EFFECTIVENESS OF HIGH SCHOOL GRADES FOR PREDICTING COLLEGE GRADES OF BLACK STUDENTS: A REVIEW AND DISCUSSION1

The purpose of this study was to reexamine the value of high school grades (relative to standardized test scores) for predicting college grades of black students. Data from previous studies and from a predominantly black university were analyzed. Results tend to indicate that high school grades do not consistently make the greatest contribution in predicting college grades of black students, perhaps particularly of men, whereas they do for whites. Unreliability of grade reporting, invalidity of grades in high school, restriction in range due to selection processes, and intergroup differences in personality characteristics were advanced to explain this phenomenon. Further research on this problem was suggested in view of the fact that many selective institutions are relying heavily on high school grades in their selection of black students.     

SARGO: A Training Program for Directors of Guidance Services

SARGO consists of 13 simulation units that have been developed for training potential directors of guidance. Responses of employed directors of guidance to a questionnaire on their specific duties formed the basis for the simulation unit topics and activities. Role-playing, case studies, in-basket/out-basket techniques, critical incident films, and program development were some of the activities used within each SARGO unit. Each trainee operated in a simulated school of his own design. Trainees reported that the semester-long simulation program was interesting, motivating, and realistic. The significant change in accuracy of trainee estimates of time that directors spent in a variety of activities was measured.     

DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION OF A TEST OF INFORMATION STORAGE DURING READING1

Previous research has suggested potential advantages for a new type of item for measuring comprehension in reading and listening. The test items are called “chunked” and consist of groups of meaningfully related words in which certain groups have been changed in meaning from the original passage. A chunked type of test, designed to indicate information stored during reading, was developed and analyzed in two studies. The results of Study 1, indicated that the constructed test items were successful in differentiating between readers and nonreaders of the newly composed reading passages. “Using the results of Study I, test items were revised and two forms of a test were produced, complete with standardized instructions. The major purpose of Study 2 was to evaluate the extent to which the revised and standardization test could discriminate between a group of individuals who took the test in its standard form and another group which was given the same amount of time to work on the test items but was not given the benefit of reading the passages. The major result in Study 2 was that individuals who had not read the passages experienced a 75% decrement in their performance on Form A of the Chunked Reading Test as compared to individuals who had read the passages, and for Form B, nonreaders experienced a 78% decrement. From these re- sults, it was concluded that the Chunked Reading Test is a valid test of information storage during reading in terms of its utility in measuring the differences in information stored between readers and nonreaders of passages, and that it offers many advantages over the traditional standardized reading tests.     

Statistical Process Control and Cooperative Learning Structures: A Data Assessment and Improvement System Used in a San Jose State University Summer Bridge Programme

This paper will show how tools of statistical quality control were applied to a Summer Bridge Mathematics and Science programme at San Jose State University. These tools were used as assessment instruments to facilitate improvement in overall classroom performance. We shall show how quality control tools such as brainstorming, Pareto analysis and cause-and-effect analysis can be used to identify the ‘big’ problems and to analyze the cause(s) of the ‘big’ problems. Additionally, we shall show how control charts can be used effectively to monitor how the suggested corrective actions for causes of the ‘big’ problems are faring—or acting—on the outcomes-based process. Finally, we shall show how these control charts can be used to aid in monitoring and determining whether or not the ongoing outcomes-based process is stable. Once the ‘big’ problems have been eliminated and the ongoing process is in control, we shall further demonstrate how ‘monitored assessments’, cooperative learning activities and control charts can help to improve the overall process.     

Computer-Based Accountability: Implications for Training

Since the call for professional accountability in the early 1970s, counselors and counselor educators have attempted to assess counseling effectiveness, to upgrade programs as a result of assessments, and to communicate results of program assessment and change to their publics. Until recently, their efforts have been impeded by the interpersonal nature of counseling, insufficient training in research and evaluation, and available low-cost computer technology. This article addresses each of the impediments with the focus on how present computer technology, specifically computer-assisted systems, can be used to help counselors and counselor educators ethically input, store, and retrieve pertinent client and program data—data that can be used to achieve program evaluation and lead to accountable program development. The Counselor Accountability System is presented as an example of an easy-to-use computer program designed to facilitate counselor accountability.     

The Impact of Client Suicide in Counselor Training: Implications for Counselor Education and Supervision

The impact of client suicide on student counselors has potentially severe and long-term consequences. This article presents recommendations for addressing the needs of students and discusses implications for counselor education.     

Relationship and Growth Theories and Agency Counseling

In general, counselor educators have borrowed heavily from psychotherapeutic theories in conceptualizing service delivery models. These models have in common an assumption that the goal of counseling is the personal growth and development of the client that results from the relationship between the participants in the helping process. The adoption of psychotherapeutic and growth experience models by counselor educators leads to at least two problems for counselors who work in agency settings: (1) the high turnover, transitory nature of the caseload does not lend itself to the type of interactions where relationships can be central to the goals of counseling. And (2) the problems presented by the majority of agency clients are not amenable to solution through the self-exploration methods of the psychotherapeutic and growth experience models because of various constraints of agency practice.