Discusses the trend in the adult education system in Poland; includes the educational options available to adults, the adult education courses offered, and the functions of adult education. Also discusses the educational development and reform prospects for adapting the present system to meet the needs for continuing education. (EM)

Describes a regional effort undertaken in New England for implementing life skills instruction. Discusses the impact of the project on students, programs, project members, and region. (EM)

A review of the home study or correspondence school method of education indicates that this method may offer training superior to campus education for vocationally-oriented students, particularly in technology. Programs are tailored to individual needs and credit toward academic degrees may be granted. Home study remains primarily in private…

Review the progress and refinement of educational assessment during the past 40 years. Discusses the dynamic effects of the interaction between persons in various fields of educational practice and persons specializing in educational evaluation. Mentions adoption by the U.S. Army of psychological and educational tests for purposes of selection and…

Four job-oriented measures for judging school or program effectiveness are compared: (1) placement rate; (2) work-relatedness test; (3) rate of return; and (4) incremental income/cost ratio. The critique is largely based on economic planning literature and empirical data from Maine and Singapore are used. (Author/LBH)

Productive language is where both recent innovative efforts and the most severe problems are. Two problems to be answered are decisions about the assessment situation and about focal aspects of communicative competence to be assessed in them. Two examples of current work are inserted from papers prepared by the staff of the High/Scope Educational…

Students' standardized test scores do little to gauge school program effectiveness. This article suggests that improving the data for monitoring schools, accounting for schools' varying financial picture, and relating outcomes to features capable of being changed will enhance program evaluation and school management. Some state efforts in this…

An edited version of the Executive Summary of the Ninth Annual Report to Congress by the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, Department of Education is presented. Among topics addressed for the 1985-86 school year are number of students served, least restrictive environment, and anticipated service needs of students exiting…

Investigates the reading-writing relationship, emphasizing theories postulating identicality of knowledge use. Administered four reading measures and eight writing measures to second and fifth graders and found few correlations between reading and writing variables. Suggests little improvement arises from combining reading and writing or from…

Reviewed 38 social skills training studies which used social-learning or social-cognitive approach and were published between 1976 and 1985, analyzing methods of outcome assessment. Recommended outcome measures, often not adequately measured, included generalization and durability of treatment effects, and functional analysis of relationship…

A beginning strategy for achieving high quality in child care programs was derived from results of an examination of 21 Pennsylvania child care centers. These centers used the Early Childhood Environmental Rating Scale (ECERS) to assess program quality. Implications for staff training are discussed. (BB)

Means of fostering utilization of educational evaluations are reviewed. Four ongoing educational evaluation programs were examined: (1) Florida Summer Institute Program; (2) Chapter I Reading Microcomputer Component; (3) Elementary Academically Gifted Program; and (4) Laboratory for Individualized Foundation Teaching. The addition of one factor…

With student outcomes assessment, institutions can refocus priorities so that educational quality is based on what and how much students learn. Value-added/talent development and outcomes measures, and models of student outcomes assessment (program improvement, gatekeeping functions, and budget decisions and accountability) are discussed. (MLW)

First presents a framework for understanding the dynamics of organizational life (within a child care center). Then presents a rationale for regularly assessing work attitudes about the organizational climate. Finally, provides recommendations for undertaking climate assessments in a systematic way. (BB)

Suggests that, although questions are often used to help students or stimulate student thinking, questions can also be used to help evaluate student thinking and attitudes about problem solving. Sample problems and questions are given. (PK)