This report summarizes the results of a statewide survey (excluding New York City) on the objectives, procedures, and problems of school closing; it emphasizes school districts' planning processes. The report begins with information on the geographic distribution of closings; the years districts closed schools; and the types, sizes, and ages of…

Research on reading teacher effectiveness has taken several different directions over the past 30 years: during the 1950s and most of the 1960s, research focused primarily on teacher qualities; in the early 1970s attention shifted to the effect of the teaching process on student learning, while in the late 1970s and early 1980s experiments defined…

Presenting concepts generally applicable only to small rural regions or to local economies, this publication explains multipliers, shows how they are used in calculating impacts, and provides some criteria for determining whether a given multiplier can be used in a specific situation. Following a discussion of aggregate multipliers, which lump…

A study was conducted at Miami-Dade Community College (MDCC) to determine the comparability of the two tests used in Florida to assess students' entry-level skills, the Florida Multiple Assessment Programs and Services (MAPS) battery and the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT). The study also sought to determine the effect of altering SAT cutoff scores…

One of the most widely used instruments for assessing concerns has been the Stages of Concern Questionnaire (SoCQ) developed by the Concerns Based Adoption Model Project. In this research, different aspects of the validity of a modified version of the SoCQ produced for use with preservice teachers (PSSoCQ) are examined. In all, 10 different…

In its three parts, this presentation: (1) describes five aspects of James Coleman's concept of "social capital"; (2) describes how the concept of social capital was used to develop a questionnaire for assessing teachers' investment of emotional self (personality, warmth, enthusiasm, etc.) in caregiving; and (3) provides related…

A brief overview of computer-assisted instruction (CAI) is provided. The history and theoretical framework of CAI and typical developmental stages involved in the implementation of a CAI system are outlined. The way CAI determines background knowledge of a student, presents information necessary to learn new concepts, sets its pace according to…

The instrument designed by Patricia Kearney to measure communication style was chosen for a study of validity and reliability for three reasons: (1) the format of the instrument appeared to be more descriptive than evaluative, (2) its theoretical foundations encouraged the viewpoint that there is no one best communication style, and (3) it was…

Adapted screening devices and teacher observation were used in a 1974 study of 1003 Finnish students (ages 6-8) in an effort to predict future learning difficulties. Six areas were assessed: gross motor skills, sensory-motor integration, perceptual-motor skills, arithmetic skills, socioemotional adjustment, and verbal ability. In a follow-up study…

A study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the Tests of Adult Basic Education (TABE) in predicting success or lack of success in selected postsecondary health occupations programs. The predictor variables used in the project were the TABE reading and mathematics grade equivalent scores and the number of times each section of the TABE…

This booklet provides information about the Juvenile Counselor Examination developed as part of the evaluation procedures for juvenile counselor candidates in the Standards and Training for Corrections program in California. The four sections of the booklet (1) review the nature and purpose of cutoff scores in general; (2) recommend and justify a…

As a response to the artificiality of the traditional reading comprehension test, this booklet provides alternative means of testing that are within the guidelines of the British National Criteria. Ideas for testing informative, persuasive, autobiographical, and literary materials are presented in the booklet--carefully chosen to provide material…

The DeKalb County (Georgia) School District has developed a leadership assessment program called the Profile for Assessment of Leaders (PAL) that assesses eight generic competencies: (1) relating to other people, (2) communicating effectively, (3) making decisions, (4) planning and organizing, (5) supervising and evaluating, (6) professional…

Six studies are presented which investigate factors in implementing the Revolving Door Identification Model (RDIM) and the Enrichment Triad Model in gifted education for children in grades 1-8. In "An Analysis of the Productivity of Gifted Students Participating in Programs Using the Revolving Door Identification Model," S. Reis reports,…

This paper provides an understanding of the conceptual and operational relationships between evaluation, content analysis, and microcomputers so that evaluation practitioners can better address applied content analysis problems used in their work. The first section presents a general model for conducting an evaluation effort that focuses on…