School culture has recently emerged as a framework for the study and interpretation of the structure and development of schools. A work culture productivity model is described, and the development of a culture instrument is reported. The concept of school work culture, a subset of systems culture, refers to the collective work patterns of a…

This study represents the first to empirically validate the structure of social self-concept (SC) as proposed by the Shavelson model. For each of three age groups--preadolescents (252 3rd graders), early adolescents (290 7th graders), and late adolescents (335 11th graders)--analyses of covariance structures were used to test: (1) that social SC…

A study confirmed the need for an ambulatory nursing experience as part of the vocational nursing (VN) program at the Long Beach City College (LBCC). Information on which to base the revision of the ambulatory care (AC) experience was obtained from a literature review and interviews with the following: AC administrators, California Board of…

The status of assessment in terms of federal policy, the social or economic climate related to education, the role of testing in counseling, assessment as an intervention in its own right, and assessment as it is affected by technology are important components of the context of issues and challenges related to assessment at the edge of the 21st…

One potential approach to the authentic assessment of what students know and can do in science is concept mapping. A concept map is a graph consisting of nodes representing concepts and labeled lines denoting the relation between a pair of nodes (concepts). The external concept map constructed by the student is interpreted as representing…

As the first paper in a series of policy papers on high-stakes student assessment programs, this paper examined high school graduation tests. High stakes refers to the use of test results to make important decisions about the test taker. Whether to use a high school graduation test is an essential policy question that will be addressed in a…

The language arts department of an Arizona high school serving American Indian students developed a locally normed writing assessment to comply with a state mandate for the identification of limited English proficient (LEP) students. The members of the language arts department decided on a direct assessment of writing in which the student would…

The relationships between intellectual and demographic variables of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R) were examined. Subjects were 2,200 children in the WISC-R standardization sample. Four multiple regression analyses were performed between Full Scale and Verbal Comprehension, Perceptual Organization, and Freedom from…

Policymakers adopt basic skills tests as admission requirements for programs of teacher education to increase the accuracy of admissions and, ultimately, to increase the competence of the teaching force. The tests are regarded as an independent measure of student academic competence. A multiple regression study of the incremental predictive…

A project in Thailand to develop domain-referenced English language tests for use with Thai secondary and college students is described. The first phase consisted of developing standardized tests for listening, speaking, reading, and writing based on existing syllabuses, determining the common levels of English proficiency in those domains, and…

The statute authorizing the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) calls for the National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB) to set appropriate achievement levels in all areas and grades tested by the NAEP. These levels are intended to establish what students should know, not just what they do know. In 1990, the NAEP posited three…

A popular concept in education indicates that effective instruction requires the teacher to know the child. A study was conducted at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in order to determine where this knowledge comes from. A group of 15 teachers enrolled in the graduate school listed their students and indicated which students they knew…

Designed to assist community college practitioners in understanding and utilizing standardized test results for making instructional, guidance, and administrative decisions, this three-part guidebook examines the uses of test results, the evaluation of standardized tests, and procedures for interpreting test scores. Section I discusses the…

Five papers presented at a symposium during the 1991 annual conference of the National Council on Measurement in Education explore the design, development, and implementation of the Texas Master Teacher Examination (TMTE) Program. Educational policymakers have begun to maintain that the professionalization of teaching can be substantially…

Originally developed for the Department of Defense Schools (DoDDS) system, this learning package on changing perspective in reading assessment is designed for teachers who wish to upgrade or expand their teaching skills on their own. The package includes a comprehensive search of the ERIC database; a lecture giving an overview on the topic; the…