U.S. Department of Education studies reveal that, by various measures, almost 75 percent of college students today are "non-traditional." While the "non-traditional" label used to refer mostly to students beyond the 18-to-22 age range (about 40 percent of college students are older than 22), the phrase now connotes students of all ages who are…

The author reiterates the need for a systematic assessment of learning. He suggests that administrators: (1) decide what information is needed most; (2) design appropriate methods for ascertaining this information and how it will be used; and, (3) use the information for positive changes. (HMV)

This study addresses the validation of a holistic English assessment process used at Cabrillo College (California). The process of prompt development, scoring rubrics, reader training, scoring, and administration procedures have remained largely unchanged over the years. This report provides new evidence on content validity, consequential and cut…

A two-year study designed to evaluate an elementary language arts program in the Grande Prairie School District (Edmonton, Alberta) through an assessment of student achievement was conducted from 1983 to 1985. A major focus of the study was the area of listening, and the listening tests and teacher's manuals presented in this document are intended…

The first National Assessment of Music, conducted in 1971-72, measured the knowledge, skills, and attitudes of 9 year olds, 13 year olds, 17 year olds, and young adults, resulting in estimates of proportions of people in the population who have certain attitudes toward music, knowledge about music terminology, notaion and history, and musical…

Containing the results of Oregon's second statewide analytical writing assessment, this document summarizes the procedures used to evaluate the writing skills of 4,567 eighth graders from 55 schools and analyzes the results. Following an introduction that includes comments from the scoring team, chapter 1 presents a brief history of writing…

Questions what assessment strategies are appropriate for the National Standards and how they might differ from more traditional assessments. Provides guidelines for standards-based assessments and several sets of sample questions. Suggests the adoption of performance assessment strategies for material requiring evaluative thinking. (MJP)

A two-year study designed to evaluate an elementary language arts program in the Grande Prairie School District (Edmonton, Alberta) through an assessment of student achievement was conducted from 1983 to 1985. This final report describes all facets of the study and presents the researchers' findings and conclusions. Following a preface, the report…

To weigh the negative effects of "primerese" against its supposedly improved readability, a study compared the reading of controlled basal stories with that of the same stories minimally rewritten into more natural language. Participants were 64 white, lower middle class first grade students selected from five classrooms (all with basal…