This evaluation report summarizes the impact of the Hartford Effective Schools Initiative (HESI) during the 1984-85 implementation year and is based on: (1) interview and observation data gathered during two day visits to each of the three schools in April and May and compared with similar data collected from the same teachers, facilitators,…

Educational solutions to the problem of test anxiety were explored. Test anxiety has a debilitating effect on performance which increases over the school years. The solution is, first, to measure test anxiety so that the extent of it, as well as the effectiveness of programs designed to alleviate it, can be measured. The seven-item Comfort Index,…

This paper reports on a project which has developed the general latent class model as a framework for representation of item responses. This framework can be used to represent data in applications such as mastery tests and other kinds of achievement tests, where there is reason to believe that current foundations are deficient. Methods of…

The literature selections serving as the basis for writing assignments in the articles in this journal issue range from time-honored English classics ("Beowulf,""Sir Gawain and the Green Knight") and American standards ("A Farewell to Arms,""The Scarlet Letter") to contemporary fiction. The articles deal with works by women writers (Shirley…

This paper compares work patterns emerging from the first year of implementation of a job enlargement career ladder for teachers at two junior high schools. Field research and interview data are used to analyze implementation process variables, work structures, and career concepts. The study investigated problems educators consider important in…

The usefulness of studying thought processes in the construct validation of ability tests was examined using a sample consisting of 343 Canadian senior high school students. Four levels of probing were used by the interviewer to examine the students' thinking processes while taking the Test on Appraising Observations: (1) think aloud; (2)…

Before students are able to write fairly original, successful, critical essays on literature, they need to become experienced members of the audience for whom they will write, sharing fully the social context of critical writing by becoming part of an interactive, interpretive community. This reader-response technique appears to be the best…

Aspects of the perception that assessment is a large-scale testing program conducted at institutional or state levels to determine what students have learned from college is questioned. Small-scale assessments conducted continuously in college classrooms by discipline-based teachers to determine what students are learning in what class are also…

This research report describes the results of a field test of "South Asia: Nepal--Why are the Forests Disappearing?", a video program from "Global Geography", an instructional video series (available January 1988) for students in middle and junior high schools. The results from the teachers and students surveyed indicate…

This paper looks at some factors which may affect teachers as they attempt to informally invite moral development. Such invitational education, it is noted, stresses the importance of teacher behaviors which intentionally bid students to see themselves as valuable, able, and responsible persons who can behave accordingly. Using pilot study data…

A study described how two eighth grade English teachers in a rural junior-senior high school established classroom rules, both formally and informally. The focus of the study and analysis of data were guided by three research questions: (1) What are the formal and informal classroom rules and how are they made visible? (2) Who are the sources of…

Intended for students taking the English 30 Grade 12 Diploma Examinations in Alberta, Canada, this test (to be administered along with a questions booklet) contains the reading selections portion of Part B, the reading component of the June 1988 tests. Representing the genres of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and drama, the 10 selections consist of:…

Intended for students taking the English 30 Grade 12 Diploma Examinations in Alberta, Canada, this booklet contains 80 multiple choice test items related to the 10 selections in the reading booklet of Part B, the reading component of the June 1988 tests. The questions examine students' skills in: (1) understanding meanings; (2) recalling materials…

Intended for students taking the English 33 Grade 12 Diploma Examinations in Alberta, Canada, this test (to be administered along with a questions booklet) contains the reading selections portion of Part B, the reading component of the June 1988 tests. The following short selections taken from fiction, nonfiction, poetry, drama, and day-to-day…

This paper shows how, in two suburban high schools, Cherry Glen and Pinehill, teachers' work control interacted with normative and social integration in their effect upon teachers' engagement with their work. In each school, a two-person team initially observed, and later interviewed, eight teachers in English, math, foreign language, social…