thorndike. In the second session, a paper on comparability of scores…