Retooling Education: Testing and the Liberal Arts

The motivation and methodology for measuring intelligence have changed repeatedly in the modern history of large-scale student testing. Test makers have always sought to identify raw aptitude for cultivation, but they have never figured out how to promote excellence while preserving equality. They’ve settled for egalitarianism, which gives rise to “culturally fair” tests that substitute vagaries for knowledge, deprive students of any real appreciation for language, and trivialize education. Robert Jackson yearns for traditional oratorical approaches to schooling that venerate and imitate essential, time-tested masters. Unfortunately, he writes, such an education defies measurement with today’s multiple-choice instruments.

The Effects of State Higher Education Policies and Institutions on Access by Economically Disadvantaged Students

Research in Higher Education - Do state government policies and institutions promote access to postsecondary education by economically disadvantaged students? I analyze the number of state...     

Mastery Learning and Instructional Design Originally published in 1988, PIQ 1.1

Comparisons are drawn between the ideas of mastery learning and those of instructional design. Considerable agreement is noted concerning the main factors contributing to the quality of instruction. Similarities are pointed out in Bloom's alterable variables and a number of the events of instruction described by Gagné. Differences exist in the taxonomic categories of learned performances of the two systems, and in the proposal of instructional design that each category requires a different set of instructional tactics. A noteworthy area of agreement is emphasis on the instructional importance of skill automaticity.     

Parental anxiety,language, assertion,and expectation factors in subsequent understanding and recall of assessment information

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between initial understanding of information given by the school psychologist at parent conferences and characteristics of parents (anxiety, parental expectations, assertion, and language level). Demographic variables were also explored as they related to postassessment recall and understanding of data. Results indicated that language level of the parent, age of the parent, and SES were significantly related to recall. Anxiety, assertion, and expectation of results were not significant factors. Implications for practice and training are discussed.     

Views of cheating among college students and faculty

College students (N = 446) and faculty (N = 97) completed a survey examining views of cheating. Agreement was noted on most situations. When differences were noted, students tended to be stricter than faculty in their evaluations and were more likely than faculty to label a situation as cheating. Opinions and views of cheating were influenced more by behavior, whether “premeditated” or “opportunistic,” than by intention.