The New Jersey department of education has implemented a minimum standards program to assure that all students have the individual opportunities they require for mastering the basic skills. The 1976-77 program is transitional and is used to build toward full implementation in the 1977-78 school year. In full operation, the state tests will be…

The Equal Opportunity Program of the School of Nursing at the University of Wisconsin at Madison has, in the past, had the problem of low graduation rates. Attempts by the staff to develop better methods for retaining students have resulted in a program that offers one-to-one tutorial help in basic communication skills. Skills training that is…

Some insights into the development of an eleventh grade test of "adult functional competency" are provided. The evolution of the test from its first mention to its translation into a test item pool is traced. An attempt is made to identify some of the instructional, measurement, and legal implications inherent in various decisions which…

The differences in responses of grade 6 boys and girls to selected items on a standardized test are examined. Data are the responses of approximately 36,000 children during 1978-79 to two test forms of the California Assessment Program's Survey of Basic Skills: Grade 6 (SBS:6). Performance on specific arithmetic items is studied and involves the…

While it is financially impossible to design a whole spectrum of preparatory chemistry courses to suit the varying backgrounds and needs of students entering an open-door institution, chemistry courses can be designed to meet three instructional needs shared by all students: mutual respect between the instructor and the students; implementation of…

This paper describes the Basic Skills Learning System, a comprehensive curriculum development effort designed to deliver a variety of materials via the PLATO System in the three content areas of reading, language, and mathematics. Design criteria required that the system be individualized, adaptive, and responsive as well as modularized and…

This is one in a series of four papers describing a boy-oriented program for elementary school children. The program is based on the premise that boys have more reading problems, are referred more often for behavioral problems, and have more unexcused absences than girls and that creating a curriculum designed to meet their special academic and…

The essential task of sharpening students' sensitivities may be facilitated by the curriculum, instructional program, and personnel of the school. Aesthetic education is basic because it is founded on the creative integration of sensing, feeling, intuiting, and thinking. The arts curriculum may be used to sharpen students' awareness and…

This study investigates relationships among conservation, field dependence/independence, school variables, achievement, screening measures, sex and race. A total of 124 first, second and third graders in a Southern rural school were administered 8 typical Piagetian conservation tasks (PCT), Children's Embedded Figures Test (CEFT), Comprehensive…

As part of the United States Navy's efforts to enlarge its pool of personnel who are qualified for service and who will seek long-term careers in the Navy, the research branch of the Chief of Naval Education and Training contracted Research for Better Schools (RBS), Inc., to examine two areas related to personnel development: basic skills…

Austin's 5-year Title VII project was intended to improve the achievement of elementary students in the following areas: oral language proficiency, knowledge of basic concepts, reading ability in Spanish, and proficiency in English reading and math. Results indicated that program participants gained in knowledge of basic concepts at the…

This paper discusses some of the problems faced in working with competing theories of basic writing and suggests its own kind of theoretical analysis of nonstandard writing. A brief overview of basic writing theories is presented, and the theories are categorized into two approaches: a traditional approach of teaching by prescription in an…

This paper cites articles in the popular press that agree that there is a "writing crisis" in the United States, and it notes the lack of general agreement on solutions for the problem. Articles by writers in the English profession are then examined with reference to the writers' views on the seriousness of the writing crisis, reasons…

These papers focus on (1) alternatives to and within education, (2) critical issues for the 70's and beyond, and (3) affective/humanistic education. While some papers are on very specific subjects (i.e., teaching emotionally disturbed deaf children, reading readiness tests, peer influence on students, alcohol education, visual learning in…

English teachers must actively work to preserve the humanistic content of their courses and assure the acceptance of students' needs, not only to promote skill development, but also to foster clear thinking about the great ideas of the past and the problems of the present. The achievement of these goals implies an active role in the politics of…