Teachers' self‐assessment of the effects of formative and summative electronic portfolios on professional development

This study compared the effects of four electronic portfolio curricula on pre‐service and beginning teachers' self‐ratings of their professional development (n = 207), using a 34 item electronic Portfolio Assessment Scale (ePAS). Three formative portfolios, A, C and D, had teacher development as a primary objective and used participants' narrative reflections on students over a 2–3 month period. One summative portfolio, B, assessed teacher accountability through participants' analyses of professional teaching standards concerning students during 1–2 week teaching units. Factor analyses of the ePAS assessments for each portfolio and all four combined yielded the same five factors concerning professional outcomes: overall teacher development, including reflective skill (F1), an understanding of assessment roles (F2), an understanding of backwards planning (F3), the benefit of analyzing student work (F4) and the benefit of teacher peer collaboration (F5). For F1, F3 and F5 the means of the formative portfolios A, C and D were significantly higher than those of portfolio B. No differences were found among the portfolios concerning the benefits of analyzing student work (F4). The researchers concluded that formative portfolios that focused on teacher development better supported professional outcomes than did the summative accountability portfolio. It was concluded that portfolios should not be used for the summative accountability of teachers.

Dans cette étude nous avons comparé les effets de quatre programmes scolaires à portefeuille électronique sur les autocritiques que des enseignants débutants ont faites de leur développement professionnel (n = 207). Nous nous sommes servis d'une échelle d'évaluation à portefeuille électronique de 34 points (ePAS). L'objectif principal des trois portefeuilles formatifs A, B et D était le développement de l'enseignant. Pour y parvenir nous avons employé des réflexions narratives sur les élèves pendant une période de deux à trois mois. A travers un portefeuille sommaire, B, nous avons évalué la responsabilité des enseignants au moyen des analyses que les participants ont faites des normes de l'enseignement professionnel des unités d'apprentissage d'une à deux semaines. Nous avons conclu que les portefeuilles formatifs qui se concentraient sur le développement des enseignants ont mieux soutenu le rendement professionnel des jeunes enseignants.

Este estudio compara los efectos de cuatro portafolios electrónicos curriculares sobre las auto evaluaciones de profesores antes de que comiencen a ejercitar la enseñanza y de profesores que inician su desarrollo profesional (n = 207), utilizando 34 ítemes de la escala de Portfolio Assessment (Valorización de Portafolios) (ePAS). Tres portafolios formativos, A, C y D, tienen como objetivo principal el desarrollo de la enseñanza usando las reflexiones por escrito de los participantes sobre estudiantes en un período de dos a tres meses. En un portafolio de síntesis, B, se valora la responsabilidad de los profesores. Durante una unidad educacional de una a dos semanas, los participantes evalúan métodos de enseñanza y, a través de este análisis, valoran la responsabilidad de los profesores. Se concluye que los portafolios formativos que se enfocan en el desarrollo de la enseñanza facilitan de mejor manera el resultado del desarrollo de los profesionales jóvenes.

Diese Arbeit vergleicht die Wirkungen von vier Lehrplänen im Bereich elektronischer Portfeuilles auf die beruflichen Selbstbewertungen von werdenden und neueingetretenen Lehrkräften. Verwendet wird ein elektronisches Portfeuillewertungssystem (ePAWS) von 34 Punkten. Die Entwicklung der Lehrer ist die primäre Absicht von drei formativen Portfeuilles, A, C und D, in denen die Teilnehmer ihre Selbstbeobachtungen über zwei bis drei Wochen aufgeschrieben haben. Die Verantwortlichkeit von Lehren wird in einem zusammenfassenden Portfeuille B eingesschätzt, durch eine Beurteilung von lehrberuflichen Maßstaben der Teilnehmer in Bezug auf Studenten im Verlauf einer ein‐ bis zweiwöchigen Lehreinheit. Bewiesen wurde, daß die formativen Portefeuilles, die sich auf Lehrentwicklung konzentrierten, die Weiterentfaltung von neueingestiegenen Lehrkräften besser fördern.     

