A two-year study designed to evaluate an elementary language arts program in the Grande Prairie School District (Edmonton, Alberta) through an assessment of student achievement was conducted from 1983 to 1985. A major focus of the study was the area of listening, and the listening tests and teacher's manuals presented in this document are intended…

The new interactive videodisk systems with augmented audio capabilities have great potential for improving the teaching of foreign languages. At present that potential is unfulfilled because the profession is following a "rear view mirror" approach to media use: first, to fixate current practice; second, to distribute it broadly; and last, to…

This annual statistical survey of the foreign student population of the United States reports data on 386,851 students from 191 nations and places of origin. Part I sets the survey in a worldwide context, with data on foreign student flows worldwide. Part II presents an overview of foreign study in the United States and offers data on leading…

This collection of research papers considers extensions of the Rasch model. In Chapter 1, K. C. Cheung explains how measurement and testing in the classroom can be made more meaningful, particularly through the use of Rasch family item response models. In Chapter 2, K. W. Koon and K. C. Cheung apply the Rasch model in constructing a part-whole…

The focus of federally-funded bilingual education programs has shifted over the past 20 years from serving educationally disadvantaged limited English proficient (LEP) students to serving recent immigrants and identifying alternatives to bilingual education. Since the 1960s, the LEP student population has grown increasingly diverse, illiterate,…

Data collected during the first year of a 3-year study are reported. The study evaluated the effectiveness of a variety of special services provided to approximately 10,000 language-minority limited-English-proficient first- and third-grade students in English-medium classrooms in a national sample of 18 school districts. Services studied are not…

This book, published in 1941, is a collection of articles that emphasize the value of teaching the "tool" or basic skills: reading, elementary mathematics, language arts, "and their subdivisions." The book emphasizes the value of using the environment and experiences of rural children in teaching these subjects. Chapter 1…

The Teacher Education and Mentoring Program (TEAM) allows intern teachers who have not completed the required teacher education courses prior to employment as regular classroom teachers to have the support of master teachers, or mentors, while teaching with provisional certification. The internship is a closely supervised practicum with each…

In October 1989 Alaska conducted its statewide student assessment. Over 23,000 students in grades 4, 6, and 8 completed the reading, mathematics, and language arts sections of the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS). At the same time, a series of questionnaires asked building principals about their schools' philosophy, climate, and problems; asked…

A practicum was implemented to improve the sight-word vocabulary and attitudes toward reading among 22 second-grade students reading below grade level. The program took approximately 45 minutes a day, 2 days a week. The language experience approach was used in conjunction with word processors. The different types of activities included dictated…

A case study of an at-risk student in a whole language "transition first grade" (representing an extra year between kindergarten and first grade) classroom chronicles her transition from an anxious and withdrawn student to an enthusiastic learner. Although it took nearly a month for the student to relax in the classroom, she then responded eagerly…

An evaluation of the Boston Workplace Education Collaborative (BWEC) was conducted during 1989. The BWEC is a partnership among Roxbury Community College, the Boston Private Industry Council, and the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) of Massachusetts to provide workplace literacy educational opportunities…

Whole language has to do with beliefs about language and learners that lead to beliefs about curriculum and instructional procedures. The term emerged as a label for the way language is thought to be learned: as a cohesive organization of systems working together as one--as a whole. The term whole language also refers to the learner as being…

This first volume of a four-volume evaluation of the 1988-89 New York City School Community Education Program (also known as the Umbrella Program) comprises reports evaluating 10 innovative projects that provide reading, mathematics, writing, English as a Second Language, and computer literacy instruction. Evaluation sources included student…

The Connecticut Mastery Test was designed to assess specific skill levels of students by measuring performance on various learning objectives that students can be expected to master. The grade 4 Connecticut Mastery Test, given for the first time in the fall of 1985, provides information which can be used to improve instruction and the basic skills…