The Validity of Scores From Alternative Methods of Assessing Spelling Achievement

The purpose of this study was to gather evidence to examine the validity of alternative methods for assessing the spelling achievements of students in Grades 2–7. Students in Grades 2, 3, 5, and 7 took both a dictation spelling test and an objective spelling test. Scores from the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills were available for nearly all students. Comparisons among item formats centered on difficulty, content coverage and efficiency, reliability, relationship with dictation scores, the influence of context, and relationship to overall achievement. Overall, no single objective format stood out above the others, but some demonstrated superiority to the dictation format on several dimensions.     

Women show similar central and peripheral fatigue to men after half-marathon*

Women are known to be less fatigable than men in single-joint exercises, but fatigue induced by running has not been well understood. Here we investigated sex differences in central and peripheral fatigue and in rate of force development (RFD) in the knee extensors after a half-marathon run. Ten male and eight female amateur runners (aged 25–50 years) were evaluated before and immediately after a half-marathon race. Knee extensors forces were obtained under voluntary and electrically evoked isometric contractions. Maximal voluntary isometric contraction (MVC) force and peak RFD were recorded. Electrically doublet stimuli were delivered during the MVC and at rest to calculate the level of voluntary activation and the resting doublet twitch. After the race, decreases in MVC force (males: ?11%, effect size [ES] 0.52; females: ?11% ES 0.33), voluntary activation (males: ?6%, ES 0.87; females: ?4%, ES 0.72), and resting doublet twitch (males: ?6%, ES 0.34; females: ?8%, ES 0.30) were found to be similar between males and females. The decrease in peak RFD was found to be similar between males and females (males: ?14%, ES 0.43; females: ?15%, ES 0.14). Half-marathon run induced both central and peripheral fatigue, without any difference between men and women. The maximal and explosive strength loss was found similar between sexes. Together, these findings do not support the need of sex-specific training interventions to increase the tolerance to neuromuscular fatigue in half-marathoners.     

Educational and Public Television

Natan Katzman, Program Decisions in Public Television (1976, 72 pp.)

Caroline Isber and Muriel Cantor, Report of the Task Force on Women in Public Broadcasting (1975, 141 pp. no price shown)

Advisory Council of National Organizations, Public Broadcasting and Education (1975, 114 pp., no price shown)

Bradley S. Greenberg, et al. An Ascertainment Handbook for Public Broadcasting Facilities (1975, 64 page loose-leaf notoboOk, no price shown)

Philip A. Rubin, A Report on the Minimum Equipment Needs and Costs to Upgrade the Facilities of the Public Television Stations (1975, 40 pp., $1.00, paper)

Annual Report 1975 (1976, 43 pp., free on request)

Print Handicappeda Handbook for Local Use (1975, loose-leaf notebook of some 200 plus pages)

E. Edward Cavert (ed.) Designing Diversity 1 75: Second National Conference on Open Learning and Nontraditional Study--Conference Proceedings (University of Mid-America, Lincoln, Neb. 82006---$7.50, paper)

Phillip J. Sleeman and D.M. Rockwell's Instructional Media and Technology (New York: Halstead Press/John Wiley, 1976---$30.00)