The effect of the quality of preceding essays on judgments of the quality of a subsequent essay was investigated. Inservice teachers as judges failed to produce consistently and unambiguously biased judgments. Results suggest the presence of a positive bias and the absence of a negative bias. (Author/PN)

Studies whether grades assigned to essays written by elementary school students are affected by stereotyped perceptions of their first names. American women (N=180) in undergraduate teacher education courses each graded one essay identified by a purported high, medium, or low desirability first name. (CM)

Examining current opinions of moral education, the author criticizes both the notion that moral education makes explicit the hidden values in an academic curriculum and the view that education can be value-free; concluding that schools already have the only moral educationists they need--teachers. (Author/SJL)

This material presents, in courtroom style, arguments on grade inflation. However, the authors refrain from giving a final verdict. (Author/MLF)

An exploration of the concept and the process of programs for gifted students. (Author/MLF)

The relationship between scores on objective tests of language skills and on free writing tasks was analyzed for third and eighth graders. Correlations between scores were of the same magnitude as reported for college students. Differences in relationships between free-writing performance and objective test scores are discussed. (Author/RD)

This essay identifies several things teachers can learn from students or from the sheer act of teaching: about their own personalities; about ways to improve their teaching; and about subject matter, through simplifying and organizing it for presentation, through student questions, and through the natural flow of ideas. (Author/SJL)

The author, a former chief reader for Advanced Placement European History, provides secondary school and college instructors with criteria for constructing essay examinations. Topics include goals, language/wording, directions, sequence of questions, breadth versus specificity, compare and contrast questions, quotations, dates, and current events.…