In 1999 Michigan implemented the Michigan Merit Award program, a program to motivate high school students to take their studies more seriously. The program offers 1-year college scholarships to students who meet or exceed state standards on Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP) tests in reading, mathematics, science, and writing. This…

This booklet examines the need to recruit minority teachers, highlighting the Urban Teachers Outreach Program (UTOP) currently being implemented in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. The UTOP's collaborative effort between Lakeland College and the Sheboygan Area School District has helped minority members of public schools' classified staff (mostly teacher…

The psychological factors associated with paranursing expertise were examined in a study of 135 certified nursing assistants (CNAs) at a geriatric nursing facility in Amarillo, Texas. Data were collected through a project-developed screening tool called the Geriatric Employee Screening Tool (GEST), which is a true-false instrument patterned after…

In 2001, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) conducted a geography assessment of the nation's fourth-, eighth-, and twelfth-grade students. This report presents the results of that assessment. Results in 2001 are compared to results of 1994's NAEP geography assessment, which was the preceding NAEP geography assessment and the…

This volume theorizes, describes, and explains practices and some specific programs designed to help meet the needs and demands of a diverse student population. The central point of this volume is that curriculum, instruction, and assessment in middle-level education is a dynamic, interrelated system undergoing change. The book contains the…

The Oklahoma Educational Indicators Program is a system developed under the Oklahoma Education Reform Act of 1990 to assess the performance of public schools and school systems. "Profiles 1999" consists of state, district, and school components. Each component divides the information presented into three major reporting categories: (1)…

Noting that Minnesota has developed many innovative services for parents and infants, but does not yet have an organized way to attend to infants' emotional development and mental health needs, this report details a study to ascertain the need for infant mental health services and examined the current level and types of services available. Data…

An instructional module designed to help prepare college-level teaching assistants (TAs) for their duties in second language instruction is presented. The module focuses on the use of alternative methods for assessing student learning. Introductory sections discuss the rationale for and definition of alternative assessment. Four specific types of…

This monograph examines use of standardized tests in higher education, particularly the Scholastic Assessment Tests (SAT), as an issue of social justice and the public interest and in the context of national concerns over access, equity, and demands for accountability. The paper notes public interest in access and equity beginning with 1930s…

This report examines how inner-city schools are performing on the academic goals and standards set by the states. Researchers investigated student achievement in math and reading and measured achievement gaps between cities and states, African Americans and Whites, and Hispanics and Whites. The report focuses on whether urban schools have made…

This complete teacher edition of a diesel technology course consists of introductory pages, teacher pages, and the student edition. The introductory pages provide these tools: training and competency profile; National Automotive Technicians Education Foundation Crosswalk; instructional/task analysis; basic skills icons and classifications; basic…

This study was conducted to examine whether using a monolingual, simplified English dictionary as an accommodation on a reading test with limited-English-proficient (LEP) Hmong students improved test performance. Hmong students were chosen because they are often not literate in their first language. For these students, bilingual dictionaries are…

This paper outlines the nexus between developing pedagogical content knowledge and the pressures for preparing pre-service teachers to be successful on high stakes testing. Increasing expectations about what students should know and be able to do, breakthroughs in research on how children learn, and the increasing diversity of the student…

This paper shows how a mid-sized teacher education institution proactively developed a performance assessment method, Teacher Work Samples (TWSs), addressing the school's efforts to use TWSs to obtain evidence of the impact of teacher performance on student learning. The paper examines challenges faced in developing and implementing TWS…

This pilot study explores the perceptions of distance education students of their classroom environment using the College/University Classroom Environment Inventory (CUCEI), a traditional classroom assessment tool. The CUCEI has seven scales that cover the areas of personalization, involvement, student cohesiveness, satisfaction, task orientation,…