Reliability,validity, and all that jazz

Summary

In this article my purpose has not been to indicate what kinds of things can and can't be assessed appropriately with tests. Rather, I have tried to illuminate how the key ideas of reliability and validity are used by test developers and what this means in practice — not least in terms of the decisions that are made about individual students on the basis of their test results. As I have stressed throughout this article, these limitations are not the fault of test developers. However inconvenient these limitations are for proponents of school testing, they are inherent in the nature of tests of academic achievement, and are as real as rocks. All users of the results of educational tests must understand what a limited technology this is.     

Precision Teaching … and all that!

Doubts and questions about precision teaching continue to haunt teachers. Two exponents of the approach, E.C. Raybould, senior educational psychologist, Walsall Education Department, and Jonathan Solity, lecturer in psychology and special educational needs, Warwick University, offer their answers to questions about the principles and rationale in the first of two articles.     

儿童是个哲学家:解读及启迪

哲学是一种“爱智慧”的活动，根源于人类的“惊讶”。儿童的本性决定了他们天生是个哲学家，并且不断地在完成着自己的哲学体系。本文以儿童对时间的困惑为例对此命题加以分析、解读，并在此基础上提出要树立正确的教育观念，理解儿童、保护儿童的精神萌芽。     

Lord Butler and the education act of 1944

Children's Problems in Text Comprehension: an Experimental Investigation. N. Yuill and J. Oakhill. Pp. xi, 241. Author and subject index. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991. £30.00 Hardback. ISBN 0 521 35324 6 Series. Cambridge Monographs and Texts in Applied Psycholinguistics.

Education and the Social Order, 1940–1990, By Brian Simon. Pp. 646. London: Lawrence &; Wishart, 1991. £39.95 hardback. ISBN 0–85315–734–0. Studies in the History of Education Series.

An Educational War on Poverty: American and British Policy‐Making 1960–80. By Harold and Pamela Silver. Pp. xii, 447. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991. £45.00 hb. ISBN 0–521–38149–5.

Emerging as a Teacher by R. V. Bullough, J. G. Knowles, and N. A. Grow. Pp. xii, 224. London and New York: Routledge 1991. £35 hb, £11.99 pb, ISBN: 0–415–03862–6 and 0–415–07040–6 (pb) Series: Investigating Schooling.

Teacher Supply and Teacher Quality (Issues for the 1990s) Edited by Gerald Grace and Martin Lawn. Pp iv, 92. Clevedon, Philadelphia and Adelaide: Multilingual Matters Ltd., 1991. £23 hb, £7.95 pb, ISBN: 1–85359–156–4 and 1–85359–6 pb.

The Teaching of Values: caring and appreciation. By James L. Jarrett. pp. x 248 incl. Index. London and New York: Routledge, 1991. £35.00 Hb.; £12.99 Pb. ISBN Hb.: 0 415 05287 4; Pb.: 0 415 05288 2.

Thinking in Education. By Matthew Lipman. Pp. ix, 280. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991. £35.00/$49.50 hardcover; £12.95/$19.95 papercover. ISBN 0 521 40032 5 hc; 0 521 40911 X pc.

Key Concepts For Understanding Curriculum, Colin J. Marsh, 221 pp, London, The Falmer Press 1992, £32.00 cloth; £11.95 paperback. ISBN 0–75070–008–4 (cloth); 0–75070–009–2 (pbk) The Falmer Press Teachers’ Library: 5.

Collected Writings on Education and Drama by Dorothy Heathcote. Edited by Liz Johnson and Cecily O'Neill; pp. 218. Evanston, Illinois: Northwestern University Press, 1991. $34.95 (cloth), $12.95 (paper) ISBN 0–8101–1003–2 (cloth) ISBN 0–8101–0999–9 (paper)

What Future for Education? Brian Simon. Pp 208. London: Lawrence and Wishart, 1992. ISBN 0–85315–754–5. £8.99

Risky Business? Robert MacDonald and Frank Coffield. Pp x, 295. Basingstoke Falmer Press, 1991. £34.00 (hardback); £12.95 (paperback) ISBN 1–85000–897–3 (hardback); 1–85000–898–1 (paperback).

Adult Education in Development: methods and approaches from changing societies, Veronica McGivney and Frances Murray, 109 pages, Leicester, National Institute of Adult Continuing Education, 1991, £8.95, ISBN 1 872941 08 7.

Opening Colleges to Adult Learners, Veronica McGivney (ed), 159 pages, Leicester, National Institute of Adult Continuing Education, 1991 (report of NIACE/TEED Project) £11.95, ISBN 1 872941 06 0.

Learning and Leisure: a study of adult participation in learning and its policy implications. Naomi Sargant, 132 pages, Leicester, NIACE 1991 £12.95 ISBN 1 872941 11 7.

