Beside interindividual social comparisons, intraindividual dimensional comparisons in which students compare their achievements in one subject with their achievements in other subjects have an impact on their academic self-concepts. The internal/external frame of reference (I/E) model by Marsh (1986) assumes that dimensional comparisons lead to…

Discusses the concept of graded language levels (GLL) and three distinguishing features of the Australian situation that must be taken into account when importing this concept from Great Britain. Describes the English (GOML) and the Scottish (GLAFLL) variants of graded language levels. Offers suggestions for designing a GLL package for Australia.…

The quantitative relationship of measured ability to measured science learning was synthesized from reported correlations in 34 studies on grade 6-12 students over a 16 year period. Findings indicate a stable central tendency and deviation of correlations across ability and cognitive outcome categories and across several study variables.…

This study designed a criterion-referenced format for scoring subjective student tasks in science education courses and gathered student opinion on the acceptability of the scoring technique. A sample and results of a preservice teacher survey are supplied. (MP)

A study shows public school personnel administrators do rely on supervisors' evaluations of student teachers when hiring. Points to remember when writing recommendations: be specific about aspects of classroom performance and comparison with other students. General statements may be well intended but do not assist the applicant. (BRR)

Calling evaluation of student achievement one of the most difficult areas of teaching, the author suggests developing grading procedures to facilitate the accumulation of scores and the conversion to final grades. He presents procedures and examples for combining numerical values and letter grades according to course modules. (MF)

Describes a point grading system designed to provide students with some academic freedom and to set up concrete criteria for successful cognitive, affective, and psychomotor behavior. (Author/MA)

Data from a study involving 43 grade 3-6 teachers suggests that teachers are able to differentiate effort and achievement when assigning ratings, and experiential relevance and familiarity are important factors in any grading system that teachers can successfully use. (IAH)

Discusses the development of performance schema that outline criteria specific to a job-related activity during which trainees apply course content and demonstrate competencies learned. The process involves identification and grouping of criteria, choosing rating scales, checklist construction, and organization of the preceding elements into a…

A study of 15 high school students with learning disabilities and 257 typical students found no grading adaptation was viewed as fair by a majority of students without disabilities. Changing the grading scale and raising grades to reflect improvement were viewed as fair adaptations by the students with disabilities. (CR)

Can all the universities that claim to be "world-class" actually live up to the claim? If they could, would that be desirable public policy? It could be that there are so many different meanings of "world-class" that the term in practical effect is an oxymoron: the definition of "world" is determined locally when conceptually it should be defined…

The purpose of this study was to develop the Scale for Program Facilitators (SPF) to assess the effectiveness of after school achievement programs through four steps: (a) identification of a theoretical framework, (b) formulation of the initial scale, (c) test of content validity, and (d) conducting confirmatory factor analyses (CFA). A…

Do children learn more in full-day kindergartens than half-day programs? If full-day kindergarten increases learning, are kindergartners in some schools particularly advantaged by their full-day experience? We address these questions with a nationally representative sample of over 8,000 kindergartners and 500 U.S. public schools that participated…

Three types of student evaluation strategies used in Italy are described: (1) teacher's free comments; (2) standardized adjectives used as rating scales; and (3) numeric scores based on tests and other evaluation criteria. Implications of the third approach, which was implemented according to legislation in 1977, are discussed. (GDC)

Replicating and updating M. Elizabeth Tidball's 1973 study, this study of 1,307 women achievers corroborates earlier findings that women's colleges produce proportionately more high female achievers than do coeducational schools. Factors that may have contributed to this are discussed. (BJV)