This document is intended to generate discussion about the plans of the New Zealand Qualifications Authority for developing a National Qualifications Framework. The document begins with an explanation of the qualifications framework in Maori and in English. A guide to reading the document points out its organization and the inclusion of diagrams…

In order to study for citizenship tests, amnesty students need to be able to read U.S. history material, although they usually have no background knowledge for it. According to schema theory, background knowledge is important for reading comprehension. Research has shown significant improvement in the reading comprehension of intermediate level…

In response to state legislation calling for a comprehensive report on the transferability of vocational courses from high school to community colleges and four-year institutions, questionnaires were sent to all of Michigan's 29 community colleges and 15 universities. The survey sent to universities focused on the extent to which a college…

This paper looks at the selection of students in Australia for trades-based prevocational or pre-apprenticeship courses. Selections for two types of courses are considered in the paper: (1) pre-apprenticeship courses that focus on a particular trade area and usually lead to credit in only one apprenticeship course; and (2) prevocational courses…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 28 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: (1) the effect of assisted reading as a teaching method for enhancing reading readiness in kindergarten children; (2) the structure of talk in primary grade…

Responses by various University of Alberta offices to recommendations of the Senate Task Force on Mature Students are detailed. "Mature student" is used to refer to students 23 years old or older. Attention is directed to: support services (library, offices, bookstore); choice of courses in the evening; residency requirements;…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 39 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: (1) the assessment of writing ability; (2) small group discussion as a prewriting activity; (3) effects of evaluation methods in learning technical writing skills;…

This paper provides a model of course-embedded assessment for use in an undergraduate Accounting Information Systems course, and reports the results obtained from implementation. The profession's educational objectives are mapped to specific computer skills and assignments, to provide direct evidence of learning outcomes. Indirect evidence of…

This review identifies where Danish public authorities intend to take their adult education and training (AET) system, main issues in AET reform (VEU-Reform), and recommendations from reviewers. Section 1 introduces the thematic review. Section 2 presents an overview of policy issues, AET, and VEU-Reform. It lists objectives of VEU-Reform (improve…

This paper argues that formal and explicit instruction and learners' prior knowledge play a crucial role in teaching and learning English as a second language (ESL), and that a pure communicative approach is inadequate in achieving optimum results. The discussion is presented in two parts. The first outlines the issues under consideration,…

Through a combination of prior coursework, contract learning, credit for experience, standardized tests, and other methods of evaluating prior learning, the Empire State College (New York) allows adults to complete undergraduate degree requirements. The nonresidential institution serves students throughout the state, with faculty in over 40…

This article investigates the benefits of girls-only classroom instruction in math and science during Grades 9 and 10, in the context of a public coeducational high school. It is based on a longitudinal investigation with 786 participants: 85 girls in all-girl classes, and 319 girls and 382 boys in a regular coeducational program. Preexisting…

This study assessed how in- and out-of-class experiences influenced the transition to college, student involvement with institutional life, and student perceptions about learning among 72 first-year community college students from three institutions with large numbers of either Hispanic or African American students. The students were interviewed…

This paper reports the results of observation skills training via an interactive multimedia training program for preservice teachers at Lincoln University (Missouri). The training program provides multiple videos for users to practice six types of observation methodologies, comparisons to "expert" data, and on-line access to procedural…

Educators suggest that children whose families have read to them during their preschool years acquire lexical and syntactic knowledge of sentence-level features typical of written narrative before they begin formal literacy instruction. To test this claim, to discern growth in this knowledge over time and experience, and to describe the lexical…