Discusses the need to accurately assess a student's progress in mastering classroom-taught skills and to understand the skills that employers expect of students in the workplace. Presents the Inventory for Assessing the Job Readiness Skills of Students Placed in Alternative Classes, and describes steps for completing the inventory. (CR)

Investigates changes in perceptions of the information search process of an early career information professional as he becomes more experienced and proficient at his work. Building on earlier research, comparisons of user's perceptions of uncertainty, complexity, construction, and sources in information tasks were made over a five-year period.…

Describes the Rasch calibration of a portion of the Watkins Farnum Performance Scale (J. Watkins and S. Farnum, 1954), a test of instructional music performance, for 218 sixth graders. Results show how Rasch scaling allows item difficulties to be estimated, the test to be administered more efficiently, and diagnostic information to be obtained.…

Explores how teacher teams influence middle-school teachers' work characteristics and other work-related variables. Participating teachers whose jobs had a work-group emphasis (interdisciplinary teaming) reported significantly higher skill variety, knowledge of students, satisfaction, professional commitment, motivation, and team helpfulness and…

Trained fast- and slow-namer groups of poor-reading second graders to read words using different training regimes. Found that slow namers were particularly disadvantaged compared to fast namers when trained with word-level units. Children showed poorer retention following onset/rime training compared to other types. They showed the best…

Describes three practical strategies for implementing peer consultation to improve college instruction using procedures implemented at the Air Force Academy (Colorado). The strategies are (1) small-group instructional diagnosis; (2) interactive student focus groups; and (3) classroom observations. (DB)

A study explored middle school students' (N=54) perceptions of problem difficulty, persistence, and knowledge, and use of problem-solving strategies in solving mathematical word problems. Students with learning disabilities rated problems as significantly more difficult and had a significantly lower total word problem score than both average and…

A study involving 11 boys (ages 6-12) with high-functioning autism and 11 boys with moderate-functioning autism examined memory strategy use on a serial recall task and a recall readiness task. Significant spontaneous strategy use was found on both tasks, particularly among the high-functioning group, although still lower than typical controls.…

This article describes how to maximize clinician participation in outcome management systems: articulate the value of the outcomes management system, involve clinical staff in its design, make it relevant to treatment goals, assure clinicians it will not be used punitively, show how it will improve treatment, and obtain staff feedback. (Contains…

A study of six talented males in an urban high school found they had a strong belief in self that was influenced by the following factors: relationships with supportive adults; involvement in extracurricular activities, sports, special programs, and summer school experiences; and family support. (Contains extensive references.) (Author/CR)

Details the University of Colorado (CU) Assessment Project, designed to help teachers create and implement classroom-based performance assessments to complement mathematics and literacy instructional goals. Notes patterns of change, including: instructional and assessment practices with greater emphasis on conceptual understanding; higher…

This article begins with the state of assessment of young children with special needs in the 1960s and traces changes through the end of the century. The embrace of multiple assessment measures, including standardized, norm-referenced measures and informal, functional measures is discussed and development of ecologically valid assessments is…

Considers the use of electronic mail in submitting teacher evaluations, student construction of web pages, and PowerPoint presentation slides in lectures within an economics course in order to improve student interest in economics. Addresses the positive and negative aspects of all three teaching strategies. (CMK)

Describes the experiences of a group of university colleagues working with middle schools in an Australian collaborative research project on authentic assessment, focusing on the tensions that arose from the diverse expectations of the schools, the particular project, the university, and the academics, and describing how the project supported and…

Presents results from a teaching effectiveness survey of alumni. Indicates alumni believe that good instructors should demonstrate effective preparation, interest in course material and students, availability to students outside of class, effective pedagogy, practical application, classroom interaction with students, sociability, and a high level…