A 5-year longitudinal study was conducted in Illinois to follow 9,757 of the 10,273 students transferring from two-year colleges to senior colleges and universities in Illinois in fall 1979. The study sought to identify the number and mobility patterns of Illinois two-year college students; to investigate the pre-transfer characteristics of these…

Since 1985, students taking English 101, the basic composition course at Shoreline Community College (SCC) in Seattle, Washington, have been required to take the Nelson-Denny Reading Test and submit a piece of writing for holistic grading. The introduction of the testing process prompted several questions among students and faculty about what the…

The validity of seven criteria utilized in conjunction with personal interviews and School and College Ability Test scores in the selection of applicants for admission to four Allied Health programs was investigated. The independent predictor variables studied were high school grade point average (GPA), the number of high school natural science…

Relationships between performance on two preschool administrations of the Metropolitan Readiness Tests (MRT) and Stanford Achievement Test (SAT) scores at age nine were examined for a sample of 732 children. Significant correlations, ranging from .50 to .71, were obtained between readiness scores and SAT scores on reading, spelling and arithmetic.…

A study with 118 male and 87 female junior high school students in Spain using a scale developed to assess anxiety among Spanish students associated with learning a second language found a relationship between low anxiety and superior performance in the second language (English). The scale obtained predictive validity. (SLD)

A longitudinal study of various measures of creativity was conducted to determine the validity of a number of possible predictors of an arts orientation. Tests of creative thinking, creative personality, divergent thinking, intelligence, and school achievement were administered to above-average fifth-graders (N=23), who also drew pictures based on…

The effectiveness of grade point average (GPA) as a predictor of elementary school teaching performance during student teaching and after graduation was examined. Measures of student achievement, attitudes, and teaching ability, as reported by student teaching supervisors and by school principals where the graduates are employed, were compared for…

The controversy on the importance of children's attitudes toward their educational experiences has focused on two major questions: First, are attitudes an appropriate concern for educational systems; and second, are attitudes important as correlates of critical educational behaviors or simply as ends in themselves? This study attempted to add some…

Test scores on the Test of Basic Concepts, a school readiness test, were compared with actual performance in school for 186 low-scoring and 133 high-scoring groups of first graders from Spain at the beginning of the school year to explore the issues of competence testing and prediction of performance. The measure of school performance was derived…

Records kept by teachers and data collected by trained observers were examined as alternatives for measuring allocated and engaged instructional time in elementary school classes. The teacher ratings of student engagement did not correlate with observer ratings of engagement, but a high correlation between teacher ratings of engagement and student…

A central problem for the user of domain-referenced tests in instruction is deciding who has passed and who has failed. Two procedures were presented and discussed. The first, employing classical test theory, was found to be more useful for larger domains and where the passing standard is 70 percent or less. The sampling procedure suggested by…

This symposium on the learning organization is comprised of three papers. "Leading the Learning Organization" (James R. Johnson) examines actions that four leaders of widely diverse organizations took to transform an organization into a learning organization. (Leaders who were successful in implementing the learning organization concept…

This study examines how high school preparation, standardized test scores, and scores on program entrance examinations are indicators of White, Black, and Hispanic students' academic performance and completion of teacher education programs. Transcripts of teacher education students (N=712) matriculating in traditional 4-year teacher education…

In 1979-80, a study was conducted at Dundalk Community College (DCC) to assess the procedures and instruments used to place students in the three options of its developmental education program: Option A (for students with the lowest assessment scores), Option B (for those with low assessment scores), and regular developmental courses. The study…

Research conducted by the Law School Admission Council since the development of the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) in 1948 is described. An overview of the research topics is provided, and relevant published reports are cited in 61 footnotes. The following topics of study are discussed: (1) use and validity of traditional predictors of law…