This paper presents a conceptual framework for organizing and relating the many confusing concepts associated with continuous assessment (CA) practices. Curriculum-based criterion-referenced CA is shown to have two major components: formative and summative assessment of student learning. The nature of these components and their interrelationships…

Wisconsin is the country's leading manufacturer of small engines, and the network of companies and suppliers constituting the small engine industry accounts for more than 5% of the state's entire manufacturing base. For the past 15 years, the industry has been rocked by intensified international competition and rapid technological advancement. A…

The Australasian Association for Institutional Research (AAIR) conference provided a comprehensive coverage of issues, concepts, and techniques in the areas of planning, data analysis and research, and related aspects of management support in tertiary education. Refereed papers from the conference include: (1) "Changes in Student Approaches…

Designed to aid decision makers at the Otselic Valley Central School (New York) in selecting the most cost-effective way of providing advanced courses to high school students, this study sought to identify the consequences of choosing a particular alternative so that better decisions could be made. This was done by comparing the cost and…

In 1992, a study was conducted to examine the relationship between a number of organizational criteria and the community college transfer function. Using a case study approach, six California community colleges, with either above average or below average transfer rates, were assessed in terms of adaptive capacity; organizational culture and…

The use of cooperative learning at the college level was studied by investigating whether different instructor intervention approaches would affect the achievement of college students using cooperative learning methods. Subjects were 97 undergraduate elementary education majors enrolled in three sections of a curriculum course at the University of…

The current wave of reform in education, often referred to as systemic change, requires specific evaluation needs, especially at the school district level. Evaluation must address both the local district effort for systemic reform and restructuring. The state and national need to demonstrate accomplishment of student outcomes and adherence to…

This paper describes the approaches being taken in 11 school districts that are located in California, Nevada, and Arizona to help disadvantaged newcomers within the districts, contrasts these approaches, and relates them to achievement-gain scores. The study's objective is to gauge whether school districts that were classified as high performers,…

The interests of two different at-risk populations in Pennsylvania are compared. Both urban minorities and rural youth participated in programs designed to motivate them to continue their education. Participants (52 rural and 30 urban middle school students) completed an interest survey as part of the program orientation. Although the rural youth…

This report describes a high school/college partnership between DeWitt Clinton High School (New York City) and Middlebury College (Vermont), the purpose of which is to build a bridge between the two school cultures and increase racial understanding and educational opportunity. It is noted that although the program is less than 2 years old, it is…

This survey was designed to measure the experiences of teachers who have recently completed their first year of teaching in public schools. It includes questions on their experiences in relation to students, administrators, other teachers, and parents. The report marks the completion of a two-part survey of new teachers. A first survey was…

This paper reports the results of an empirical study on the role of finances on college persistence. A quantitative causal model, that relied on several theoretical frameworks, was tested via structural equation modelling for categorical data that incorporated constructs from the financial aid literature as well as the persistence literature. The…

In 1992, a study was conducted at Piedmont Virginia Community College (PVCC) to provide a comparative analysis of PVCC salaries and an examination of local cost-of-living data. PVCC salary data were compared internally, examining such factors as sex, rank, degree qualification, and seniority; and externally, looking at appropriate state, regional,…

Discussion of multilingual education looks at three European models, each designed for a different population, and compares them with the Canadian immersion model. The models are: (1) trilingual education applied to the entire school population of Luxembourg; (2) multilingual education in the nine-institution, five-city European School network,…

This report examines the effects of feedback, through the use of computer-assisted instruction, on the problem-solving abilities of "at-risk" college students, i.e., students identified as academically disadvantaged. Study subjects were 30 male and female undergraduate students aged 18 to 23 years. The study used two computer-assisted…