This needs assessment identified six educational needs and issues of schools in the Northwest region, prioritized Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory (NWREL) areas of emphasis, evaluated research/development strategies to address these needs and priorities, and applied assessment results to NWREL program planning activities. Assessment…

This proceedings volume contains a total of 39 papers. The following 28 selected titles are cited as those most clearly relevant to education: "A National Study of Teacher Educators and State Supervisors in Agricultural Education" (Foster, Horner); "A Profile of the Effective Vocational Agriculture Teacher" (Rheault, Miller); "Analysis of Needs:…

In structure and in function, the Japanese high school entrance examination--as exemplified by data from Chiba prefecture in 1986--survives as a prewar hierarchical cultural pattern. Postwar American occupation reforms offered "democratic education" in the form of a single-track system with 9 years of compulsory schooling; such a system,…

The Department of Defense Dependent Schools (DoDDS) is a unified school district operating schools in 20 foreign countries. As part of its efforts to assess the educational and social development of its students, DoDDS participated in the longitudinal study, High School and Beyond. The purpose of the present study was to describe those DoDDS…

By focusing attention on comparative state performance in educating students, the Wall Chart (State Education Statistics, 1983) forced policymakers to consider state differences in student populations and the consequences of these differences for the outcomes of state systems of education. This paper presents the results of a study that attempted…

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) evaluated the writing ability of American students in 1974, 1979, and 1984. Data from 95,000 students were examined for trends over this 10-year period. Writing tasks, including informative, persuasive, and literary or imaginative writing were administered to national samples of students aged…

Embodying two themes--that the computer can become an even more exciting instructional tool than it is today, and that the research necessary for developing the potential of this tool is already underway, this book explores the theoretical, research, and instructional issues concerning computers and reading. The titles of the essays and their…

A group of seven conference papers, all dealing with the role of testing and evaluation in the schools, is presented in this document. The papers are as follows: (1) "Framework for Effective Schools" (Eric Cooper), which identifies indicators of efficacy, quality, and equity; (2) "Quality Indicators for Monitoring Equity"…

The provisions of the Higher Education Amendments of 1986 (P.L. 99-498), which is the major piece of legislation reauthorizing the Higher Education Act of 1965 through 1991, are delineated. A synopsis of the legislative history of this act is provided along with a brief description of the passage of the Higher Education Amendments of 1986. A…

An annual report of the conditions of higher education in the United States for 1986-1987 is presented. The 16 sub-sections are as follows: (1) introduction; (2) principal sectors of higher education (four papers, on research universities, liberal arts colleges, community colleges, and state colleges); (3) issues (15 papers, e.g. academic…

Dialogue and research on racism since the mid-1970s have yielded increased controversy over the theories, foundation, and continued existence of racism. The chapters presented in this book provide various divergent views of what constitutes racism and frameworks for reducing it. The following chapters (and their authors) are included: (1)…

The quest for excellence in American higher education has been accompanied by the implementation of basic skills requirements and the corresponding assessment programs. Assessment results could provide feedback for curricular improvement, although they are frequently used as indicators of institutional quality. A study is presented that compared…

This paper examines fiscal implications of five 1983 reports that recommend reform of America's schools. Greater rigor in curriculum and textbook content is a common report theme, while three call for specific graduation requirements. Generally, reports recommend increasing time for key courses and requiring regular homework, achievement tests,…

A collection of 17 articles on American Indian issues in higher education contains Russell Thornton's introduction, "American Indian Studies as an Academic Discipline: A Revisit," plus five major sections. "Purpose of American Indian Studies" covers relevancy of Indian Studies in higher education (Duchene); an alternative model…

Against the background of research indicating that women are underrepresented in educational administration, this study examines the question of gender bias in the selection of superintendents. Choosing for their sample population 15 school districts from central Oklahoma, the researchers sent simulated resumes for 3 male and 3 female candidates…