Describes a Teaching of Psychology course required for University of Alabama psychology doctoral students. Reports that graduate students take full responsibility for teaching an introductory psychology section and participate in a weekly seminar on practical and theoretical issues. Suggests that both faculty and graduate students are satisfied…

Summarizes a study using a series of meta-analyses to integrate the factors identified within and outside of the NASSP assessment center process into a consistent theoretical framework for improving principal preparation, assessment, selection, and performance. Proposes a model for future assessment center programs based on this analysis.…

A study examined the relationship between student evaluations of teaching effectiveness, age of faculty, and timing of retirement among tenured faculty. Results suggest a significant but small impact of age, varying by discipline. Uncapping of mandatory retirement appears to raise no major concerns for dramatic deterioration in teaching…

A study investigated relationships between university characteristics and job offers, employment status, job attitudes, and job performance of newly hired college graduates in accounting. Results indicate little correlation between institutional characteristics and job attitudes or performance, some correlation with number of job offers, more with…

Gives detailed suggestions for adult educators on course and session evaluation, analysis of attendance and dropout, self-evaluation, and student assessment. (SK)

The learning contract is the ideal way to enable the teacher to raise levels of expectation, to provide individual attention, and to personalize the educational experience. Includes a sample contract and suggested practices for the use of a learning contract. (15 references) (MLF)

Thirty-one primary caregivers at group homes for clients with developmental disabilities completed a one-week workshop in behavioral theory and treatment techniques. Trainees showed increased treatment skills, but preworkshop and postworkshop observations indicated no evidence that the workshop had any effect on group home client functioning.…

New Zealand librarians, using 95 indicators of performance, rated their libraries highest on service indicators and lowest on local government relations. Factor analysis was used to derive 13 dimensions of effectiveness. The indicators ranked highest in a prior survey of stakeholders are spread across nine of the dimensions, which fit four models…

Allison Rossett and Roger Kaufman, developers of two contrasting needs assessment models (the purposed-based assessment and organizational elements models), answer questions about using their models as frameworks for addressing performance problems affecting public education. The models present contrasting, yet complementary, approaches to needs…

This study of 15 Hebrew-speaking preschool children with specific language impairment and 2 comparison groups tentatively supported the notion that grammatical morphemes were less difficult for subjects if they take the form of stressed and/or lengthened syllables and if they appear in a language in which nouns, verbs, and adjectives must be…

This article describes the communication development program of a cooperative association of 55 Illinois school districts, which provides special education services for children and adolescents with low incidence disabilities including severe communication disorders. It examines the program's philosophy, principles, and practices; its authentic…

This 5-year study compared 204 first graders, 60 poor reading third graders, and 105 adults who had been evaluated for reading problems in childhood. Results suggest that attention deficit disorder has no impact on the development of word identification skills but does affect long-term educational outcomes. Phonological decoding and rapid naming…

A 3-year pilot study of alternative assessments for over 500 beginning teachers revealed numerous possibilities, including high-inference classroom observations, semistructured interviews, structured simulation tasks, performance-based assessment center exercises, portfolios, videotaped teaching episodes, and revamped multiple-choice examinations.…

Teaching portfolios are becoming the most effective tool to improve new and seasoned teachers' instruction via a supportive, convincing evaluation method. In taking a concentrated three days to write a creditable portfolio, a new teacher feels more competent to think about teaching. The portfolio's process of written reflection invokes the power…

A framework is provided for examining the validity of performance standards for high-stakes achievement tests. Assumptions that need to be evaluated are that the passing score corresponds to specified performance standards and that the specified standard is reasonable given the purpose of the decision. (SLD)