This article presents a summary of the main findings of a national literature review completed as part of a larger study of basic skills effective practices. The study summarized here was commissioned by the California Community Colleges System Office with the purpose of conducting a comprehensive review of national literature and identifying…

The purpose of this review was to explore the effectiveness of teaching basic reading skills to adolescents. Studies that were published in the past 20 years from 1986 to 2006 were selected and reviewed on the basis of specific criteria for inclusion. Results indicated that there were 23 studies that met the criteria. Findings revealed that…

While access to state schooling has grown in many countries in recent years, a hardcore of marginalised children continue to be excluded from this. Some of these children are able to gain access to education through non-state provision. The focus of this paper is on primary school aged children who find access through (international)…

Indicates that the movement toward minimal competency testing is widespread and growing but that its educational and social implications have yet to be evaluated. (TJ)

Concludes that an objective pretest that evaluates basic skills will, in a high percentage of cases, predict student achievement in a business communications course. (FL)

Definitions of literacy range from school-based models to functional skills to social constructivist approaches. Assessment practices reflect particular definitions. Literacy practitioners are encouraged to adopt a social constructivist worldview that challenges the current skills-based model for accountability. (Author/SK)

The purpose of this paper is to describe the development of children's measurement concepts and to outline implications of recent research on transitivity and counting. Discussion is confined to measurement of length and focuses on aspects of measurement outlined in the last two of Piaget's three measurement stages. It is argued that measurement…

Findings about effective schools are reviewed and implications for special education noted. Characteristics associated with effective schools are described, procedures for organizing the classroom to bring about achievement in basic skills are reviewed, and cautionary notes on both areas of research are offered. Implications, specifically for…

Comments on literacy data gathered from several surveys and questions whether students are developing sufficient literacy skills. (AEA)

This study was commissioned by the California Community Colleges System Office to identify effective practices in basic skills programs. The Center for Student Success (CSS), which is affiliated with the Research and Planning (RP) Group for California Community Colleges, was selected to conduct the study. There are three major components of the…

The English Learning and Skills Sector (LSS) contains a highly diverse range of learners and covers all aspects of post-16 learning with the exception of higher education. In the research on which this paper is based we are concerned with the effects of policy on three types of learners--unemployed adults attempting to improve their basic skills…

Discusses research related to assessment data for vocational-technical programs and categories skills as basic, transferable, and generalizable. Use of generalizable skills can identify functional learning abilities and problems of students in those programs. (JOW)

The authors contrast the views of those who advocate a back-to-basics approach to language arts education with research findings on language arts basics. The authors are critical of the former, product centered approach which stresses conformity. Research supports an approach which is student centered. (Author/RD)

The problems inherent to standardized minimum competency testing are discussed. (HTH)

This article explores research evidence on the teaching of reading from eight specific points: (1) readers engage in a complex, multi-level process that involves knowledge of sound-symbol relations, spelling patterns, vocabulary, sentence structures, propositional meanings, and realms of meaning beyond individual propositions; (2) literacy…