The first two years of "Sesame Street" were evaluated as to their effectiveness as compensatory education. The evaluation assessed progress along some 36 primary goals of the show, as well as transfer effects, home background variables, parental attitudes, and socioeconomic status factors. Over 1,300 preschool children were tested, and…

Minority and majority groups were administered a special quantitative section of the Admission Test for Graduate Study in Business (ATGSB) under varying time conditions to determine if increasing the time allotted for the test would eliminate any bias which may exist due to an irrelevant speed factor. By a commonly employed definition the special…

To provide substantive and methodological information concerning systematic vocational placement and followup to individuals responsible for educational program change, a project was conducted to develop three publications, each for different audiences: (1) school board members, (2) teacher educators, and (3) local school personnel. Information…

A copying test (VAT) is described in which the test items can function as teaching objectives with the expectation that acquiring competency in the represented behaviors will be generalized to other visual-motor tasks. Six hundred and sixty-seven kindergarten first- and second-grade children were tested. Results show: (1) a reliable scoring method…

An evaluative review of the Polyvalent Adult Education Centre in Bombay, India, is presented. Objectives of the evaluation include: (1) to assess the extent and type of planning undertaken by the Vidyapeeth in developing a polyvalent approach; and (2) to assess the extent of benefit obtained by the participants. Planning for a course of training…

This report describes the methods and results of a 29-month project to make available to Kentucky's school children the best and most recent programs and techniques in innovative teaching through an improvement of curriculum management. The project identified and examined eight management areas and provided consultative service to local district…

The Conference sought to provide a user-based and -oriented assessment of performance contracting for education. It focused on delineating the current interest in performance contracting, the technique's demonstrated strengths and weaknesses, and its potential as an alternative approach to school system resource allocation. Six commissioned papers…

This unit of the Flexible Learning System (FLS) is designed to help teachers analyzing the effects of classroom situations on the self-concepts of children in preschool through third grade. Among the questions addressed are: What is a healthy self-concept; How do teaching practices affect children's self-concepts; and When are situations…

This is the final report on evaluation and research of the Flexible Learning System (FLS). The Flexible Learning System (FLS) began as an outgrowth of the Far West Laboratory's several years of investment in research and development of a Responsive Model of Early Childhood Education for young children. The model emphasizes the development of…

This document reports efforts to address some of the problems of competency-based assessment by developing and utilizing unique measures of competence. Seven conceptual guidelines are identified for test development and utilization: (1) new competencies must be identified and operationally defined; (2) new competencies should have general…

Part one of the Northeast Conference Reports for 1975 deals with the background of the three major components discussed in the reports: curriculum, teaching styles and strategies, and evaluation techniques in foreign language instruction. In the section on curriculum, the role of foreign languages in the curriculum is examined. A historical…

Federal assistance for special educational programs makes necessary the regular study of evaluations of thousands of innovations in compensatory education, bilingual education, and reading programs. The results are reported to the President and to Congress. However, investigating organizations find only a few programs with adequate evidence and…

Using a modified typewriter interaction analysis system, an observer is able to record specific teacher-pupil behaviors as they interact in an instructional setting and distinguish accurately and comprehensively the cause and effect relationship. The system has the capability to distinguish patterns of behavior between different teachers in such a…

This study, in the form of a research review, is designed to aid adult educators as they work in curriculum development and materials selection activities. Its purpose is to provide a guide for evaluation by providing recommended guidelines for the analysis of learning material, a suggested instrument for evaluation, and how to use the instrument.…

With student evaluations of instructor effectiveness playing an increasingly important role in the determination of merit pay, promotion, and tenure, there is a growing interest in what these evaluations actually measure. Faculty members frequently voice doubts about using student evaluations, because it is not clear to what extent they measure…