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ERIC Number: ED158374
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1978-Mar
Pages: 25
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Assessing Accountability for Basic Skill Development in the Adoption of a New Curriculum.
Shann, Mary H.
The Unified Science and Mathematics for Elementary Schools (USMES) Program was designed to teach students complex problem-solving skills. This paper reports the effects of USMES on basic skills, explains the effects, comments on difficulties in data collection, and recommends data-gathering that should complement or replace standard basic skills test scores for curriculum decisions. Classes from 15 geographic areas were used to make up a national sample of classrooms using the USMES program. Control classes were chosen from the same communities as the USMES schools or from neighboring communities. The USMES classes performed at least as well as the control matches on the six selected subtests of the Stanford Achievement Test (SAT). These results indicate that USMES is not interfering with basic skills acquisition. Data-gathering problems arose because many principals and teachers objected to the time demands for SAT administration. In some areas, state and local testing regulations were severely limiting. Another problem was the question of whether scaled scores are comparable across test levels in a sequential battery. Since the program was designed to teach problem-solving skills, program effectiveness should be assessed with objective instruments to measure complex problem-solving. (Author/JM)
Publication Type: Speeches/Meeting Papers
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: National Science Foundation, Washington, DC.
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Assessments and Surveys: Stanford Achievement Tests
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A