A study compared subjective and objective methods of evaluating college students' second-language communicative competence as expressed in their writing. (MSE)

This article emerges from a recent review of evidence, conducted by the authors and others, on the lifelong barriers to widening participation in higher education in England. This has led us to a consideration of the quality and relevance of the research activity in this large field of endeavour, and to the creation of a typology of the kinds of…

Findings of phase 1 of a study of the 1979-1980 Basic Educational Opportunity Grants validation, edits, and application processing system are presented. The study was designed to: assess the impact of the validation effort and processing system edits on the correct award of Basic Grants; and assess the characteristics of students most likely to…

An update to the Validation, Edits, and Application Processing and Error-Prone Model Report (Section 1, July 3, 1980) is presented. The objective is to present the most current data obtained from the June 1980 Basic Educational Opportunity Grant applicant and recipient files and to determine whether the findings reported in Section 1 of the July…

The 1978-1979 pre-award institution validation process for the Basic Educational Opportunity Grant (BEOG) program was studied, based on applicant and grant recipient files as of the end of February 1979. The objective was to assess the impact of the validation process on the proper award of BEOGs, and to determine whether the criteria for…

The validity of data provided through rejection edits of students applying for Basic Educational Opportunity Grants (BEOGs) was assessed. The question of whether some edits were associated with applicants' failure to reapply was also considered. The analysis used the 1978-1979 BEOG applicant population. A total of 3,823,008 applicants had applied…

A Pre-Award Validation Analysis was conducted in 1978-1979 to provide the federal government information about the accuracy of data provided by applicants for Basic Educational Opportunity Grants. New procedures involved: validation of selected applications by college financial aid officers using documentation such as Federal Income Tax forms;…

Efforts of the Department of Education (ED) to simplify the Pell Grant formula by reducing the number of data elements used to calculate awards (i.e., data element reduction) are evaluated. A framework is developed to assess the critical characteristics of individual data elements, to eliminate elements from the formula, and to develop proposals…

College administrators are complaining that "Yahoo! Internet Life" magazine used a flawed surveying process and inaccurate data to select the institutions it named in a recent ranking of "American's 100 Most Wired Colleges." Even some institutions faring well in the ranking have concerns about the survey, citing problems with…

The impact of data discrepancies made by colleges on the Fiscal Operations Report and Application to Participate (FISAP) is addressed, with attention to both impact on the entire aid program and resource allocation to institutions. Brief descriptions are provided of the allocation formulas for the three campus-based aid programs (Supplemental…

The impact of quality assurance procedures on the correct award of Basic Educational Opportunity Grants (BEOGs) for 1979-1980 was assessed, and a model for detecting error-prone applications early in processing was developed. The Bureau of Student Financial Aid introduced new comments into the edit system in 1979 and expanded the pre-established…

An evaluation of existing and proposed mechanisms to ensure data accuracy for the Pell Grant program is reported, and recommendations for efficient detection of fraud and error in the program are offered. One study objective was to examine the existing system of pre-established criteria (PEC), which are validation criteria that select students on…

The development of the error prone model (EPM) for the 1984-1985 student financial aid validation criteria for Pell Grant recipient selection is discussed, based on a comparison of the 1983-1984 EPM criteria and a newly estimated EPM. Procedures/assumptions on which the new EPM was based include: a sample of 1982-1983 Pell Grant recipients…

The development of a number of error-prone models to select Pell Grant recipients for validation is discussed. The 1983-1984 Pell Grant validation strategy consists of a two-stage approach: selection using Pre-Established Criteria (PEC) followed by selection using Error Prone Modeling (EPM). The database used for model development consists of a…

The articles contained in this volume on second language writing evaluation focus on the evaluation of academic English learned as a second language (ESL). Essays include: "Assessment by Misconception: Cultural Influences and Intellectual Traditions" (Brigid Ballard, John Clanchy); "Reading the World Differently: A Cross-Cultural Approach to…