The purpose of this study was to examine the test performance of five randomly selected groups of 1978 students on five different versions of the Stanford Achievement Test. Three types of comparisons were made. First, the test scores of the five groups of 1978 students in grade 8.1 were compared with each other on the 1929, 1940, 1952, 1964, and 1973 Stanford Achievement Tests. Second, the test scores of each 1978 test group were compared with the test scores of the 8.1 normlng group for each test. Last, the test scores of 1978 students were compared with the test scores of students of the same age in the normlng groups for the five different tests. A total of 236 subjects from one middle school in Upper East Tennessee was used. The 236 subjects were randomly assigned to five groups. The five groups were randomly paired with the five different Stanford Achievement Tests and were tested under the same testing conditions. A computer comparison of the past achievement of the five 1978 test groups proved the groups equal in ability at the time of testing. In making the comparisons, it was found that students in the 1978 test groups were not achieving less than students in the past in all subjects. Reading and language achievement scores were as high or higher than in the past. Mathematics scores were lower than in the past except for 1973. Recommendations for future research were given.

The problem was to determine whether significant relationships exist in the attitudes of eighth-grade teachers, their principals, and their superintendents toward minimum competency testing in Tennessee. Literature was reviewed in order to determine the problems associated with the implementation of a minimum competency testing program. Questionnaires were developed to obtain the attitudes of teachers, principals, and superintendents about the questions most often encountered in the literature. School systems to be surveyed were selected by stratified random sampling from defined pupil enrollment categories after the questionnaires were field tested. Superintendents from 36 public school systems were identified to receive questionnaires and they each selected three eighth-grade teachers and three principals to complete questionnaires as well. Respondents were to have direct knowledge of the administration of the 1979 eighth-grade diagnostic basic skills test (a minimum competency test). Questionnaires were designed to obtain demographic data about the systems or schools represented by the respondents, personal data about the respondents, and attitudinal data on 17 items with responses to be ranked in order of priority by the respondents. A total of 100 questionnaires were received by the cut-off date, and these represented a 40% return. Personal data and demographic data were reported in tables. Nonparametrlc statistics were utilized to analyze the degree of relationship among the ordinal level data obtained from Items A-Q on the questionnaires. Agreement was tested intra-groups by Kendall's coefficient of concordance, and agreement between groups was tested by the Spearman rank-order correlation. The .05 level of significance was applied in all cases using the two-tailed test. Results of the data analyses indicated that agreement was more often significant within groups than between groups. Within groups (eighth-grade teachers, principals, and superintendents), a significant relationship was obtained for all 17 attitudinal items on the questionnaires for teachers and for principals, and for all items except H for superintendents. In the between-group analyses for first, second, and third priority responses, teachers and principals displayed greater agreement of rankings on each item than did teachers and superintendents, or than principals and superintendents displayed. Teachers and principals agreed significantly on 88%. of the items for first priority responses, 71% of the items for second priority responses, and 47% of the items for third priority responses. Teachers and superintendents agreed significantly on 65%, 47%, and 29% of the items for first, second, and third priorities. Principals and superintendents indicated significant agreement on 59%, 41%, and 35% of the items for first, second, and third priorities. Very few differences were noted between groups in the responses most often reported for first, second, and third priorities. Frequently, the same three responses were chosen as first, second, or third priority for each item by the three groups, but in a slightly different order by the different groups. Analysis of rankings beyond third priority was not conducted due to the great number of tied rankings after the third priority. Analysis of the demographic data revealed that most respondents represented students other than urban, upper-class youngsters and schools without a large percentage of minority students. Answers to general questions about the administration procedures for the 1979 basic skills test indicated that most systems administered the test in a comparable manner. Most respondents were between the ages of 20 and 49, and 71% of them had attained a Master's degree or above. Teaching certification was held by 81% of the respondents, and administrative certification by 57%. Teaching experience of 1-15 years was reported by 76% of the respondents and administrative experience of 1-15 years by 47%. Supervisory certification and experience were negligible.

