An apparent discrepancy between building level scores in basic skills produced by Pennsylvania's state assessment program (EQA) and building summary scores, generally a grade equivalent, provided by commercial standardized achievement tests is investigated. The impetus for the study came from occasional reports by school administrators that their…

Commentary and advice in four legal areas are offered in this newsletter on educational law. First, the document outlines preventive legal review for public educators in four basic steps, including anticipation of legal challenges, evaluation of the challenges' legal merits, consideration of the policy issues raised by potential challenges, and…

Previous attempts to change the prevailing negative attitudes of health professionals toward cancer and cancer patients have consisted mainly of elective courses for small groups of students at advanced levels of medical training. In order to develop more positive attitudes, the Cancer Coordinating Committee at the Medical College of Pennsylvania…

This publication provides a comprehensive interpretation of the second mathematics assessment completed during the 1977-78 school year by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). The NAEP results suggest strong implications for the mathematics curriculum of the 1980's that mathematics educators need to evaluate with care. The…

Reported are results of a study designed to replicate a study at North Carolina State University which investigated the effectiveness of a diagnostic/prescriptive system for increasing the science achievement of university students and examined the relationship between selected student characteristics and participation in voluntary diagnosis.…

The Massachusetts Policy on Basic Skills Improvement was formulated to help students master basic skills prior to high school graduation. The aim of this guide is to assist local districts in complying with the policy's requirements for the setting of minimal standards according to levels of achievement students are expected to reach on stated…

The "Education Evaluation and Remedial Assistance" section 10-14n of the Connecticut General Statutes, requires that the State Board of Education administer an annual statewide proficiency examination in basic reading, language arts, and mathematic skills to all ninth-grade students. This report describes the development of the test and…

The paper discusses the ethical bases for practices in identifying learning disabilities (LD) in children. The state of the art in identification is briefly highlighted, as is the controversy over responsibility and abuse in the process. The author asserts that concerns over current practices do not change the underlying responsibility to provide…

A third-party evaluation was conducted as part of a Georgia State University project to provide the Georgia State Office of Vocational Education with the preliminary materials and procedures necessary to further test a state coordinated evaluation system of secondary and postsecondary vocational education programs. Following an orientation meeting…

A study conducted by Derald Sue and Barbara Kirk in 1972 of Chinese-American students attending the University of California at Berkeley (UCB) is compared with a study and observations of Chinese-American students attending Merritt College. The Sue-Kirk study administered the School and College Ability Test (SCAT), the Strong Vocational Interest…

An empirical study was conducted in order to obtain treatment effect estimates with the Special Regression model for groups in which there was no treatment. General mathematics test scores were obtained from 730 ninth graders in city schools somewhat similar to Title I schools, but in which no special treatments were given. Hypothetical…

The instructional materials for inservice teacher education that are described here focus on demonstrating classroom problems in motivation, achievement, and testing. Emphasis is placed on understanding through discussion, problem-solving, and role-playing. This descriptive report provides additional information on the purposes and content of the…

Six essays on technical measurement problems in criterion referenced tests and four essays by psychometricians proposing solutions are presented: (1) "Criterion-Referenced Measurement" and Other Such Terms, by Marvin C. Alkin which is an overview of the first six papers; (2) Selecting Objectives and Generating Test Items for Objectives-Based…

This document presents the results of Miami-Dade Community College's three-year effort to design a general education program for the community college. A rationale, definition, and 26 goals for general education introduce the revised programs and requirements in three areas: (1) basic skills requirements, (2) the general education program, and (3)…

In discussing the third national assessment of reading and literature, four major points can be made. First, norm-referenced tests and criterion-referenced tests ignore serious ethical and measurement problems, namely, we don't know enough about individual differences to do such testing and the outcome, social class tracking, is ethically…