This article describes the Brigance Comprehensive Inventory of Basic Skills-Revised, a criterion-and norm-referenced test designed to measure developmental and academic skills of students ages 5 through 13, including writing skills, reading skills, reading comprehension, mathematics skills, and listening comprehension. Its purpose, administration,…

This article describes the Conners Rating Scales-Revised, a rating scale designed to identify Canadian and American students ages 3 to 17 years with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. The test contains a Teacher Feedback Form, a Parent Feedback Form, and Adolescent Feedback Forms. Its administration, reliability, and validity are discussed.…

Early success in reading is predicated on a child's ability to accurately and effectively master core literacy constructs (e.g., phonological awareness, alphabet knowledge, concept of word, and grapheme-phoneme correspondence) and to exercise these understandings in a comfortable sociocultural context. In recent years, educators, legislators, and…

A first-grade reading and language development intervention for English language learners (Spanish/English) at risk for reading difficulties was examined. The intervention was conducted in the same language as students' core reading instruction (English). Two hundred sixteen first-grade students from 14 classrooms in 4 schools from 2 districts…

In response to Senate Concurrent Resolution 83, the Texas Education Agency studied methods for screening all students upon entry to school for significant developmental lags that could lead to learning disabilities. The resulting report includes: (1) identification of screening techniques; (2) methods currently in use and validated for treatment…

This report looks at the history, purposes and goals, components, and implementation progress after two years of the California community colleges' matriculation plan. The first section discusses legislation which brought about the adoption of a matriculation plan. The second section details the purpose and goals of the matriculation plan, which…

The purpose of this publication, which is addressed to a variety of audiences including educators, parents, legislators, school board members, members of the press, and voters in general, is to persuade the reader to help stop achievement and readiness testing in kindergarten and first and second grades and to rethink current educational goals and…

This report summarizes the Early Childhood Assessment Project, which attempted to clarify issues confronting policy makers in early childhood special education through documentation of current practices, in-depth investigation of alternative approaches, and examination of predicted social, political, economic, and educational impact of alternative…

The Adolescent Communication Screen--a criterion-based instrument designed to provide speech-language clinicians a measure for screening the communication skills of students in grades 5 through 12--is described in this document. Included in the description are the instrument's subtests: vocabulary, temporal concepts, language comprehension,…

The Functional Ability Rating Scale (FARS) is an instrument developed by local direct service workers in the field of human services to provide an objective measure of an individual's degree of limitation in seven areas of major life activity (MLA). The subject's level of functioning is assessed in Self-Care, Language and Communication, Learning…

A project was conducted to develop an assessment instrument for use in identifying welfare recipients who are potentially employable and to evaluate the effectiveness of Florida's three existing pilot employment assistance planning programs (termed PAPAs after the Public Assistance Productivity Act). Data on the employment status of 98 individuals…

A project was conducted to develop and implement a program of computer-assisted instruction (CAI) for students enrolled in adult basic education (ABE) and general educational development (GED) programs throughout Arizona. The following activities were completed during development of the comprehensive ABE/GED CAI program: identification and…

A collaborative program between the University of South Carolina College of Education and Lexington County (South Carolina) School District Five provided gifted and talented students with a summer school session featuring acceleration and enrichment. Accompanying the program were graduate-level courses and practica for prospective teachers of…

This paper describes the development and use of the Casey-Monahan Screening Instrument, designed to assess kindergarten readiness. The instrument consisted of various tests and evaluation procedures chosen from previously published tests. The instrument was designed to measure ability in five areas: (1) motor integration and motor development, (2)…

The issue of using language proficiency or language dominance to assess programs for high school students with limited English speaking backgrounds is addressed. The development and initial analyses of the Competency Based Oral Language Assessment (COLA) are discussed. Three components of oral language are rated separately: semantics; syntax and…