As part of the new Victorian Certificate of Education, the state of Victoria, Australia, implemented changes to secondary mathematics courses in order to cater to the needs and aspirations of all students by using a variety of teaching and assessment strategies. The first year that the changes were fully implemented for grade 12 was 1992. A…

Generative learning strategies are the focus of the study described in this paper. Research questions pertain to the effect of practice in the generation of analogies and summaries by Grade 7 students on their achievement in science, the different types and numbers of analogies that students generate, and students' perceptions of the effectiveness…

The School-Based Management and Accountability Program, also known as the "ABCs of Public Education," or just "the ABCs," is the statewide school-based accountability program for public schools in North Carolina. This document provides data on student performance on end-of-grade tests, end-of-course tests, the Scholastic…

The value and uses of formative evaluation in the school context are discussed. Normative, criterion-based, and "ecological" approaches to formative evaluation are defined, and three general purposes are identified: to fine-tune instruction; to make instruction of larger numbers of students more effective, and to convey to teachers a more…

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), also known as "The Nation's Report Card," is a congressionally mandated survey of educational achievement of American students in a variety of curriculum areas and of changes in that achievement across time. Part 1 of this report consists of the results of NAEP's 1990 national…

The Assessment and Intervention Model for the Bilingual Exceptional Student (AIM for the BESt) was designed as a comprehensive service delivery system to help school districts address the educational needs of language minority students. The model incorporates prereferral intervention, assessment, and intervention strategies. Implementation of the…

The competencies in this professional development guide are considered important to successful vocational teaching at the secondary and postsecondary levels. Each instructional unit provides learning experiences that integrate theory and application. Eight units are included: (1) planning for competency-based education; (2) aligning curriculum;…

Students' evaluations of teacher effectiveness are explored as a multidimensional construct, emphasizing the Students' Evaluations of Educational Quality (SEEQ) instrument developed by H. W. Marsh (1987). An overview is presented of studies in which Marsh evaluated longitudinal data from an archive of responses to nearly 1 million SEEQ instruments…

This document reports on the partnership between Prince George's County (Maryland) Public Schools and the Prince George's Private Industry Council to provide workplace literacy classes at worksites for employees of 10 different employers. Workplace-specific, work-related curricula have been developed in either English for speakers of other…

The overall goal of this 10-week practicum was to train parents and teachers in activities that would reduce anxieties and increase skills in Head Start children in order to prepare them for the transition to kindergarten. A kindergarten preparation curriculum unit was developed and workshops were held for training Head Start teachers in its use.…

Students who study algebra are more likely to attend college than those who don't. A major hurdle for students in studying algebra is the transition from arithmetic to algebra. In response to overcoming this hurdle, the College Board and Educational Testing Service has developed "Algebridge," a teaching supplement that integrates…

Using data from 135 sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-graders between 11 and 15 years old attending a middle school in a suburban Southwest Ohio school district, two hypothesized models of the factor structures for the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory were tested. One model represents the original Coopersmith factor structure, and the other model is…

A Monte Carlo study was conducted to compare the performance of three statistical indices of test item bias in small samples of examinees. The statistical indices compared were the Delta method, the Mantel-Haenszel (MH) method, and the Standardization method. Sample sizes of 50, 100, and 200 were examined. One thousand samples of each size were…

Fourteen papers from six countries are included in this volume. Several have been translated from French or German. The papers are grouped as follows: (1) Creativity and Language Learning: "Creativity, Brain, and Language" (M. Bergstrom) and "Creativity and Interactional Competence in Foreign Language Learning" (E. Oksaar); (2)…

Early Prevention of School Failure (EPSF) is a nationally validated program designed to prevent school failure by identifying the developmental levels and learning styles of children 4 to 6 years of age, and providing materials and teaching strategies to address students' needs and develop their strengths. In 1986-87, EPSF was introduced to the…