This paper describes social problems that ethnic minorities are likely to experience in the 1980s and presents guidelines for shaping educational policies and programs that will help ethnic minority youths to experience more educational equity during the remainder of the decade. The minority groups discussed are those that are heavily concentrated…

In this review of college admission practices, four areas are analyzed: (1) changing patterns of admission standards and practices and factors that have influenced those changes during the past 25 years; (2) importance assigned to high school achievement, test scores, and other criteria in arriving at admission decisions; (3) influence of college…

This descriptive study investigates the variability in the curriculum pacing decisions of classroom teachers. The effects on the reading achievement and performance gains of first and second grade students in a compensatory education program program are examined. Data were collected from: (1) the Metropolitan Readiness Test results used to select…

Pupils at three elementary schools and one junior high school among Area 1 inner-city schools of St. Louis Missouri, were identified as scoring well below norms on standardized tests. An effort to change the educational programs at these schools netted financial support and the creation of Project SHAL (named for the schools involved). Inservice…

In this discussion of the use of achievement tests in evaluating Title I programs, matching content between test and curriculum is the main theme. The point is made that unless a test measures what is taught, it cannot be sensitive to whatever gains the instruction produces. Thus, if different instructional treatments have different objectives, it…

A survey of 42 statewide assessment programs was conducted to determine: (1) The status of statewide assessment programs in the United States when classified by purpose, authority, methodology, and scope; (2) Are there any differences within these classifications for programs which are aimed primarily at state-level decision making as opposed to…

The differences in the person-environment fit and levels of anxiety of older adults in professional schools versus older students in liberal arts schools were studied to determine if the states of ego development of older adults (35 years of age or older) were related to the degree of academic and environmental restrictiveness in professional and…

This paper explores paradoxes of southern school and university segregation, analyzing how National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) litigation and local African American activism altered southern public education. The paradoxes first surfaced in the 1940s, when the constitutionality of separate and unequal salary…

An achievement testing framework is being developed by the Los Angeles Unified School District to assess the educational progress of 14,000 secondary level compensatory education students with something other than standardized tests. The technique of multiple matrix sampling was applied to the use of large item domains in the subject area of…

This paper discusses the sociolinguistic problems inherent in multilingual testing, and the accompanying dangers of cultural bias in either the visuals or the language used in a given test. The first section discusses English-speaking Americans' perception of foreign speakers in terms of: (1) physical features; (2) speech, specifically vocabulary,…

Evaluation methods for master's degree programs should be substantially different from those currently used for doctoral degree programs. Three current methods, that of Beverley Hurlbert, that of Jack Gourman, and that using departmental reputations as the major criterion, are insufficient. Elements that should be included in the evaluation are…

This critique of the "America 2000" educational reform initiative claims that its fundamental proposals highlight "old" ideas based on a "puritanic" perfect society with little attention to equity and the multidimensional needs of such groups as African-American at-risk students. The paper discusses the impact of the…

This paper provides a very brief summary of the first three years of study of the court-ordered desegregation effort in St. Louis (Missouri). It examines differences in the reading and mathematics scores from the Stanford Achievement Test along with a performance-based writing assessment for four groups of African-American students. These groups…

This keynote address reported on the current state of science education in three areas: curriculum development, attitudes toward science, and assessment in science. Three major projects in science curriculum reform were the focus of the section on curriculum development: (1) Project 2061; (2) Scope, Sequence, and Coordination; and (3) Earth…

A field study conducted in the east Jordan Valley (September 1981-August 1983) explored the role of formal education in the maintenance of sex-gender hierarchy and other social heirarchies. Two rural secondary schools were studied, one for boys and one for girls, both attended by members of several different social/ethnic groups who consider…