This study is an attempt to link sociological theory and research to student grouping procedures, to administrative decision making, and to student attitudes. It is also a modest demonstration of how school administrators might more rationally assess the operation of schools as goal-directed organizations. American schools are based on an…

Minority and majority groups were administered a special quantitative section of the Admission Test for Graduate Study in Business (ATGSB) under varying time conditions to determine if increasing the time allotted for the test would eliminate any bias which may exist due to an irrelevant speed factor. By a commonly employed definition the special…

This study investigates the question of test bias to develop an index of the appropriateness of a test to a particular socioeconomic or racial-ethnic group. Bias is defined as an item by race interaction in an analysis-of-variance design. The sample of 172 third graders at two integrated schools in a large California school district, included 26…

The ways in which current studies in sociolinguistics relate to the field of speech pathology are discussed, with particular focus on the role of sociolinguistics in standardized testing. The content validity and criterion-related validity of standardized tests is considered. Disproportionate distribution of scores for particular cultural groups…

The general objective of a research program on adaptive testing was to identify several sources of potential error in test scores, and to study adaptive testing as a means for reducing these errors. Errors can result from the mismatch of item difficulty to the individual's ability; the psychological effects of testing and the test environment; the…

Eight years ago, official resistance to desegregation of the public schools in South Carolina was still firm. Due to the pressure applied by the Federal Courts and the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) Office of Civil Rights, more desegregation began to occur gradually during the years after 1966. In January 1970, the Greenville…

Federal assistance for special educational programs makes necessary the regular study of evaluations of thousands of innovations in compensatory education, bilingual education, and reading programs. The results are reported to the President and to Congress. However, investigating organizations find only a few programs with adequate evidence and…

The paper examines the phenomenon of group bilingualism, the origin of the contact situations which lead to it, and the role of language in maintaining ethnic boundaries, especially in revitalization movements. Language shift and language maintenance are seen as indicators of the degree to which ethnic boundaries are being maintained. Many ethnic…

Discusses issues concerning teacher evaluation and the evaluation of minority group teachers, in particular. Describes an alternative teacher evaluation strategy used in two Utah school district teacher career ladder evaluation systems. (FMW)

The increase in the number of Canadian students whose home language is different from the school language has serious implications in the areas of minority student assessment, possible bias of IQ tests, minority student English-language acquisition, and recommendations to parents regarding home language use. Research and educational considerations…

Changing demographics are an explosive issue for higher education because colleges and universities have not brought minorities onto their campuses in numbers comparable to their representation in society. Declining participation of minorities will have severe repercussions for the future. (MLW)

Eight essays address a range of topics including government serials and economic analysis, crime statistics and the F.B.I., nuclear holocaust and public policy, the history of the Center for Short-Lived Phenomena, Congressman William Steiger and the Congressional Record, and the public papers of Richard Nixon. (EM)

Surveys 383 rural/urban/suburban school psychologists to evaluate influence of child's background, school setting, and psychologist's work setting on educational expectations for hypothetical case study child. Finds expectations not influenced by student's background or school setting. However, rural psychologists have higher academic/vocational…

English writing ability of Hispanic college candidates taking the College Board's English Composition Test (ECT) was studied. The performance of three groups on essay and multiple choice portions of the ECT were compared with each other and with performance on the same measures by ECT test takers as a whole. (Author/DWH)

The economic, social, and educational history of the Burakumin--a Japanese minority group--is traced since 1603. The role of Burakumin activism--plus increased national awareness and economic well-being--in promoting economic, social, and educational improvement is reviewed. It is noted that Burakumin progress toward further social and educational…