Outlines a series of simple yet effective practices, techniques, and tips for improving the singing voice and minimizing stress on the vocal chords. Describes the four components for producing vocal sound: respiration, phonation, resonation, and articulation. Provides exercises for each and lists symptoms of sickness and vocal strain. (MJP)

Studied the assertion that student and faculty gender, and their interaction, have little or no real effect on student ratings of university teaching quality, using 1,304 students from a Spanish university. Results, taking into consideration statistical significance and effect size, support the assertion. Implications for higher education are…

Describes an automated scoring algorithm for a computer-based simulation examination of physicians' patient-management skills. Results with 280 medical students show that scores produced using this algorithm are highly correlated to actual clinician ratings. Scores were also effective in discriminating between case performance judged passing or…

The development of a measure to assess students' perceptions of the extent to which higher education learning environment characteristics enhance personal learning is reported. Factor analyses of the Student Assessment of Teaching and Learning are reported for 2,190 students. Implications for using student rating information in teacher evaluation…

A review of literature concerning the relationship between college teaching and faculty research activities looks at the historical and organizational origins of faculty work, then examines three approaches in the literature: (1) personal commentaries; (2) correlations of effectiveness and productivity measures; and (3) faculty attitude and…

Educational trends such as problem-based learning, newer understandings of cognition, and performance assessment are challenging the traditional scientific measurement model of evaluation. A new model, termed judgmental model, is emerging. The basic assumptions, features, and uses of the two models are examined in comparison with a third, proposed…

Discusses various issues in equating large-scale writing assessments and the implications for performance assessments in other disciplines. Issues include defining the underlying construct, the nature and effect of the assessment task, the assessment context, the scoring system and scale size, judge characteristics, and student characteristics.…

The functional architecture of the verbal processing resource system was studied by testing aphasic patients in Canada and Boston for their abilities to use syntactic structure in sentence comprehension in isolation and under dual-task conditions. Results indicate that the processing resource system underlying syntactic processing is separate from…

A brief history of developments in the assessment of the reliability of credentialing examinations is presented, and some new results are outlined that highlight the interactions among scoring, standard setting, and the reliability and validity of pass-fail decisions. Decision consistency is an important concept in evaluating credentialing…

Presents a case study of how the Oak Park School District (Michigan) used feedback on student achievement in its 16-step strategic planning process to frame reflection and action to improve performance. The quantitative analysis of data grouped in relation to district standards is a unique aspect of their approach. (SLD)

This study investigated attention to and recognition of components in compound stimuli among infants and preschoolers. Oddity tasks with preschoolers and familiarization/novelty-preference tasks with infants demonstrated successful discrimination among stimuli components on basis of edge property information. Matching tasks with preschoolers and…

Details differential attainment by gender for all students in Wales over 6 years old, at every level of assessment from Key Stage 1 to A level. Notes few significant gender differences in mathematics and sciences. Reports, for all other subjects, no significant gender differences at the lowest level of any assessment. (BT)

Ninety-five rural eighth graders completed the Idiom Comprehension Test in three contexts: idioms in a short story, in isolation, and in a verification task. Performance in the story condition and on high-familiarity idioms showed the greatest accuracy. Associations existed between performance and reading ability for the story and verification…

A study examined 61 examples of advocacy from 34 states and selected six sites for case studies. Factors that supported positive outcomes include advocates who are persistent, knowledgeable about both best practices in gifted education and local state political processes, and more often collaborative than adversarial. (Contains references.)…

Argues that to understand differences in academic achievement among students of various genders, ethnic groups, or socioeconomic backgrounds, educators must look beyond differences in test scores to examine indicators associated with academic performance. Highlights academic-related indicators in the school improvement process: (1) educational…