This article on sampling early semantic productions reports a study of 6 children (ages 31-35 months) with specific language impairments. Subjects produced a greater frequency and diversity of multiword utterances in a free-play sampling situation than in a joint action routine sampling situation. (JDD)

D. Freedman and others and W. Clark and P. Morrison misunderstand case law in the voting rights area and have unrealistic standards of precision that, if adopted, would make it virtually impossible for minority plaintiffs to succeed. Ecological regression, when used with care, is a reliable tool. (SLD)

Defines and discusses self-training systems and explains strategies for successfully implementing such systems. Highlights include marketing the program; budgeting for the program; preparing the program administrator; preparing the learners, including motivation and resource availability; monitoring progress; and enhancing transfer of training.…

Discusses the change in teachers' roles with integrated learning systems (ILSs) from the role of deliverer of instruction to manager of instruction. Topics addressed include scheduling; assigning lessons; motivating students; evaluation of task performance; the communication process; time equity; merging the ILS with the classroom curriculum; and…

Discusses diversity in the population of individuals with visual impairments, the changing role of orientation and mobility (O&M) specialists, and the broadened definition of O&M. An overview of best practices and model demonstration programs for providing O&M services to a diverse population of persons with visual impairments is presented. (SM)

Seven articles focus on child and adolescent mental health services, highlighting major evaluation issues, considering the contribution of evaluation to improvement of these services, and describing efforts to overcome distinctive problems in these areas. Policymakers and providers of services are optimistic about the use of evaluation of program…

Maintains that new practices such as performance-based assessment that are consistent with the early childhood profession's process goals need to be developed and that testing of young children that is not developmentally appropriate constitutes misassessment. Promotes observational assessment that uses anecdotal notes and that complements…

Discusses the Management and Planning System (MAPS), a developmental assessment system initiated in Head Start. The system consists of instruments which assess preschoolers' and kindergartners' development of math, science, literacy, and social skills and children's motor development. Describes the use and benefits of MAPS observational…

Proposes methods by which laboratory practical exams may be structured to assess outcomes from laboratory instruction. Presents eight general considerations for writing and using practical exams. Describes four example laboratory exams involving a box camera, circuit boxes, floating objects, and light. (MDH)

Thirty-two content evaluation studies of teacher licensure tests were reviewed; and methodological differences were noted regarding evaluation focus, the stringency of the charge to expert panelists, and the manner in which panelists' ratings were analyzed. Normative expectations for such content ratings are prepared. (SLD)

Introducing a wider perspective of evaluation into the school by developing school-based evaluation mechanisms is discussed. The approach is based on conceptual development derived from U.S. perspectives on program evaluation, actual work in schools with teachers and principals in Israel, and empirical studies in the United States. (SLD)

Presents brief history, written for school counselors, on entrance examinations used in college and university admission procedures, noting use of such examinations as early as fourteenth century. Discusses College Entrance Examination Board, Scholastic Aptitude Test, multiple-choice versus essay tests, score distributions, American College…

Discussion of computer-based second-language learning focuses on a study of elementary school students in grades four through six who used a contextualized computer environment that was designed to provide precommunicative practice with Spanish. Highlights include student roles in small groups, cooperative learning, and the teacher's role.…

The process and aims of university evaluation are discussed from the perspectives of the evaluation commission, university vice-chancellor, and dean of faculty of forestry at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, evaluated by the ministry of agriculture. Focus on the link between quality assessment and educational improvement is…

Examines the descriptive and analytical work of students and teachers through classroom talk and interaction, using information from audiotaped classroom activities to identify classroom members' work. The article discusses the organization of classroom knowledge, relationships, and order, noting relationships between descriptive and analytic work…