This paper examines the effectiveness of three methods of teaching interpersonal communication (lecturing, using interpersonal exercises, and using exercises that require the application of interpersonal skills) and the relationships among students' test scores on examination questions dealing with knowledge, comprehension, and application skills.…

An interim status report is presented on a study of predictors to aid in reducing the 35-40% dropout/failure rate in general chemistry at the Mississippi Gulf Coast Junior College, Perkinston Campus. Data from 1974-75 and 1975-76 were used to develop a formula whereby potentially weak students could be identified before they failed or dropped out…

The CIRCUS Assessment battery has been demonstrated to be very effective when used by teachers in conventional preschool programs, with typical students. This discussion investigates the feasibility of using CIRCUS with educationally handicapped children: (1) for the early identification of educable mentally retarded (EMR) or learning disabled…

The reliability of the two most widely used course evaluation instruments at Indiana University was examined. The 38-item Form A, a modification of a course-evaluation instrument reported by Hildebrand and Wilson, at the University of California at Davis, asked students to rate instructors on a seven-point scale, from excellent to poor. The…

This document presents proceedings of a 1976 conference on the assessment of teaching competence in special education teachers. The concerns identified for discussion were: (1) instruments for assessing interpersonal competencies in preservice special education students; (2) instruments for assessing teaching competencies in noninterpersonal…

This paper examines the question of the hereditary nature of intelligence and the validity of some of the statistical procedures which have been used in measuring the degree of hereditability. The author feels that proof of the question lacks sufficient scientific rigor for the support of any conclusion, particulary for a question of such…

A method for statistical analysis of semantic differential data in educational evaluation is discussed. Estimated scores for unobserved affective variables are obtained using the canonical factor regression method. This method overcomes previous prolems of bias and inefficiency in computing composite affective indices. In an application of the…

In several studies of experimental interviewing techniques and their effect on reporting behavior described in this publication, an attempt is made to identify the elements of the interview process that are potential sources for improving data collection. Methodological studies designed to test the effectiveness of certain questionnaire designs…

This paper describes an experiment in which the Developmental Sentence Scoring procedure, which has been used successfully for scoring sentence complexity in child language, was examined for its usefulness when applied to adult learners of English as a Second Language. The technique is based upon a developmental scale of syntax acquisition within…

This study was concerned with the relative usefulness of the Strong Vocational Interest Blank (SVIB) for black men and white men at the University of Colorado. The study provided evidence that the SVIB can be relevant for black students without applying different norms. (Author)

Head Start children tested at 4 years of age on the Preschool Preposition Test (PPT) and the Classroom Behavior Description checklist (CBD) were assessed for academic achievement and scholastic aptitude at the third- and eighth-grade levels. The PPT is a receptive language test which examines the comprehension of verbal directions by using spatial…

To validate a proposed statistical index of instructional effectiveness, researchers identified 33 school characteristics related to instructional effectiveness and tested the relationship between these characteristics and the proposed index. The index includes two subject area indices, mathematics and reading, and is based on statistical…

Student self-expectations are believed to exert a powerful influence on performance. Student perceptions and social comparisons during transfer students' (N=1362) first semester in a large state university were examined to determine variables that might be related to the formation of student performance expectations. Subjects completed…

One problem in the assessment of personality characteristics is the lack of predictive power of scales across time and situations with respect to overt behavior. Items from two scales of the Edwards Personality Inventory (Articulate and Center of Attention) considered suitable for behavioral assessment, were found to have a relatively high rate of…

A study examined the relationships between retelling--an indicator of reading comprehension obtained through a student's oral recall of a story--and three other indicators of reading comprehension representing various viewpoints in comprehension measurement: miscues, a post oral-reading cloze test, and a passage dependent multiple choice test.…