This booklet describes the test development process used to upgrade New Jersey's basic skills competency test, the High School Proficiency Test (HSPT). Ninth-grade students in New Jersey public schools must pass this test of reading, writing, and mathematics skills in order to receive a state endorsed high school diploma. Test development…

Evolving from a television library begun in 1962, the Agency for Instructional Technology (AIT) was established by American and Canadian educators in 1973 to strengthen education through technology, and in cooperation with state and provincial agencies, it develops and distributes instructional video and computer materials. It has been active in…

A dilemma arises in the attempt to establish procedures for valid assessment of academic learning. Measures of learning with high pedagogical validity often have poor psychometric properties. Conversely, tests that are well-constructed by psychometric standards may succeed in sorting and ordering students or schools, but have little pedagogical…

This curriculum guide is intended to assist vocational instructors in preparing students for entry-level employment as machinists and preparing them for advanced training in the workplace. The package contains an overview of new and emerging technologies likely to affect machinists, a competency/skill and task list, an instructor's guide, and an…

Presented is the second annual supplement to the Museum of Science and Industry Basic List of Children's Science Books 1973-1984. In this supplement, children's science books are listed under the headings of animals, astronomy, aviation and space, biography, earth sciences, encyclopedias and reference books, environment and conservation, fiction,…

Pennsylvania Governor Dick Thornburgh initiated an education reform package, "Turning the Tide: An Agenda for Excellence in Pennsylvania Public Schools" in October 1983. The statewide competency testing program which followed was "Testing for Essential Learning and Literacy Skills (TELLS), and it tested reading and mathematics…

The ocean affects all of our lives. Therefore, awareness of and information about the interconnections between humans and oceans are prerequisites to making sound decisions for the future. Project ORCA (Ocean Related Curriculum Activities) has developed interdisciplinary curriculum materials designed to meet the needs of students and teachers…

Comparisons between whites and blacks in models of educational achievement were found to be suspect when based solely on least-square estimates, since the estimates are biased by measurement error varying by race. In this study, white high school seniors were shown to report their parents' status characteristics more reliably than black high…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 16 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: (1) attitudes and reading achievement in an innovative high school; (2) the interaction of learning styles and word type as they affect word recognition among…

This volume was conceived as a review of basic research in science education and as a discussion of what the research findings mean for K-12 science teachers. The eight reports presented represent different dimensions of science education. Each provides a review of a given dimension and/or a goal of science teaching and suggests ways that current…

This document is the first of a three-volume teacher resource book for use with the Energy 80 energy education program. The program is designed to enhance students' understanding of energy, either through supplements to traditional courses, such as mathematics, science, social studies, or homemaking, or by developing a mini-course or…

This report describes and assesses the effectiveness of activities conducted by the University of Toledo (Ohio)/Springfield Local Schools Teacher Corps Project. On-site staff development activities provided at elementary, junior, and high schools are described: (1) a credit-bearing course on multicultural literature; and (2) workshops dealing with…

Item response model applications to National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) data specifically aimed at the uses of item response models in mathematics item banking are discussed. Approaches for addressing goodness of fit were organized into three categories: Checks on model assumptions, expected features, and additional model…

This is a report of a study designed to evaluate the one-classroom school in Egypt. The one-classroom school was designed for remote areas to provide compulsory education for children 6-8 years old and a new opportunity for education for those who dropped out or failed formal school. The schools were established in 1975-76 and the evaluation was…

A review of the history of changes in emphasis in the educational system covers the period from the 1930's to the present. After World War II the returning veterans attending college as a result of the GI Bill had a lasting effect on higher education. It forced a rethinking of teacher education, and the emerging schools of education and teachers…