This publication explores the relationship between state systemic reform initiatives and state student assessment programs using a database established by the North Central Regional Educational Laboratory and interviews with state assessment directors in California, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Texas, and Vermont. States throughout the country are…

This paper gives an overview of the methods of moderation, or quality assurance and quality control, as they may be more widely known, that are used to enhance the quality of student assessment. The discussion is based on the educational systems of the United Kingdom but is applicable to assessment in other countries. Quality in assessment is seen…

This study examined schools which had successfully blended gifted education programs into middle school environments in order to provide outstanding services to gifted middle grades students, and sought to determine the factors that made this successful blending possible. Five sites were visited from a variety of settings and schools that used…

This digest focuses on going beyond multiple choice testing to the development of methods for assessing complex knowledge and performances. Newly designed assessment systems must accurately measure and promote the complex thinking and learning goals that are known to be critical to students' academic success and their eventual sustained…

The manual is addressed to teachers, administrators, and teacher trainers helping students learn through a non-native language by integrating language and content. This audience may include English-as-a-Second-Language, bilingual education, or content (e.g., science, math, social studies) teachers with limited-English-proficient students in…

The Cognitive Skills Assessment Battery (CSAB), a school-readiness test, is administered to all public school students at the beginning of Grade 1 in South Carolina. This test is designed to measure a student's readiness to begin the formal school curriculum. The number of beginning first graders tested in 1992 (54,357) represented a decrease from…

Available information, largely for selected years in the 1970s through 1990, on academic performance at the highest levels of achievement is summarized for elementary through graduate school levels. Profiles of students who performed well on particular measures of academic achievement or attained advanced degrees are provided. Data were obtained…

Although school desegregation was initiated to address a social inequity--segregated schooling was seen as stigmatizing blacks as a social group--research has focused primarily on desegregation's effects on black academic achievement and self-esteem. Two problems have made this research difficult: the ambiguity of the term "school desegregation"…

A study examined the use of office technology and the changing role of the management supportive staff in the modern office. During the study, the researcher conducted prearranged, one-hour personal interviews with individuals responsible for supervising day-to-day activities of management supportive staff at 50 companies in 16 sites. The…

A handbook for graduate teaching assistants at Colorado State University includes suggestions to improve teaching and information on teaching and learning resources. Faculty teaching responsibility is discussed, along with 10 factors related to effective teaching and learning, including enthusiasm, knowledge of subject, and organization and…

Legal issues associated with competency testing of teachers are reviewed, with an emphasis on the problem of bias against minority examinees taking standardized tests. The central legislative foci of legal activity in this area are Titles VI and VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title VII requires employers to show, with validation studies,…

This document is the product of working groups of representatives from industry, business, associations, labor, and education who studied the types and levels of occupational competencies necessary for entry and sustained productive employment in the chemistry-based technology industry and in agribusiness. Representatives of both industries…

Rockland Community College's (RCC) Developmental Studies Department serves students in need of remedial/developmental education, and more than 40% of RCC's entering freshmen are enrolled in the department yearly. The federally funded Special Services Project provides supplemental tutorial services for the most severely financially and…

A study explored the relationship between job satisfaction and teacher turnover of practicing and former vocational education teachers in Northwest Ohio. Factor analysis, discriminant analysis, and an instrument with 38 job satisfaction indicator statements were used to determine these relationships. A total of 745 of 1,025 practicing teachers and…

Predicated on the notion that workers will need to transfer new skills to a variety of situations, this document is intended to teach industrial trainers in Britain how people learn and how to train individuals to become independent learners as well as capable performers of specific job skills. The first section of the book is a mixture of…