A survey was conducted with 166 undergraduate students enrolled in teacher education and developmental reading classes to determine student background knowledge in three major areas: study and coping skills; current events, geography, and history; and general vocabulary. Among the findings were the following: (1) Students in both groups spent more…

Procedures for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) assessments of 9-, 13-, and 17-year-old students in mathematics and citizenship/social studies are outlined. An overview of NAEP's operation is followed by descriptions of the formulation of mathematics and citizenship/social studies objectives, development and field testing of…

The development of economic reasoning in young children is examined from the theoretical perspective of Piaget's work on cognitive development. To determine a possible correlation between grade level and the type of reasoning children use to approach economic problems, 70 urban children, preschool through grade 3, answered questions which measured…

What users of student ratings of instruction know about ratings and what they need to know to make valid and reliable use of ratings data were studied. An item bank of 153 multiple-choice items was developed from sources of information about student ratings. The full item bank had five subsets: (1) knowledge of ratings concepts; (2) knowledge of…

The impact of 2-week summer workshops and weekend reunions on college faculty who participated in the Stanford Program for Faculty Renewal was assessed using a questionnaire completed by 123 workshop participants, workshop and reunion observations, and interviews with 18 persons at 10 campuses. About two-thirds of the respondents were associate or…

A theory of the components of verbal intelligence is developed and tested in this series of experiments. After reviewing alternative theoretical frameworks for understanding verbal intelligence, a componential theory of verbal comprehension is proposed. This theory specifies the information-processing components, context cues, and mediating…

Upper elementary and secondary students, teachers, and parents were surveyed to measure their attitudes toward nationalism and students' knowledge of world affairs. Teachers were also questioned about their travel experiences and inservice activities. Results of the survey indicated that the students, in general, were against war, realized that…

Computers are changing the lives of millions of people, but schools are still not producing many computer literate students. Rapid improvements in hardware technology and major progress in the development of software have put computers within reach of everyone. Computer literacy must now be treated as a functional tool similar to reading, writing,…

Current approaches to inservice teacher education emphasize process and do not adequately address the maintenance and development of teachers' subject area expertise. It is possible that a well-documented curriculum can furnish adequate teacher renewal for content updating. However, how teachers will judge, select, and use appropriate materials…

Participants in a working conference on changing teacher practice made recommendations for future research. Two broad classes of recommendations were sought: findings from research on teaching most amenable to translation into staff development activities, and how that translation might occur so as to be most useful in bringing about desired…

Reports from the American Association of Medical Colleges' Project on the General Professional Education of Physicians and College Preparation for Medicine are presented. The 3-year project assessed the present educational approaches and developed recommendations to improve instructional programs and learning. Broad discussions about medical and…

A Car Passenger Safety Curriculum was developed for Grades K-6 and pilot tested in 10 elementary schools. Five schools served as treatment schools, five as comparison schools. The curriculum included materials at K-1, 2-3, and 4-6 grade levels. Observations were made of belt usage by students, and knowledge tests were administered to students…

This study addresses the baseline assessment of pupil composing competencies at age 11+. It asks whether it might be possible for these to be evaluated by the use of a whole-class listening task. A rationale for this proposal is discussed. Results from a pilot study which administered an original audiated puzzle-task to a cohort of pupils,…

A seat belt education campaign conducted in Canada to dispel myths surrounding seat belts and promote a better understanding of their functions was evaluated. Two telephone surveys, each comprised of 4,000 respondents, were conducted. The first was done immediately before the campaign and the second immediately succeeding the campaign. Also, a…

Concepts of measurement in physical education are presented in this college-level text to enable the preservice physical education major to develop skills in determining pupil status, designing effective physical activity programs, and measuring student progress. Emphasis is placed upon discussion of essential statistical methods, test…