Last spring a number of educational organizations were asked by the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada, to comment on the recently completed OECD Report. Here is the comment prepared by the CEA. (Editor)

Describes the National Assessment of Educational Progress program, its nationwide testing program, past results of the program, and desired results of the 1976-77 testing currently underway. (SL) Aspect of National Assessment (NAEP) dealt with in this document: Results (Interpretation).

Compares the sociology teaching experience in a community college with that in a university. The comparison focuses on the problems of maintaining an identity as a sociologist and the boundaries of the discipline in the two settings. (Author/DB)

The author questions the extent to which educators have relied on "relevance" and learner participation in objective-setting in the past decade. He describes a useful approach to learner-oriented evaluation in which content relevance was not judged by participants until after they had been exposed to it. (MF)

Essays written by 173 Yale freshmen were studied and related to the following data: (1) ratings of an essay on six different categories of writing; (2) responses of the student to a questionnaire about past writing and current courses; (3) grades in three basic freshmen English courses; and (4) pre-college test scores. Implications for educational…

The leadership of Wireman as president of Eckerd College, first called Florida Presbyterian, during a eight-year period is reviewed. (This is the third in a series of profiles of noteworthy academics.) (LBH)

States that art history is only available to gifted students in the British educational system. Contends that mixed ability pupils have a right to their cultural heritage also. Advocates that art history and critical studies become a part of the core curriculum for all pupils. (BSR)

Discusses three books that approach writing assessment from differing perspectives and will help writing program administrators reconsider purposes, anticipate problems, and envision new possibilities for writing evaluation. (HTH)

Presents chapter one of TOWARD CIVILIZATION, the National Endowment for the Arts report on arts education in the United States. Discusses what basic arts education is and why it is important, describing impediments to its implementation and its current status. Offers recommendations for developing an arts curriculum. (GEA)

Seven characteristics of an effective outcomes assessment program are identified: Outcomes assessment is a curricular rather than a measurement issue, yields information useful to decision-makers in gauging the quality of the curriculum, institutional purpose drives decisions on how outcomes are assessed, etc. (MLW)

Summarizes the Holmes and Carnegie reports and examines their major recommendations. The analysis points out the contradictory nature of the reforms, their conservative implications, and the lack of scholarly arguments to support such assertions. (DH)

Offers an overview of significant changes proposed by the Holmes and Carnegie reports. Criticizes the reports for assuming that means are separate from ends and form from content. Contends the reports ignore available scholarship, leaving unchallenged thinking and practices in teaching and teacher education. (DH)

Analyzes the historical context, arguments, and evidence of the Holmes Group report. Maintains that the report reflects the conservative political climate of the 1980s and is unsupported, ambiguous, and contradictory in areas. Concludes that the report's silence on the substance of teacher education highlights its political purpose of policing the…

The efficacy of desegregation is questioned. Examples from St. Louis show how desegregation prepares minorities for the underclass. The following proposals are made: (1) assess desegregation's impact; (2) abandon the city-county programs; (3) appoint masters for nonintegrated schools; (4) restructure the city district; and (5) establish a summer…

The purposes of evaluation design are stated. A description of experimental, quasi-experimental, survey, and naturalistic designs is presented. Emphasis is placed upon the identification of sources of invalidity in these designs that may compromise the accuracy of inferences regarding program effectiveness. (Author/JAZ)