This report evaluates California's ESEA Title I compensatory education program for 1969-70 and disseminates the results of activities designed to strengthen the educational programs for children from disadvantaged backgrounds. While most of these activities were planned for those disadvantaged youngsters regularly enrolled in grades K-6,…

This study compares various item option scoring methods with respect to coefficient alpha and a concurrent validity coefficient. The scoring methods under consideration were: (1) formula scoring, (2) a priori scoring, (3) empirical scoring with an internal criterion, and (4) two modifications of formula scoring. The study indicates a clear…

This report represents one step in Arizona's statewide student assessment program. The data presented here identify student achievement in grade 8, the end of the elementary school experience, in the basic skills of reading, writing, and arithmetic. The needs assessment program (ENAPA) is described in section one. The design for this evaluation is…

This annotated bibliography describes instruments pertaining to smoking attitudes, behaviors, knowledge, and correlates. Information concerns test purpose, intended groups, test subdivisions, administration, scoring, interpretation, and standardization. (MS)

In response to increasing evidence of score declines with no apparent agreement as to meaning or causes, the National Institute of Education (NIE) sponsored a Conference on Declining Test Scores in June of 1975. The objectives of the conference were to (1) clarify the evidence and estimate the extent of test score declines; (2) review evidence for…

Intended as a resource tool for teachers, the document provides information on 35 tests judged by professionals in the field of special education to be used most often by teachers of handicapped students. In part I, a test matrix is presented with six test descriptor dimensions (administrative, response mode, reference, content, emphasis, and…

A special pullout report presents school statistics including teacher and administrator salaries, trends in school construction and bond issues, and how minority students are achieving. State-by-state figures include enrollment, teacher salaries, expenditure per pupil, graduation rates, and standardized test scores. (MLF)

Sketches some of the dilemmas in language assessment and presents exemplary practical approaches to assessment in the language arts areas of listening, oral language, reading, and writing. (SD)

Following a critique of so-called educational testing, this article examines three "educationally noteworthy school testing programs"--those of Portland, Oregon; Orange County, Florida; and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and one noteworthy school with no standardized testing: the Prospect School in Bennington, Vermont. Derives some broad…

Analysis of the joint submission of Scholastic Aptitude Test scores by 10,704 high school seniors shows that relatively few colleges compete with each other in local student markets. This suggests that state and institutional policies for adapting to demographically induced enrollment declines will be severely constrained by the competitive…

A study investigated cultural bias in the McCarthy Scales of Children's Abilities, using 50 Anglo and 50 Mexican American University of Arizona education graduate students to rate all 46 verbal items. Results showed significant differences in the group ratings of 16 items on the opportunity-to-learn dimension. (MH)

ARL is the bimonthly report on research library issues and actions from ARL (Association of Research Libraries), CNI (Coalition of Networked Information), and SPARC (Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition). ARL reports on current issues of interest to academic and research library administrators, staff, and users; higher education…

"Straight A's: Public Education Policy and Progress" is a biweekly newsletter that focuses on education news and events both in Washington, DC and around the country. The following articles are included in this issue: (1) Paying Double: United States Spends Over $1.4 Billion Annually on Remedial Education for Recent High School…

The research effort reported in this document addresses the important national need for determining the validity of large-scale content assessments in English with students who are in the process of acquiring English as a second language. Often these students have been excluded from such assessments, but there have been recent, growing efforts to…

This document is comprised of the 6 issues in volume 18 of the Harvard Education Letter, a bimonthly newsletter addressing current issues in elementary and secondary education. Articles in this volume include the following: (1) January/February--"Curriculum Access in the Digital Age" (David T. Gordon) and "Using Charters To Improve…