The teaching behaviors used by successful teachers, often presumed to be measured by student achievement on standardized tests, remain largely unexamined. Baseline data on normative teacher competency is not readily available. A two-year study was undertaken to begin identification of specific teaching competencies as demonstrated by teachers…

A study compares the quantity, quality, and personal characteristics of teacher education candidates for the 1982-83 school year with the teacher education candidates for the 1971-72 and 1972-73 school years. Subjects included students of secondary education at Indiana State University (ISU) who had applied to student teach. Data for the study…

An overview is provided of the issues involved in the development of programs to assess institutional effectiveness, particularly as they relate to California community colleges. After part I reviews the trends that have made institutional accountability a legislative concern nationwide, parts II and III consider various definitions of…

This manual is intended to provide Illinois school districts with guidance in developing learning assessment plans and using testing materials as part of the school improvement program mandated by the 1985 educational reform legislation for Illinois. Designed primarily to be a series of "how to" booklets, the manual is divided into six…

A formative evaluation of a pilot review and appeal process for the Maryland Writing Test (MWT) is described. The MWT is a large-scale direct assessment of writing. A three-year pilot phase was to culminate in the implementation of an operational procedure for the review and appeal of scores impacting a pass/fail decision for examinees. The MWT…

The World Institute of Computer Assisted Teaching (WICAT) system was installed in November 1985 at the Salina and Fordson Schools in Dearborn, Michigan, and selected students in grades two, three, and four received their regular reading and/or mathematics instruction in the WICAT computer laboratory. Achievement gains of these students were…

The Objective Test Scoring and Performance Rating (OTS-PR) system is a fully integrated set of 70 modular FORTRAN programs run on a VAX-8530 computer. Even with no knowledge of computers, the user can implement OTS-PR to score multiple-choice tests, include scores from external sources such as hand-scored essays or scores from nationally…

Aspects of American education that have particular importance to student exchange programs are discussed in order to assist non-Americans. In addition to philosophical assumptions underlying American education, attention is directed to organization and control, different kinds of institutions and programs, methods of measuring student performance,…

A study examined the scoring procedure for the second part of the modular section of the English Language Testing Service (ELTS) academic writing test. The scoring is done by external raters according to procedures and a scale specified for the test, resulting in a performance profile. The report chronicles the development of the procedures and…

An educational testing program at the University of Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania), developed for juniors entering its school of education, evaluates their characteristics, the nature and extent of subject matter weaknesses, the need for and nature of remediation, and the relation of subject matter and basic skill achievement to success in methods…

This volume is the first of 5 constituting the final research project report on the introduction, use, and impact of ThinkAbout, a series of 60 15-minute instructional television programs for fifth and sixth graders designed to strengthen reasoning skills and to review and to reinforce language arts, mathematics, and study skills. Background…

Individual standardized test scores in major school subjects can be combined to evaluate school programs and systems. Recently, Sweden experimented with such a practice. Test scores in different subjects (Swedish, English, mathematics) were gathered, units of different size (schools, municipalities, regions) were compared, and inter-school…

A study was undertaken to (1) examine the development and construction of a Group Informal Reading Inventory to predict the reading comprehension levels (independent, instructional, and frustration) of junior high school bilingual students for the purpose of reading instruction; and (2) validate the inventory through a three-way correlational…

The standards-based reform movement in education that began in the 1980s has evolved. In the 1990s, the focus was on producing subject-area content standards and modifying instruction. Today, the focus has shifted to assessment, and for technology education, demonstrating the impact on children and the efficacy of the discipline within general…

Defining practical significance in program evaluations is a difficult measurement problem which can only be solved by an intimate familiarity with the measures on which effects are estimated and their content relationship to the program goals. Past attempts to provide general solutions to the size of effect problem have relied on standardized…