The general education component of the curriculum (McGrail Plan) at Nazareth College, Michigan, was evaluated in preparation for a North Central Self-Study. Twenty-five 1980 freshmen and 93 of the 1981 seniors who had completed 4 years of study at the college were administered the American College Testing (ACT) program Objective Test and Activity…

Current knowledge and practice relating to young children's aesthetic development and education are reviewed in this state-of-the-art report. Beginning with a brief section highlighting theoretical problems and approaches to the psychological study of aesthetic response, the review subsequently describes three common strategies used in aesthetic…

The third of a five module series provides teacher educators and preservice teachers with knowledge of the nondiscriminatory testing procedures mandated by P.L. 94-142 (the Education for All Handicapped Children Act) and of assessment issues and practices as they relate to the evaluation of minority students. An initial section offers guidelines…

A study was conducted in selected Michigan elementary schools to determine the extent of implementation of seven Individually Guided Education (IGE) components. IGE is a program featuring individualized instruction of elementary school students and was developed by the Wisconsin Research and Development Center. The principals of fourteen IGE…

The leadership of the foreign language education profession convened to discuss the major issues for that profession in the 1980s. Several papers each were devoted to the following subjects: (1) curriculum and materials, (2) global education, (3) evaluation, (4) research, and (5) teacher education. Brief reaction papers for each subject are…

The information and activities in this guide are offered to teachers who want to familiarize their fifth grade students with test taking techniques. The introductory sections of the guide discuss the types of tests administered to fifth grade students, test wisdom in general, characteristics of fifth grade students, the teacher's role in testing…

Twenty-three high school biology students were individually administered three conservation tasks (weight, volume, volume displacement). During one semester, they were examined over the course material using published Biological Sciences Curriculum Study (BSCS) Blue Version examination questions which were previously classified as requiring either…

Some evidence supports the hypothesis that formal operational reasoning ability (at least that measured by Piagetian tasks) is a unified process. The purpose of this research was to determine: (1) if conservation tasks, such as conservation of number, liquid amount, weight and volume, are unifactor; and (2) if conservation tasks form a scale of…

Chapter 4 of a book on school law, this chapter focuses on 1979 cases involving students. The author notes that in 1979 most unresolved legal issues in this area involved handicapped children. He finds disagreement among the holdings in these cases about the limits of a district's responsibility to provide special services to the handicapped. It…

Perspectives on testing and affirmative action are considered. The following issue areas are addressed: the validity and fairness of admission tests; information relevant to the admission of students that is not readily scored or quantified and that may be obtained through interviews, recommendations, accomplishments, and other information…

Findings from the Iowa Assessment Project are examined regarding the assessment and use of information on adaptive behavior and sociocultural background in decisions about students with mild mental retardation. Background aspects reviewed include terminology regarding mild retardation; research, litigation, and legislation on the topic during the…

This report describes the results of Connecticut's second statewide assessment of mathematical knowledge, skills and attitudes. The Connecticut Assessment of Educational Progress annually tests a sample of Connecticut students in grades 4, 8, and 11 in one or more subject areas. Students at each grade level were randomly selected to participate in…

This user's manual provides information suggesting various ways in which educational personnel may wish to utilize the eight modules included in the Vocational Education Readiness Test (VERT). The introductory section presents questions which can be used by school personnel to determine whether or not VERT will be useful in their school system.…

A study was conducted to compare tailored testing procedures based on a Bayesian ability estimation technique and on a maximum likelihood ability estimation technique. The Bayesian tailored testing procedure selected items so as to minimize the posterior variance of the ability estimate distribution, while the maximum likelihood tailored testing…

To improve Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) participant assessment systems in Virginia, a project identified assessment systems and techniques/tools used by prime sponsors and developed an assessment model. It also identified key personnel of educational institutions in the prime sponsor area. A mail survey was followed by on-site…