This review of the literature focused on the issue of classroom application of social skills training for handicapped children. First, ten theoretical models are described as representative of the approaches to social skills training in special education: behavioral, humanist, psychological, transactional, neuropsychological, ecological,…

This report summarizes the results of research designed to study the psychometric and technological feasibility of adaptive testing to assess spatial ability. Data was collected from high school students on two types of spatial items: three-dimensional cubes and hidden figure items. The analysis of the three-dimensional cubes focused on the fit of…

The American Chemical Society (ACS) sponsored a conference for educators and chemists to design strategies for implementing the recommendations made in the 1984 ACS publication, Priorities, Partnerships, and Plans: Chemistry Education in the Schools. Participants submitted proposals for mini-grant funding to the ACS Prehigh School Science Program…

This paper examines possible explanations for the fact that evaluation results are rarely used. Most explanatory factors for use of results in decision making mentioned in the literature have been clustered in three categories of variables. They concern: (1) the making of decisions about the practical problem; (2) the way in which evaluation is…

With the advent of the process approach to teaching writing, the use of products or models in the composition classroom has declined, replaced by heuristic exploration of the rhetorical situation, with special emphasis on audience analysis. Some researchers have emphasized the difference between internal audiences and audiences external to the…

A "learning by doing" class was offered by the University of Minnesota to teach needs assessment concepts and approaches. The needs assessment was conducted at the Onan Corporation, which produces industrial engines and other equipment. The class was composed of nine graduate students in industrial or vocational education and was…

The Library Catalog Cost Model described in this report was developed to assist each of the 72 individual libraries participating in the project to compare the costs of alternative future forms of the catalog, emphasizing the costs of implementing AACR 2 (Anglo American Cataloging Rules 2). Inputs characterizing their costs and modes of operation…

Construct validity of a prototype baccalaureate generic problem solving skills test was explored through a structural analysis. The assessment method used three real-life problem situations crossed by six generic skills, namely Decision-Making, Communication, Analysis, Synthesis, Valuing and Execution. There were six written responses for each…

A model was developed for a program that would meet the needs of vocational gifted and talented students while training an important member of the economic community--the entrepreneur. Research material concerning the identification and selection of gifted and talented students was reviewed, and criteria were developed for nomination of candidates…

This report describes the procedures used to construct and validate the Standardized Test of Computer Literacy (STCL), a criterion-referenced instrument designed to assess students' computer literacy. Following a statement of the study problem and purpose, a description of the study methodology outlines the use of a 12-step model for development…

Four models for teaching students how to interact more effectively with text at the junior high, high school, and university levels are reviewed in this paper. Each model emphasizes one or more of the following classroom components and their interactions--student resources, text characteristics, tests or course goals, and instructional strategies.…

Although disabled students need the same comprehensive assistance in making the transition from school to work as their nondisabled counterparts, most disabled youth, and particulary those with severe disabilities, do not receive adequate assistance in this area. This situation can be remedied by approaching the transition to employment as a…

By initiating formal structures for cooperation and coordination of programming between themselves and local high schools, community colleges can reduce the amount of unnecessary duplication of efforts and programs and can benefit many students who, without such a program of articulation, would be unprepared for community college course work.…

This chapter focuses on the need for a revised relationship between schools and the courts through the concept of preventive law. The chapter reviews court cases and presents an overview of conflict resolution models and strategies for reducing litigation. Preventive law assumes that greater use of its strategies affords a lesser need for conflict…

For many years personalization of achievement testing has been impossible in all but the simplest forms. Recently, item response theory (IRT), or latent trait theory, has emerged as a valuable tool which brings far greater flexibility to the process than had previously been possible. The single parameter Rasch Model, a mathematical model developed…