This study assessed those areas of the college general education curriculum that are rated as most important to entering college students and those areas of the curriculum in which students feel the most confident (i.e., in terms of their abilities). Focus was on assessing the effects of the general education requirements that were established in…

Sixteen goal-like statements were developed around P. Reed's contention that university-public school partnerships promote interdependence between groups, a balanced exchange of valued commodities, shared decision making, adaptations to inherent barriers, and an enabling support structure. The questionnaire was pilot tested with members of other…

This study compared the effectiveness and efficiency of trainees in the Onan small products gasoline course under two training curricula: (1) the control group curriculum was the in-place course on the Emerald generator set; and (2) the experimental group curriculum was essentially the same with the addition of one lesson based on methods used by…

Some results are presented relating to the dimensionality of the 1990 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) mathematics item-response data. Based on theoretical considerations, practical limitations, and previous research, two procedures were selected for study: full information factor analysis as implemented in the TESTFACT computer…

Cognitive changes in college students from early in the freshman year to the end of the sophomore year were assessed using a pretest-posttest design. In all, 135 university students completed both a pretest and a posttest. The academic achievement measure used was the College Basic Academic Subjects Examination (CBASE), a test intended to assess…

The purposes of this study were to: (1) investigate the feasibility of including convergent, divergent, and imaginary factors in models of creative thinking in music; (2) identify the relationship between the processes involved in musical creativity and motivation for musical activities; and (3) determine the generalizability of Amabile's…

An alternative to multiple-choice (MC) testing is suggested as it pertains to the field of radiologic technology education. General principles for writing MC questions are given and contrasted with a new type of MC question, the alternate-choice (AC) question, in which the answer choices are embedded in the question in a short form that resembles…

A study examined how the SPEAK (Speaking Proficiency English Assessment Kit) Test is perceived by both International Teaching Assistants (ITAs) and instructors at a major midwestern university where it is used as a screening instrument for hiring ITAs. Subjects, 24 ITAs from the social sciences and 24 ITAs from the math-based sciences who took the…

In the fall of 1988, a stratified sample of courses at City, Mesa, and Miramar colleges in the San Diego Community College District (California) were surveyed as part of a skills assessment research project. For classes into which students were placed on the basis of assessment test scores (in English writing and reading, and mathematics), student…

Personality has largely been ignored or written off as a variable in second language learning. However, it should be considered as an alternative research perspective for four reasons: (1) the writing off of personality variables in second language research has been unjustified, and results from giving credibility to studies based on ill-conceived…

A study was conducted at Messiah College, a religiously affiliated liberal arts college in Pennsylvania, to identify classes that had excellent evaluation procedures. Standardized student ratings of classroom testing were drawn from the Instructional Development and Effectiveness Assessment (IDEA), which includes an item on "preparing…

Current assessment practices in the classroom can affect the movement toward a child-centered curriculum in mathematics education. The mathematical community is addressing the challenge to implement standards in the areas of testing, assessment, and accountability in order to maintain this movement. This digest: (1) discusses what makes current…

Issues surrounding accurate assessment of depression in children have received much attention. However, the stability of scores from depression measures has generally been estimated using only classical test score theory, rather than the more powerful generalizability theory. The dependability of scores from the Children's Depression Inventory…

These 11 essays address the importance of psychological assessments for prospective seminary students. The articles are primarily for seminary officials who make admission decisions based on testing and the analysis of test results. The chapters also discuss questions and issues that all seminary faculty address on a daily basis: maturity of…

The guidelines for assessment of limited-English-proficient (LEP) students in California public schools are one result of a recent statewide study of instruction and services for language minority children. An introductory section offers background information. Five subsequent sections present the specific guidelines, with explanation. The…