This study is a snapshot of some school districts in California that are slightly ahead of their peers, though still in the early stages of this change process. What is important about the study is, first, the optimistic finding that capacity to support schools and school improvement can be built within school districts, at least in those large…

The INVEST sessions are intended to help AISD students and their parents improve communication skills, improve anger management strategies, develop positive conflict resolution methods, develop problem solving skills, and access support services as needed. When a middle or high school student in AISD is removed from the home campus to the…

Intercultural competence has acquired an important role in the foreign language classroom. However, we must also come to terms with assessing this highly complex construct if we consider it as a superordinate learning objective. Therefore the components of intercultural communicative competence that go beyond knowledge, especially attitudes,…

This handbook was written to share the feelings, experiences, and knowledge of parents of children with emotional disorders. The first chapter, "Feelings Come First," considers recognition of unusual behavior patterns underlying emotional disturbances and the difficulty of determining their causes, their impact on the family, and coping…

Essay questions and the effects of their use on student scores are examined by a teacher through collaborative action research. Collaboration with the teacher's graduate school faculty resulted in refinements to the research question and development of a practical study methodology. During the two years of the study, the teacher taught four…

Steps involved in the item analysis and scaling of the 1990 edition of Forms A and B of the Nevada High School Proficiency Examinations (NHSPEs) are described. Pilot tests of Forms A and B of the 47-item reading and 45-item mathematics tests were each administered to random samples of more than 600 eleventh-grade students. A computer program was…

This study examines the perceptions of almost 2,500 external clients of the University of New Mexico College of Education for the purpose of identifying clients' needs and suggestions for change. Focus groups, surveys, and open-ended response formats were used to gather data from all current undergraduate and graduate students as well as alumni…

This book presents the full array of assessment methods available to the classroom teacher in an interesting and engaging format, broadens the preservice and inservice teacher's understanding of related assessment issues, and places assessment in a meaningful context. The text, which was developed for an introductory course in classroom…

In fall 1991 and spring 1992, an interdisciplinary art-and-writing collaborative project was initiated by an English instructor at Yakima Valley Community College (YVCC) and a graphics instructor at Everett Community College (ECC), both in Washington State. The project involved a graphics art class at ECC and a writing class from YVCC, pairing…

This study is part of continuing research into the meaning of future National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) science scales. In this study, the test framework, as examined by NAEP's consensus process, and attributes of the items, identified by science experts, cognitive scientists, and measurement specialists, are examined. Preliminary…

A statewide network of High Tech Centers for the Disabled (HTCD) was developed to increase disabled student retention in the California community colleges by providing student access to computer technology and training, as well as an array of training and technical support services for community college faculty. This report presents a brief…

The Educational Testing Service (ETS) was contracted by the National Center for Education Statistics to investigate changes in tested achievement using cross-sectional comparisons between the 1972 National Longitudinal Study (NLS) seniors and the 1980 High School and Beyond (HSB) senior cohort. The ETS is also responsible for estimating the extent…

If young readers (adolescents) are introduced to a range of story structures and less structured texts (or "deviant narratives"), it may encourage the development of more diverse and accommodating schemata and the capacity to make inferences about the link between discourse units. It is, after all, a basic principle of recent narrative…

This manual describes 18 music-based activities and suggested variations designed for classroom teachers (with little or no musical training) to teach profoundly disabled students more consistent and advanced levels of responding to their environment. Brief suggestions are presented for teacher behaviors, structure of turn-taking, and classroom…

The career ladder is an incentive plan widely considered in response to perceptions of decline in teaching effectiveness and as a method of employment retention. Organizational research demonstrates the importance of meaningful work and authority relationship factors in determining employee attitudes. This study examines effects of career ladders…