To improve the teaching of writing in public schools, pre-service teachers should be trained in the theories and practice of composition and rhetoric through new courses in rhetoric, regardless of the teacher's subject area. Although the academic discipline of composition studies is now established, many public school teachers are not familiar…

A "cultural and informational exchange" between two Maryland middle schools allowed two groups of gifted students to accomplish several learning objectives while discovering new regions of their state and nurturing new acquaintances. Computers were central to the program--all information was created using word processing programs, and…

Intended for students taking the Grade 12 Diploma Examination in English 30 in Alberta, Canada, this test contains (1) general instructions; (2) a minor assignment consisting of a literature reading to which the students must write a personal response; and (3) a major assignment requiring students to show how the authors they studied in senior…

This curriculum guide provides teachers and ABC's: Accountability, Basics, Citizenship. Basic Education (ABE)/General Educational Development (GED) students. Chapter 1 provides guidance/evaluation procedures to help the teacher maintain and document the entrance level and progress of the students. Chapter 2 focuses on specialized guidance…

To explore student facility with argumentative writing, 40 persuasive essays of 5th, 7th, and 11th grade students were analyzed for their relative percentage of reporting (narrating), interpreting, generalizing, and speculative sentences. Fifth and seventh graders were found to use significantly more narrative and fewer generalizations than older…

This study was designed to add to the knowledge bases of teaching and professional development. It is a phenomenological study of the classroom teacher and a group of seven elementary school teachers who reflected upon, wrote about, and discussed their lives as classroom teachers over a one-year period. Teachers kept written diaries which…

The writing problems of most Spanish-English bilinguals do not stem from their bilingualism per se, but are similar to those that inhibit other basic writers. The most serious is unfamiliarity with written, academic English. Students can rarely overcome this on their own. Most need intensive remedial and developmental instruction to be adequately…

This report describes the North Carolina Annual Testing Programs writing task which was administered in 1985-86. Grade six students were tested on their ability to write a clarification composition; while grade 8 students were evaluated on their skills in writing a persuasive composition. The timed composition (50 minutes) was scored by two…

An instructional management system, called Response System with Variable Prescriptions (RSVP), is described in this report as it is used at Miami-Dade Community College (MDCC). Following introductory material, the relevance of such a system to current educational issues is explored and the use of computer technology in education is discussed. The…

The term "value added" refers to the assessment of the amount of learning that takes place during the college years. Two experiments, Value Added I and Value Added II, attempted to measure college students' attainment of eight liberal education objectives: (1) writing ability; (2) analytical ability; (3) sensitivity to ethics, morals,…

This volume summarizes the results of the evaluation of the Austin (Texas) Independent School District 1981-82 State Compensatory Education Program. This technical report is organized into eight appendixes. Each appendix reports the information collected by a specific measure. Each appendix consists of (1) an instrument description, (2) purpose of…

This evaluation of writing in the West Hartford CT Public Schools was part of a large evaluation of English/Language Arts. To provide information for program improvement and growth, the evaluation focused on six issues: (1) the extent of implementation of West Hartford's Composition Program; (2) how teachers use the Composition Program in their…

Intended for students taking the Grade 12 Diploma Examination in English 30 in Alberta, Canada, this test contains (1) general instructions, (2) two minor assignments consisting of literature readings about which the student must write a personal response, and (3) a major assignment requiring students to show how the authors they studied in senior…

Intended for students taking the Grade 12 Diploma Examination in English 30 in Alberta, Canada, this test contains (1) general instructions, (2) two minor assignments consisting of literature readings about which the student must write a personal response, and (3) a major assignment requiring students to show how the authors they studied in senior…

Intended for students taking the Grade 12 Diploma Examination in English 33 in Alberta, Canada, this test on writing contains general instructions and three sections: (1) personal response to literature, which requires a response about an aspect of literature; (2) functional writing, which requires a written response within a given situation or…