Following a discussion of the basic skills required for an adaptable work force and how employers and workplace literacy providers determine which employees require basic skills training, this paper reviews three literacy instruments that can be used in workplace basic skills programs. A basic skills profile is drawn based on a review of the…

This paper describes research concerning the nature of basic skills prerequisite to the learning and performance of a single, technical job (31M10, Multichannel Communications Equipment Operator) in the Army, and development of an instructional program to teach the skills. The work involved six phases carried out over a 2-year period: (1) analysis…

This document expands upon the discussion of standardized tests in federal legislation and Department of Education rules and regulations, in order to guide practitioners in using these tests and alternative assessment methods more wisely. Amendments of 1988 that address the uses of standardized tests, the federal regulations that implement the…

Schemes for assessing reading achievement with specific tests have been in use since early in this century. The two driving forces behind the testing movement--scientific objectivity and compulsory education--blossomed in the 1920s and 1930s and continued substantially unchanged through most of the 1960s. In the early 1970s, the idea of mastery…

With this collection of chapters by leading scholars and researchers in the field, the reader can develop the knowledge and skills needed to maximize the opportunities that diversity offers while minimizing its challenges. The reader will explore current and emerging research, concepts, debates, and teaching strategies for educating students from…

Two studies at the Defense Language Institute (California) investigated the contribution of several variables to prediction of post-language-training proficiency: (1) scores on a general vocational aptitude battery and a language aptitude battery, both used to screen potential students; (2) scores on other cognitive measures not used in the…

The Assessment Tools for Adult Education project was designed to provide training and support to staff of the Pennsylvania Bureau of Adult Basic and Literacy Education (ABLE) funded programs to help them use assessment tools and procedures to document the learning gains of the adult students they serve. The following candidate assessment…

Data from the Canadian Test of English for Scholars and Trainees (CanTEST) are compared to data from the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) to establish CanTEST as a valid admissions tool for English-as-a-Second Language college applicants. Data are taken from four groups of examinees who took both tests. (eight references) (LR)

This report describes an investigation into how a school moves from a handful of individual teachers dabbling in alternative assessment strategies to full school implementation of an assessment system. The research was conducted at Bay Park Elementary School in the San Diego (California) City School District, a school participating in a pilot…

What the Illinois Goal Assessment Program (IGAP) test actually tests and the consequences of these tests for funding decisions were studied with a random sample of 100 school districts in the Cook County suburbs of Chicago. Eighth-grade IGAP scores for reading were obtained from the state report card, a document prepared by each school district…

The North Carolina Project for Reform in Science Education, which is part of the National Science Teachers Association's Scope, Sequence, and Coordination Project, and the importance of student test scores as an evaluation tool were evaluated. Seven North Carolina schools participated in the project's first year (1991-92), with 21 teachers, and…

The creation and validation of a Spanish version of an English developmental spelling test (DST) is described. An introductory section reviews related literature on the rationale for and construction of DSTs, spelling development in the early grades, and Spanish-English bilingual education. Differences between the English and Spanish test versions…

The National Academy of Education Panel is providing the intellectual leadership and coordination for an independent evaluation of the 1990 and 1992 Trial State Assessments (TSA) of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). These instruments provide state-by-state comparisons of educational achievement, which is the first such use of…

This manual is intended to assist assessment and teaching personnel in assessing and developing instructional plans for special needs students from early school to independent living and employment. It contains 10 chapters. The following topics are discussed in the first nine chapters: the purpose of career assessment; ethical issues…

The licensure of public school personnel in Tennessee is a function of the State Department of Education (SDE). Additional requirements for this certification function were added by the Comprehensive Education Reform Act (Senate Bill Number 1) of the 1984 Tennessee General Assembly. The Act mandated that the SDE use tests to assess the competence…