How portfolio-based conclusions about student learning might be used to communicate with audiences outside the classroom is explored. Procedures and criteria for investigating validity in portfolio use are discussed. Ten portfolios from an eighth grade language arts class are used as an example. (SLD)

Observations of the classroom behavior of 43 pupils in grades 5-7 at risk for referral to special education and teacher responses to rating scales indicated that student monitoring plus teacher-student contracts were as effective, if not more so, as teacher monitoring plus teacher-student contracts. (Author/JDD)

Reviews important factors in designing and implementing an evaluation program for academic advising, reviewing specific performance criteria for individual advisors and for program effectiveness. Describes an evaluation model utilizing a five-year review, annual telephone surveys, and monthly written evaluations. Suggests mechanisms for…

The speech production of a prelingually deafened adult male was examined at 4 intervals: 1 week and again at 9 months postimplant with a single-channel cochlear implant, 14 months later with a nonfunctioning device, and 1 year following implantation with a multichannel device. Consonant accuracy and vowel accuracy changed little across conditions.…

A study in one private university classified four academic disciplines as hard or soft and pure or applied, then compared student evaluations of courses for organization, breadth of coverage, group interaction, enthusiasm, grading, and individual rapport. Results suggest a single evaluation form may not be appropriate for all disciplines.…

Describes a project implemented at Newport News Shipbuilding that used Virtual Environment Training to improve the performance of submarine crewmen. Highlights include development of the Auxiliary Machine Room (AMR) Watchstation Trainer; Digital Video Interactive (DVI); screen layout; test design and evaluation; user reactions; authoring language;…

Current national efforts to expand the role of educational assessment and change the nature of assessments are discussed. Rationales for expectations that a new national examination would spur educational reform are analyzed; and the challenges of performance-based assessment, particularly in its validation, are examined. (Author/SLD)

The development of a hypothetical testing program designed to provide optimum information about student achievement is chronicled. Computer adaptive testing and performance testing are postulated as part of the program. What optimum information really means is discussed. Optimum is only optimal when theory and application are balanced. (SLD)

Research effects on achievement of nongraded elementary school organization is reviewed. Nongraded organization can have a positive impact on student achievement if cross-age grouping is used to allow teachers to provide more direct instruction to students but not if it is used as a framework for individualized instruction. (SLD)

A portfolio model, using student evaluations and faculty publishing records, designed for classifying faculty at Ball State University (Indiana) is described, policy alternatives arising from the new method are examined, and a more general portfolio model using a variety of measures of teaching effectiveness and research activities is suggested.…

This study evaluated the impact of social work field instructor training on student perceptions of the field experience. Students with seminar-trained field instructors (n=30) were more satisfied with faculty field liaison than students with other instructors, and trained instructors demonstrated expected supervisory behavior more often for most…

Uses handwriting samples of 12 undergraduates to explore whether teachers give higher marks to students' work in good handwriting and whether the students' gender may be surmised by their handwriting. Results show grading is not influenced by handwriting quality and finds no effect of gender attribution on grades assigned. (NL)

Describes the Public Library Effectiveness Study (PLES), which was designed to apply models and methods of organizational effectiveness research to public libraries. Indicators of public library effectiveness are described, factor analysis results are presented, implications for evaluating library performance are discussed, and further research is…

Issues that program planners should consider in developing performance standards for the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) older worker programs (OWPs) are reviewed. Using goal-setting theory and the results of a two-year evaluation of OWPs in Texas, the discussion covers approaches to developing standards for programs other states. (TJH)

Examined is the hypothesis that an important intellectual acquisition during adolescence is the ability to generate arguments that involve reasoning to contradiction. Implication for hypothesis teaching at the elementary grades is discussed. (KR)