Teacher training institutions should assess the competency level of their graduates so that needed changes in teacher education programs can be made. A model for assessing teacher education graduates and the teacher education program is described. (CJ)

Reports on the development of an assessment instrument to test basic communication skills necessary for students' success in college. Covers the instrument's conceptual foundation, administration procedures, development, and analysis. (PD)

A cooperative writing assessment program between a college and seven public school districts was designed to demonstrate that the writing skills necessary for adequate composing were not those that could be measured by an objective test. The goals of the program were to (1) analyze the rhetorical skills of sixth and eighth grade students, (2)…

Designed to assist practitioners with the actual conduct of career education program evaluations in teacher education, this handbook has four sections which parrallel the evaluation process. The first section describes the evaluation process and the need to assess the audience to be in a better position to decide on the procedures to use and the…

Some states are mandating basic skills testing and encouraging comprehensive universities to provide remedial programs for students who do not pass the tests. Texas House Bill 2182 is an example of this trend and is discussed in light of 10 key issues posed by assessment experts. (Author/MLW)

Discusses implications of states' requiring use of high school graduation exams. Finds testing requirements already blocking thousands of students from getting diplomas required for college admission, and complicating colleges' efforts to recruit black and Hispanic students. At the same time college officials praise tests for helping ensure that…

This annotated bibliography contains 44 references, dated from 1976 to 1989, intended for educators concerned with assessment of basic speaking and listening skills, with particular emphasis on minimal competency testing and basic skills improvement programs. The materials cited do the following: (1) assess broad assessment issues; (2) review a…

The development of the City University of New York's writing assessment test is discussed in this paper. Its relationship to the total freshman skills assessment program, which also involves the assessment of minimal competencies in mathematics and reading, is related. The discussion of the test includes descriptions of the test development…

The United States is not doing as well as it could in assessing educational outcomes in the 1980s. The assessment movement of the 1980s indicates that its institutional memory is poor, and when coping with outside pressures, it is slow to recall how it coped the last time it was under pressure. It is important to remember such events and pressures…

This report describes the evaluation of the Texas Academic Skills Program (TASP) which provides assessment and academic support for students entering Texas public institutions of higher education. The report includes a trend analysis of year-end TASP Test results and a cohort analysis of academic performance for 431,737 students tested for the…

Following opening remarks by Joseph L. Dionne, four sections of papers are presented. In part I--Testing and the Basic Skills--P. Michael Timpane and Judith Shoemaker discuss federal activities, Edwin L. West, Jr. discusses the coordination of teaching and testing, and Amelia Ashe describes testing and teaching of writing competency. Part…

This report presents Fall, 1991 results of the New Jersey College Basic Skills Placement Testing which tests incoming college students and evaluates collegiate remedial courses. A summary of the findings notes that freshmen recorded poorer results on every section of the test compared to 1990 results, that in verbal skills 42 percent lacked…

Proceedings of three regional conferences on the quality of American higher education are presented. Sponsored by the Office of Educational Research and Improvement, these conferences consisted of round-table discussions concerning recommendations from the national report "Involvement in Learning," as well as strategies needed to…

Various topics concerning assessment in higher education are considered in five papers. In "Defining and Measuring the Competencies of a Liberal Arts Education," David G. Winter proposes that liberal arts competencies can be assessed by creative new quantitative strategies and outlines five important criteria, or standards, as well as measures of…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 19 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: (1) the effectiveness of English placement examinations used at five junior colleges in California; (2) the direction and distance of context required by college…