Among the provisions of the British Educational Reform Act of 1988 are arrangements for a national system of student assessment using nationally provided tests (SATs) in most subjects and formal teacher assessment to complement information from the externally provided assessment tasks. How teachers are reacting to these reforms was studied through…

"Pursuit of Excellence" is a plan developed through the cooperation of many stakeholders to guide the improvement efforts of the Detroit (Michigan) public schools in 1994-95. The first goal, to guarantee student success, includes objectives for achievement and results on achievement tests and objectives for accreditation, attendance, and…

This report presents Fall, 1991 results of the New Jersey College Basic Skills Placement Testing which tests incoming college students and evaluates collegiate remedial courses. A summary of the findings notes that freshmen recorded poorer results on every section of the test compared to 1990 results, that in verbal skills 42 percent lacked…

Portfolio assessment was investigated as a method of evaluating elementary school students' competence in writing. The study comprised an empirical study of the utility and meaningfulness of using a holistic/analytic scoring rubric to score students' portfolios and a qualitative analysis of scoring approaches drawing on raters' critiques of the…

The current wave of reform in education, often referred to as systemic change, requires specific evaluation needs, especially at the school district level. Evaluation must address both the local district effort for systemic reform and restructuring. The state and national need to demonstrate accomplishment of student outcomes and adherence to…

This curriculum guide contains seven units related to Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) and student participation in this organization. Information on use of the publication is followed by an instructional supplement that provides suggestions for teaching the basic skills included in each assignment sheet or job sheet. Each instructional…

This report explores the educational progress of students of Limited English Proficiency (LEP) who entered the New York City Public Schools in the fall of 1990 and 1991. It describes students' success in meeting the exit criteria for bilingual and English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) programs. The study focuses on such short-term outcomes as the…

Alverno College (Wisconsin), a women's liberal arts college, has developed an Alumni Career Level Classification (AACLC) scheme to measure alumna career advancement and demonstrate institutional accountability. This validation study was part of a larger longitudinal study of two entire cohorts of students entering the college in 1976 and 1977, of…

The research evidence supporting current beliefs in testing is summarized, and critical qualities that good assessment should exemplify and the current state of the research knowledge on how to produce good assessment are reviewed. Research has demonstrated the difficulties of achieving meaningful improvement in schools and the shortcomings of…

This booklet introduces techniques and concepts that can be used for alternative styles of lesson delivery within the context of the autonomous learning approach and self-managing teams that are characteristic of resource-based learning. Much of the information is designed to help teachers enable learners to make good use of information resources.…

How distance education affects academic performance and student attitudes was studied for graduate students in an off-campus location taking a course required for their majors. The performance and attitudes of the distance (off-campus/remote) class of 16 students were compared with those of a control group of 12 students in a similar class and 25…

Information is provided on factors associated with the effectiveness of continuation high schools in California. This Phase 2 report (following a Phase 1 study of 54 schools) is based on information gathered from 10 schools that were selected as among the more effective in the state at retaining students in school and graduating them.…

The model of feedback processing proposed by R. W. Kulhavy and W. A. Stock (1989) was studied in a traditional classroom setting in which methods of assessing students' response confidence as predictors of postfeedback performance were also examined. The relationship between confidence ratings at the time of the test and confidence assessed prior…

As part of the baseline studies necessary for a new strategic plan for the Saginaw (Michigan) public schools, the relationship of grade point averages (GPAs), student absence, and Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP) results were studied relative to the amount of shared variation common to each. All possible correlations were studied at…

This volume examines and discusses educational research and its application. A collection of abridged and edited versions of original research reports is presented, intended to help teachers use research findings to inform their own practice. The research papers bring teaching methods and resources up to date; discuss the learning potential of…