Industry‐related Work in Initial Teacher Education: a decade of development

Abstract

In the last decade, against a background of growing links between industry and schools, industry‐related work in teacher education has undergone a considerable expansion, in terms of numbers of courses, of time devoted and of numbers of students involved. Influences on this expansion have included the initiatives of individuals, the work of link organisations, course criteria in OES circulars, a spreading conviction of the relevance of industry‐related work to the personal and professional development of teachers, the stimulus of networks and partnerships of institutions and industries and the work of specific externally‐funded projects, including Industrial and Commercial Perspectives in Initial Teacher Education (ICP) and Enterprise Awareness in Teacher Education (EATE). During this period there has been a ‘conceptual shift’ in the idea of industry‐related work to include enterprise capability, as well as economic and industrial understanding; in tune with this shift, the accent in courses has been increasingly placed on practical experience and negotiated investigational activities.     

Creating cooperative classrooms: effects of a two‐year staff development program

In this study, the implementation effects of a staff development program on cooperative learning (CL) for Dutch elementary school teachers were studied. A pre‐test–post‐test non‐equivalent control group design was used to investigate program effects on the instructional behaviours of teachers. Based on observations of teacher behaviour during cooperative lessons, a statistically significant treatment effect was found for the following instructional behaviours: structuring positive interdependence, individual accountability, social skills and evaluation of the group process. Training effects were also found for the combination of CL with the model of direct instruction and the activation of prior knowledge of social skills. Moreover, teachers in the experimental group scored statistically significantly higher than the teachers in the control group on the activation of prior academic knowledge.     

Parent perceptions of the effects of the Saturday enrichment program on gifted students’ talent development

Based on survey responses from 187 parents of students who attended the Saturday Enrichment Program (SEP) at the Center for Talent Development (CTD) of Northwestern University, this study showed that overall, parents perceived favorable effects of the program on their children's talent development, especially academic talent development. As a result of participation in the CTD program, parents perceived that their children gained scholastic skills or knowledge, were more motivated to learn and interested in the subject areas they studied, and gained academic competence. After the program parents had higher academic expectations for their children. Parents felt positively about instructional aspects of the program such as focusing on a single subject in depth and breadth, experiencing interdisciplinary perspectives across subject areas, and having experiential learning opportunities. They also perceived that the SEP classes provided their children with both challenge and enjoyment. Despite the perceived benefits of SEP, results also showed that the majority of parents were still reluctant to pursue additional further educational actions inside or outside of school for their children after completing the program. However, of those who contacted their children's local schools, almost half said that their children received more challenging work (e.g., accepted and/or placed into advanced enrichment programs or other gifted programs/groupings in school, recommended for gifted programs, given additional materials or work, or skipped grades) as a result.     

‘Teach as you preach’: the effects of student‐centred versus lecture‐based teaching on student teachers’ approaches to teaching

This study investigates the effects of teaching and learning environments on student teachers’ approaches to teaching and compares a lecture‐based setting to a student‐activating teaching environment, in which self‐discovery learning by means of authentic tasks is central. Data collection (N = 852) was obtained by a pre‐test/post‐test design including the Approaches to Teaching Inventory. Though student teachers’ approaches changed significantly, the direction is only consistent with the assumption that the student‐activating experiences push students towards conceptual change/student‐focused approaches; however, not away from information transmission/teacher‐focused teaching. In fact, students’ approaches to teaching at the start of the experiment are important predictors of their scores after they followed the course on child development under both conditions. Moreover, student teachers’ changes in approaches to teaching tend to be affected by variables such as performance, academic self‐esteem, perceived workload and students’ changes in approaches to learning: variables that operate in distinct ways for diverse categories of approaches and work differently in both settings. In addition, the willingness of students to teach in the way they have been taught is not as straightforward as might be expected. Although several students became convinced of the use of the teaching methods in the experiment for their own practice, the majority of students demonstrate reflective practices, make critical judgements, formulate terms or suggest amendments to the teaching methods before simply adopting them for their own future pupils.     

A six‐month report on the personality development of a thirteen‐year‐old stuttering boy

THE PROSPECT OF RHETORIC. Edited by Lloyd F. Bitzer and Edwin Black. Englewood Cliffs, N. J.: Prentice‐Hall, 1971; pp. xii+244. $7.95.     

Reading and Writing the Small Print: the fate of new sponsored grant‐maintained schools

The 1993 Education Act introduced changes that encouraged the supply‐side of the quasi‐market of schools. As a result of that Act, since April 1994 it has been possible for groups of parents or independent sponsors to apply to the Secretary of State for Education and Employment in England or the Secretary of State for Wales to establish their own grant‐maintained schools.

