Two papers are presented that resulted from the Instructional Assessment Project of the Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing. Both relate to models for assuring assessment validity. The first paper--"Assessing the Content Validity of Teachers' Reports of Content Coverage and Its Relationship to Student…

Student teachers' conceptions of their own successful and unsuccessful lessons were recorded in journals kept during field experience. The student teachers were asked to describe both the most and the least successful lessons taught during the first 2 weeks and again during the final weeks of student teaching. Journals were separated into…

The first in a 10-volume report, this volume provides an overview of the NETWORK school improvement study as a whole, placing it within the context of federal dissemination-related school improvement policies and programs. Existing research on these programs is examined and synthesized, and the evolution of the federal role in dissemination is…

This survey sought to identify the status of state policies on Individual Family Service Plans (IFSP) required by Public Law 99-457. The survey found that every state plans to develop or review IFSP policies, even the three states who said they had existing policies which they thought might currently meet the Part H requirements on service…

This synthesis paper provides a state-of-the-art analysis of the field of library and information science based on the results of a content analysis of its literature, including selected journals, conference proceedings, dissertations, and ERIC input. The 18 trends and issues identified by the analysis include developments in technology,…

The journalism studies section of the proceedings includes the following 11 papers: "Ethics Interactions between Reporters and Editors: An Assessment of Differences in Ethical Orientations and Their Effects on the Newsroom" (Kevin R. Stoner); "All Brides are Not Beautiful: The Influence of Charlotte Curtis on Women's News Coverage…

The purpose of a review of course materials and teaching methods in the area of adult development and learning was to identify commonalities that existed in course titles, objectives, content areas, texts, required reading, resources used, course requirements, and instructional processes. Thirty-two course syllabi and 1 curriculum guide from 24…

A content analysis was performed to determine the trends and issues in educational technology for the period from October 1, 1988, through September 30, 1989. Sources for the analysis included four leading professional journals in educational technology, papers given at annual conventions of three professional associations, dissertations from five…

This study is based on the premise that research on science textbook content has not specifically dealt with patterned class and grade level differences in how the organization of the content orients students to the cognitive and personality characteristics identified as precursors to scientific careers. The investigation analyzed the effects of…

Observations of a 12-year-old boy provide an in-depth look at the writing of a successful adolescent writer, as it developed over a 2-year period. The subject was interviewed once a week in his home. In addition to the information obtained in interviews, his texts were analyzed for formal features. Three factors emerged as particularly…

Three readability formulas were applied to chapters from six textbooks to determine (1) if there was a significant difference in readability of three consecutive textbook editions of a seventh grade and of an eighth grade text over a 12-year period (1968-1980), and (2) whether eighth grade students would perform equally to the same content from a…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 19 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: (1) the ethics of violence as political strategy in contempory drama; (2) the history of Italian-American theatre from 1900 to 1905; (3) the development of the…

Textbooks not only transmit key cultural information but also employ a distinctive style and language, and these intrinsic structures maintain the textbook as the official valid knowledge required of the student. The student has a particular view of schooling which conditions the learning process and teaching decisions. The teacher emphasizes…

To determine how textbook publishers have changed the content of teachers' manuals designed to accompany basal reading series, a study was undertaken to examine manuals published by two different publishers since the l920s. Ten fifth grade manuals were reviewed for physical characteristics, tests, number of stories, instructional suggestions,…

Given the perspective of news as a significant cultural form, a study examined the symbolic world constructed by American newsmagazines, particularly investigating the dominant media frames (defined as consistent patterns of cognition and selection by which symbol handlers routinely organize discourse) employed by these news organizations. The…