In 1973, compulsory province-wide grade 12 examinations, administered in Alberta since 1906, were dropped; teachers were given the responsibility of assigning final grades. Mandated by the Legislative Assembly of Alberta in 1976, this study by the Minister's Advisory Committee on Student Achievement (MACOSA) surveyed education professionals,…

This special edition on employment counseling contains a series of articles demonstrating some of the employment counseling initiatives currently underway in Canada. Included are separate English and French texts of each of the following articles: "The Assessment Component of Employment Counselling: Some Suggestions," by P. J. Patsula…

The Student Advancement in Learning (SAIL) project was instituted at Northwest Alabama State Junior College (NASJC) to increase the retention of high risk students through a combination of courses and services in the areas of academic and personal development, career exploration, individual counseling, and financial aid. During the planning stages…

As part of Utah's 1978 statewide assessment, a number of tests were administered to over 4,000 fifth grade students from 64 elementary schools and over 2,000 eleventh graders from thirty high schools. This report presents the results in each of the areas tested: (1) intellectual maturity--measured by reading and mathematics achievement on the…

The U.S. educational system and student achievement are examined using a historical perspective. Academic achievement, school budgets, educational innovations, and educational philosophies are compared across different periods of U.S. history. Problems associated with various changes in the educational process are outlined. Parental attitudes on…

THE EDUCATIONAL SERVICE CENTER (ESC) SUPPLIES VARIOUS SERVICES TO 28 SCHOOL DISTRICTS IN CENTRAL, WESTERN, AND NORTHERN NEW MEXICO. STATISTICAL INFORMATION IS PRESENTED CONCERNING THE VARIETY AND DISTRIBUTION OF THESE SERVICES (CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT, PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTING AND GUIDANCE, ADULT EDUCATION AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT, SCHOOL EVALUATION…

Presented are findings from California's State testing program for 1971-72 and 1972-73. The factors (variables) examined were divided into two groups: output factors, indicators of school quality such as scores on achievement tests; and input factors, factors describing the characteristics of school districts such as class size, tax rate, etc.…

In recent years, New York, like most other states, has adopted a set of challenging educational standards that are geared to preparing all students to be capable citizens and to compete in the global marketplace. The state has also implemented extensive Regents testing programs to measure student progress toward meeting the standards. These…

As part of a cross-national research project on literature instruction in middle-grade classrooms in Great Britain and the United States this study explored the effects of external assessment on that instruction. The focus was on the literature selected, the class time allotted, and provisions made for students' choices. The study explored the…

The Texas Academic Skills Program (TASP), implemented in 1989, requires student assessment in reading, writing, and math prior to regular college course work. Students undergo continuous remediation until they are able to pass the assessment test. Though TASP advocates argue that the program helps maintain academic standards and provides students…

This paper presents the latest in a series of studies examining school district report cards for their usefulness planning and implementing school improvement. The 1992-93 Arkansas report cards were studied. These were similar to the report cards from Tennessee that were the subject of the initial study in that they used and reported a…

What the Illinois Goal Assessment Program (IGAP) test actually tests and the consequences of these tests for funding decisions were studied with a random sample of 100 school districts in the Cook County suburbs of Chicago. Eighth-grade IGAP scores for reading were obtained from the state report card, a document prepared by each school district…

This brochure provides educators, statisticians, the press, the public, and other interested parties with selected facts and figures about education in Alaska. Brief tables give: (1) general district and school information for Alaska's 54 public school districts and its private schools; (2) student information, including enrollment and graduates…

A collection of essays on first and second language proficiency from the fields of psychology and linguistics includes the following: "Modeling and Assessing Language Proficiency" (John H. A. L. de Jong, Ludo Verhoeven); "The Construct of Grammar in Early Language Development" (Folkert Kuiken); "Dimensions in Grammatical Proficiency" (Wim H. J.…

In this final report of an 18-month series of projects designed to investigate the validity of the General Knowledge (GK) and Communications Skills (CS) tests of the National Teacher Examinations (NTE) for North Carolina, highlights and major conclusions are summarized and appropriate standards of performance are recommended. Evidence was…