In 1988, the Chancellor's Office of the California Community Colleges (CCC) employed the Delphi Technique to gather opinions from individuals throughout the CCC system about the major issues confronting community colleges and about possible solutions to these issues. Undertaken to assist the Board of Governors in preparing its 1988-89 Basic…

In the domain of performance assessment, the errors-and-omissions (EOT) test falls between a work-sample test and a simulation test. The examinee works with a sample of material from the work environment. The correct answers and the exact criteria for acceptable performance are known in advance. For this study, EOTs were used for assessing entry…

Options for evaluating the performance of Washington state colleges based on student outcomes are discussed. Considered in "Question Number 4" on the agenda of the Washington State Higher Educaton Coordinating Board: how should the performance of higher education institutions be evaluated and by whom? Of concern is what student outcomes…

Covering the 1983-84 academic year, this report describes the status of the Florida state community college system according to 19 different indicators of progress toward excellence. The 19 indicators are: (1) academic scholarships and fellowships awarded to graduates; (2) College Level Academic Skills Test scores; (3) findings of follow-up…

This report summarizes the results of the 1984 and 1985 administrations of the following tests in Hawaii: (1) the grade 8 Stanford Achievement Test (SAT), Advanced Level, 6th edition, of the Vocabulary, Reading Comprehension, Spelling, and Language Subtests; and (2) the grade 10 Stanford Test of Academic Skills (TASK), Level 1, 6th edition of the…

This document reports on a study designed (1) to develop a plan for school improvement using information obtained from an attitude survey, (2) to examine the implementation of the plan, and (3) to evaluate the results to determine if improvements had occurred. Attitude surveys were conducted of students, parents, supporters, and staff in the…

The Texas Educational Assessment of Minimum Skills (TEAMS) was developed by the Texas Education Agency (TEA), in response to Texas House Bill 72 (1984), which mandated a new basic skills assessment program for mathematics, reading, and writing at grades 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 and 11. This is one in a series of Instructional Strategies Guides designed to…

The provincial results of the English 33 Achievement Test administered June 8, 1982, as part of the Student Achievement Testing Program of Alberta Education are presented in this report. Following a list of the requirements of Part A (written expression), the first section describes the categories used to assess total expression and the scoring…

This three-part document provides strategies for evaluating the impact of a province-wide testing program in Ontario (Canada) and reviews the literature on the impact of testing. Part One identifies the effects of province-wide examinations for selected high school courses and proposes four studies to monitor these effects: (1) an analysis of data…

Though most definitions of literacy focus solely on the uses of reading and writing, a sociocognitive perspective that incorporates social practices, conceptions of reading and writing, and literacy as a way of thinking is more productive. Within this view, literacy is culturally based, involves the higher intellectual skills, and is learned by…

From the approximately three dozen reports that describe the crisis in American education, the president of the Canadian Educational Researchers Association briefly describes four: "A Nation at Risk" (National Commission on Excellence in Education); "High School: A Report on Secondary Education in America" (Ernest L. Boyer);…

A study compared the benefits of using the Hewlett-Packard HP-41CV hand-held computer, as opposed to conventional training without computers, in teaching mathematics to fire control systems repairers. Thirty soldiers in a course to train fire control systems repairers received training in technical mathematics using the hand-held computer, whereas…

The development of a comprehensive state plan for arts education in Maryland is presented. The introduction states three program development goals and four major conclusions from a needs assessment of the mutual goals of the Maryland State Department of Education and the Maryland Alliance for Arts in Education. The goals include the development…

Conceived at an executive board meeting of the International Federation for the Teaching of English, this book describes the classroom practices of English teachers in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, England, and the United States. The 82 articles are divided into the following areas: (1) a history of teaching English in each country; (2) new…

Four presentations from the 1985 Annual Michigan School Testing Conference on "Assessing Higher Order Skills" are offered in this paper, and the chairman of the First General Session provides an introductory section. The papers individually and collectively address the problem of defining higher order thinking skills. A second major…