Describes Primary Trait Analysis (PTA) as a technique for instructors interested in classroom-based assessment. Provides a history of PTA at Raymond Walters College (RWC) and explains how RWC faculty developed PTA scales to communicate learning objectives and evaluative criteria to students. Provides several specific scales as examples. (EV)

Introduces subsequent articles describing award-winning educational facilities. Offers information on the judges, the design criteria they used to select winning facilities, and how they judged the entries. (EV)

In this study, a popular search engine was used to find multicultural counseling Web sites. Over 100 sites were visited and categorized by type of content. Common problems in each category were identified and discussed, along with practical solutions. Recommendations were then made for future developers of multicultural counseling Web sites.…

Describes a methodology to facilitate the evaluation of secondary marketing education (ME) programs. Compares the status of ME programs at the national level with a set of national program standards. Also compares the ME program in a selected state with the same standards. (JOW)

Presents criteria for judging research evidence. Points to the importance of seeing the relationship between and among data, observation, evidence, and theory. Defines "communication evidence" as examining the process by which agents produce meaning with others, with emphasis on meaning as production. Concludes with a plea to let…

Evaluated efficacy of four state nursing home preadmission screening instruments. Data from three community-based services demonstration experiments indicated that more restrictive screens tended to have lower sensitivity but higher specificity and to generate higher proportion of false negative decisions than more liberal screens. Overall rates…

Examines the evaluation and certification processes in law, medicine, teaching, the military, and other professions and discusses the shortcomings common to all. Cites Everett Hughes's assertion that a professional is one who routinely deals with other people's emergencies; notes that this capacity is difficult to assess. (DM)

Presidential address at 1990 annual meetings of the American Association of Suicidology provides overview of how suicide assessment could be improved in the next decade. Focuses on new assessment rationale and techniques to improve suicide assessment. Describes both suicide assessment techniques that have been used for years and newer techniques…

Presents a set of criteria (formulated by students) for evaluating student projects. Notes that the method is called "FINE" (Facts, Interesting, Neatness, Effort). (SR)

Discusses issues in the evaluation of the use of telecommunications in distance education. Topics addressed include telecommunications technologies; evaluating instrumentation for electronic distance education; criteria for evaluating telecommunications-based distance education; and an evaluation model and its application to electronic distance…

Difficulty in using the comparative value added approach to institutional accountability, in which student achievement is measured by comparison of student entry and exit criteria in relation to some preestablished national standard, is illustrated through an analysis of data on British higher education. The measure is seen as unempirical. (MSE)

Criteria for planning, designing, and writing test items are suggested. The criteria were developed via a discussion by subject matter specialists, psychometricians, and test construction experts. Seven criteria proposed for test items of merit address the congruence of an item with its intended purpose, technical assumptions, and editorial…

Profiles the major wireless data communications (WDC) systems, provides an overview of how they work, and compares their communication features. Topics addressed include the market for wireless data; applications for WDC; wireless online searching; cellular data communication; packet radio; digital cellular; criteria for evaluating WDC systems;…

Presents 10 myths about depressed children and adolescents and then dispels each with facts. Includes discussion of diagnostic criteria from Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Revised Third Edition for Major Depressive Disorder and Dysthymic Disorder. Distinguishes between depressive disorders in children/adolescents and in…

Provides a guide to the basic concepts of adaptations, exaptations, and spandrels involved in the current dispute over evolutionary explanations. Clarifies the role that each of these concepts plays in an evolutionary approach to human psychology. Contains over 100 references. (MMU)