Online learning programs are designed to expand high-quality educational opportunities and to meet the needs of diverse students. While the primary reason online courses are offered in school districts is to expand offerings to courses that would otherwise be unavailable, the second most commonly cited reason for offering online learning is to…

This publication brings together much of the information one might need to understand and discuss higher education issues. While this publication does not attempt to answer every question that may come up in discussions about higher education, it highlights the most often-asked questions about institutions, faculty, students, costs, budgets,…

Practical guidelines are presented for implementing a discipline policy at the local level for students with disabilities, with suggestions for distinguishing policies affecting students in general and students with disabilities. Emphasis is placed on emerging issues and practical consequences. Relevant federal and state court decisions are cited,…

This study compared the task activities and social interactions of 10 five-year-old kindergarten children in a mixed-age (MA) classroom of children age 4 through 6 to those of ten 5-year-old kindergartners in an organizationally equivalent same-age (SA) classroom. Compared to children in the SA class, kindergartners in the MA class remained…

External inefficiency in education--inequity between the characteristics of graduates and the job market--is a problem in Indonesia and many other countries. Job markets at the junior secondary level are very tight in Indonesia with low levels of unemployment at all ages, short job-search times, and high real rates of return. Unemployment,…

This report examines results of a review commissioned by the New Zealand Ministry of Education of criteria for determining special education placements. It proposes a model which focuses on eligibility standards for five levels of educational support for New Zealand students with special educational needs arising from their special physical,…

Course placement systems in postsecondary education consist of an assessment component to estimate students' probability of success in standard first-year courses and an instructional component in which underprepared students are taught the skills and knowledge they need to succeed in the standard courses. Student success is usually defined in…

This paper explores the premise that children with mental and/or physical disabilities should be included in regular education programs whenever possible. Instructional strategies for successful inclusion are discussed and the need for parental and community involvement emphasized. The paper reviews the theory of inclusion; features of the…

In 1982 and 1983 the Measurement and Evaluation Center of the University of Texas at Austin conducted a set of three studies analyzing student performance in a physics course required for engineering students (Physics 303K) in relation to the students' scores on the College board Mathematics Level 1 and Physics tests and to an introductory physics…

An increasingly popular test format allows examinees to choose the items they will answer from among a larger set. When examinee choice is allowed fairness requires that the different test forms thus formed be equated for their possible differential difficulty. For this equating to be possible it is necessary to know how well examinees would have…

A study was conducted at College of the Canyons (COC) in Santa Clarita, California, to provide preliminary data in monitoring for disproportional impact of placement into basic skills courses for various demographic groups. The study was designed to ascertain whether different levels of basic skills courses differ significantly for students in…

Sweeping reforms within general education have brought radical changes to traditional writing requirements at many institutions around the country, in some cases extending to the elimination of those requirements. At Portland State University (Oregon), writing is now to be the province of those teaching in the new general education program. Many…

The various methods for computing the reliability of scores on Advanced Placement (AP) examinations are summarized. For the free response portion of the examinations, raters can contribute to score unreliability through both systematic severity errors (in which some raters consistently rate more severely than other raters) and through…

A study investigated the job placement success of Michigan State University students using the campus career services and placement office in obtaining a job. Data were drawn from office records and a survey of 445 graduates in 1991-92 who requested and were granted an on-campus employer interview. In that year, the 2,685 students (35 percent of…

Advanced Placement Calculus examinations were administered to nearly 7,000 students in order to determine the impact of calculator use. Both experimental examinations had two sections. Section I items were designed so that a calculator was not needed, but approximately half of the students were permitted to use calculators. Section II items…