The proceedings of the fourth annual Association of Writing Supervisors within the City University of New York (CUNY) are offered in this special newsletter issue. The papers from the proceedings are organized under the five thematic strands of the conference, which confronted the central issues of writing instruction at CUNY. The five strands are…

This paper examines the relationship of urban reform and school reform to class conflict and assesses the adequacy of a class conflict model for explaining school reform in Atlanta in 1897. A model which explains urban reform (including school reform in urban areas) in class conflict categories is based on an ideology protective of middle-class…

The 1980-81 Austin Independent School District Title I Migrant Program for current and former migrant children operates at preschool through high school levels on an increased budget of $1,025,358 and centers around student recruitment and parent participation, a pre-K through high school instructional program, and health and clothing support…

This paper explores perceptions of teacher education students regarding the relative value of four methods-course components--experiences with children, methods, content, and theory. The objective is to provide information to educators in teacher training programs as they determine how various components of the teacher education process influence…

The Vermont Basic Competency Program is described, and its assessment results are reported for its second year of implementation. Data were collected on students in Vermont who were born in 1963, who are in the high school class of 1981 (which will be the first class to require mastery of 51 basic competencies for graduation), and who have already…

A detailed conceptual framework describing curriculum development pursuits as they are actually carried out in a cross-section of developed countries is presented. The nations surveyed were Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The ultimate goal of the study is to make available to developing nations, facing profound social changes, a…

Following opening remarks by Joseph L. Dionne, four sections of papers are presented. In part I--Testing and the Basic Skills--P. Michael Timpane and Judith Shoemaker discuss federal activities, Edwin L. West, Jr. discusses the coordination of teaching and testing, and Amelia Ashe describes testing and teaching of writing competency. Part…

This report summarizes changes in student performance in the areas of citizenship and social studies, as measured by the National Assessment of Educational Progress. An initial assessment of citizenship was conducted in 1969-70, and an initial assessment of social studies was conducted in 1971-72. Both areas were reassessed in 1975-76. Because…

The final evaluation of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act Title I Migrant Program in the Austin, Texas Independent School District is reported. The program consisted of instructional, student recruitment, parental involvement, health services, and clothing components. The instructional component included programs for pre-kindergarten…

The Pupil-Perceived Needs Assessment (PPNA) is designed to assist school personnel in collecting information on pupil attitudes, reactions, and feelings towards new and existing curricular and extracurricular programs or towards education in general, and to assess pupils' needs from the pupils' perspective. The package is not meant to be used as…

This paper discusses some of the problems involved in the testing of minority group children, focusing on the testing of bilingual minorities and emphasizing the special problems involved in testing Hispanic children. Considered are a variety of ways in which tests have been misused and misinterpreted in working with these children. It is…

The booklet summarizes results from national, state, and local surveys which evaluated the need for state studies. The surveys were conducted during the fall of 1976 by the Maine Studies Curriculum Project (MSCP) in order to provide a basis for planning the Maine Studies Curriculum. MSCP was funded in 1976 through the Elementary and Secondary…

In recent years the Lincoln, Nebraska public school system has increased the amount of material available for the evaluation of its educational programs and has organized it for use in decision making situations. This position paper summarizes the current situation, and clarifies policies and procedures for educational program evaluation. Two…

A survey was completed by 194 secondary school English teachers in Switzerland. Data indicate that: (1) a relatively small number of teachers have degrees from universities outside Switzerland; (2) the study of English generally does not begin until the age of 15; (3) the great majority of English classes meet for three or four hours a week; (4)…

The Community College of Vermont (CCV) initiated a three-year Integrated Service Team (IST) Project to develop, test, and evaluate a model for learner needs assessment that incorporated institutional collaboration among postsecondary institutions in Vermont. Graduate student interns and faculty representatives from state and community colleges…