Over the past decade, the Travelers Insurance companies have dramatically expanded their involvement in educational programs for students at all grade levels, from prekindergarden through college. Throughout the 1970s, the Travelers educational programs focused exclusively on providing speakers for career awareness programs for high school…

This study was designed to illustrate the use of the Rasch model procedure to equate the Dade County Compensatory Education Skills Test (DCCEST) to the State Student Assessment Test (SSAT) for both mathematics skills and communications skills. The SSAT was a test developed by the Florida State Department of Education to measure students' level of…

To address the gap perceived by classroom reading teachers between research findings and reading process theories and the realities of classroom reading instruction, this paper poses six questions/problems often asked by reading teachers, and answers them with information drawn from current research and theory. Topics covered in the questions…

This paper discusses the role of general education in the community colleges in the United States and presents recommendations for changes to improve the quality of education in the community colleges. First, the paper notes the lack of stature, relevance, and institutional support for general education in the community colleges and argues that if…

One of a series of studies examining Louisiana's compensatory education program, this study investigated four assumptions upon which a skill-specific intervention program was based. Framed as questions, these assumptions are: (1) Is retention effective for students who do not know basic content for a given grade level? (2) When is retention most…

A study examined the extent to which beginning vocational education teachers are prepared to provide basic skills instruction and to teach special student populations. A total of 740 beginning vocational teachers from 24 states (3 randomly selected states in each of 8 geographic regions of the country) were surveyed. The study sample included both…

Vocational teachers have a vital interest in students' developing competence in basic academic skills. They are aware that the teaching of basic skills must be a team effort between basic skills teachers and teachers of subject matter areas. Three basic academic skills that are taught in vocational classes are reading, writing, and mathematics.…

Four major trends currently exist in educational technology throughout the world: the "open university" is teaching motivated adults at a distance through several media; radio and television broadcasts are providing instruction in elementary and secondary schools; television is helping educate preschool children at home; and instruction…

The inabilitiy of the traditional education system to pay attention to the individual needs of students has been a central obstacle to effective education since the demand for universal education first led to the formation of rigidly-structured, large schools and classrooms. Use of computers now removes the need to teach all students the same…

The process of determining the effectiveness of developmental programs in two-year colleges was the focus of this study. It was limited to New York State, and designed in response to a request for proposals issued by Bureau of Grants Administration, New York State Education Department. The need for systematic review of developmental programs and…

Intended to give basic students simultaneous practice in reading and writing with an emphasis on accuracy, conciseness, and precision, the "finding the beef" method centers itself on summaries of news events. The first step of the method is to supply students with the appropriate data blocks based on news events, preferably those…

A study was conducted to explore the possibility of career education's impact upon a broad range of basic skills, including skill areas where standardized test scores are usually not available. Information was obtained through structured interviews with nineteen elementary (grades 1-5) teachers in seven schools in Rockford, Illinois, who were…

Since 1977, St. Clair County Community College (SCCCC) has initiated several activities to increase the importance of writing at the college. The first of these efforts was a self-study conference to examine past, current, and future approaches to the problem of student literacy. The results of the conference have been seen in subsequent efforts…

This report summarizes the contents of the 270 secondary level basic skills improvement program plans for reading, writing, and mathematics submitted by school districts in Massachusetts to the State Department of Education. School districts developed these plans in response to the State Board of Education Policy and Regulations published in…

This study focuses on basic mathematical skills mastered by middle school students. A test designed for the investigation was administered to 400 seventh- and eighth-grade pupils in three middle schools in Houston, Texas. The test, which focuses on fractions, was administered by the regular mathematics teacher during the mathematics class period…