The feasibility and limitations of speaker adaptation in improving the performance of a "fixed" (speaker-independent) automatic speech recognition system were examined. A fixed vocabulary of 55 syllables is used in the recognition system which contains 11 stops and fricatives and five tense vowels. The results of an experiment on speaker…

This report sets forth the design, procedures, and findings of the Ann Arbor Split-Trimester Feasibility Study. The plan is based on a school year of 216 days as opposed to the present 180 days and is organized into six split-trimester terms, with students attending five terms for a total of 180 days. The plan provides a universal 30-day summer…

To identify environmental technician positions in the public and private sectors of the San Francisco Bay Area as well as to determine the skills and knowledge necessary for employment in the field, questionnaires were distributed to companies, agencies, individuals of the private sector in the area, and 33 institutions offering an Occupational…

A demonstration project in Boston, Massachusetts, designed to meet critical needs in public service by providing part-time jobs for able women with families, chose 50 mature women college graduates from over 1,500 who were interested and 173 who were interviewed. Working half-time for 2 years in the State Department of Public Welfare, they…

An information system, called the Training Resource Applications and Information Data Exchange (TRAIDEX) system, was designed to allow developers of military technical training courses to have access to an automated catalog of validated course units that are available for interservice sharing. The design is based upon the information needs of…

The Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education, a separate organizational unit within HEW, is a grant-making organization that covers the entire range of postsecondary education and that funds policy-oriented and feasibility studies directly related to reform, innovation, and improvement. Directions for improvement are outlined in this…

The U.S. Congress declared that "it is the policy of this Nation, in fulfillment of its special responsibilities and legal obligation to the American Indian people, to meet the national goal of providing the highest possible health status to Indians and to provide existing Indian health services with all resources necessary to effect that…

A multiple matching test--a 24-item Hebrew vocabulary test--was examined, in which distractors from several items are pooled into one list at the test's end. Construction of such tests was feasible. Reliability, validity, and reduction of random guessing were satisfactory when applied to data from 717 applicants to Israeli universities. (SLD)

The No Child Left Behind Act requires standards-based accountability for school districts and schools receiving Title I funds. A major component of this policy is to report whether districts and schools are making "adequate yearly progress" (AYP) based on their performance goals. This paper raises questions for rural schools using the…

The National Literacy Mission Authority has begun pilot testing an innovative open distance education program for newly literate individuals in 20 districts of India. Using open and distance education where literacy is at its infancy is feasible because newly literate persons can manage to read printed material and have the motivation to read and…

Plans for a nationwide system of education at a distance in Colombia, South America, are now under way to meet growing demands for higher education and to decentralize the current university system. Prior to this decision, a feasibility project was undertaken by the University of Antioquia. The project and results are reported. (Author/JMD)

This study determined if mildly mentally retarded secondary school students could respond to a verbally presented multiple-choice test of social and personal knowledge. Teacher ratings were also obtained. Results supported the use of two- and three-alternative multiple choice tests. (Author/JKS)

Discusses the development of effective interactive learning environments based on a case study of a staff development program for university personnel that combined a Web-based database with CD technology. Topics include aspects of educational design; software design, including feasibility studies; project management, including team issues and…

Objective: To evaluate the psychometric properties of a new measure, the Abuse-Related Beliefs Questionnaire (ARBQ), designed to assess abuse-related beliefs among adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse (CSA). Study 1 examined the structure of the scale, and Study 2 evaluated its reliability and validity. Method: One hundred and seventy female…

This final report presents results of the first phase of an effort to develop in detail the resource requirements, operating procedures, and estimated costs for several centralized braille service options at the Library of Congress. Existing procedures and services were analyzed, and three models for centralized braille services were formulated.…