This article traces the attempts of various potential sponsors to establish new schools within the state system. It is argued that the Funding Agency for Schools and the Department for Education and Employment have developed the detail of the new scheme in such a way as to make it almost impossible for potential sponsors to meet their requirements.

The implications of the policy and its implementation are discussed.     

‘I’ as Maxime ‐ Some Thoughts on the Pedagogical and Therapeutic Use of Audio‐Visual Media

Abstract

It is not a new idea to use audio‐visual media towards therapeutic ends. This paper, acknowledging Aristotle's theory on the purgative virtues of art, also traces contemporary theorists vis‐a‐vis research conducted between 1926 and 1971. Having done so, the author relates this research, through the use of a case study, to the use of alternative audio‐visual materials as applied in the therapeutic sense. It is concluded that the use of audio‐visual materials and methods can offer great potential to the therapist willing to include them in treating patients.     

Industriousness and development of the school‐system in the eighteenth century: the experience of Norwegian cities

This article discusses how the Norwegian urban school system was developed during the eighteenth century. In the cities, there were laws for Latin as well as Danish schools. During the eighteenth century, schools for poor children were established, while towards the end of the century the importance of the school system in relation to the economic functioning of society was discussed. A broader range of schools was developed in most cities, meant for children of different social origins and social prospects, and different for boys and girls. The article argues that the school system was used to make the population more industrious during a period when trade capitalism made the social division in society sharper and different forms of organisation of labour were attempted. The attention on children’s education was turned from consideration of the children’s spiritual future to their preparation for a working life that served economic ends.     

Reflections on the type of question as a determinant of the form of interaction in decision‐making and problem‐solving discussions

This essay advances the thesis that scholars interested in communication in decision‐making and problem‐solving groups have focused in their research on questions of policy at considerable neglect of questions of fact, conjecture, and value. One should not presume that the process involved in discussions of questions of policy is similar to those involved in discussions of the other three types. In fact, there is good reason to believe that because the decision frame presumably is different for each type of question, the pattern of interaction characteristic of discussions involving each type of question will be distinct. Such distinctiveness is suggested and better explained by viewing each type of question from a unique theoretical perspective. Accordingly, this essay explores discussions of questions of fact from a narrative perspective, questions of conjecture from a cognitive perspective, questions of value from a deontological perspective, and questions of policy from a social‐influence perspective in terms of expected patterns of interaction and the possibilities each presents in accounting for variation in the consensual outcomes of group decision‐making and problem‐solving discussions, as well as the appropriateness of the final choices the participants make.     

Moderating effects of executive functions and the teacher–child relationship on the development of mathematics ability in kindergarten

Academic preparedness, executive function abilities, and positive relationships with teachers have each been shown to be uniquely important for school readiness and success in the early elementary grades. Few studies, however, have examined the joint influence of these readiness variables on early school outcomes. Using data from a prospective longitudinal sample of 1292 children and families in predominantly low-income and rural communities, we found that executive function at child age 48 months and a higher quality relationship with the kindergarten teacher each uniquely moderated the effect of math ability in preschool on math ability at the end of kindergarten. This effect was seen for math ability as measured by the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten (ECLS-K) mathematics assessment battery but not the Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of Achievement Applied Problems subtest. For children with lower math ability in preschool as assessed by the ECLS-K Math battery, higher executive function abilities and a more positive relationship with the kindergarten teacher were each associated with a higher than expected level of math ability in kindergarten. Conversely, lowest levels of math ability in kindergarten were observed among children with low math ability in preschool and poor executive function or a less positive relationship with the kindergarten teacher.     

Comparing the effects of different book reading techniques on young children’s language development

The purpose of this research study is to compare the effects of digital, dialogic and traditional reading on children’s language development aged 48–66 months. Fifty-six randomly selected children enrolled in three different classrooms in a public preschool in Turkey participated in the study. The three classrooms were again randomly assigned as digital, dialogic and traditional reading groups. During the reading activities, a total of 24 storybooks were read by each group every three times in 8 weeks. While the children’s language scores (the receptive and expressive language scores) resulted in a significant increase in dialogic reading, the children’s language scores in a digital and traditional reading group slightly changed during the intervention. Alternatively, qualitative data suggested that the interaction between teacher and children and between children and children were very limited in a digital and traditional reading group and that limited interaction during reading was the underlying cause of the insignificant increase in children’s language scores.

