An environmental intervention model to improve the learning environment in Black colleges is proposed, including a skill development component, revitalized testing, an integrated reading program, junior-level comprehensive examinations, and an analytical reasoning course. (MSE)

The Supreme Court's opinion and concurring opinion in a case limiting the right of courts to overturn academic decisions, based on the case of university's dismissal of a student after his failure of an important examination, are presented. (MSE)

This issue of the SERVE magazine discusses using assessment and accountability to improve student learning. Articles include: (1) Can High-Stakes State Testing Be Improved? (Wendy McColskey and Nancy McMunn); (2) Standards of Classroom Practice: Defining a Vision of Quality in the Classroom (Nancy McMunn and Wendy McColskey); (3) Taking a Close…

Finding ways to improve the design of large-scale tests is a timely issue. Recent changes in Federal legislation (including the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001) have placed greater emphasis on accountability via large-scale tests. Students who have previously been exempted from large-scale assessments, including students with disabilities and…

This study seeks to investigate the implications of high stakes state-mandated testing on the educational future of language minority learners. It sets off with a definition of high stakes state-mandated testing and proceeds with an in depth review of the incidence and ramification of high stakes testing and its impact on Less English Proficient…

This study tested the effectiveness of the cloze procedure, used aurally, to teach listening comprehension in English as a foreign language (EFL). Subjects were the classes of two teachers (n=74, n=75); one teacher taught using the aural cloze procedure, and the other taught using conventional listening instruction techniques. In aural cloze…

The annotated bibliography describes foreign language assessment instruments currently used in elementary and middle schools. The instruments are drawn from a wide variety of program models: Foreign Language in the Elementary School (FLES), middle school sequential instruction, and immersion (total, two-way, partial). The bibliography has six…

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the avenues for choosing pictures and visual images in testing situations for foreign and second language examinations. The paper demonstrates how quantitative and qualitative research from cognitive psychology, visual and verbal behavior studies, as well as Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) have…

This issue has a special, multi-article section on student testing in Texas and contains three additional and unrelated articles. "The Texas Testing Case Documents: G.I. Forum, et al. v. Texas Education Agency, et al." section has five articles: "Overview" (Roger Clegg); a copy of the "First Amended Complaint";…

This paper examines the rating scale data of oral proficiency tests analyzed by a Rasch Analysis focusing on an item map and factor analysis. In discussing the item map, the difficulty order of six items and students' answering patterns are analyzed using descriptive statistics and measures of central tendency of test scores. The data ranks the…

This study explores the relationship between English and Japanese in bilingual children. The Bilingual Verbal Ability Tests (BVATs) were administered to 40 children of Japanese heritage and their mothers residing in the San Francisco Bay Area. All the subjects were either enrolled in bilingual programs in public elementary schools or attending…

The current study was designed to examine performance effects and fatigue effects associated with different total SAT testing times. In addition, the researchers examined personality, motivation, and other determinants of individual differences in examinee fatigue before, during, and after testing.

Discusses four instruments that can be incorporated into an entry-level testing program to assess cognitive style, anxiety toward learning, locus of control, and conceptual level. Examines the usefulness of measuring these attributes in helping community college instructors develop individualized learning approaches for nontraditional students.…

Some faculty feel that, as tasks become "unbundled," technology may take over instructional duties that define professor's jobs, with courses designed outside the institution, lectures replaced by Web sites, tests created and administered by outside organizations. Others feel that computers foster more interactive and lively learning environments…

Investigated the effects of the number of tokens in the conceptual representation of the to-be-uttered subject noun phrase in experiments in Dutch and French, in which subject-verb agreement errors were induced. Findings revealed a distributivity effect in both languages, supporting an account in which neither null nor post-verbal subjects are the…