This article addresses the need for a multicultural perspective on life skills assessment for students with severe disabilities. Guidelines for making a life skills assessment process more multicultural are offered. (Author/DB)

Suggests new methods of teaching instructional design based on literature reviews of other design fields including engineering, architecture, interior design, media design, and medicine. Methods discussed include public presentations, visiting experts, competitions, artifacts, case studies, design studios, and internships and apprenticeships.…

Examines Richard Clark's analysis of the role of media (IR 529 139) from the perspective of an instructional designer. Clark's statements about interchangeability of media attributes, research evidence, and the influence of learner preconceptions are challenged. Suggestions for future research are provided. (Contains six references.) (KRN)

Describes teaching methods and techniques found to be useful by practicing teachers, including tips for spelling instruction, grading essays, and for fostering writing skills among student writers. (HB)

This paper describes how secondary teachers can use the Purdue Three-Stage Model as a framework for instruction that facilitates talent development in both heterogenous and homogenous classrooms. In the first two stages, students master the core content of a discipline and practice thinking creatively and critically about the content. In the third…

This paper postulates that cultural and societal factors have exerted a powerful force on the conceptualization and treatment of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. A functional assessment approach is presented, along with a model for classifying performance deficits and methods for selecting intervention strategies based on the model.…

Studies the performance of a novice Spanish student using a Computer-assisted language learning (CALL) system designed for vocabulary enlargement. Results indicate that introspective evidence may be used to validate performance data within a theoretical framework that characterizes the learning approach as "surface" or "deep." (25 references)…

Presents as an alternative to the traditional Spanish textbook a modular approach that consists of activities based on essay reading and grammar exercises. Students liked this form of instruction, and most indicated that they had learned material previously unknown to them. (seven references) (Author/CK)

A study of five state colleges and universities investigated the design and impact of administrator evaluation programs. Effects on individual administrators' performance and on organizational performance, as well as positive and negative program characteristics, are examined. (MSE)

Examines the current status of freshman writing as a vehicle for bibliographic instruction based on a survey of four-year colleges. Perceptions of bibliographic instruction librarians are discussed; instruction methods used are described; and implications for further research are suggested. (22 references) (LRW)

In preservice teacher education programs, writing competence as an admission or exit requirement is essential because teachers communicate with multiple audiences, they are role models, and they must be lifelong learners. The article describes the background and rationale for a holistically scored writing examination in a teacher education…

Physical educators can enhance students' motivation to learn by collecting portfolios of items that reflect students' skills, understandings, social behaviors, and values. The article explains characteristics of portfolio assessment, discussing how to develop and evaluate portfolios. Brief descriptions of methods and portfolio items, illustrated…

Emphasis on competency-based teaching and outcomes oversimplifies teaching and learning. Reducing a complex and highly political process such as dialog to a series of orderly steps falsely presents the classroom as predictable and implies that success lies in efficient delivery techniques without regard for context. (SK)

Sketches the history of the Pacesetter initiative to reform high school English curricula. Discusses the pros and cons of the Pacesetter agenda, including its assessment instruments. (HB)

Identifies current trends in the automation of indexing, of information retrieval, and of interaction between the system and the users. Topics discussed include location, navigation, and indexing; digital libraries; matching documents to queries; weight of concepts; query structure, including fuzzy sets; algorithms; stemming; clustering; users'…