Most of the criticism of Australian schools focuses on students' skills in literacy and numeracy. This study assessed levels of student achievement in Victoria's primary and secondary schools in 1988 in some key areas of literacy and numeracy. This report maps the performances of students in Years 5 and 9 on scales of development in mathematics,…

The MAT-6 Writing Test (The Psychological Corporation, 1986) was administered to Oklahoma students in grades 7 and 10 in February 1989, in compliance with state law. The inception, implementation procedures, assessment instruments, and results of the Writing Assessment Component of the Oklahoma School Testing Program are described. District-level…

The effectiveness of the "read-comp" technique in assessing writing ability and the usefulness of a rubric and procedure devised for scoring read-comp samples and essays were evaluated. Subjects were 100 freshman students enrolled in general and remedial English classes in a 6-week summer session at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.…

Researchers in the field of emergent literacy have been watching young children and find that they have a natural interest in print. Many researchers have documented stages of writing and spelling and have illustrated that children can learn to read and write as naturally as they can learn to speak, given an appropriate print environment. Writing…

In December 1993, children who were in grade 3 in the Trenton Public Schools (New Jersey) in 1985-86 will take a high-risk writing proficiency test to determine whether they will graduate from high school. An emerging study of the writing of the Class of 1995 in Trenton is described as students move toward that test. The activity of studying…

A study was undertaken to provide a database relative to the missions and objectives for undergraduate programs in agriculture. Over 900 faculty representing 50 randomly selected universities offering undergraduate degrees responded to a mailed questionnaire. Graduating seniors at land grant universities were surveyed. Faculty findings included…

The Writing-Aid and Author's Helper (WANDAH) computer writing system, funded by the Utah State Office of Education Productivity Program, was used successfully in the Logan High School in the 1984-85 school year. Seven additional project were funded to replicate the Logan project throughout Utah during 1985-86. The main objective of the projects…

Specifically intended to address the teaching of spelling, this description of an elementary school program in Australia deals with many of the pedagogical problems that arise in whole language classrooms, and suggests ways for teachers to integrate a process approach to spelling with process writing to create a total language program. Following…

A practicum project emphasizing critical thinking skills was undertaken in an eighth grade history class to make students aware of the nature and seriousness of plagiarism. The 10-week unit was preceded by a reading comprehension test and an essay assignment on a major Civil War battle. Plagiarized portions of the essays were highlighted and the…

An study was conducted in an adult education center and a community school in Scotland to determine the perceived effectiveness of a range of methods for teaching English. Data were collected through semistructured interviews, observation of teaching, course documents, and informal conversations with 47 students and 2 teachers. Findings included…

Nursing textbooks which address the subject of medical documentation tend to equate good documentation of a patient's behavior and state with strong interpersonal skills on the part of the nurse. Rarely do they point out the importance of developing a deep concentrated attention to the sensory world around oneself in order to be a good medical…

A practicum was conducted to develop critical thinking and improve expression through creative written language utilizing precision teaching as an evaluation of student performance. Six students (grades second through sixth) with low idea generation and few organization skills were trained by three teachers and a teacher advisor using…

The formulae developed to encourage the impersonal writing considered correct in academic disciplines have their roots in past gender-biased scientific writing in which "male" thinking and writing intervened to subjugate female Nature. Vestiges of this idea of a masculine order as a clearly superior state are present in the more…

The Master of Arts in Professional Writing (MAPW) offered by Carnegie Mellon University (Pennsylvania) is designed for students who want careers as document designers in industry and government, where they will plan, write, and evaluate computer manuals and on-line documentation, training and instructional materials, technical reports, and a wide…

A writing assessment study was conducted in the Fort Worth Independent School District (Texas) in the spring of 1986 as part of a larger program evaluation study of the Writing to Read (WTR) Program. WTR is a computer-based instructional system designed to develop the writing and reading skills of kindergarten and first-grade students. Two types…