The documented decline in test scores of the 1960s and 1970s and the unclear picture since then result from educational and noneducational factors. Aspects of the misuse of test scores are (1) simplistic interpretation of performance trends; (2) unsupported evaluations of schooling; and (3) a reductionist view of education. (SLD)

Data from 5,065 Dutch ninth grade students participating in the Second International Science Study were analyzed to assess gender differences in achievement, attitudes, and perceptions of science. Significant sex differences found were effectively portrayed using a model developed by J. S. Eccles (1987). (TJH)

Methods for and results of implementation in the United States of the Second International Science Study's (SISS) advanced-science subsample are discussed. Analyses of student, teacher, and school effects on achievement in advanced biology, chemistry, and physics results are included. American students scored among the lowest four SISS…

Self-concept and peer-acceptance of 10 learning-disabled (LD) students were compared with 10 low-achieving and 10 high-achieving students over 4 to 5 years (from kindergarten) prior to and following identification of the LD students. Implications of LD identification for self-concept are discussed. (SLD)

Discussion of cognitive process research on writing focuses on a study of sixth, seventh, and eighth grade middle school students that tested a generative-evaluative model of composition. Treatments for experimental and control groups of ability-grouped students are described, and results are analyzed. (58 references) (LRW)

A set of functional-analytic materials, entailing the study and practice of sociostylistic variation, was implemented in three eighth-grade French immersion (FI) classrooms by their respective teachers during French language arts classes over a five-week period. Pre- and posttests indicate that functional-analytic teaching improved FI students'…

Self-perceived competence was assessed for 60 8- 13-year-old children, grouped by learning disability and behavior disorder. Subjects included 15 controls and 3 groups of 15 learning-disabled children each ("normals," externalizers, and mixed symptomatology). Cognitive and social self-concept are as strongly related to behavioral factors…

This study of 1,477 rating forms on students (grades 6-12) with mild disabilities attending mainstream vocational courses found that curriculum-based vocational assessment is a feasible means of assessing student career/vocational behaviors and skills. A two-factor solution representing work-related behaviors and generalized instructional outcomes…

Identifies important criteria for assessing the quality of educational research and applies these 20 identified criteria to 2 recent international comparative studies in education, the Second International Science Study and the first International Assessment of Educational Progress. The major types of criteria are utility, propriety, and accuracy.…

Nine papers are presented that focus on the Raven Progressive Matrices tests. An overview of research on the Progressive Matrices; a review of international norming studies; recent data from China, Hong Kong, Brazil, New Zealand, and Australia; and a comparison of data for retarded and nonretarded children are presented. (SLD)

Reviews the history and uses of standardized testing, and suggests alternative methods of assessment. States the belief that testing exerts undue pressure on children, provides no useful information on individual children, and limits educational possibilities. Discusses the Association for Childhood Education International position paper which…

This article compares measures of abstract thinking preference and divergent thinking to standard mathematics ability measures such as the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT). In this study involving gifted tenth graders, mathematical creativity was found to be a special kind of creativity not necessarily related to divergent thinking ability. (PB)

Research and development activities of the last decade in the areas of assessment and effective instructional programs in mathematics for students with disabilities are reviewed. Encouraged by federal funding, a pervasive theme has been the use of an information processing framework. Automaticity, conceptual development, and cognitive modeling…

Results from the Maryland School Performance Assessment Program for 5,392 elementary school students and from the Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills (multiple choice) for a national sample are used to explore local item independence (LID) of test items. Some strategies are suggested for measuring LID in performance assessments. (SLD)

A college teacher and student describe the rationale behind collaborative test taking and their efforts to implement it in a freshman English course. The approach, in which students learn to work collaboratively from the beginning of the course, allows participants to solve problems related to a writing task and teaches real-world work skills.…