Provides a framework that early childhood professionals can use to think and talk about faith and institutionalized religion in terms of the social contexts of young children. Suggests ways in which issues related to faith can be appropriately addressed in nonsectarian early childhood programs. (BB)

Describes a public library program designed to stimulate appreciation of adult fiction written in and about the contemporary western United States. Discussion covers project objectives, oral interpretation of literature, project phases, study guides and bibliographies, staff orientation, lectures, evaluators, personnel, publicity, problems, and…

Concepts behind plausible values in estimating population characteristics from sparse matrix samples of item responses are discussed. The use of marginal analyses is described in the context of the National Assessment of Educational Progress, and the approach is illustrated with Scholastic Aptitude Test data for 9,075 high school seniors. (SLD)

Compares the processing strategies of Indonesian and U.S. university students using an international news story attributed either to a high- or low-constraint source. Finds that audiences in censored news environments are more critical in distinguishing among news sources but less critical of the unconstrained news itself. (SR)

New developments in the use of automatically scorable constructed response item types for large-scale assessment are reviewed for five domains: (1) mathematical reasoning; (2) algebra problem solving; (3) computer science; (4) architecture; and (5) natural language. Ways in which these technologies are likely to shape testing are considered. (SLD)

The efficacy of 5 scales of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) in detecting fake good, fake bad, and honest profiles was investigated for 110 undergraduate students instructed to fake good, fake bad, or respond honestly. An analysis of variance suggests that these validity scales are useful. (SLD)

Discusses the field of television aesthetics and its contribution to education. Highlights include visual and auditory perception; cognition; composition of television images; and criteria for the analysis and evaluation of educational or instructional television programs, including content, medium, impact on the audience, perceptual factors,…

Describes visitor-oriented exhibits at the Natural History Museum that utilize precise principles of communication for educative purpose. These exhibits are designed on the basis of detailed knowledge of the audience, extending attention to the entire gallery as an experience rather than providing notice to individual exhibits, while taking…

One college mathematics teacher finds that asking students to write brief essays about their attitudes toward and experiences with mathematics offers insight into student motivation, perceptions and misperceptions, and emotional responses. The essay serves as a communication and motivational tool for both teacher and students. (MSE)

Teaching children to think critically about the media, particularly television, is discussed in terms of research on children's understanding of television; the interrelationships between cognitive, affective, and social factors; and the nature of child discourse and audience response to the media. Development of a more complex theoretical basis…

Study investigated relative merits of using teacher judgment and Slosson Full-Range Intelligence Test (SFRIT) to estimate students' math and reading achievement. Analyses of students enrolled in a remedial-reading program, showed that the SFRIT recovered more variance from the distributions of math and reading tests than did teacher judgment. (RJM)

The scales of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), as constructed, do not yield meaningful criterion-referenced interpretations. Poorly defined NAEP goals and the present knowledge base do not allow the measurement of what examinees can and cannot do. Inappropriate interpretations of NAEP data are discussed, with specific…

A study involving 102 high school students (49 males and 53 females) from Taiwan revealed that the order of response scale labels had a primacy effect on subjects' choices of the alternatives in Likert-type attitude scales. Practical implications of the response-order effects for measurement are discussed. (SLD)

This study, with 60 mothers of infants and toddlers with developmental disabilities, examined the effectiveness of using videotapes as part of a group parent education program. Parents in the group that saw the videotapes reported less perceived stress, a more positive view of their child's functioning, and higher levels of perceived belonging…

Evaluates how Stephen Silverman's research review (this issue) on teaching in physical education explains what the literature offers, what is missing, and what to do next, from the perspective of Silverman's personal reading. The article notes Silverman's review fails to make judgement calls about the research's worth. (SM)