The effectiveness of two five-point Likert response scales with different verbal anchors was compared. Four anonymous written questionnaires addressing characteristics of effective schools were developed. Each questionnaire was prepared in two formats, one with each response scale. The 4 questionnaires were composed of between 140 and 200 items. A…

This paper presents results of a survey that focused upon responses from college faculty (N=33) and community professionals (N=56) in the following areas: the goals of higher education; success factors of higher education; attitudes and values held about higher education; gender discrimination in higher education; and perceived social status of…

This paper describes a study of the socioemotional functioning of middle-class male and female preschoolers who had experienced varying degrees of nonparental care during the infant/toddler period. A review of the literature revealed that previous research findings from child care programs were inconclusive about potential differential effects on…

A scaling procedure is proposed, based on item response theory (IRT), to fit non-hierarchical test structure as well. The binary scores of a test of English were used for calculating the probabilities of answering each item correctly. The probability matrix was factor analyzed, and the difficulty intervals or estimates corresponding to the factors…

The sources of multidimensionality found in several different forms of a licensure examination were studied. The relationship between one source of multidimensionality, differential item functioning (DIF) (or factors producing DIF), and content characteristics was explored in an attempt to isolate aspects of training or curriculum that could…

This "hybrid" textbook (part anthology, part activities, part discursive text) introduces methods students to important topics in English education. The book introduces students to a process approach to writing, a reader-response approach to literature, and a sociolinguistic approach to language. Each chapter in the book features: an…

The autobiography "I, Rigoberta Menchu" is a complicated text--the conditions of its production, the complexity of its subject matter, and the wide range of possible responses among North American readers create challenges for composition students and instructors. A week of taped interviews with Rigoberta Menchu, a Guatemalan Indian…

A study examined whether dramatization exercises generated more interpretive and evaluative thought among students regarding theme and characterization within a short story than traditional methods of answering questions or writing an essay regarding the story. Subjects, 35 junior English students at a suburban southern California high school,…

This study explored the changing nature of post-secondary students' situational demands and how students of different ages cope with those demands. The study proceeded by tracking episodes of demands and coping throughout an academic year with a sample of 56 students enrolled at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (Canada) in 2-year…

This issue of "Teachergram" addresses media-related issues such as the kind of world picture Canadians receive from mainstream media, the ability of television to describe the complexity of world events, and the claim of distorted and simplistic portrayal of developing nations. Students are encouraged critical perspective--to help them…

Problems of validity and reliability of concept mapping are addressed by using item-response theory (IRT) models for scoring. In this study, the overall structure of students' concept maps are defined by the number of links, the number of hierarchies, the number of cross-links, and the number of examples. The study was conducted with 92 students…

A benefit of using the multifaceted Rasch model is the ability to factor out or control for confounding factors in the estimation of person ability and item difficulty. This study experiments with a variation of the multifaceted Rasch analysis in calibrating the effects of demographic characteristics that are intended to overcome the problem of…

As part of a longitudinal study of the growth of general medical knowledge among osteopathic medical students, a simple, convenient, and accurate vertical equating method was developed for constructing a scale for medical achievement. It was believed that Parts 1, 2, and 3 of the National Board of Osteopathic Medical Examiners' (NBOME) examination…

This paper discusses the competency space approach to diagnosing misconceptions, skill, and knowledge acquisition. In some approaches that combine misconceptions, skill, and knowledge acquisition, the latent ability theta is used more or less as an insignificant element, but in the competency space approach, a multidimensional latent space is…

This book is about teaching and learning the English language and about using children's literature to support that teaching and learning in K-8 classrooms. The book is organized to help preservice teachers first develop a knowledge of language, and then examine the ways in which teachers can teach and children can learn about language. Chapters…