Describes a class experiment where students search a hypothetical job market for jobs paying wages in a known range but with an unknown wage distribution. The experiment is divided into three "trials", each one introducing different variables (unemployment insurance, search costs, and recession). Includes experiment instructions and a…

Examines how informetric characteristics of information retrieval (IR) system databases can be used to help system designers decide what type of file structures would provide the best performance. The development of appropriate models describing database contents is highlighted in this first part of a two-part study. (30 references) (LRW)

Variability stands in the heart of statistics theory and practice. Concepts and judgments involved in comparing groups have been found to be a productive vehicle for motivating learners to reason statistically and are critical for building the intuitive foundation for inferential reasoning. The focus in this paper is on the emergence of beginners'…

By means of more than a dozen user friendly packages, structural equation models (SEMs) are widely used in behavioral, education, social, and psychological research. As the underlying theory and methods in these packages are vulnerable to outliers and distributions with longer-than-normal tails, a fundamental problem in the field is the…

In 1990, a study was conducted at Fullerton College (FC), a large suburban community college in Southern California, to determine if the use of classroom research by part-time faculty would stimulate greater involvement in learning and increase the course completion rate of adult learners in evening classes. A group of 16 part-time faculty…

This paper examines how various equating methods are affected by: (1) sampling error; (2) sample characteristics; and (3) characteristics of anchor test items. It reviews empirical studies that investigated the invariance of equating transformations, and it discusses empirical and simulation studies that focus on how the properties of anchor tests…

This report describes the distribution of Seattle, Washington's low achieving students for 1978-79 as expected after desegregation. Attention is paid to the effect of desegregation on Title I services. Major topics addressed are the demographic characteristics of low achievers, and the changes in Title I eligibility resulting from the…

Describes a methodology for discovering how the communicative notion of temporal frequency is expressed in academic English. Almost 300 different linguistic devices are identified and described, along with the number of times they each occur in two large corpora of written academic English. (Author/LMO)

Describes a study of the development of a new oral proficiency test which could replace the existing English as a Foreign Language Oral Matriculation test in Israel. The deficiencies of the existing Oral Matriculation test are specified, and the components of the experimental test are described. (Author/SED)

It is not the kind of atmosphere most adults would find helpful if they needed to study and learn-high dropout rates, kids promoted without learning, schools short on money, profanity and disrespect, fighting, drug and alcohol abuse. Yet these are "very serious" problems in schools, according to surprisingly large numbers of the nation's black and…

Many students doubt that statistical distributions are of practical value. Simulation makes it possible for students to tackle challenging, understandable projects that illustrate how distributions can be used to answer "what-if" questions of the type often posed by analysts. Course materials that have been developed over two years of classroom…

This report provides data on withdrawal and success rates and grades earned in fall 1994 at the five campuses of Pima Community College (PCC), in Arizona. Following a literature review on national course grades, descriptions are provided of the following: (1) grades and withdrawals for fall 1979, 1984, 1989, and 1994, indicating that the number of…

Minimum competency cut-off scores on a statistics exam were estimated under four conditions: the Angoff judging method with item data (n=20), and without data available (n=19); and the Modified Angoff method with (n=19), and without (n=19) item data available to judges. The Angoff method required free response percentage estimates (0-100) percent,…

This document reports the provincial results of the June 1986 student achievement tests in Alberta in grade 3 mathematics, grade 6 science, and grade 9 English language arts. The achievement tests are specific to the program of studies prescribed by the Minister of Education. The document starts with general information about the testing program…

Designed to assist school jurisdictions in interpreting their achievement test results, this report describes the achievement testing program in Alberta, Canada, and indicates the conditions for student exemption from testing. It explains the Grade 3 English Language Arts Achievement Test design and development, gives a description of the test…