In 1984, the Connecticut General Assembly established mastery tests in mathematics and language arts (listening, reading, and writing skills) for grades 4, 6, and 8. A criterion-referenced test was considered most appropriate for identifying the strengths and weaknesses of every student. The specific skills to be mastered were identified by…

Results of the third administration of the Massachusetts Educational Assessment Program (MEAP), a statewide testing program for fourth-, eighth-, and 12th-grade students, are summarized. The assessment contains multiple-choice and open-ended questions in reading. mathematics, science, and social studies. In 1990, approximately 155,000 students…

The impact of cohort changes with regard to ethnic group, gender, class rank, and first language learned on yearly average Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) and Test of Standard Written English (TSWE) scores was studied. All examinee records, including student test scores and student responses to the Student Descriptive Questionnaire, in the College…

This manual contains preliminary information, largely of a technical nature, about the enhanced American College Testing (ACT) Program introduced in October 1989. It focuses primarily on the tests of educational development, the component of the program that has been substantially revised. Although one-third of the ACT Interest Inventory Items has…

Papers from a conference on language teaching and testing are grouped in four sections. The first contains a foreword by Dale A. Koike and Antonio R. M. Simoes. The second, on research in second/foreign language teaching, includes the following: "Second Language Learning and Evaluation: From Theory to Classroom Practice" (Sandra J.…

Following a description of how the political climate in the 1960s through the 1980s influenced education, this document discusses the effects of districtwide curriculum standardization on Burr Oaks Elementary School in the midwestern village of Burr Oaks. The school's community setting, use of curriculum guides, and initial use of curriculum…

Although many people in education are intimidated by the use of computer-based instruction (CBI), others are committed to exploiting the opportunities it provides. Three areas comprise CBI: instruction about computers, instruction by computers, and instruction using computers; the first two areas have received the most attention. (1) Attention to…

This document summarizes "Mathematics Counts," the report of the Committee of Inquiry into the Teaching of Mathematics in Schools in Great Britain, chaired by Dr. W. H. Cockcroft. It provides a digest of the report, paralleling the following chapters: (1) why teach mathematics? (2) the mathematical needs of adult life, (3) the…

The Annual Test Report, 1981-82 has been developed as a reference on the results of the California Achievement Tests (CAT) in the Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS). The report contains several analyses of the results from the CAT administration in Grades 3, 5, 8, and 11. Overall countywide results are presented and they are also broken down…

A brief description of the information dissemination program of the Sacramento City Unified School District (California) and eight informational brochures are presented. The program involves setting up "information centers" (display boards with pockets for eight brochures) in schools, school administrative offices, and public libraries…

An ITS (Intelligent Tutoring System) is a teaching-learning medium that uses artificial intelligence (AI) technology for instruction. Roberts and Park (1983) defines AI as the attempt to get computers to perform tasks that if performed by a human-being, intelligence would be required to perform the task. The design of an ITS comprises two distinct…

Probabilistic models with more than one latent variable are designed to report profiles of skills or cognitive attributes. Testing programs want to offer additional information beyond what a single test score can provide using these skill profiles. Many recent approaches to skill profile models are limited to dichotomous data and have made use of…

This document explains various approaches to diagnosing learning disabilities in adults learning to read and approaches to teaching these adults. Following an introduction, the first three sections answer the questions What are learning disabilities? How do learning disabilities affect reading? and How is a learning disability diagnosed? A section…

Classical measurement theory was used to investigate measurement characteristics of both parts of the Finding Embedded Figures Test (FEFT) when the test was: administered in either a "no guessing" supply format or a multiple-choice selection format; administered to either undergraduate college students or middle school students; and…

Designed as a forum for the exchange of information among members of the National Council for Research and Planning (NCRP), this journal provides articles on various aspects of community college research, management, and planning. The two issues of volume 6 contain the following articles: (1) "The President's Forum: What Have We Accomplished?" by…