Argues against using results of minimum competency testing (MCT) as the sole determinant of student classification, promotion, or condition for graduation from high school. Favors accountability, but asserts that MCT is not the best alternative available. (WD)

This procedure for measuring the learning of fifth- and sixth-grade students stressed each child's progress in relation to self as well as to position in the class. (MM)

Discusses issues related to the movement toward minimum competency in secondary education. Addresses the problem of defining minimum competency and the dangers of imposed standardization. Identifies three conceptualizations of minimum competency as: (1) the narrowly educational standpoint, (2) the concern with functional literacy, and (3) a more…

The High/Scope educational approach emphasizes child-initiated learning activities for preschool/elementary school children. A research study shows that compared to children receiving direct instruction, High/Scope kids later showed more prosocial and less antisocial behaviors. Another study showed that poor High/Scope students had better…

College students, enrolled in basic skills courses, sometimes lack motivation to fully participate in class activities and related homework assignments. Factors that can account for poor motivation include perceived irrelevance of courses to their everyday lives, unrealistic perceptions of their learning skills, low self-confidence, personal…

Stakeholder surveys conducted as part of the development of an accountability and assessment system for five charter schools in Miami-Dade County and Broward County, Florida, revealed high positive response regarding high expectations, school climate, basic skills instruction, and monitoring student progress. The lowest overall rating revealed…

The Test of Essential Learning and Literacy Skills (TELLS) has been administered to all Pennsylvania students in grades 3, 5, and 8 since 1985. An analysis of results from the 1,505 public elementary schools that served both third and fifth graders between 1986 and 1990 show that in 150 of these schools more than 50 percent of the students scored…

This paper examines the major influences of state minimum standards of pupil proficiency in reading, writing, and mathematics; state curriculum guides; basic skills testing; and a state-funded compensatory/remedial program on public schools in Louisiana since 1980. The state testing program is described in some detail. Its influence in the home is…

The relationship of traditional and nontraditional variables to grades achieved by University of Portland (Oregon) students in five different majors (business, liberal arts, education, nursing, and engineering) was studied. Traditional variables were: the college major; freshman writing class grade; California Aptitude Test (CAT) scores in…

Public education is justified only when schools provide a sound, basic education for all students. Devotion to basic education does not mean indifference to the social and vocational development of students. On the contrary, the first essential in such development is, and always has been, competence in the basics. (Author)

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…

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…

The document presents the final report of the Arts in Education Project, a research project of the National Committee, Arts for the Handicapped to develop and measure the effects of an arts infused curriculum on the academic performance of handicapped elementary school children. A model for infusing the arts into the established curriculum was…

A test, developed to measure important skills in fourth-grade mathematics, was given to a representative sample of about 8,000 fourth-grade students in Oregon in February 1976. In the first section of this document, findings and interpretations of the test data are reported briefly for five mathematics content domains: geometry; arithmetic;…