According to the literature and historical experience, differences of opinion exist among teachers about the role and functions of counseling professionals in schools, and little information is available about preservice instruction on the work of school counselors. A study was conducted, therefore, for the following purposes: (1) to determine how…

Although student populations of public schools are becoming increasingly diverse, the teacher population has remained relatively homogeneous, and many teachers do not have sufficient knowledge of or experience with other cultural groups to deal with differences in the classroom. Gay men and lesbians comprise one such cultural group. A survey of 42…

This study investigated inservice teachers' perceptions of the importance for instructional supervisors to possess content knowledge in the content areas that they supervise. Questionnaires were completed by 120 teachers from two elementary, one middle, and one high school, and follow-up interviews were conducted with 20 respondents. Teachers…

This paper summarizes a study that assessed the effects of an extended case study that focused on wetland issues with seventh and eighth grade students. The extended case study is an instructional methodology that incorporates the issue investigation/evaluation and action training model. A modified pretest-posttest nonequivalent control group…

Two cases are described in which alternative assessments have been successfully employed in college mathematics. Case 1 describes an alternative assessment applied in a class of 10 elementary school teachers studying Euclidean geometry as required by state teacher-certification requirements. One student asserted that he already had an adequate…

A series of studies conducted in the late 1980s suggested that American adolescents lack adequate knowledge in geography, history, science, and current events. This paper examines motivational predictors of students' knowledge of current events and AIDS. Researchers surveyed 579 middle school students from 4 middle schools, and 1,548 high school…

The Urban Education Project developed by Research for Better Schools, Inc., has focused on meeting the needs of urban students in a changing and demanding society. In the second contract year of a 5-year contract, the project developed the Urban Education Restructuring Framework by categorizing relevant literature and school-oriented experiences…

The question examined in this paper is: what is known exactly about variables that affect long-term retention of knowledge learned in school? U. Neisser (1982) asserts that "it is difficult to find even a single study, ancient or modern, of what is retained from academic instruction." Further, popular belief holds that much of the knowledge…

Conventional approaches to teaching and learning perpetrate lies about the nature of knowledge, self-worth, and growth. Working with Foxfire and authentic assessment can offer teachers an opportunity to discover emancipating truths. These approaches demonstrate the value of students' growth in their own competence and in their self-direction. The…

Current research and learning theory suggest that a hierarchy of proportional reasoning exists that can be tested. Using G. Vergnaud's four complexity variables (structure, content, numerical characteristics, and presentation) and T. E. Kieren's model of rational number knowledge building, an epistemic model of proportional reasoning was…

Training in decision-making skills directly contributes to the combat readiness of Battle Staff Officers. More affordable, accessible, and effective training technologies are required to supplement the Command Post Exercises currently in use. This is the final report for a 3-year research and development (R&D) effort aimed toward development…

Two courses on logic gates were administered to 1,191 male and female recruits in Basic Military Training in 3 studies (448, 431, and 312 subjects, respectively) to evaluate the relative validities of the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) and the Learning Abilities Measurement Program (LAMP) tests in predicting individual…

This paper reports on the results of a study investigating attitude toward computing for a large group (n=509) of students undertaking an introductory information systems course in an Australian university. Students were surveyed using a two-part questionnaire. The first section dealt with gender, previous computing experience, and level of…

The National Center for Family Literacy (NCFL) is addressing problems of evaluation of family literacy programs through portfolio assessment. Beginning in fall 1991, 15 programs began using portfolios to document parent-child interactions. This guide provides a description of the introduction of portfolio assessment into these programs and…

Various parallel forms of the NTE (National Teacher Examinations) Test of Professional Knowledge (NTETPK) have been administered to examinees aspiring to initial teacher certification since 1982. To confirm that recent reported scores are comparable to those from earlier forms, the stability of the score scale was studied using section…