This lucidly written book provides a concise conceptual map to guide preservice and inservice teachers through the often-confusing terrain of reading instruction. Distinguished researcher and former classroom teacher Mark Sadoski describes the essential concepts and methods of the field and summarizes key research findings and historical…

This document includes a 3-page brochure describing the main report and the main report. The report explores competency-based models in postsecondary institutions and other learning environments. It is intended primarily as a guide for postsecondary educators who are interested in establishing such efforts at their institutions. The following…

Lakeland Senior High School (LSHS), a suburban school in Lakeland, Florida, has used PLATO (registered) courseware from 1995 to meet a variety of student needs. They use their three dedicated PLATO labs to help students prepare for college placement tests such as the Stanford Achievement Test (SAT), prepare to retake the Florida High School…

This booklet contains information and resources to plan for reading and mathematics improvement goals for elementary, middle/junior high, and high schools in the Washington public schools according to the Academic Achievement and Accountability Commission and the results of the 2001 Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL). This booklet…

This overview of the problem of linking testing and instruction describes two general policy areas which have focused attention on these links: studies of school effectiveness and minimum competency testing. Techniques used to investigate links between tests and instruction and policy issues that must be addressed are also discussed. (Author/CM)

Basic skills being taught are often unrelated to skills required by new technologies. Teaching obsolete skills in minimum competency programs is useless, even racist. The concept of basic skills changes with emergent technology. Sound instructional systems require meaningful philosophy, goals, and awareness of the findings of developmental…

Text from a speech delivered by the past president of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development declares that a liberating education offers students abundant knowledge, that content by itself does not liberate individuals, and that individuals employ knowledge in their own liberation. (MLF)

Relates the procedures and findings of a study of minimum competency programs (MCPs) in four Ohio school districts, focusing on: (1) operational definitions of MCPs; (2) the effects of MCPs on student achievement; and (3) the usefulness of the evaluation model used in the study for local evaluations. (AYC)

An essential element in establishing educational equity is the use of educational testing and standardized norm-referenced tests, in particular, to identify and analyze problems in school effectiveness. The performance of children from low-income families is the best indicator of school response to minimum skills needs. (CM)

Argues that content area teachers should assume the major responsibility for preparing students in the areas commonly assessed in minimum competency tests. Sets forth four problems in convincing content area teachers to assume this role and offers techniques for persuading them to do so. (FL)

Suggests a procedure for vocational counselors to gather information about necessary entry-level skills and individual teaching styles in vocational programs. Discusses applications to vocational guidance with special needs students. (RC)

Stresses that both teachers' experiences in writing projects and the work of educational researchers support a "romantic" attitude toward writing in opposition to the back-to-basics and drill approaches. (JL)

Reviews the principal's role in instructional accountability, management systems, communications, remedial programs, teacher inservice programs, teacher recruitment, and testing. (Author/WD)

Negative implications should be assessed before extending preservice education programs. Although a longer, more demanding professional program would have a positive effect on the professional status of teaching, it may also discourage qualified applicants who are not interested in spending five or six years in preparation for a relatively low…

Discusses two reasons why the state of writing performance may worsen when, beginning in 1983, Tennessee high school students must pass a proficiency test as a condition for graduation; reasons are the objective nature of the test and the language performance objectives which the test proposes to measure. (NEC)