A discussion of how well freshmen students are performing at Arizona's three universities, the relationship of high school class standing to performance, and the resulting need to change admission standards is presented as one of the working papers in the final report of the Arizona Board of Regents' Task Force on Excellence, Efficiency and…

This paper looks at the selection of students in Australia for trades-based prevocational or pre-apprenticeship courses. Selections for two types of courses are considered in the paper: (1) pre-apprenticeship courses that focus on a particular trade area and usually lead to credit in only one apprenticeship course; and (2) prevocational courses…

The use of an expectancy-value model, common to consumer marketing studies, in analyzing the market position of Cleveland State University was investigated. Attention was focused on showing how consumer attitude concepts and methodologies can be used in developing a strategic marketing plan. Six populations were identified as groups important to…

In 1973, compulsory province-wide grade 12 examinations, administered in Alberta since 1906, were dropped; teachers were given the responsibility of assigning final grades. Mandated by the Legislative Assembly of Alberta in 1976, this study by the Minister's Advisory Committee on Student Achievement (MACOSA) surveyed education professionals,…

The first part of this report is a question-and-answer survey of minimum competency legislation, testing programs, and remedial programs. It includes the questions of both the educator and the lay person. Topics include: minimum competency tests, the debate over minimum competency programs, what happens after testing, and what citizens should look…

Three areas of concern for those considering competency-based graduation requirements are discussed. First, what is involved in implementing a competency-based graduation requirement? The first tasks are the specification of performance standards and the performance skill areas. Then, appropriate certification procedures can be selected, and their…

Guidelines adopted by the Missouri Coordinating Board for Higher Education for institutions offering undergraduate and graduate courses at off-campus locations are presented. The following areas are addressed: determination of courses to be offered, standards of credit courses offered at off-campus locations, faculty, administrative organization…

Efforts to institutionalize Bloom's Mastery Learning Concept at the City Colleges of Chicago (CCC) are described. Information on the City Colleges and the adaptation of mastery learning are presented, and the growth of the project in five phases beginning in 1972 is sketched. The optimal pattern for mastery learning consists of a series of small…

The Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools is a regional accrediting agency of schools, colleges, and universities, and serves the states of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, the Canal Zone, and some overseas locations. In this publication are included its…

The last three years at Chabot College have been characterized by a rapid and continuing increase in the number of non-traditional students; an increase which may be accounted for by numerous social, political, and educational conditions. In order to determine the extent and nature of the learning problems which many of these non-traditional…

Various topics concerning assessment in higher education are considered in five papers. In "Defining and Measuring the Competencies of a Liberal Arts Education," David G. Winter proposes that liberal arts competencies can be assessed by creative new quantitative strategies and outlines five important criteria, or standards, as well as measures of…

Addressing often neglected broad issues, rather than the pragmatics of test development and administration, this Conference on Minimum Competency Achievement Testing was organized around six topics: (1) social and philosophical roots, uniqueness among testing movements, and policy issues; (2) legal, curricular, and social-demographic consequences;…

Abstracts are presented of the major conference papers and thematic discussions delivered at the 1978 Measurement and Methodology Conference. The titles of the presentations are: Policy-Responsive Evaluation (Wiley); When Educators Set Standards (Glass); Comments on Wiley and Glass (Schutz); Key Standard-Setting Considerations for Minimal…

The reading portion of the Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP) was equated to the reading comprehension subtest of the Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills (CTBS) using the Rasch Model. Both tests were administered to 366 low achieving fourth grade students. MEAP was treated as both a 95-item test and a 19-item (number of objectives…

Reports from the popular media indicate that the public is demanding a return to the teaching of basic skills, instead of supporting educational innovations which emphasize affective rather than cognitive objectives. Concerned with declining academic achievement at all levels of education and with the inadequate job skills of high school…