Goodness of fit of raw test score data were compared, using two latent trait models: the Rasch model and the Birnbaum three-parameter logistic model. Data were taken from various achievement tests and the Scholastic Aptitude Test (Verbal). A minimum sample size of 1,000 was required, and the minimum test length was 40 items. Results indicated that…

The problem of enabling a teaching machine to adapt to the individual characteristics of students in presenting course material has been considered--general outlines of computer algorithms and decision criteria have been formulated. It is assumed that there exists both an ordered set of concepts which comprise the material to be learned and, for…

A study determined the effect of school organization on pupil attitudes, achievement, conceptual maturity, and classroom behavior. Ten teachers in each of three groups in a midwestern school district were selected and 707 pupils enrolled in their classes comprised the sample. An experimental group was placed in a nongraded form of organization,…

High school and college grades are suggested to have the nature of ordinal scales rather than interval scales; hence the median is the appropriate and preferred average, rather than the mean. The use of a median grade point average has some of the major advantages of pass-fail grading. Assuming grades to be ordinal rather than interval data…

The paper discusses a study of self-disclosure patterns of 29 college men and 35 college women. The purpose of the study was to determine the extent to which college students confided in their best male friend, best female friend, mother, and father about attitudes and opinions, tastes and interests, work and studies, money, personality, and body.…

The document discusses a national survey undertaken to determine areas of needed research and policy development in art education. Secondary school principals, curriculum leaders, and state art supervisors were surveyed to determine the current status and future needs of art education. Findings among principals indicated that 59% of the 125…

Data collected during the Anchor Test Study norming phase were used to investigate substantive relationships between reading achievement and school, classroom, and pupil variables. School characteristics, such as location, public or private, socioeconomic level, and percentage minority enrollment, were found to be related to achievement in reading…

A nationwide systematic approach to assess the developments and achievements of highway safety activities was conducted to measure program outputs from 1969 through 1974 using key indicators of performance such as ratios and percentages. A sample of 10 states was selected with overall sample of 105 local jurisdictions which would provide estimated…

This is a report of pupil performance in Philadelphia schools based upon the February 1975 Philadelphia City-Wide Testing Program involving all pupils in kindergarten through grade 12. School performance distributions show the combined percentages of pupils in each school scoring within various national percentile rank ranges. The performance…

Findings of a three-year project carried out by the Ohio Cooperative Extension Service of Ohio State University indicated that area agent staffing in Extension may result in professional workers being more satisfied with their jobs and feeling more meaningfully involved in the organizational hierarchy. The role conflict that might be expected when…

The hypothesis of this paper is that the patterns of political influence on public school systems are changing. Public school systems are subject to so many political influences that one can raise the question, "Who governs?" The educational policy-making procedures seem to have become politicized in the wake of the turbulence of the 1960's. The…

The principal objectives of this conference were to exchange information, discuss theoretical and empirical developments, and to coordinate research efforts. The papers and their authors are: "The Graded Response Model of Latent Trait Theory and Tailored Testing" by Fumiko Samejima; (Incomplete Orders and Computerized Testing" by…

Lortie has described teacher sentiments that meld into a structure called the autonomy/equality norm. This norm helps preserve the separation of teaching from organizational and collegial purviews. As part of a larger study which looks for conditions that affect and are influenced by variations in task interdependence among teachers, an effort was…

Two versions of a computer-assisted instruction practice lesson on series resonant circuit analysis were compared. One was a program control version which required considerable time for students to reach criterion level. The other program was a revised student control version of the same lesson. In the program control version, quantity of practice…

Two abstracts and seventeen articles on computer assisted instruction (CAI) presented at the 1976 Association for Educational Data Systems (AEDS) convention are included here. Four new computer programs are described: Author System for Education and Training (ASET); GNOSIS, a Swedish/English CAI package; Statistical Interactive Programming System…