THE EFFECT OF SERIAL RETESTING ON THE RELATIVE PERFORMANCE OF HIGH- AND LOW-TEST ANXIOUS SEVENTH GRADE STUDENTS1

Serial retesting was investigated as a means of improving the test performance of high-anxious students relative to that of their low-anxious peers. The Test Anxiety Scale for Children was given to about 300 seventh grade students in a suburban school; the middle 50% were eliminated to maximize experimental variance. Six groups were established for high and low anxiety levels and for three ability levels. The Academic Promise Tests (except for the Abstract Reasoning Test) were then given four times at 1-week intervals in the fall of the school year. All groups continued to improve significantly in a monotonic, linear fashion, with the greatest improvement occurring on the Numerical Test. Contrary to expectation, there were no significant interactions among previous achievement levels, predispositional test anxiety levels, and test trials. The greatest change on the Numerical Test occurred between the first test trial and the second test trial.     

Knowledge Adequacies and Training Needs of Rehabilitation Educators

This article describes results of a national survey of rehabilitation educators concerning their perceptions of their knowledge adequacies and training needs. Twelve vital instructional areas were identified and respondents were asked to rate each area for their adequacy of knowledge, need for inservice training, and willingness to attend inservice training. Findings showed that educators rated their knowledge adequacy high and their need for inservice training low. Although there was a significant inverse relationship between knowledge adequacy and need for inservice training, there was no significant relationship between willingness to attend inservice training and knowledge adequacy, or between willingness to attend inservice training and need for inservice training.     

THE EFFECTIVENESS OF ILLUSTRATED ITEMS

Two problems in test development relate to the use of illustrations: (1) Do illustrated items perform better than written items, and (2) Does item performance vary as a function of the type and size of the illustration? A sample of 63 tests was drawn from all the Air Force Specialty Knowledge Tests containing illustrations. These 63 tests had been administered to approximately 28,261 airmen under operational conditions. Item statistics between illustrated and written items drawn from the same content areas were compared using F ratios. The results indicated: (1) That illustrated items in general performed slightly better than matched written items; (2) That the best-performing category of illustrated items was tables.     

Iris Murdoch, Liberal Education and Human Flourishing

Articulating the good of liberal education—what we should teach and why we should teach it—is necessary to resist the subversion of liberal education to economic or political ends and the mania for measurable skills. I argue that Iris Murdoch's philosophical writings enrich the work of contemporary Aristotelians, such as Joseph Dunne and Alasdair MacIntyre, on these issues. For Murdoch, studies in the arts and intellectual subjects, by connecting students to the inescapable contingency and finitude of human existence, contribute to the cultivation of intellectual and moral virtues and thus to human flourishing.     

新一代航天飞机即将起飞

他们是活着的“神奇四侠”，他们就在我们中间。猜测他们是谁应该是一件非常有意思的事。他们现在都是20多岁的年纪，都聪慧而富有理想。他们也许是一名工科的学生，正绞尽脑汁地准备自己的毕业论文；也许是一名飞行员，正驾驶着战斗机在空中飞翔；也许是一名实习医生，正在急诊室里紧张地忙碌着。再过12年左右的时间，他们会坐在位于火箭顶端的乘员舱里，承受着500吨固体燃料带来的4.5g的过载，上升到7.5万米的空中，然后由第二级火箭将他们推到近地轨道。二级火箭在近地轨道上会与另一枚火箭对接，这枚火箭会将他们送到月球轨道。     

A Systems Approach for Implementing an Affective Education Program

This article describes a model for implementing an affective education program which was developed using systems analysis techniques. The following seven independent and interdependent functions are identified and described: obtain community involvement, conduct needs assessment, specify program goals, select program materials, prepare for program installation, implement affective education program, and evaluate affective education program. The use of experts and an affective education advisory board is recommended to facilitate program implementation. In addition, assessment techniques and a team approach for remediation are described.