This issue of the Center's "Systems Newsletter" will be the last one published under the aegis of Dr. JoyceVanTassel-Baska, the Center's founder and current Executive Director. As of this August Dr. VanTassel-Baska will officially retire from the College of William and Mary and the Center. She will still be an integral part of the Center…

In an effort to understand one aspect of the relationship between the secondary and postsecondary sectors in Indiana, this analysis reports data regarding on-site instruction at the secondary school in which students earn dual credit. Under "dual credit" arrangements, a student simultaneously earns credit that will count toward meeting…

This paper examines whether the Maine School of Science and Mathematics, a magnet school in its second year of operation, has improved equity of opportunities for Maine students to participate in advanced mathematics and science courses. Data on per pupil expenditures, state aid to school districts, and course offerings were obtained from the…

A case is presented for adjusting the scores for free response items in the Advanced Placement (AP) tests. Using information about the rating process from the reliability studies, administrations of the AP test for three subject areas, psychology, computer science, and English language and composition, are analyzed. In the reliability studies, 299…

The comments of a student new to Advanced Placement courses convinced a teacher of Advanced Placement English that opening up her class to all students was not enough--the teacher had to learn how to teach an untracked English class. Three basic strategies for teaching the class took shape: the teacher spent a great deal of time modeling tasks;…

This paper discusses the assumptions required by the item response theory (IRT) true-score equating method (with Stocking & Lord, 1983; scaling approach), which is commonly used in the nonequivalent groups with an anchor data-collection design. More precisely, this paper investigates the assumptions made at each step by the IRT approach to…

An overview is provided of the efforts initiated by San Juan College (SJC) to improve articulation with local high schools. Following introductory remarks describing SJC and its service area, information is presented on SJC's yearly in-service training day for 1,500 county educators, including a list of workshops presented during the 1984 program.…

The College Board's Advanced Placement (AP) biology program is explained and options within it are explored in this guide for teachers. Experienced AP biology teachers were surveyed for information concerning approaches that were effective in their programs. Descriptions and suggestions from the 14 respondents are reported in the area of: (1)…

Two nontraditional markets for increased college/university enrollments are discussed, potential students age 50 and over and high school students enrolled for dual credit in advance placement classes. Two telephone surveys were conducted, one to county residents aged 50 and over, regarding their educational needs and interests, and the other to…

The Admissions Testing Program (ATP) is a service of the College Board. The 1979 ATP summary reports on college-bound seniors were produced for each region of the United States, including New England, the Middle, Southern, Midwestern, Southwestern, Rocky Mountain, and Western States. The national and each regional report are in separate booklets.…

The reasons academically gifted high school seniors select institutions of higher education and their interest in precollege, university-level courses were studied. Gifted seniors in the Tucson Unified School District were mailed the Higher Education Orientation Inventory (HEOI), an adaptation of the Graduate Student Satisfaction Questionnaire.…

A random sample of 100 students who had participated in the College Level Examination Program (CLEP) at DeKalb Community College (Georgia) was compared with 100 non-CLEP students on factors of Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores, grade point average, academic units earned, and age. CLEP students averaged a SAT verbal score of 560 and 490 on math…

These materials illustrate the ideas presented in the "Guide for Foreign Languages in Utah." Learning activities, materials, and evaluation procedures have been written to help the language teacher who has never had a methods course, as well as the experienced teacher who is searching for new ideas. The materials begin with a basic unit similar to…

These materials illustrate the concepts presented in "The Guide for Foreign Languages in Utah." Three model lessons, in elementary, intermediate, and advanced placement Spanish, are presented as a means of illustrating the practical application of the teaching goals and techniques outlined in the Utah "Course of Study for Foreign Languages." The…

This guide is a comprehensive listing of institutions that honor or grant credit or placement through the College Board's Advanced Placement Program (AP) or College-Level Examination Program (CLEP). Included also are colleges' policies regarding the use of the Test of Standard Written English (TSWE) and the Achievement Tests for placement purposes…