For the thirty-sixth year, the Research and Theory Division of the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) is sponsoring the publication of these Proceedings. Papers published in this volume were presented at the annual AECT Convention in Anaheim, California. The Proceedings of AECT's Convention are published in two…

The use of text classification as a strategy in the training of translators is discussed. Frequently, translator trainees are required to complete a text profile classifying the text on dimensions such as purpose, formality, difficulty, and emotional tone. It is argued that the empirical basis for such classification is very shaky, but could be…

Recent trends in writing skill assessment suggest a movement toward the use of free-response writing tasks and away from the traditional multiple-choice test. A number of national examinations, including major college admissions tests, have included free-response components. Most of the arguments in support of this trend relate to the hypothesized…

This document contains the 1994 edition of a publication designed to share information in the field of linguistics that is of practical, theoretical, administrative, or general interest. Articles in these issues include: "Ethnography Vs. Questionnaire" (Thomas E. Murray); "Differences: A Diary Entry"--concerning structuralism…

This manual contains the Cultural Competence Self-Assessment Questionnaire (CCSAQ), a measure designed to assist service agencies working with children with disabilities and their families in self-evaluation of their cross-cultural competence. The measure is based on the Child and Adolescent Service System Program Cultural Competence Model. This…

The current trend toward site-based management in education, with its accompanying shift toward decision making at the individual school level, means new responsibilities and roles for principals. Principals are now required to be intimately involved in budgeting, personnel recruitment and hiring, selection of curricula and textbooks, and many…

This paper presents a primer on building a scientifically oriented teacher evaluation instrument. It stresses the importance of accurate measures and accepts the presupposition that scientific approaches provide the most accurate measures of student teacher performance. The paper discusses the scientific concepts of validity and reliability, and…

A variety of methods are examined that teachers from preschool to graduate school levels can use in assessing their students; the common principles underlying classroom assessment are explored. The first principle is that the primary purpose of classroom assessment is to inform teaching and improve learning. A second principle is that multiple…

This study, one of several examining a decline in the predictive validity of the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) and high school grades between 1975 and 1988, asks whether the criterion, freshman grade point average (FGPA), has changed. College Board tests usually thought of as predictors were used as proxies for the concurrent academic…

Portfolio assessment was investigated as a method of evaluating elementary school students' competence in writing. The study comprised an empirical study of the utility and meaningfulness of using a holistic/analytic scoring rubric to score students' portfolios and a qualitative analysis of scoring approaches drawing on raters' critiques of the…

Between July and November 1993, a cross-section of Australia's school- and workplace-based vocational education and training programs was studied to identify programs using innovative assessment strategies and materials. As innovative strategies/materials were identified, the study methodology was revised and a case study approach was adopted. The…

A study investigated the content and predictive validity of Hong Kong's new Use of English Examination (UEE), introduced by the Hong Kong Examinations Authority in 1989. The study set out to discover whether the examination was reliable for determining students' language needs on entering higher education, and whether institutions' existing…

This paper examines the controversies surrounding the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) and its use in college admissions policies. An early section reviews the history and development of the test. Next the essay reviews a series of challenges to the SAT: many argue that the structure of the examination is biased against women and minorities. Others…

The National Academy of Education (NAE) Panel has drawn two major conclusions in its evaluation of the National Assessment Governing Board's (NAGB) efforts to set achievement levels for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). They are that the Angoff procedure is fundamentally flawed for the setting of achievement levels, and that…

In this non-experimental study, a model was developed for portfolio assessment based on definitions and applications in the assessment literature. This model describes portfolio components, scores to be computed, and uses to be made of the scores. The literature was then reviewed to find examples of actual applications that would provide realistic…