     

Early Childhood Education as a Scientific Discipline: a state‐of‐the‐art perspective

The objective of early childhood education is to address the totality of issues and areas of activity relevant to young children. In spite of the considerable growth in knowledge concerning children and childhood, this objective has yet to be attained at the theoretical level. Proceeding from the vantage point of a retrospective of the conceptions of the two classical theorists, Rousseau and Frobel, the case is made for grounding early childhood education in the dimensions of subjectivity, intersubjectivity, society and history in order to be able to analyse its various tasks in their respective specificity and reciprocal dependence. The attempt is made to characterise the challenges facing such a theory and to outline the resulting systematic issues for a pedagogy of early childhood.     

Discussion on the Style and Features of Business English Writing

After China＇s entry into the WTO, business English is getting more and more important and useful. Therefore, it is quite necessary to master some of its characteristics about the form and the use of words. In this thesis, the author analyzes and discusses the features of the Business English writing by enumerating a lot of examples relating to the structure, style and linguistic characteristics, hoping to give some help to those who hope to work with Business English in their job, either in teaching or in the international trade.     

Individual and joint toxic effects of cadmium sulfate and α-naphthoflavone on the development of zebrafish embryo

This paper aims to evaluate the individual and joint toxicities of cadmium sulfate (CdSO₄) and α-naphthoflavone (ANF) in zebrafish embryos. As a result, CdSO₄ caused both lethal and sub-lethal effects, such as 24 h post-fertilization (hpf) death and 72 hpf delayed hatching. However, ANF only caused sub-lethal effects, including 48 hpf cardiac edema and 72 hpf delayed hatching. Taking 24 hpf death and 48 hpf cardiac edema as endpoints, the toxicities of CdSO₄ and ANF were significantly enhanced by each other. Consistently, both CdSO₄ and ANF caused significant oxidative stress, including decreases in the reduced glutathione (GSH) level, inhibition of superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity, as well as increases in malondialdehyde (MDA) content in zebrafish embryos, but these mixtures produced much more significant alterations on the biomarkers. Co-treatment of CdSO₄ and ANF significantly down-regulated the mRNA level of multidrug resistance-associated protein (mrp) 1 and cytochrome P450 (cyp) 1a, which constituted the protective mechanisms for zebrafish embryos to chemical toxins. In conclusion, co-treatment of CdSO₄ and ANF exhibited a much more severe damage in zebrafish embryos than individual treatment. Meanwhile, production of oxidative stress and altered expression of mrp1 and cyp1a could be important components of such joint toxicity.     

The development of a criterion‐referenced profile: the Hertfordshire English Project

Many developments in profiling are taking place at present and a considerable number use a criterion‐referenced assessment model. This study reports the experiences of a local curriculum development project which has developed an English course and summative profile for lower‐attaining pupils. The way in which criterion‐referenced assessment was incorporated into the development of the profile is described, together with the results of a small‐scale survey of teachers’ views of the use of such a profile. Key issues for those developing such profiles in English and other subjects are identified.     

Joining the goblins: fictional narratives and the development of student‐teachers’ reflection on practice in the further education sector

This paper explores ways in which student‐teachers in the Lifelong Learning sector are able to draw on fictionalised accounts of their own teaching practice experiences in order to gain a clearer understanding of their models and expectations of professionalism, and of how they, as individuals, locate their current position within the profession as a community of practice. It argues that the translation of experience into fiction – in this case specifically in the form of fairy tales – can be usefully applied in order to enhance and encourage reflection on practice as part of an action research cycle. Drawing on the evidence gathered, the paper goes on to suggest that student teachers’ main preoccupation at this stage of their development is not so much with meeting ‘standards’ of professionalism as with questions of behaviours and practices that will lead to a sense of belonging and acceptance; and with the need to transform their status, in relation to the profession, from that of outsider to insider.     

The associative field as a diagnostic instrument in assessing the breadth of multi‐contextual concepts: the concept ‘development’

A free‐association approach was used to identify the connotative meanings of the concept ‘development’ in respondents' cognitive structure. The study was carried out at three levels in schools (6th, 9th and 11th grades) and in comparison with groups of student‐teachers and teachers of biology. Analyses of subjects' association‐spectrum revealed a paucity of multi‐contextuality, indicating a non‐inclusive concept‐formation. The great majority of subjects' associations referred to biology only. This was especially so in first (when compared with residual) associations. A very large proportion of subjects did not differentiate between the concepts of ‘development’ and ‘growth’. Most biological associations of ‘development’ referred to ontogeny, with very few phylogenetical associations.