Although testing language has traditionally taken the form of testing knowledge about language, the idea of testing communicative competence is becoming recognized as being of great importance in second language learning. Communicative language tests are intended to be a measure of how the testees are able to use language in real life situations.…

With few exceptions, the development of adult intelligence assessment instruments has proceeded along the lines of the Binet-Simon tests for children, stressing psychological assessment over the evaluation of what an individual knows. These tests, developed over 90 years ago, were quite effective in predicting school success, but were much less…

The Teens, Crime, and the Community Program presents practical information and problem-solving opportunities to help students develop the knowledge and skills necessary to deal with crime issues. The program and its curriculum advance the idea that teens can contribute energy and talent to the improvement of their communities. This text is part of…

The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of eighteen 11th grade high school chemistry students' prior mathematical knowledge on their understanding of certain chemical concepts (symbol, formula, and equation). It also investigated students' ideas about the meaning of plus sign, reaction sign, and the relationships between subscript, and…

The Extension Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture commissioned the National Impact Study of Leadership Development in Extension (NISLDE), one of five national impact studies, to examine the leadership development work of Cooperative Extension staff nationwide. The study, responded to by 86 percent of the 3,100 extension educators and…

To explore and characterize the problem-solving processes of experts evaluating and revising text/illustration combinations, a study was conducted with experts from three different fields. Participants, who included five subject matter experts (SMEs) in biology, five professional designers, and five editors, were asked to diagnose and address…

This report explores the effects of "DARE To Resist Drugs and Violence" program on students' knowledge regarding drugs and alcohol and their attitudes toward authority figures (i.e., teachers and law enforcement officers) involved in the program. Project DARE was presented in 10 consecutive lessons (two days per week for five weeks) to…

The study examined the number of Anchorage (Alaska) public schools that are using the Regular Education Initiative (REI) concept in their special education programs and the attitudes of building principals concerning both REI and collaborative consultation. Surveys mailed to 65 principals yielded a return of 30 questionnaires (6 secondary and 24…

This study assessed the sports nutrition knowledge of current and prospective physical educators/coaches (HPEs) to determine the need for improved education in this area and to compare the nutrition knowledge of HPEs with that of foods and nutrition students (FNSs) and general college students (GENs). A researcher-developed 4-point Likert-type…

This practicum involved the development and implementation of a multimodal inservice program for six elementary classroom teachers (representing each grade level) who indicated high frustration levels due to lack of significant knowledge of Attention Deficit Disorders (ADD). The 12-week inservice included lectures, guest speakers, audiotapes and…

The proposition that the mastery of complex tasks embodies several components was studied for 236 students in an undergraduate introductory financial accounting course. A new curriculum was developed for the course that included in-depth exposure to the actual financial statements of a company and the understanding of the structural relationships…

A possible method of solving problems of knowledge representation and system adaptation in a hypermedia environment was examined. The method, based on the notion of semantic networks, uses the technique of knowledge mapping. In the process of reading a hypermedia document, the learner constructs a knowledge map (KM) specifying the relationships…

In 1977, a longitudinal study was undertaken to determine the effects of health curricula on children's knowledge level; their attitudes toward good health practices; and their smoking, drinking, and drug-use behavior. Knowledge and attitude tests and a student survey were administered to students who entered kindergarten in 1977. These children…

The student placement test in English as a Second Language used for the Eurocentres schools in the United Kingdom differs from traditional placement tests in that it is a vocabulary test and does not attempt to measure other aspects of learner knowledge of English. The test attempts to measure absolute size of the learner's English vocabulary. The…

In self-adapted testing (SAT), examinees select the difficulty level of items administered. This study investigated three variations of prior information provided when taking an SAT: (1) no information (examinees selected item difficulty levels without prior information); (2) view (examinees inspected a typical item from each difficulty level…