A study with 18 deaf high school students found that skills that actually contribute to reading proficiency included use of prior text information, prior knowledge, reading speed and consistency, use of active memory for function words and inflections, and correct processing of relative clauses and the passive voice. Instructional implications are…

Designed to determine a reader's ability in processing information relationships in written discourse in English, the extended-cloze instrument consists of six reading passages, each with four complete sentences deleted. Students read each passage and select the best of four multiple choice alternative sentences for each deletion. The instrument…

The major purpose of this study was to identify effective methods or procedures that high school biology teachers would recommend to help their students master the skills needed for reading and understanding their biology textbooks, workbooks, laboratory manuals, and other printed materials used in biology classes. It was hypothesized that…

This study compared performance of 300 mildly handicapped and 300 nonhandicapped adolescents on the Florida State Student Assessment Test, Part II, a test measuring functional literacy in math and communication skills. Substantial differences indicate severe consequences for handicapped students forced to pass minimum competency tests to graduate…

In both 1960 and 1980, the same test of spatial-visual ability was given to national probability samples of high school seniors in the United States. The students in 1960 were participants in Project TALENT and in 1980 were participants in "High School and Beyond." In addition, a reading comprehension test was given to the 1960 students…

This paper describes the development of the Basic Educational Skills Test (BEST) in the Austin Independent School District. In 1982 future options for the AISD minimum competency program, which requires all students to meet minimum proficiency levels in reading and mathematics before graduation, were evaluated against legal and local criteria. It…

The Texas Educational Assessment of Minimum Skills (TEAMS) Exit Level Reading Test is based on ten behavioral objectives that fall under six skill areas. Satisfactory performance on this test is required for high school graduation in Texas. This document, intended for teachers and test developers, presents general testing instructions and…