An overview of the system analysis approach to evaluation and the psychometric models currently proposed to evaluate Elementary and Secondary Education Act Title I projects is presented. It is argued that, in America's Pacific possessions, the sole use of the systems analysis approach to evaluation fails to provide adequate information to…

A study in two countries investigated college students' conceptions of "academic literacy," defined as the system of information exchange or mastery of the elements of such a system. Subjects were nine students, four at Ohio State University, a long-established "mega-university," and five at Universitat Pompeu Fabra, a small, newly-established…

This paper is an inquiry into standard setting as educational reform, stimulated by the emergence of projects and initiatives engaged in during the development of new standards. The publication is organized into five sections. The first section provides a brief discussion of the idea of a standard together with a definition that indicates the…

The academic achievement of students in the Austin (Texas) Independent School District (AISD) is reported using their scores on the Texas Educational Assessment of Minimum Skills (TEAMS), the Tests of Achievement and Proficiency (TAP), the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS), the Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test (PSAT), and the Scholastic…

Several studies of mathematics education have singled out the early and rigid ability grouping as one of the principal reasons for mathematics underachievement in the United States. Public schools in the United States engage in extensive sorting of students into sharply differentiated curricula by the end of sixth or seventh grade. This study…

A large scale study was undertaken to shed light on the question of school district efficiency, that is, the extent to which school districts are able to increase achievement beyond what would be expected from their families socioeconomic origins. Average scores on state-developed and nationally-standardized tests of third, sixth, and ninth…

The Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills in reading, language, and mathematics was administered to 3,417 second through twelfth grade students plus 201 resource room special education students for a total of 3,618 students, 97% of the student population in the Crete-Monee (Illinois) School District, in April, 1986. The test results were compared:…

The central problem in educational improvement at the state and local level is the tension between school-level autonomy and systemwide uniformity; educational change is limited by three special conditions: (1) inertial autonomy, (2) essential uniformity of public schools, and (3) the fact that effective schools have characteristics that cannot be…

Results are presented of the 1985-1986 administration of the California Achievement Tests (CAT) in the Montgomery County (Maryland) Public Schools. Each fall, the battery is given to grades three, five, and eight under a state mandate, and to grade eleven under a local mandate. Overall student performance improved slightly in 1985 from the already…

The Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills, Form U, measuring achievement in reading, spelling, language, mathematics, reference skills, science, and social studies, were administered to fourth-, fifth-, seventh-, ninth-, and eleventh-graders from all 92 South Carolina school districts, in Spring, 1986. Results were compared to national norms and to…

To investigate locus of control and its relationships to ethnicity, socioeconomic status (SES), and academic achievement, a large sample of Black, Mexican-American, Native American, and White students in the fourth, fifth, and seventh grades were administered the Academic Achievement Accountability Questionnaire (a locus-of-control questionnaire)…

As part of an update of studies for predicting fall semester grade point averages (GPA) of freshmen at Indiana University, 4,260 freshmen entering the Bloomington campus in the fall of 1980 were assessed. Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores and/or relative high school rank (RHSR) were used to predict first semester GPAs. Three sets of equations…

This report includes an overview of the Dallas Independent School District's Department of Research and Evaluation, along with its goals, budget, and senior staff members. The bulk of the report is comprised of 15 individual interpretative analyses of the Department's 1979-80 research and evaluation reports. Interpretative analyses are performed…

The report presents local norms and tables derived from scores of the third administration of the Metropolitan Achievement Test Battery to pupils in grades 2, 4, and 6 in the Northwest Territories during November and December of 1968, and similar data from testing in 1966 and 1967. The student population in the schools consisted of 3 broad ethnic…

A survey identified 352 psychological tests that are used in Australia but produced in other countries. About 89 percent have been standardized for use in Australia, but no local data have been compiled for some high-use tests. Responsibilities of test distributors and users are discussed. (SLD)