Stability of performance on a criterion referenced reading test was examined for 413 students in grades one through six. The test, which measures 367 behavioral reading objectives, was administered twice to each student, with an interval of at least three weeks between the first and second administrations. Three statistical indices of permanence…

The article reports on a critical incidents study of effective and ineffective teacher behaviors in the instruction of college-level beginning shorthand, to provide data which would lead to more effective teaching. The report includes a list of 44 effective teaching behaviors, discusses the findings, and offers five concluding statements. (AJ)

On the premise that if grading is the main cause of student cheating then course evaluations by students may lead to cheating by faculty members, the author compares the two types of cheating, listing comparable rationale and techniques. (JT)

The responses from 212 college students in an educational psychology course to the Inventory of Student Perception of Instruction and the Instructional Improvement Questionnaire were factor analyzed and related to three measures of course achievement. All three measures correlated significantly with each of the six factors drawn from each…

Increases in competency testing as a basis for student promotion and graduation are described. Examines the complexities and implementation of minimal competency testing and argues for consideration of unresolved issues: (1) definition of "minimal competency," (2) determination of appropriate measures, and (3) use of minimal competency concept in…

Examines the Monitor Model of adult second language acquisition, and presents an alternate model that avoids difficulties inherent in the Monitor Model and that corresponds to contemporary language development theory. (Author/AM)

Trotman's study (EJ 168 902) correlating child rearing in Black and White samples to children's achievement and intelligence is criticized. Trotman made several erroneous conclusions, and did not add important information about the nature nurture controversy as it applies to racial differences in intelligence. (Author/BH)

College students' learning from programed materials varying in redundancy and difficulty level was investigated. Subjects with high achievement needs and low fear of failure performed better as the instructional difficulty increased. The group with high cognitive ability also performed better than the low scores when the instruction was more…

The Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale (MARS) was administered to college psychology and mathematics students. Scores were higher for psychology students than for mathematics students; were useful predictors of both worry and emotionality; and were inversely related to performance for psychology students. Worry and performance were inversely…

The literature on the use of student ratings of teachers is reviewed, and the empirical, discriminant, and content validity of the ratings are discussed. Since findings regarding validity conflict, teacher rating forms should be used with caution. Suggestions for improved use are included. (GDC)

This study investigated the differential performance of subjects across cultures (U.S. and Ireland); grade levels (grades 2, 3, and 4); and three test formats (multiple-choice-cloze, maze, and cloze). Recognition test formats produced higher scores than the cloze format. Cultural influences were also reported. (Author/GDC)

A course evaluation plan, which utilized midsemester questionnaires and personal interviews, and was based on Stake's responsive approach to evaluation, was implemented during a doctoral seminar. The validity of the plan is attributed to its focus on portrayals and narratives rather than preordinate objectives, experimental controls, or criterion…

Individualizing any educational program poses the problems of investigating the effects of different environments on different persons and developing appropriate strategies for matching environment to individual learners to enable them to perform to the fullest of their abilities. (JD)

College students, in three experiments, learned to recite a counting pattern in the base three number system. Although all subjects learned to a criterion of two errorless trials, learning with different rule systems resulted in different levels of understanding and performance on transfer tasks. (GDC)

Programmed textbooks were used to condition verbal repetoires relevant to motivation, test anxiety, and test wiseness in 118 sixth grade students. There was a significant effect on raw scores on an IQ post test. Students of lower intelligence made greater raw score gains than students with a higher IQ. (Author/GDC)