Students are reaching middle school 2 or more years behind in reading ability. As a result, they are unable to meet state testing standards. In 2007, the READ 180 program was implemented at an urban middle school in Virginia to address the reading gaps of these middle school students. The purpose of this sequential mixed-method program evaluation was to analyze the reading success of 30 READ 180 students and the perceptions of 4 teachers who taught the READ 180 curriculum. The theoretical framework that served as a basis for this study was Vygotsky's zone of proximal development, which holds that independent thinking is facilitated by developmentally-appropriate instruction. Research questions examined the strengths and weaknesses of the program and its effectiveness on helping the students improve their reading ability. Student scores from the program assessments were examined using a paired samples t test and by comparing central tendencies. An analysis showed a 15% increase in students' SRI pre- and posttest scores, noting that 6.67% of students passed the reading SOL. Themes from the teacher interviews indicated that the teachers perceived the training to be sufficient and that the materials and technology were authentic; however, updated curricula materials were needed. The quantitative and qualitative research data were used to generate an evaluation report to share explicit research findings with the school division and parents about the programs' successes and needs for improvement. Social change was supported by evaluating a reading intervention program designed to increase middle school students' reading ability.

This dissertation describes a new performance modelling system, called the Performance Evaluating Virtual Parallel Machine (PEVPM). It uses a novel bottom-up approach, where submodels of individual computation and communication events are dynamically constructed from data-dependencies, current contention levels and the performance distributions of low-level operations, which define performance variability in the face of contention.

Electronic publication; full text available in PDF format; abstract in HTML format. This dissertation describes a new performance modelling system, called the Performance Evaluating Virtual Parallel Machine (PEVPM). It uses a novel bottom-up approach, where submodels of individual computation and communication events are dynamically constructed from data-dependencies, current contention levels and the performance distributions of low-level operations, which define performance variability in the face of contention. Electronic reproduction.[Australia] :Australian Digital Theses Program,2001. xvii, 295 p. : ill., charts (col.) ; 30 cm.

Graduation date: 1998

The purpose of this research was to construct the indicators of elementary school principal evaluation by the Delphi technique. The research goals were: (1)Discussing the domestic and foreign correlation theories and the studies of principals'evaluation, to be the reference of establishin- gquestionnaire of this research. (2)Construct evaluation items that were suitable for principals'evaluat ion in Kaohsiung. (3)By Delphi technique, the questionnaire survey through the whole city principals established the appropriate evaluation indicators and dimentions. (4)This research proposed the concrete suggestions, providing refere- nces for the educational administration institute¡C This research implemented two times of Delphi questionnaire survey and a whole city elementary school principals' general survey. The first questionnaire based on the literature discussion, collecting the entire domestic and foreign studies and evaluation indicators of various counties that had implemented principals' evaluation. The content of the questionnaire divided into five dimentions, 14 evalua- tion items and 35 evaluation indicators. After consulting with Delphi committee members, the revision showed 6 dimentions, 15 evaluation items and 55 evaluation indicators, developping for the second edition questionnaire. After two times of Delphi committee mem bers' survey, the third revision developped 5 dimentions, 14 evaluation items and 42 evaluation indicators. Survey to elementary school incumbent princip- als sent out 85 questionnaires, recycled 82 questionnaires, and the returns-ratio was 96.47%. Based on analysis of the data obtained, conclusions of the study were as follows 1.Construct evaluation indicators that suitable for principals'evaluation in Kaohsiung.¡G5dimentions (A, policy execution; B, administration management; C, curriculum and teaching leadership; D, professional re sponsibility; E, public relation), 14evaluation items and 40 evaluation indicators 2.¡§A, policy execution¡¨devided into 2 evaluation items and 5 evalu- ation indicators. 3.¡§B, administration management¡¨devided into 4 evaluation items and 12 evaluation indicators. 4.¡§C, curriculum and the teaching leadership¡¨ devided into 3 evalu- ation items and 10 evaluation indicators. 5.¡§D, professional responsibility¡¨ devided into 2 evaluation items and 5 evaluation indicators. 6.¡§E, public relation¡¨devided into 3 evaluation items and 8 evalua- tion indicators. 7.The principals in Kaohsiung. expressed the general acceptance to this research . Based on the conclusions, this research proposed suggestions: First, suggestions to educational administration institute. 1.Using evaluation indicators constructed by this research to underst- and systematically the achievements of the principals. 2.Hold the public hearings and the explanation meetings, in order to improve the understanding of principal evaluation. 3.Training evaluation experts to guarantee the value of principal evaluation. Second, suggestions to elementary school principals. 1.Principal evaluation is the current educational trend, everybody should embrace the enthusiastic manner. 2.Based on evaluation indicators, the principals should regularly or non-periodically comments conduct self-evaluation. 3.Paying much attention on communication and the public relation, the principals should establish good interaction with the colleague, the students and the community. Third, suggestions to future studies. 1.The following research may simultaneously survey in weight of evaluation dimentions, items and indicators. 2.May coordinate between principal and the school background to construct the common and different evaluation indicators

Thesis (Ph. D.)--UCLA, 2009. / Vita. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 401-408).

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