Advantages and disadvantages of standard Rasch analysis computer programs are discussed. The unconditional maximum likelihood algorithm allows all observations to participate equally in determining the measures and calibrations to be obtained quickly from a data set. On the advantage side, standard Rasch programs can be used immediately, are…

"New Horizons in Adult Education" is an electronic journal started in the fall of 1987 by the Syracuse University Kellogg Project. In the spring of 1989, the project surveyed readers of New Horizons to find out how they were reacting to the journal and its method of transmission. Data were collected by sending the survey electronically…

Bringing popular culture into the composition classroom is useful not because it erases the conflict between student and academic discourses, but rather because it serves to heighten this already extant conflict, thereby allowing it to become one of the subjects of study. Writing samples by two students early in the semester and class discussion…

This study examined differential item performance in the Progressive Achievement Tests for Mathematics (PAT Math) by both Pakeha (reference--majority) and Maori (focal--minority) students in New Zealand using both Item Response Theory (IRT) and non-IRT techniques. The PAT Math, a 50-item standardized test used in part to guide within class and…

Intended for middle school teachers interested in helping students (especially those with no experience attending theater) learn how to read and see a play by themselves, this paper provides a lesson plan based on W. W. Jacobs's dramatic play, "The Monkey's Paw." After furnishing a rationale for reading this particular play, the paper…

The validity of criterion-referenced interpretations of the proficiency scales of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is discussed. A major goal of the NAEP scales is to describe student achievement in specific content areas from grade 3 (age 9 years) through grade 11 (age 17 years). The numerical values for NAEP scales are…

The study described in this report was designed to measure the attitudes of Virginians towards higher education in Virginia and towards some environmental problems facing the Commonwealth. The survey questioned 517 Virginia citizens over age 18 whose households were chosen through random-digit-telephone dialing. Among the findings of the survey…

Computerized adaptive testing for language teaching and learning takes advantage of two properties of the computer: its number-crunching and multiple-branching capabilities. Adaptive testing has also been called tailored testing because it aims at presenting items that suit the student's competence and that are informative, using an item bank and…

Within the next 3 years, every school district in the country is likely to deal with a new and frightening challenge--dealing with the presence of students or staff members with HIV infection or AIDS. How schools respond to this challenge may well determine the future of U.S. education. Some communities may react with ignorance and fear, just as…

The insights provided by Rasch analysis of results from a literature test were explored. Students in grades 9, 10, and 11 (n=261) responded to a 28-item test before they received one of three treatments: (1) direct instruction, based on research on metacognition in reading, which attempts to give conscious control of strategies used to understand…

In multiple-choice items the response probability on an item may be viewed as the result of two distinct latent processes--a cognitive process to solve the problem, and another random process that leads to the choice of a certain alternative (the process of giving the actual response). An incomplete latent class model is formulated that describes…

A study investigated the use of riddles beginning with How, When, and Why to see which question type was easier for low-achieving students to answer correctly, and to see if practice could increase the number of correct answers chosen. For comparison purposes, scores were also collected for an average-achieving group without practice, to see if…

A study investigated the finding that metacognitive ability and reading level are related, and examined the effects of both presentation and response modes on young children's ability to detect ambiguity in messages. An ambiguity detection test was completed by 74 first grade children (who also completed a reading pretest), 26 second graders, and…

The problems arising from treating word and sentence complexity as the direct causes of difficulty in comprehension are surveyed in this paper from the perspective of readability formulas. The basic choices and assumptions made in the development and use of readability formulas are discussed in relation to the larger question of text…

Designed to provide an alternative to the book report, this booklet presents ideas for students to use in responding to books they have read. These ideas may help to get students to react to their reading, to stretch their minds, to learn to think as independent human beings, and to use their imaginations in experiencing literature. The 152 ideas…