The Primary Head and The Secondary Head, Edited by Peter Mortimore and Jo Mortimore. Pp 132, 174. London: Paul Chapman, 1991. £11.95 each (pbk). ISBN 1–85396–140‐X and 1–85396–141–8.

Management in Education Series: Roles, Responsibilities and Reflections.

Empowering the Parents: How to Break the Schools Monopoly. Ed. David G. Green. Pp. ix, 90. London: Institute of Economic Affairs: Health and Welfare Unit, 1991. £6.95. ISBN 0–255 36270–6     

University surroundings and infrastructures that are accessible and inclusive for all: listening to students with disabilities

The main topic of this article is architectural barriers and infrastructures as identified by university students with disabilities. The data presented is part of a much wider research project, sponsored by Spain’s Ministry of Economy and Competition. A biographical-narrative methodology was used for this study. The results presented have been classified based on one of five barrier types: urban (barriers that are outside the actual university campus), transport (public transportation and personal vehicles), building (obstacles inside university buildings), environmental (those elements within the classroom, including furniture, excessive noise or inadequate temperatures) and communication (these are divided into signposting and barriers when accessing information). Lastly, a variety of questions are considered in the conclusions which indicate that universities still need a certain degree of adaptation and readjustment to really be accessible and inclusive, in keeping with the principles of universal design.     

“美国最伟大的一代”与《1944年军人再调整法》

在美国,因退伍军人所引发的问题涉及政治、经济与社会各个方面,催生出对此问题做出全面长远统筹的《1944年军人再调整法》。历届联邦政府为解决退伍军人问题所作出的立法努力,为《1944年军人再调整法》的颁布奠定了基础。退伍军人利益集团的奋争与推动,最终促成了《1944年军人再调整法》的诞生。此法案不是单纯地给予退伍军人以金钱补助,而是注重资助他们接受教育,开展个人事业,并进而引导其走上成功之路,并在某种程度上缔造了当代的美国。     

Children’s learning of all the news that’s fit to picture

It has been shown that pictures greatly facilitate children’s recall of story information, But will they have the same positive effect when the passages to be recalled are more directly educational? In these experiments, both single pictures illustrating the passage’s main idea and a group of pictures, one illustrating each sentence, helped fourth graders recall the illustrated content of newspaper articles.     

Local Authorities and Comprehensivisation in England and Wales, 1944-1974

Drawing extensively upon local authority records and private papers, this article argues that the post-Second World War drive for comprehensive education was a grass roots initiative. A diverse group of English and Welsh local education authorities (LEAs) challenged the orthodoxies of tripartism or bipartism in the late 1940s, paving the way for officially sanctioned non-selective experiments during the following decade and the 1960s 'breakout' (after Simon, 1991) of comprehensive-minded LEAs. The article focuses upon the experience of going comprehensive at the local level and discusses some of the variables that influenced the type and timing of secondary reorganisation. It demonstrates that political and personnel factors were crucial to the success or failure of a particular scheme. Some LEAs became embroiled in bitter controversies relating to their proposed reorganisation scheme, but it is argued that this was the exception, rather than the rule. The vigorous debates of this period gave comprehensive reorganisation a democratic flavour, but they also regularly brought local government into conflict with the centre. By 1974, it is contended, the post-War 'partnership' was all but dead.     

Psychologists,Psychiatrists and Special Educational Needs in Britain since 1944

This paper provides an historical survey of special educational provision in Britain by tracing the part played since 1944 by psychologists, psychiatrists and guidance clinic personnel in meeting the requirements of children with special educational needs. While the pre‐1944 story is covered in such standard works as Pritchard (1963), discussion of the period since the Education Act of 1944 is scattered in research journals and isolated book chapters. The present account attempts an initial synthesis, outlining the history of educational psychology since the appointment of Cyril Burt in 1913; the change from a medical to an educational model of special need; the growth of child guidance clinics; the role of the psychiatrist; development of new guidance concepts in the 1970s; and an outline of treatment approaches in child guidance. The paper concludes by referring briefly to the allied fields of counselling and research in education for children with special needs.     

Education for liberal democracy: Fred Clarke and the 1944 Education Act

Fred Clarke (1880–1952), an English educationist, emerged as a leading figure with his liberal approach alongside such key figures as R. H. Tawney and Cyril Norwood in the reform leading to the 1944 Education Act. Many of his reform proposals, which were provided by the new Act, reflected his ideals of liberal democracy. Nevertheless, his contribution to the process of the legislation has not been examined thoroughly. Therefore, this paper explores his positions on educational issues in various debates and his approaches towards the reform. It also evaluates the extent to which the 1944 Education Act was in line with Clarke’s ideals and proposals so that a comprehensive assessment of Clarke’s contribution to the legislation can be made.