The Competency-based Middle School Program (grades 6-8) and the Competency-based Secondary School Project (grades 9-11) were funded by the South Carolina State Department of Education under the Elementary Secondary Education Act Title IV-C. These programs were to provide instruction based on the principles of mastery learning in helping middle…

The document offers a student workbook and a teacher's answer book to accompany a seventh grade geography unit on transportation and its environmental impact (see ED 120 036 and 113 222). Two types of exercises are offered in the workbook: a review sheet to be filled in by the students after studying a chapter and a final self-mastery test. The…

Maine's gubernatorially appointed Commission on Secondary Education produced eight overarching observations and six core principles governing learning climate, teacher expectations, differentiated instruction, assessment, democratic engagement, and program coherency. This new vision challenges schools and communities to rethink how they assess,…

Two Computers Unlimited elementary magnet schools have completed their first year of operation as part of the Long-Range Magnet School Plan in the Kansas City School District. The curriculum for the Computers Unlimited theme emphasizes basic skills, problem solving, and critical thinking skills. This formative evaluation report addresses the…

The Fort Worth (Texas) Board of Education, Superintendent, and Texas State Legislature have implemented changes in the schools to increase student learning time. The purposes of this study were to determine (1) the percentage of allocated class time used for instruction; and (2) whether overall time utilization has changed since a similar 1979-80…

In order to develop a formula to measure effective schooling and student achievement, a number of reports on excellence in education were reviewed: (1) The National Commission on Excellence in Education's report, "A Nation at Risk"; (2) The Education Commission of the States Task Force on Education for Economic Growth report; (3) The…

This report summarizes the proceedings of an Ohio Department of Education conference convened to describe, define, and develop activities that would provide a working model of the school principal as the instructional leader. First, the results of a pre-conference principals' needs assessment, which formed the basis for conference planning and…

Focusing on thinking skills which are basic to citizenship, the paper reviews definitions of citizenship from Plato to the present, discusses scholarly thinking about citizenship, lists general principles of skill development, and presents two brief sample lessons. Citizenship is interpreted as social interaction which is based upon global…

The relationship between achievement and method of individualized instruction and testing was investigated using a class of 32 community college students. Construction of the mastery tests was described. For the class as a whole, students in a mastery-by-module group had slightly, but not significantly, higher scores than students in a…

A Personalized System of Instruction (PSI) program for nontraditional adult learners was developed, implemented, and evaluated for the purpose of making recommendations as to the need for and nature of further related research. Proposed program settings were two classes of adult basic education students and one of prison inmates. A case study…

Following a summary of what is presently known about transfer skills, the options available for assessment of transfer skills are identified and problems inherent in that task examined. Transfer skills (the ability or capacity of the learner or worker to transfer skills or knowledge from prior experiences to new ones) are discussed using the work…

This final report describes activities and accomplishments of a project which developed, implemented, and evaluated the effectiveness of a microcomputer/videodisc math instructional management system for grades K-4. The system was designed to operate on an APPLE II microcomputer, videodisc player, and input-output devices. It included three…

This book is intended to serve as a sourcebook that provides descriptions of some of the best and most popular school- and classroom-improvement programs in America. It offers a comprehensive framework for selecting and adapting these programs to address a local school's particular needs. It was also designed to help school leaders understand and…

To support a comprehensive look at the problem of increasing minority student achievement in the Montgomery County Schools (Maryland), this report reviews the literature to identify factors affecting minority achievement and to learn from 20 years of programs aimed at low achievers. Section I describes three types of intervention programs: (1)…

An experimental, interdisciplinary, mastery learning course in intercultural communication--designed to help students at Santa Barbara (California) City College overcome barriers arising from language, attitudinal, nonverbal, and ethnocentric variations in communication styles--is described in this collection of documents. The collection includes…