Describes a study conducted at Kirkwood Community College, Iowa, to determine if student scores on the American College Testing Program's Assessment of Student Skills for Entry Transfer (ASSET) placement test could help identify potential dropouts among vocational students and to compare the predictive validity of high school grades and ASSET…

Describes an alternative method of placing students in reading groups which reduces reliance on achievement tests, yet remains manageable enough for large groups of students. Describes the six formal and informal measures used in placement: achievement test scores, IQ scores, attitude scores, current placement, grade in reading, and teacher…

Argues that the best alternative to assigning children to grades on the basis of birth date alone is to implement a child-centered and process-oriented curriculum for younger children and push back the academic curriculum to the upper grades. Suggests this allows children to develop at their own pace. (RS)

Discusses background information, research, and educational implications related to kindergarten readiness. Topics that receive particular attention are testing, placement, and curricular practices and age of entry into school. (BB)

Discusses a study of the effectiveness of employing multiple measures and sources of data to place students in appropriate mathematics courses. Considers the use of achievement test scores, high school mathematics grades, clinical evaluation techniques, and content-oriented examinations in assessment. (DMM)

A comparison of the French language proficiency of high school students taking the Advanced Placement (AP) Examination for French against college students in their sixth semester of French study found that the college students did slightly less well than the high school students. AP grading standards were more stringent than those used by college…

Reports an interpretive study of curriculum differentiation which looks at a lower-track curriculum at a midwestern public high school. Examines the relationships among curriculum differentiation, classroom conflict, and social differentiation. Concludes that curriculum is a sociocultural construction, that student responses are crucial…

Discusses a recently developed post-admissions testing battery, for Ontario colleges and universities, that tests students' listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills through integrated texts and tasks that simulate academic language use. The battery yields placement and diagnostic information about students' readiness to undertake academic…

This article describes the Pathfinder Project, an Arizona project which serves adjudicated youth in an alternative placement based on a "Success School" model of the school as a learning organization with high emphasis on community service, individual goals, work-study, coaching for success, and group counseling. (DB)

Provides an overview of litigation in which courts have addressed the extent to which costs can be considered in determining appropriate programs for children with disabilities. (MLF)

Forty-four urban young adults with mental retardation participated in an employment training program which assessed trainees' interests and abilities and taught them self-evaluation, negotiation, occupational skills, and employability behaviors. Thirty-five completed training; 94% became competitively employed. Gender, residence, race,…

Describes a national study of the current availability and use of commercially and institutionally developed educational assessment instruments. Indicates that two-year institutions reported less activity than four-year institutions in assessing the major fields of study but that 77% of all two-year institutions assessed basic skills. (MAB)

Between 1854 and 1930, the placing-out or orphan train strategy (forerunner of modern family foster care) relocated approximately 150,000 orphaned or impoverished children from New York to families in the Midwest. The goal was to rear children in rural families to increase their chance of becoming productive adults. Some criticisms of the practice…

National trends and issues that concern gifted education are considered, focusing on the relationships among regular education, early childhood education, and education of young children who are gifted. Specific topics include: whole language and emergent literacy, whole group instruction and flexible grouping, cooperative learning, and…

Concepts of adaptive testing and the related measurement model, item response theory, are introduced and benefits and limitations are outlined. Field tests with over 2,500 students illustrate the use of adaptive tests in college placement. Some future directions for computerized adaptive testing are considered. (SLD)