A research project conducted during the 1976-77 academic year in the Baltimore City Public Schools is investigating the effect providing staff development to teachers on how to teach with learning hierarchies will have on students' achievement scores and rate of learning. Twenty teachers participating in the study are taking a year-long course on…

A study was conducted at Black Hawk College (Illinois) to examine the purpose and status of the award of academic credit for learning gained through life and employment experiences, by assessment means other than such national testing programs as the College Level Examination Program. Procedures and practices employed in other colleges in the…

In view of federal legislation being proposed for the reauthorization of the Adult Education Act that promotes increased program accountability and benchmarking of learner outcomes, this publication has been prepared as part of an effort to document student achievement in Iowa. Based on studies that have taken place over the past 17 years, this…

Six issues of the newsletter of the General Educational Development Testing Service discuss developments of interest to users of the Tests of General Educational Development (GED) in the United States and Canada. The feature article of each issue is: (1) "Survey of Testing Centers Reveals Trends in Access to Technology"; (2)…

Admission policies and academic standards are seen as two problem areas. The changes in admission policies and educational standards are examined and their impact upon each other is discussed along with the meaning of standards, adaptive instruction, academic placement and exemption, testing and grading practices, program assessment, etc. (MLW)

Provisions for granting college credits and advanced standing vary among schools of nursing, as do programs leading to the associate and baccalaureate degrees. The article describes California practices and those used at California State University, Los Angeles, including types of program articulation and curricular implications. (MF)

Yearly in Sao Paulo (Brazil), official external examinations allow students outside the regular school system to obtain a certificate of education equivalent to grade 8 or 11. A television program that prepares candidates for the examinations and other forms of preparation are compared, using data collected for three years. (TJH)

A survey of 58 higher education institutions revealed that 74 percent had a foreign language admissions or graduation requirement, and 75 percent used placement examinations for incoming students. Schools cited problems of students with previous study enrolling in beginning classes, and of a lack of placement options for students with prior…

In 1991 the Measurement and Evaluation Center of the University of Texas at Austin was asked to develop a test for credit by examination in four lower division courses in Japanese. The test (in Japanese) was constructed from locally developed items provided by instructors of Japanese. The developed test consisted of 80 items distributed among…

A multi-year effort is being made to create a revised Spanish-language version of the Tests of General Educational Development (GED). It is necessary to ensure that the translated, adapted version maintains the same content and performance standards as the original English version. The final linking of the Spanish-language and English versions…

From September 15, 1980 to June 30, 1981, William Rainey Harper College (Illinois) conducted a project to train high school equivalency program teachers with limited-English-proficient (LEP) students in their classes. The training addressed the special needs of the LEP students in mathematics, English writing, and English reading instruction in…

Lehigh Valley (Pennsylvania) business, education, and service representatives offered residents of a two-county work force a chance to take the General Educational Development (GED) test for free and improve basic skills. Lehigh Valley census data indicated that one-third of the 650,000 population lacked a high school diploma, yet fewer than 500…

The Grade 12 Diploma Examination Program, an integral part of high school diploma requirements, is intended to develop and maintain excellence in educational standards through certification of academic achievement. It consists of course-specific examinations that are based on the prescribed Program of Studies for Senior High Schools for the…

The methods used by the General Educational Development Testing Service (GEDTS) to establish and maintain score stability and reading reliability on its direct assessment of writing are described. Using the 1988 site certification and monitoring results of several scoring sites, the focus is on describing how the score scale was established and…

During 1980, Black Hawk Community College conducted a follow-up study of the 92 students who had graduated with an Associate in Liberal Arts (ALS) degree since 1973. The degree differs from the college's more traditional degrees in emphasizing less restrictive residency requirements, opportunities to develop a personalized course of instruction,…