The demographic characteristics of a sample of New York employed women who perceived that financial barriers would affect their participation in postsecondary education were examined. Reasons these women sought learning experiences, the prices they were willing to pay for the course of interest, and the counseling services wanted were also…

Narrative text, tables, maps, and photographs present an overview of the Appalachian Regional Commission's (ARC) activities in fiscal year 1978, their past achievements, and goals for the future. The report discusses major accomplishments of 1978: nearly 56% (1700 miles) of the Appalachian Development Highways System was completed or under…

The Alberta High School Social Studies Achievement Tests are described in terms of the procedures used for test construction and analysis of the norming data. The test construction is explained according to a model for the values clarification process in the social studies, and the evaluation models appropriate for assessing the values…

A five-point school subjects attitude scale, based on the semantic differential technique, was developed after two rounds of factor analysis; it contained 24 bipolar adjectives, each representing one of three factors: evaluation, usefulness, and difficulty. The scale was administered to Alberta (Canada) students in grades 5 and 8, who were…

The Educational Forces Inventory (EFI) charts the relative influence of 13 factors on teacher morale and classroom effectiveness. Ten general factors are: school principal; central office administrative personnel; other teachers in the school; parents; prescribed curriculum; testing programs; state legislation; physical facilities; community…

Faculty from fifteen colleges developed open-ended questions to assess group competence in four areas of learning associated with general education--communication skill, analytic thinking, synthesizing ability, and social/cultural awareness. A secondary purpose was to determine faculty expectations for learning in the general education component…

Results of New Hampshire's first biennial Educational Assessment Program involving 7,500 public school students in grades 5, 9, and 12 are reported. Multiple choice and essay tests were administered in reading, writing, mathematics, state and national history, and government. Instructional assistance--including workshops, suggested classroom…

Goodness of fit of raw test score data were compared, using two latent trait models: the Rasch model and the Birnbaum three-parameter logistic model. Data were taken from various achievement tests and the Scholastic Aptitude Test (Verbal). A minimum sample size of 1,000 was required, and the minimum test length was 40 items. Results indicated that…

Teachers may fail with junior high school age and black students because these groups differ from their senior high school age and white counterparts in their perceptions of which teacher behaviors are important. To test this hypothesis, black and white ninth and twelfth graders were asked to select their three best and three worst teachers and…

The two essays in this report were presented at a colloquium on behavior variables related to citizenship education. The first essay, "Political Socialization and Citizen Competencies," by Byron G. Massialas, reviews behavioral science research as related to citizenship education and identifies the most significant findings in the field.…

It is suggested that procedures for designing instructional systems which use the job inventory method to collect occupational data from incumbent workers and job supervisors can, in the data analysis phase, provide information for making decisions on cost effective scheduling of formal school training. Two situations substantiate this assertion.…

The development and validation of an instrument designed to measure the quantity of types of instruction delevered to individual students is described. The Classroom Activities Log (CAL) is a teacher-completed record of students' instructional experiences, and may be used to study educational equity questions posed by Elementary Secondary…

The 168 items selected for administration to 7,905 17-year olds in 1976-77, were developed from existing National Assessment items and from existing sets of life/coping skills. Skills designated as basic included: career development; citizenship; community resource utilization; consumer protection; family management; health maintenance; and…

Actual and potential relationships between evaluators and linkers--curriculum or management specialists who disseminate the products of evaluation to school districts--were explored. Evaluation and linkage evolved as distinct educational occupations, stimulated by federal involvement in research, development, and school improvement since the early…

Nearly 15,000 Wisconsin public school students in grades 4, 8, and 12 were tested in Spring, 1977, as part of the Wisconsin Pupil Assessment Program. Objectives were: (1) to measure student progress in attaining specific mathematics objectives; (2) to determine how students compared nationally in reading, language, and mathematics; and (3) to…