The emphasis on using performance assessments to support systematic state-, district-, or school-wide purposes is a recent development in the assessment-reform movement. This document presents data from a 3-year case study that was designed to elucidate the status of assessment reform in United States education systems and offer recommendations…

The emphasis on using performance assessments to support systematic state-, district-, or school-wide purposes is a recent development in the assessment-reform movement. A 3-year case study sought to describe the status of assessment reform in United States education systems and offer recommendations for policy and future research. The research…

This paper explores the scope of "failure" in the period of practice immediately prior to teacher certification, by examining personal experiences of 25 preservice teachers who "failed" or hovered in failure-like circumstances. Indicators of failure included poor interpersonal skills, lack of primary focus on students, lack of commitment and…

The academic outcomes assessment movement focuses on measuring student learning as a direct outcome of the teaching process. This paper supports the idea that community colleges are well situated as leaders in the area of academic outcomes assessment, since the purpose of this movement--improving student learning--is one and the same with the…

Students' performances on mathematical problems varying in symbolic form and the kinds of symbolic representations and translation used in instruction were explored. The sample consisted of 29 students enrolled in Algebra II in a summer program for minority students. All students were Black or Hispanic American and most were about to enter grade…

At a public community college located in a Southeastern state, an innovative curriculum, including contracting, individualization and cooperative learning, was tested in two sections of a History of Western Civilization course. Contracting refers to an agreement between teacher and student, specifying student goals and objectives.…

This article discusses the role of perceived self-efficacy during classroom learning of cognitive skills. Self-efficacy refers to personal judgments of performance capabilities in a given domain of activity. Students enter classroom activities with various aptitudes and prior experiences, which affect their initial sense of self-efficacy for…

One of the challenges facing pupils in the history classroom is conceptual understanding. Pupils also find it difficult to recognise themes or patterns across different parts of time and space. Ian Myson has recognised the importance of analogy as a way to facilitate pupils' understanding. He is quick to recognise, however, that poor use of…

New and innovative approaches to teaching in elementary schools are often advocated by university teacher education programs but fail to reach the actual classroom. This phenomenon was explored by interviewing graduates from the University of Utah elementary education program. These teachers were required to take two courses designed to prepare…

Two types of problems are found in the reading performance of children with poor work habits: a child may have mastered skills but performs inadequately in tasks due to poor work habits, and a child may never have mastered skills because of such habits. Work habit behavior is the student's tendency to apply himself or herself to learning tasks by…

This journal is devoted to the art of teaching in the field of speech communication. Articles collected in this issue address topics on the development of basic speech communication courses and include the following titles: "Onward . . . A Tradition Continues"; "Performance Courses: No Way to Run a Railroad" and "Not Revolution but Revision,"…

Four American professors formed a team to provide instruction in English as a second language (ESL) to university professors in the People's Republic of China. Participants received 180 hours of instruction in ESL methodology and English language skills based on individual approaches that covered the Silent Way, Community Language Learning, and…

Each of four instructors was assigned two sections of introductory psychology, one experimental and one lecture/control. Experimental sections were divided into teams of five to eight students and complied with the following schedule for each of seven two-week unites. In the first class meeting, subject matter was introduced and discussion topics…

To determine the effects of deficient reading skills in the military service, researchers met with military and civilian officials from four recruit training centers, major research activities personnel, and the commands accountable for education and training. Next, questionnaires were sent to fifteen recruit training centers to obtain data on the…

The objective of this study was to determine the effectiveness of an audio-visual instrument in teaching psychopharmacology to high and low achieving associate degree nursing students at Alvin Community College (Texas). Students were grouped as either high or low achieving according to their scores on an American College Testing (ACT) program test…