A portion of a study of the impact of higher education on over-25-year-old students enrolling in higher education in Australia in 1978 is presented. It assessed the impact of the educational experience on personal development (including attitude and values changes), individual abilities, and leisure time and marital relations. (MSE)

This article offers guidelines for determining equitable, accountable, and effective grading practices and policies for all students that balance the need for a common set of standards and the individual needs of the students. Purposes of grading, grading systems, and effective instructional practices that support grading processes are discussed.…

Asserts that California's 1999 Public Schools Accountability Act does not do enough to address the underachievement of students in high-poverty schools. Recommends four initiatives to improve the academic performance of students in these schools: provide better teachers, boost instructional time, increase teacher professional development time, and…

The impact of state-mandated testing on an urban school district in New Jersey is examined in this paper, which describes the evolution of the testing program and its shift in emphasis from individual student assessment to its use as the primary indicator of school success or failure. To meet state certification standards, 75 percent of the third,…

The potential impact of several maternal involvement behaviors on teachers' ratings of children's academic skills was examined through statistical analyses. Data, based on mothers' responses to selected questions concerning maternal involvement and on teachers' ratings on the Classroom Behavior Inventory, were obtained for 115 kindergarten…

Designed to assist with the monitoring of the Basic Skills Program Standards for grades K-8, the individual student profiles provided in this booklet are arranged according to grade level for the section on mathematics, written communication, and oral communication. The section on reading is arranged according to skills in word identification,…

This study assessed the music background and music achievement of 178 13-year-old rural students in southwestern Montana. The population for this study consisted of all 13-year-olds attending designated elementary schools in a six-county area in southwestern Montana. 1-, 2-, and 3-teacher K-8 schools were referred to as "rural" while…

The implementation and evaluation of the effects of a seven-period day on students and teachers, especially on student achievement, is the purpose of this study. A three-part methodology includes two applications of the Concerns Based Adoption Model (CBAM) to teachers; administration of the School Attitude Survey (SAS) to students and teachers;…

Test components and results of the Grade 6 Social Studies Achievement Tests in Alberta, Canada administered to 28,566 students are described in this booklet. All questions were drawn from three prescribed topics: Topic A--"How People in Earlier Times Met Their Needs"; Topic B--"How People in Eastern Societies Meet Their Needs…

To assist low achieving students in the mastery of instructional objectives in major subject areas, the Ministry of Education of Israel published definitions of Minimum Achievement Requirements (MAR) for specific subjects at all grade levels. To examine the feasibility of the MAR approach and to determine whether it contributed to the attainment…

The method presented is a means of determining the communality of the content of two or more texts in the same knowledge domain. The discipline studied was physics. Undergraduate curricula at 59 colleges were studied to determine consensus among the textbooks with respect to general program requirements and specific course offerings. Chapter…

The use of three remedies for errors in the measurement of ability that arise from differences in rater stringency is discussed. Models contrasted are: (1) Conventional; (2) Handicap; and (3) deterministic Rater Response Theory (RRT). General model requirements, power, bias of measures, computing cost, and complexity are contrasted. Contrasts are…

This paper provides principles which can be used to mark mathematics papers in secondary schools. Sections included are: (1) "Drafting the Marking Scheme" (describing 15 general considerations); (2) "Calculations" (listing 16 grading principles on computation papers); (3) "Graphs" (providing four guidelines on graph papers); (4) "Constructions"…

If the ultimate aim of education is to shift to the individual the responsibility for pursuing his education, then self-assessment is a very valuable strategy. Self-assessment begins with identifying suitable criteria. During the Science Enrichment Programs, Eastwell describes how he used self-assessment with upper primary and lower high school…