This collection of 12 handouts focuses on different categories of atypical gifted learners and their characteristics. The handouts are generally two pages long and present a summary of the literature on the topic, some practical teaching suggestions, and references. The handouts include: (1) "Socioeconomically Disadvantaged Gifted Students" (Pam…

The Department of Defense is developing norms for its Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) and the newly created Interest Finder, a vocational interest inventory. The normative effort, called the 1997 Profile of American Youth (PAY97), will be undertaken as part of the Bureau of Labor Statistics' 1997 National Longitudinal Survey of…

This study explored mothers' beliefs about their children's educational and occupational futures, and it examined relationships between mothers' beliefs and children's academic achievement and between mothers' beliefs and maternal perceptions of parental responsibilities. A sample of 141 mothers and their first- or fourth-grade child participated…

This report describes a 48-month project which developed, field tested, and evaluated the utility of the Vocational Assessment Protocol (VAP) for use with persons with traumatic brain injury resulting in a severe and persistent disability. The VAP is intended to assist in the community-based vocational rehabilitation of these individuals. The VAP…

The purpose of this study is to investigate science achievement of Australian students and how this achievement can vary from school to school. The proposition that gender and socioeconomic inequities in Australia are the result of school systems designed to reproduce an unequal social order is be examined with reference both to current…

An investigation was made of the use of vocational assessment instruments with students with special needs as part of the requirements of the Carl D. Perkins Vocational Education Act. Coordinators at the 20 regional Educational Service Centers in Texas distributed surveys to personnel in each district who were responsible for vocational…

This learning activity package is designed to help learners select a trade in which to apprentice, to think about personal factors and to understand typical job requirements and situations. The package offers information about over 200 occupations. After completing the package, learners should have a realistic idea about how well prepared they are…

This paper on assessment in the Job Opportunities and Basic Skills (JOBS) Program for welfare recipients is intended to help administrators of JOBS programs weigh the possible benefits and drawbacks of the assessment choices they must make. Chapter 1 explains why assessment matters to JOBS administrators. Chapter 2 suggests a conceptual framework…

This is the sixth and final report of the National Research Council's Committee on the Performance of Military Personnel on the Joint-Service Job Performance Measurement/Enlistment Standards (JPM) Project, a project designed to develop measures of performance for entry-level military jobs so that enlistment standards could be linked to performance…

This project, conducted under the Carl D. Perkins Vocational Education Act, Public Law 98-524, developed an inservice training model for secondary guidance staff on implementing vocational assessment techniques into a total guidance and counseling framework. The objective was to design a program for vocationally assessing high school students who…

The performance of the American high school as an institution is discussed, based on a study of U.S. secondary education conducted by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. Attention is directed to students, teachers, the principal, the classroom, and the curricula. Field studies were conducted at 15 public high schools, which…

Because rural Alaska educators were skeptical of the applicability to their teaching situations of various educational research results, researchers randomly surveyed rural Alaskan teachers to provide background information for the Rural Effective Schools Project and for educators who want to help rural schools increase their effectiveness. Three…

The uses of aptitude tests for entry to language training, diagnosis, placement for training, and certification are described. The Language Training Program of the Public Service Commission of Canada provides language training and testing in French and English to public servants required to use either official language. A variety of aptitude tests…

California law requires sponsors of standardized tests used for admission or placement purposes in higher education to report certain data annually. Data on each of the 10 batteries of standardized tests affected by the law in 1987-88 are reported, and mean test scores are displayed for students nationally and in California if those averages are…

A sample of 15 eighth-grade Hispanic students in a bilingual classroom were used for a descriptive analysis of students' writing samples to compare their growth between pre- and post- writing samples in Spanish and English. This was accomplished by juxtaposing English and Spanish pre- and post-tests using the same holistic rubric developed by the…