Designed for professionals in the field of mental illness and staff involved in providing on-the-job support for persons with mental illness, this book provides an overview of employment issues relevant to such workers. The 23 chapters of the book are organized in 5 sections. The first two sections provide background information about the clients…

This paper presents the validation of an adaptive test developed for placement purposes in French at the post-secondary level, the French CAPT. Results from a second experiment are presented in which verbal protocols were obtained from nine college students of various levels with the thinking-aloud technique used during completion of the exam. The…

In Fall 1994, the San Diego Community College District (SDCCD), in California, conducted a study to determine the validity of the Mathematics Diagnostic Testing Project (MDTP) placement test. The MDTP provides tests at four levels (i.e., algebra readiness, elementary algebra, intermediate algebra, and pre-calculus) and is used in the District for…

This study explored experiences of 10 Ontario parents of adolescents with mental retardation concerning integrated versus contained elementary and secondary school placements, especially attitudes about curriculum, social acceptance, support services, educators, and advocacy. All students were currently in a contained placement but had experience…

If it can be shown that the Scholastic Aptitude Test mathematics test (SAT-M) is a reasonably good predictor of success in particular mathematics courses, it may have a role as a measure of prerequisite skills. The predictive validity of the SAT-M was studied by collecting grades from freshman mathematics courses at 10 colleges (3,499 students).…

Earlier practices in the teaching of literature offered one standard of success and one method of lesson delivery for everyone. This did not make it possible for students to reach their individual potentials. The resulting idea of attending to the individual formed the basis for ability grouping. However, placement into lower groups resulted in…

School-effectiveness research is constrained by ambiguous factors of effectiveness and a lack of theory. This paper presents findings of a study that used simulation to improve school-effectiveness theory. Simulation is also used to explore the direct effects of schools on individual learning. After introducing simulation models, the paper…

Discrimination against students on the basis of sex is prohibited in education programs or activities that receive Federal financial assistance. The Office for Civil Rights of the Department of Education enforces the law prohibiting specific discriminatory activities. The law applies to elementary and secondary as well as postsecondary schools.…

This report summarizes trends in the job search experiences and employment outcomes of 1993-1994 physics graduates at all degree levels. Data were gathered via the American Institute of Physics' Employment Survey. Type of position secured in terms of permanence, fields of permanent employment, and level of utilization is reported for doctoral and…

Not all schools and teachers maintain uniformly high expectations for all students. Evidence suggests that schools can improve student learning by encouraging teachers and students to set their sights high. This digest synthesizes recent research about teachers' expectations and the ways in which teachers' expectations affect student performance;…

This booklet, written as a group project for a class in technical writing, provides a guide for students in exploring, practicing, and actually conducting the job search process. It includes a step-by-step process that should increase students' chances of securing a job that matches their interests and skills after high school or college. The four…

Students in Israel who wish to enter institutes of higher education are required to hold a matriculation certificate. Matriculation exams are therefore high-stake and stressful. In 1993 the Minister of Education appointed a committee to consider reforming the matriculation policy. This paper describes the political and societal aspects of the…

Although New York State introduced its standards-based reform over a decade ago, it remains unclear as to how local education agencies (LEAs) have reconfigured their human resources in response to these initiatives. This paper demonstrates how state-collected personnel data can be used to generate longitudinal indicators of the kinds of…

This policy brief examines the role of ethnicity in special education by reporting on a study of the impact of base rates of ethnicity on the identification, placement, and graduation rates of children with disabilities. Emphasis is on system characteristics rather than individual student characteristics. The study explored the relationship…

An action research project focused on how a child's academic achievement is affected by his or her chronological age. The population consisted of kindergarten and third-grade students in a growing middle class community within a southwest suburb of Chicago, Illinois. Evidence for the existence of this problem was gathered from teacher surveys,…