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This report concerns the effects of prequestion and postquestion formats in prose learning in computer-assisted instruction. Five experimental groups studied a set of eight passages under different prequestion-postquestion combinations. Twenty-five subjects, volunteers with high school degrees, were randomly assigned to each group. A final retention test had 32 items classified along two dimensions: one dependant on whether the inserted text questions prompted attention to the item, and the other dependant on whether the item required factual or inferential learning. The CAI format facilitated control over exposure to questions and passages, as well as data collection on performance measures like referral to passages, time spent on inserted questions, total study time, and scores on postquestion sets. A combination of prequestions and postquestions led to a 20% increase in student study time relative to the use of either question format alone, but did not facilitate relevant retention beyond the facilitation found with just prequestions or just postquestions. The use of prequestions interfered with incidental learning. While equal to the prequestions format in study time and effect on relevant learning, the postquestions format seemed preferable since it was not accompanied by depressed incidental learning. (Author)

One component of a project assessing the needs of minority colleges and universities in educational computing, this study focused on computer access and applications at minority institutions as well as their degree programs related to computer science. Four aspects of educational computing at minority institutions were examined: (1) degree programs related to computers and the productivity of these programs; (2) access to computers; (3) use of computers, especially applications in courses; and (4) staff for degree programs related to computer science and costs for computer installations. The fourth inventory from Hamblen's series of inventories of computers in higher education provided the database for these analyses. Findings suggest that the under-representation of certain minorities in the computer professions seems less a problem of access to computing resources than of access to relevant degree programs and faculty members. It is recommended that degree programs in computer science and related fields be initiated and expanded in minority colleges and universities. (MER)

These appendices contain outlines for the TICCIT (Time-shared Interactive, Computer-controlled, Information Television) mathematics and writing courses; a corresponding item classification for both achievement tests; and essay topics for the English achievement test. Blanks of all data collection forms are included--they concern course evaluation, student observation in the classroom, student registration, and faculty attitude and activities. Results of the data collection are reported, specifically, reasons for section selection; student demographic profile; course completion rates; enrollment in subsequent terms; test results; and summaries of the student and faculty surveys. Comparisons were made between TICCIT and traditional lecture sections wherever possible. (CP)

An evaluation of TICCIT (Time-shared Interactive, Computer-controlled, Information Television) involved over 5,000 community college students in introductory algebra and English composition courses. Comparisons between computer-assisted instruction and lecture-discussion sections of the same courses focused on four aspects of student performance: course completion rates, achievement, attitudes, and activities (time allocation). Other evaluation questions focused on teacher attitudes, teacher role, and program implementation; including administration, site management, and courseware design goals. It was decided to construct objective and essay tests specifically for this program, to measure both end-of-course achievement and immediate learning. TICCIT had a significant positive impact on achievement. The dramatic decreases noted in course completion rates may be inherent in self-paced instruction because students who have trouble managing their own instruction are risks. Student attitudes towards TICCIT were often less favorable than toward conventional teaching methods, but attitudes improved when TICCIT couses were supplemented by small group discussion with an instructor. Results suggest that TICCIT may be inappropriate for community colleges since only those students with a strong initial grasp in the subject matter benefited substantially. In itself, computer assisted instruction is no panacea; results depend on factors involved in the instructional process. (CP)

The test performance of students who took the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) only once as juniors was contrasted with students who took the test as juniors and again as seniors. Estimates of expected test performance on a common initial administration in the junior year were derived from separate equating sections and background variables. Residuals of observed minus expected test scores revealed statistically significant differences between students who took a single administration of the SAT as juniors and those who took the same initial administration but also repeated the test as seniors. The initial observed scores of students later repeating the test were consistently lower than their expected scores for both the verbal and mathematical sections. The results indicate that self-selection occurs when students decide to repeat a test. Score changes among these students reflect negative errors of measurement on the initial test administration. (Author/DWH)

This study applies a procedure which yields estimates of true score change on the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) adjusted for regression effects and student self-selection. It is shown that student self-selection in deciding to repeat an admissions test probably involves factors in addition to the measurement error attributable to variations in aspects of test specifications and to variations in responses of test candidates across forms, and that estimated true score change remains nearly constant across initial score levels in contrast to the negative slope of observed score change across initial score levels. (Author)

PLATO and TICCIT, two systems of computer-assisted instruction, are analyzed with a view to determining their educational effectiveness. This report presents an overview of how this will be accomplished, in full awareness that the concept of "effectiveness" has been subject to diverse interpretation. To avoid misunderstandings, the concept is given as much prior elaboration and specification as is now possible. The entire context of this evaluation of educational effectiveness will be clarified by the delineation of four essential issues; the what, who, how and when of the evaluation. Together these basic questions form dimensions of the analytical approach to evaluating the educational effectiveness of PLATO and TICCIT. (Author/DEP)

The Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) was examined for instances in which the item performance of examinees with comparable scores differed according to their native languages. A chi-square procedure, sensitive to deviations of less than ten percent from the expected frequencies of correct item responses across several language groups, revealed significant differences on seven-eighths of the TOEFL items. Reviewers familiar with particular languages could attribute the relative advantage or disadvantage of those language groups on a specific item to linguistic similarities or dissimilarities with the English language. Reviewers could not, however, identify which items would exhibit differential performance across groups based upon inspection of a test form and answer key alone. These findings suggest that examinees' performance on given items in a test of proficiency in a second language will vary according to linguistic contrasts with their native language and that statistical procedures will be necessary for identifying items with exaggerated or unexplained differences across language groups. Four appendices provide a large number of statistical tables and graphs. (Author/AMH)