In this investigation, the validity of observer reports versus student self-reports of race and ethnicity in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) for ages 9, 13, and 17 years were evaluated. Data from seven surveys (1975-1984) were analyzed, with sample sizes ranging from 15,859 to 38,899. While the concordance between the two…

The Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 created the merit pay system and cash award program for federal supervisors and management officials in General Schedule grades 13 through 15. This report assesses the implementation and operation of merit pay for fiscal years 1981 and 1982 at three departments--Agriculture, Housing and Urban Development, and…

Rasch methodology facilitates effective achievement comparisons to meet evaluation needs at the district, school, classroom, and individual levels. The five-year District Gains Graph developed by the Portland (Oregon) Public Schools charts fall-to-spring achievement gains in basic skills for Grades 3-8, as measured by the Portland Achievement…

The goal of this study was to assess the relationship between amount of instructional time and student achievement. Two questions were addressed: (a) Do students who have more time allocated to a particular subject area also learn more in that area? and (b) Do students who spend more "engaged time" in a particular subject area learn more in that…

This report describes a desegregation/integration plan implemented in four junior high schools in the Elkhart, Indiana school district. The first section details the history, design, and objectives of the project. The second section deals with data concerning the achievement of project objectives as obtained by a locally developed and validated…

This bulletin provides information on two educational disadvantages of language-minority persons in the United States based on an analysis of data from the nationwide Survey of Income and Education (SIE), conducted in the spring of 1976 by the Bureau of the Census. Language-minority persons were found to be educationally disadvantaged on two key…

A project compared the use of cognitive style mapping (CSM) in individualized instruction and counseling with current institutional practices in secretarial science and developmental studies. (CSM is defined as a means of assessing each student's preferences in receiving and processing information--for purposes of personalizing and individualizing…

This paper presents an analysis of data assessing the effectiveness of the Engelmann-Becker Direct Instruction Model (E-B) aimed at developing basic academic skills in disadvantaged primary-grade children (with the specific goal of enabling these children to achieve grade-level performance by the end of 3rd grade). The E-B model emphasizes…

Compositions written by 48 university students of English as a Second Language (ESL) were examined as a step in the development of an index for proficiency in a second language. A feature analysis of the compositions revealed the following tendencies: (1) syntactic sophistication and tense usage improved as proficiency increased, (2) errors in…

A longitudinal study was conducted to evaluate the U.S. Employment Service's Specific Aptitude Test Battery (SATB) for plumber/pipe fitter from three aspects: technical adequacy of the research; fairness to minorities; and usefulness in the selection of individuals for training as plumber/pipe fitter apprentices. The validation sample consisted of…

Intended as a guide for postsecondary teachers in planning and improving their teaching, this book focuses on seven major decisions to be made in course construction: (1) what needs the methods should satisfy; (2) assessment of student achievement levels and needs; (3) enrollment criteria and students' characteristics and circumstances; (4) the…

What began as a review of Pass-Fail ended as a comment on the evaluation schema of student academic performance. "Standards,""Evaluation" and "Grades" are defined. A brief history of grading among early North American institutions of higher learning is compared to precursory practices in Europe. The validity and reliability of traditional grades…

This book describes recent psychological theories on the nature of intelligence and the influence of environmental factors, and argues that culture and child rearing practices affect the development of abilities (linguistic, sensory motor and perceptual). Studies of intelligence, achievement, and environment in England are discussed, along with…

Predictive utility of autobiographical information given by entering airmen was compared with information gained from aptitude testing. Correlation techniques were used in analyzing data on 13,811 individuals (in 24 analysis groups) who completed training. Generally there was no significant difference in the magnitude of validities for each kind…

Information on assessment of citizenship achievement is presented in this report which compares 1970 first assessment results for the two sexes, four regions of the country, and four community sizes. Age groups assessed were 9, 13, 17, and 26 through 35 age group; geographical regions were Northeastern, Central, Western, and Southeastern; and…