Five articles by faculty members from the Community College of Philadelphia are presented in this journal issue. "Reconstructing the Academic Environment: A Proposal for the Revision of the General Studies Curriculum," by Martin B. Spear and Dennis McGrath, offers a conceptual foundation for decision making in curriculum development for general…

This project involves assessing the knowledge base in the education and rearing of gifted children, by developing a literature review summarizing recommended practices. A rationale for the project is presented, discussing the idea of recommended practices, the state of the knowledge base, methods for providing guidance to researchers, and the…

Methods of probability modeling to analyze rater agreement are described, emphasizing their basic similarities and viewing them as variants of a common methodology. Statistical techniques for analyzing agreement data are described to address questions such as how many opinions are required to make a medical diagnosis with necessary accuracy. Kappa…

These journal articles examine the issues of evaluation and art education. In (1) "Self Evaluation for Secondary Art Students, Why Bother?" (Margaret Scarr), the article recommends that involving students in assessing their work contributes to learning. (2) "Evaluating for Success" (Arlene Smith) gives practical suggestions for…

"In Brief" focuses on K-12 mathematics and science research and implications for policymakers, educators, and researchers seeking to improve student learning and achievement This brief highlights the learning gains of 240 elementary students involved in a long-term study in Madison, Wisconsin and their remarkable ability to reason with arithmetic…

These two newsletters of The National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented (NRC/GT) present articles concerned with research on the education of gifted and talented students. The articles include: "NRC/GT: Making Decisions and Determining Next Steps" (E. Jean Gubbins); "Free Summer Programs for Talented Teens" (D. Betsy McCoach); "High End…

This review of the findings of recent cognitive science research pertaining to learning and teaching focuses on how science and mathematics are being taught, analyzes how the presence of the computer demonstrates a need for radical rethinking of both the theory and the practice of learning, and points out that if educators fail to consider the…

A quantitative method developed at Stanford University that addresses programmatically the short- and long-term needs of the college physical plant is discussed. The approach allows the administrator to accurately assess funding resources for the maintenance program in conjunction with academic and construction programs. A special task force at…

Examples of the use of a mathematical model to evaluate the future renewal and replacement, or maintenance requirements, of the college physical plant are provided. The model, which was developed at Stanford University, simulates actual conditions at a specific location and allows resource allocation to be based on a definable quantitative base.…

This monograph supplement to "The Journal of the Academy of Rehabilitative Audiology" contains eight papers on issues and strategies for communication assessment of hearing-impaired children, not only in the area of interpersonal communication, but in classroom and print discourse as well. Titles and authors of the papers are as follows:…

As reflective teaching has been a major concern in education with the movement for increased teacher professionalism and involvement in all aspects of school decision-making, the 10 articles in this volume address reflective practice in the social studies with an emphasis on how reflection and inquiry can contribute to both teacher and curriculum…

This newsletter describes an ongoing empirical field study involving a description and analysis of practical teaching situations aimed at describing the content and structure of pupils' frames of reference. The project takes the form of a series of case studies in classes of the 3-year lines of upper secondary schools in Sweden. The study seeks to…

The reviews of articles contained in this issue have been grouped into those dealing with research related to cognitive development and to instruction. In addition, seven science education researchers have provided responses to critiques of their published research. Included are: (1) an analysis of an article designed to persuade researchers to…

These two newsletters of The National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented (NRC/GT) present articles concerned with research on the education of gifted and talented students. The articles are: "NRC/GT: Research Should Inform Practice" (E. Jean Gubbins); "Building a Bridge: A Combined Effort between Gifted and Bilingual Education" (Valentina…

Students with disabilities have been excluded to an unreasonable extent from large-scale assessment programs at the national, state, and local levels. One implication of this exclusion practice is that students who are left out of assessments tend not to be considered during reform efforts. Another implication is that estimates of performance are…