Teachers conducting a thematically organized literature-based reading program centered around student-led discussion groups wanted to explore ways in which the values they wanted to promote could be reflected in the ways they assessed their students. This study considers how valuing a broader scope of language and literacy abilities and making…

Some standard-setting methods require judges to estimate the probability that an examinee who just meets an achievement standard will answer each of a set of items correctly. These probability estimates are then used to infer the values on some latent scale that, in theory, determines an examinee's responses. The paper focuses on the procedures…

The participatory rural appraisal (PRA) technique was used with 1,550 women and 420 men in more than 100 villages in Uganda, El Salvador, and Bangladesh over a 2-year period to develop and pilot test an approach to literacy education called REFLECT (Regenerated Freirean Literacy through Empowering Community Techniques). The REFLECT approach, which…

The guide is designed to assist teachers in postsecondary education, particularly vocational education, with some students from language backgrounds other than English. It both offers suggestions for classroom organization and interaction and poses questions to stimulate teachers' examination of the processes at work in the learning situation.…

A variety of materials and forms used in the development of vocational English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) programs for industry employees are provided, with little narrative information. They include: a list of criteria for teacher selection; forms for recording contacts with companies; a list of information sources and content areas and several…

This publication contains seven peer-reviewed papers from a conference on college developmental education with the theme of student success. The papers are: (1) "Reversing the Academic Probation Dilemma" by John Foreman and Nancy Ann Rossi on programming for students on academic probation; (2) "Reading and Writing: Tools for Problem…

This document concerns what teachers learned from students responses to the Maryland School Performance Assessment Program (MSPAP) tests in 1995. Teacher responses and comments are presented in the following categories: (1) "Look How Far We've Come!" (identifies areas of improvement in student performance); (2) "Perceptions"…

An overview of Ohio's proficiency testing program is presented and specific information pertaining to the testing at each grade level is detailed. The proficiency tests at each of four grade levels in Ohio include tests in writing, reading, mathematics, and citizenship, with science tests to be added in 1996. All of the tests, at grade level 4, 6,…

This document consists of two issues (1995) of a Spanish-Embassy publication to aid teachers of the Spanish language in elementary and middle schools, with classroom activities and lesson plans. Each issue is illustrated with photographs, maps, and drawings, and each concentrates on a particular topic. Issue number 8 concerns art; issue number 9…

This study examines correlations between the Metropolitan Achievement Tests, seventh edition (MAT-7), and analogous portions of the 1995 Ohio Ninth-Grade Proficiency Tests. The MAT-7 scores of 156 eighth-grade students who had completed both test batteries were paired with complementary sections of the Proficiency test. Correlations between the…

Measuring students' progress toward higher achievement has been the purpose of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) since its inception in 1969. Students in public and nonpublic schools have been assessed in various subject areas on a regular basis, and the NAEP has also collected information about background variables that…

This fastback, a booklet bound "left-handed," is designed to help educators become aware of the problems faced by left-handed students in school and to suggest ways that many of the problems might be solved. Following an introduction discussing a personal experience with left-handedness, the booklet continues with a brief history of the treatment…

The case study of the restructuring of an urban elementary school in Los Angeles (California), the Murchison Street School, in partnership with California State University is described. Of the school's 1,050 students, 67% were eligible for Chapter I funding at the start of the restructuring initiative. Over 3 years, parents, teachers, the…

The State Bilingual Education Program and the Education Consolidation and Improvement Act (ECIA) Chapter 1 Migrant Education Program are used to meet the special education needs of bilingual and migrant students in the Saginaw (Michigan) city school district. These programs operated at 24 elementary schools, 4 junior high schools, and 2 high…

Pupils with Compensatory Educational Needs (PCEN) provides New York State funding for remediation in reading, writing, mathematics, science, and social studies for eligible high school students. During summer 1993, 30,195 students took PCEN-funded summer classes. About two percent were enrolled in Project Outreach, a program for high school…