This publication offers the 56th Yearbook of the National Reading Conference (NRC). This Yearbook begins with a preface and presents profiles of three awardees, Michael C. McKenna, Douglas K. Hartman, and Michael Kamil. Included in this Yearbook are the following papers: (1) What's It All About? Literacy Research and Civic Responsibility (Victoria…

In July 2001, the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA) agreed to the development of assessment instruments and key performance measures for reporting on student skills, knowledge and understandings in primary science. It directed the newly established Performance Measurement and Reporting Taskforce…

As individuals celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the Advanced Placement Program[R] (AP[R]) in U.S. schools, they should honor the educators who are enabling a wider and more diverse group of U.S. students than ever before to succeed in college-level studies in high school. Yet they must also gaze clear-eyed at the inequities that remain and…

Oregon is raising its expectations for students. The current academic standard, which allows students to graduate with only a D-minus average in 22 credit hours of classes, is being replaced by the requirement that students prove that they are proficient in English, mathematics, science, history, and other academic subjects. Students will…

This annual compilation of statistical information provides a history of the development of the University of Kentucky Community College System (UKCCS) and selected data on 1991-92 enrollments, instructional programs, financial support, and student characteristics. Section I focuses on enrollments, providing fall 1991 headcount data for each of…

Brief summaries are provided for each of the standardized tests used in California for college admissions and placement, in accordance with the law requiring the filing of financial disclosure and test materials and data for any tests administered to as many as 3,000 persons in the State. The summaries provide narrative and tabulated data…

The available evidence pertaining to the decline in scores on the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) and the American College Testing Program (ACT) is reviewed in terms of: the test, the test-taking population, the college bound population, the schools, and societal factors. The SAT score decline is described in both graphic and tabular form, and…

A number of tables present data on the changing characteristics of high school students taking the American College Testing Program examination (ACT), and on the declining ACT scores, from 1970 to 1975. A brief research review indicates that the observed declines are not merely a result of the tests themselves. The author suggests these…

A history of the University of Kentucky Community College System (UKCCS) precedes this analysis of data on UKCCS enrollment, instructional programs, financial support, and student characteristics. Section I discusses Fall 1978 headcount enrollments for each of the 14 UKCCS campuses in terms of distribution by class, sex, and residence. Enrollment…

Part of the new Knowledge Essentials series, "First Grade Success" shows parents how to enrich their children's classroom learning and take an active role in their first graders' education by exploring: (1) What their first graders are learning at school and the educational standards to expect in math, language arts, science, and social studies;…

This report describes the status of public education in Texas, as required by Texas law. It contains an executive summary and 14 chapters on the following topics: (1) state performance on the academic-excellence indicators; (2) a summary compilation of overall student performance on the state performance assessments and a study of the correlation…

The academic performance of students enrolled in a distance education dental hygiene program at Northcentral Technical College (NTC) in Wausau, Wisconsin, was analyzed in a comparative, quasi-experimental study. The study sample consisted of five cohorts of program graduates (students graduating in 1997-2001). The experiment groups were divided…

This report study explored how improving teachers' classroom practice could improve teacher quality. Data were examined on 7,146 8th graders who took the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) mathematics assessment in 1996 and 7,776 8th graders who took the NAEP science assessment in 1996. Three types of teacher quality were measured:…

In 2004, the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA) conducted an assessment of a sample of Year 6 and Year 10 students across Australia to assess their proficiency in civics and citizenship. The assessment of civics and citizenship is part of a national plan that is being put progressively in place to…

There has been increased interest in emphasizing Achievement Tests, as SAT II: Subject Tests, for use in admission and placement. In this report, data was obtained from a comprehensive database of categorized course grades for a large number and great variety of colleges, with student groups identified. For each student group, the percentage of…