A review is presented of the operations of the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER). Overviews are provided of ACER activities and future planning in the following programs: (1) social context of education; (2) measurement and evaluation; (3) learning and teaching; (4) survey and psychometric services; (5) advisory services; and (6)…

Intended for use by curriculum specialists, administrators, resource teachers, classroom teachers, and teachers of special reading programs, this guide for language arts in grades 9 through 12 offers general suggestions and specific activities for integrating the language arts. Skill areas covered include (1) imagining, (2) describing, (3)…

In the San Jose/Evergreen Community College District, course and basic skills prerequisites have been established for all courses. Students who do not have a record of having completed these prerequisites cannot enroll unless they have been assessed by a counselor, have had their prerequisites verified in alternate ways, and have been granted…

In fall 1984, a study was conducted to identify current instruction-related faculty development practices within Illinois's community colleges and to investigate the methods used to evaluate these practices. Data were collected from faculty development directors, academic administrators, and full-time teaching faculty in a two-stage process.…

Issues in preparing a review form to detect item bias in tests are discussed and the first draft of an item bias review form is presented. While stereotyping is the consistent representation of a given group in a particular light, bias is the presence of some characteristic of an item that results in differential performance of two individuals of…

Despite predictions that handwriting would become obsolete in the age of technology, it is still considered an important skill today. Examples are cited of individuals who improved their understanding of themselves and of particular concepts after writing about their thoughts and feelings. Frequently, dyslexic students are denied access to this…

This guide is intended to assist women in selecting and preparing for occupations that will either be in demand or continue to be in demand in the future. The first part is a guide to evaluating an occupation. It covers the following topics: costs and benefits (skills needed, training requirements, availability of training, costs of training,…

An introduction briefly summarizes the four previous conferences in this series, identifies trends in topics addressed, and introduces the 16 presented papers in this collection. The papers are as follows: (1) "Formative Evaluation and the New Technologies" (Marjorie Cambre); (2) "Formative Evaluation of Sesame Street Using Eye…

Eighty Singapore teachers voluntarily participated in the evaluation of three new scales: (1) the Responsibility Scale, which measures the teacher's sense of responsibility, willingness to take on additional new duties, and perception of being assigned duties; (2) the Change Scale which measures the teacher's acceptance of changes in life as…

Information is presented on an evaluation design for a federal program, the Podiatric Medicine Training Grant Program. The program supports the clinical training of third- and fourth-year podiatric medical students in underserved areas. Background information is provided on: the supply and distribution of health professionals and podiatrists in…

The Institute for Business, Industry and Government was established at Orange County Community College (New York) in April 1984 for the purpose of providing high quality, cost-effective training taught by qualified professionals at convenient locations and to develop methods of measuring training effectiveness. Since its first year of offering…

This review surveys major currents of thought and practice in teacher evaluation. Citing recent state-mandated teacher evaluation policies and procedures, several compelling questions of accuracy, fairness, and utility are raised. In response to these questions, the document first focuses on the distinction between formative and summative…

If organizations are to measure and use worker performance information effectively, they must distinguish between two components of performance appraisal: performance data (recorded information for comparing workers) and performance development (the process of improving human assets by discouraging ineffective and reinforcing effective job…

This guide was developed to help Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) prime sponsors to meet their responsibility for assessing the effectiveness of their efforts by examining the extent to which CETA participation has enhanced the longer-term income and employability status of former enrollees. As part 1 of a series, this document…

This paper calls attention to the current need for systematic diagnostic assessment in the secondary schools. The social organizational pressures of the secondary schools and the limited professional preparation of school psychologists to work with adolescents are cited as the two principle reasons why school psychologists have not provided…