Reviewing psychometric and statistical developments in criterion- referenced testing, this paper presents six sections: uses of criterion- referenced test scores, reliability of criterion-referenced test scores, determination of test length, determination of cut-off scores, test development and validation, and summary and suggestions for further…

Focusing on midcareer administrators, this review examines the socialization processes in school administration; the socialization of teachers, principals, and superintendents is discussed. The socialization within administrative roles in the central office is emphasized in terms of career patterns and influence in policy decisions. (BW)

Social skills are defined as those social behaviors, interpersonal and task-related, that produce positive consequences in the classroom. The case is made that social behaviors are currently taught informally, that some social behaviors are important prerequisites for academic success, and that these behaviors can and should be taught…

Observer disagreement is important because it limits the reliabilities of observational measures. To avoid this limitation, observers should be trained, and criterion-related and intraobserver agreement measures should be used both before and during a study. Several agreement coefficients are examined for their applicability. (Author/BW)

An historical overview is presented of cultural pluralism in the United States. The relationship between socioeconomic status and ethnicity is discussed, different ethnic groups are compared, and the author suggests that history and social studies courses should present favorable descriptions of minority groups in order to support cultural…

Bilingual and bicultural or multicultural educational programs involve economic and political issues that should be answered affirmatively and with respect for the informed decisions of the local community. Schools unfortunately may have more power to destroy than to enhance minority cultures. (CTM)

Children of 5 to 6 years of age in two West African tribes (one agricultural, one commercial), are shown to understand the quantitative concepts of more and less. The implications of this for American elementary education are discussed: certain basic cognitive abilities are present in all people, regardless of culture. (Author/CTM)

Research is discussed on the interactional dynamics between students and teachers in ethnically and culturally pluralistic classrooms. Two distinct cognitive patterns are shown (analytical and relational), as well as important affective characteristics that result in different classroom behaviors and learning styles. (CTM)

Teachers may want to observe and record differences among students that appear to be ethnically derived--that is, developed prior to the age of ten or twelve, and separate from individual personality traits. Action research is recommended to relate these characteristics to the appropriate learning style for each child. (CTM)

A nationwide study suggests that alternative schools in America have often not achieved their full potential. Too often they are used to isolate or track either the best or the worst students, or ethnic or social class groups. (Author/CTM)

Evidence is presented that current inservice programs designed to establish culturally pluralistic public education are not achieveing their goals. There is a need for long-range pedagogical commitments which are responsive to emerging socio-cultural forces favoring cultural pluralism. (CTM)

A questionnaire survey in one metropolitan high school suggests that both male and female Latino students generally aspire to attend college. Parents' aspirations, peer influence, ethnic and social class awareness, and students' perception of locus of control and educational benefits are related to college aspirations. (CTM)

Student teachers, after listening to two taped supervisory conferences, rated the more directive supervisory behavior (typified by declarative and expository statements and an authoritarian posture) as more desirable. Discrepancies between these results and those of earlier studies are discussed. (MJB)

Training in perspective-taking skills (the ability to imagine how objects look relative to one another from another person's point of view) resulted in considerable transfer of learning to other tasks and continued subject superiority over controls seven months later, indicating an inter-stage change in cognition. (MJB)

In an analysis of the National Teacher Examination (NTE), the authors found that the weighted common examination scores are significant predictors of effective teaching (student achievement), if the variance shared with teacher race is included. (Author/MJB)