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The High/Scope Child Observation Record (COR) measures the developmental status of young children 21/2 to 6 years old as affected by early childhood education. A study of COR ratings of children's behavior by 64 teams of COR-trained Head Start teachers and assistant teachers in southeastern Michigan demonstrated the COR's reliability and concurrent validity. COR ratings by teachers had alpha reliability coefficients of .66 to .93 and Pearson product-moment correlations of .57 to .76 with COR ratings of the same children by assistant teachers. The COR study demonstrated the concurrent validity of COR ratings by teachers by Pearson product-moment correlations of .37 to .53 with similar scores on the McCarthy Scales of Children's Abilities; .51 to .61 with children's ages; .00 to .07 with children's sex; and .00 to .28 with mothers' and fathers' schooling and employment status, respectively.

This research examined the creative writing responses of 140 third- and sixth-grade boy and girl writers to story characters cast in either stereotypic (male mechanic and female nurse) or nonstereotypic (female mechanic and male nurse) occupational roles. The 560 stories were examined for maintenance of character in assigned occupational role, development of character along gender-stereotypic and -nonstereotypic lines, and evidence of gender change in the lead character. Results suggested that development of character was consistent with gender expectations for the lead character in the stereotypic stories and in the nonstereotypic female mechanic story. For the nonstereotypic male nurse story, the development of character was consistent with the author's gender. Further evidence of stereotypic thinking occurred in those nonstereotypic stories where the lead character's gender was changed to be consistent with the stereotype of the occupational role. These findings support previous research on gender differences and gender perceptions

Th is st udy comp ared the views and report ed practices of lowergrade teach ers (kind erg arten, l st, 2nd) and upper-grade teac he rs (3rd, 4th, 5th) regarding the assessment ofchildren. Teachers (N = 172lower ele me n ta ry, N=1 26 upper ele me n tary) were surveyed regarding th e use a nd th e amo unt of trust placed in standardized and cla ssr oom assessment m easures, the fa ctors th a t influenced th eir assessment choices, and th eir beliefs ab out th e role of parents in the as sessment process. Teach ers in both groups val ued and us ed a varie ty of assessment m easures (e.g., observ atio ns, portfolios, writte n work ), but did n ot val ue or use scores from mandated stand ard ize d tests. Differen ces among grade level s on th e uses ofsome m easures (e.g., checklists, ra ting scales, paper-and-pen cil tests) wer e observ ed . Teachers from both g roups believed that parents should be involved in th e assessm en t process. The result s of this st udy suggest that many of th e classroom assessment practi ces prom oted by th e ed uca t ion reform m ovement are val ued by eleme ntary teach ers and inco rporated in th eir cla ssroom s.