The prevalent use of student ratings in teaching evaluations, particularly the reliability of such data, has been debated for many years. Reports in the literature indicate that there are many factors influencing student perceptions of teaching. Three of these factors were investigated at the University of Western Australia, namely the broad…

This article provides an overview of the development of disability employment policy and rehabilitation services in Australia. In particular, it focuses on recent legislative and policy changes that attempt to address the high rates of welfare dependency, low employment rates and workplace discrimination experienced by people with disabilities. An…

This preliminary study examines the perceptions of mentoring relationships between cooperating teachers and student teachers as they impact practicum success or failure. Student teachers (N=74) and cooperating teachers (N=13) at 2 teacher preparation sites were asked to respond either orally or in writing to 3 questions: (1) When you think of a…

This special serial issue is based on the proceedings of an invitational conference on "Next Steps in Inner-City Education" held in Racine (Wisconsin) in October 1995. The three articles in this publication attempt to offer effective and practical recommendations for educational practitioners and policy makers who seek to transform the country's…

This study of the knowledge bases of education began with a "meta-review" of the research literature in special and regular education and identification of specific learning variables. The effort focused on determining the extent that special and regular educators work from common bases of knowledge and the degree of appropriate merging during…

This document details the Ohio Department of Education's Adult Basic Education and Literacy Education indicators of program quality. A chart details the measures and performance standards for the following quality indicators: learners will demonstrate progress toward attaining basic skills/competencies supporting their educational goals; learners…

In two separate articles, this report compared indicators of performance-funding programs for 2-year and 4-year public colleges in eight states. It examined indicators accepted or proposed in Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, South Carolina, and Tennessee. It was found that states had as many as 37 and as few as 9…

This report summarizes data from performance indicators used to assess California higher education. A brief overview covers historical development of the indicators and notes some recent developments and future plans. Data tables, accompanying charts, and notes covering each of the 75 performance indicators are organized into five major sections:…

Ninety-four persons employed in direct care positions in a community-based agency that serves adults with mental retardation completed self-report questionnaires assessing relationships between social support and the adaptive outcomes of mood, perceived competence, and self-efficacy. Findings indicated that: (1) negative mood was negatively…

A study analyzed student outcomes at those schools and colleges that filed reports with the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools/Colleges of Technology during the 1993 school year. It also compared these data to information collected in 1990, 1991, and 1992. The study focused on the following outcomes calculated separately for full- and…

Using a common methodology, two experiments examined the effects of learning and performance goals in conjunction with self-evaluation as fourth-graders acquired mathematical fraction skills. After a pretest on fractions, self-efficacy, skill persistence, and goal orientation, children in the first study--who were average achievers in…

This study investigated whether the visual forms of buttons influenced learning and satisfaction when early adolescent students were asked to perform tasks using computer-assisted instruction (CAI). Ninety subjects participated. Three visual forms were designed for buttons located in a CAI application. One contained pictures for commands, the…

England was 1 of more than 40 countries that took part in the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) survey of 13-year-olds. This paper presents background information on the TIMSS and the performance assessment element of the study. It also describes how the written test and the practical task components relate to the National…

This document contains four papers from a symposium on contextual learning issues. In "Creating Mosaics: The Interrelationships between Knowledge and Context" (Barbara J. Daley), nurses report using information from training programs to create a knowledge base for professional practice. "Analysis of Action Learning Experiences…

This report examines the long-term impact of Academic Program Improvement (API) grants made from 1980 to 1986 at the California State University (CSU), by assessing the factors that contributed to or inhibited permanent adoption of successful innovations. Questionnaires from and interviews with project directors and administrators associated with…