This loose-leaf compendium includes three types of brief research summaries: "topical synthesis,""close-ups," and "snapshots." The single topical synthesis is entitled "School-Community Collaboration to Improve the Quality of Life for Urban Youth and Their Families" (Kathleen Cotton). Close-ups consist of…

This text presents basic principles of applying curriculum-based assessment (CBA) to the evaluation of and instruction of students with disabilities. Throughout the book, the mnemonic APPLY is used as an organizing method for teachers to develop and use CBA. APPLY stands for: (1) analyze the curriculum, (2) prepare items to match curriculum…

The paper summarizes some educational research findings regarding effective schooling practices. Only those findings which have particular impact on educational program planners in the field of migrant education are discussed. These findings pertain to the following issues: class size, group size, ability grouping, parent participation in…

GRE verbal and quantitative scores and undergraduate grade point average were evaluated as predictors of multiple measures of long-term graduate school success. The measures of success were cumulative graduate grade point average and faculty ratings on three student characteristics: mastery of the discipline, professional productivity, and…

The Copernican Plan is a way to organize high schools on the basis of research and experience concerning more effective and efficient instruction. Research indicates that large-block scheduling has proven to be very successful. In the plan, each student will enroll in one class at a time for about 4 hours each day for a period of 30 days. An…

Most constructive critics of education agree that today's students are better than any in United States history. Yet problems like competency shortages and outmoded curricula remain. When schools were basically "socializers" (1885-1957), praise outstripped criticism--until 1957's Sputnik. In response, Congress initiated the National Aeronautics…

This paper reports on a study of the 1980 Maryland State Department of Education school improvement project utilizing Mastery Learning. It examines the instructional process implementation, the impact of one pilot school, and the statewide program through observation, surveys, interviews, document analysis, and participant self-reports. Data were…

This paper outlines the types of schooling programs that will build on the strengths of educationally disadvantaged students to bring them into the educational mainstream as well as to prepare them for economic, political, and social participation. Without intervention on behalf of the disadvantaged, the following results may occur: (1) a dual…

The grading policy at South Oklahoma City Junior College (SOCJC) allows a student to master a course by doing a specified amount of work to a pre-determined standard (80% mastery). When this is accomplished, the student receives an "M" indicating mastery; otherwise, nothing appears on the official record. No A, B, C, grades are awarded. This…

First-year progress (1978-1979) is reported for a three-year project undertaken by Durham College (an historically black, independent, junior college) to implement Bloom's Mastery Learning Strategy in an effort to improve the self-esteem and motivation of educationally disadvantaged minority students. The report first presents a rationale for the…

A competency-based, individualized, English course was designed so that, at any one time, students would be working toward a grade of C, B, or A. While some students, based on a pre-course writing evaluation, might begin work at an advanced level, other students might spend the whole semester attempting to achieve the skills required for a C.…

A computer-assisted, competency-based instructional model has been developed for a teacher education program. It is based on the assumptions that individuals should control their own lives and that technology should be used to expand the range of human choice. The model uses a systems approach to organize the human, curricular and environmental…

A language-based social skills instruction intervention used to prepare middle and high school students with emotional/behavioral disorders for return to less restrictive public school placements was evaluated. The daily 50-minute intervention focused on repetitive readings, recitations, and role-playing of skill step procedures until students…

This study applied an early screening approach to determine the risk status of children in 5 urban schools and monitor their patterns of reading growth over 3 years. A majority of students were from culturally diverse and low-SES backgrounds. Two validated instruments were used for determining (a) academic risk (the Dynamic Indicators of Basic…

This book contains 40 papers from an international symposium on improving the quality of higher education teaching and learning. Part 1 contains three papers on using research to improve student learning covering some Canadian projects, the use of research on student learning, and ways to evaluate and improve learning. Part 2 contains 10 papers on…