The goal of this study was to understand the role that external testing plays in elementary schools. Focus was on uncovering teachers' beliefs about testing and preparing students to take tests, how these beliefs and values are organized, and what implications they might have on practice. To accomplish this, the day-to-day life in classrooms and…

This is the first issue of a newsletter for those in Texas higher education who are interested in the prevention of alcohol and other drug abuse within higher education. The lead article, based on an unpublished study, addresses Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, in particular the link between drug and alcohol use and sexual behavior. A section…

A study for the South Australian Government gathered data on student enrollment and graduation rates in Diploma and Associate Diploma courses; documented initiatives for multiple entry and exit structures; proposed other possible approaches, using selected courses as case studies; investigated problems associated with providing multiple entry and…

Out of concern that agencies with the power and ability to provide much-needed research and development resources to help solve rural education problems will likely put their efforts into solving more visible urban problems, the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory's Rural Education Advisory committee met in 1983 to justify the need for…

This lesson on managing human resources, the 12th in a series of 18 units, is part of the first level of a comprehensive entrepreneurship curriculum entitled: A Program for Acquiring Competence in Entrepreneurship (PACE). (Designed for use with secondary students, the first level of PACE introduces students to the concepts involved in…

Merry Perry teaches English courses (both writing and literature) where the majority of the students are white, middle class, and conservative. Perry begins the article by saying that in such an academic environment, her most challenging task is not teaching grammar, punctuation, or editing skills, but challenging these students to think about and…

The history of academic inquiry into leadership as a discipline has yielded the unintended consequence of compounding confusion and perpetuating the myth of leadership as mystical. This paper takes that acknowledgement and inquires into the past and future of leadership theory development from a systemic perspective to define the concept, propose…

Practitioner use of learning style theory and measures can have an impact on curriculum design, instruction and assessment methods, and student guidance in the secondary school. Concern about the "operationalization" of learning style continues due to confusion concerning definitions, weakness in reliability and validity of measurements, and…

A study sponsored by the Texas Education Agency was conducted to define qualitative and quantitative indicators of school district success. Efforts were focused on: viewpoints of administrators; quality indicators examined in other states; and a review of the literature. Results and recommendations are summarized into the following categories:…

An overview is provided of the issues involved in the state-mandated exchange of data about transfer students between two-year and four-year colleges in Virginia. Background is presented on state legislators' concerns with the measurement of student achievement; guidelines developed by the state assembly regarding data exchanges and student…

Using information collected in a survey of all 50 states and the District of Columbia, the study analyzed state definitions of the "behavior disordered/emotionally disturbed" (BD/ED) category of handicapped children, program entrance and exit criteria, and procedures for referral, evaluation, and program placement. A general lack of…

This booklet provides background information on literacy for television and radio broadcasters. It focuses first on the numbers of functionally illiterate persons in the United States and what those numbers mean. Central to understanding those numbers, as pointed out by the booklet, is the definition of illiteracy that is used, a definition that…

The Kuku-Yalanji language is spoken by 500-600 Australian Aboriginal people on the coast of southeastern Cape York and inland to Chillagoe. The dictionary is of the northern dialects of Kuku-Nyungkul, the Rossville/Shipton's Flats dialect, Kuku-Yalanji, the China Camp/Daintree dialect, and Kuku-Jalunji, the Bloomfield dialect. It has three…

A survey of 135 Pennsylvania regular classroom teachers (kindergarten through grade 8) examined their understanding of learning disabilities (LD) and the degree to which they felt prepared to work with LD students. The survey sought information on: (1) teacher preparation, knowledge, and experience related to identifying and working with LD…

Intended for administrators and policymakers as well as teachers, this digest explores issues related to teaching English to the gifted student. The digest begins by examining the criteria used for identifying gifted/talented students, noting that some successful programs for the gifted in English and language arts do not restrict admission…