THE EFFECT OF A SPECIAL CURRICULUM FOR DISADVANTAGED CHILDREN ON TEST-RETEST RELIABILITIES OF THREE STANDARDIZED INSTRUMENTS1

Test-retest (stability) reliability coefficients are, by their nature, affected by what has happened to the tested subjects during the period between testings. Similarly, changes in subjects' mean performance will reflect what happened to them in the interim period. In this regard, the relative values of stability coefficients for experimental and control groups are indicative of the relative degree to which an experimental program is able to change the rankings of the students on criteria measures at pre- and posttreatment times. Changes in students' rankings however do not necessarily affect the level of the group's average performance. This study examines the stability reliabilities of three standardized testing instruments used in the evaluation of a special (enriched) curriculum for young disadvantaged children and the changes in their average performance over a 2-year period. Magnitudes in test-retest reliability differences between treatment groups seem to parallel differences in mean scores. Using the stability reliability coefficients as indices, the program discussed in this report seemed to be most effective in producing change in the skills measured by the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test. However, significant differences in mean performance between the treatment groups indicates the effectiveness of the program not only in the skills measured by the PPVT but also in those areas measured by the Stanford Binet and the Columbia Mental Maturity Test.     

Quality Through Robust Design

The programme in quality improvement and engineering design at City University, London is presented. Interdisciplinary design and quality are linked in a number of ways from case-studies in experimental design methods to statistical simulation linked to computer aided design. The new Engineering Design Centre and Quality Unit collaborate with several departments within the School of Engineering where quality and reliability are real issues: civil engineering (structures) and electrical engineering (instrumentation) provide examples. The Engineering Design Centre and Quality Unit undertake work with industry and examples of these are given in the paper.     

A Comparison of the Effects of Direct Instruction and Remedial English Classes on the Spelling Skills of Secondary Students

A 2x2 factorial design using 72 Australian Year 7 students (aged 11.50 years to 12.75 years) was employed to determine the relative effects of exposure to Morphographic Spelling and attendance at remedial English classes on children's spelling scores as measured by three independent variables (Schonell Graded Word Spelling Test, Peters’ Dictation Test and Primary Revision Spelling Test). Analysis of covariance procedures were used and the results indicate a strong effect for exposure to the Morphographic Spelling Programme, but with a non‐significant effect for the attendance at remedial English classes.     

Researching Environmental and Sustainability Education Policy: Slumbers and Awakenings

This article offers a series of reflections based on a recent edited collection, Environmental and Sustainability Education Policy: International Trends, Priorities and Challenges. As one of its editors, here I bring together key features of the collection and themes pertinent to this emerging field of scholarship, to offer some way-markers for possible future research avenues. Taken together, I trust these observations might help others navigate what we encountered in policy studies and practice development, and illuminate various blank, blind, bald and bright spots for research and policy in both environmental and sustainability education, and related fields of inquiry.     

Understanding Teachers' Work: is there still a place for labour process theory?

After a brief and vigorous appearance in the 1980s, labour process theory has become a marginal presence in the contemporary literature on teachers' work. This paper argues that a key reason for this marginal status is that, in the education literature, labour process theory has been unable to shake clear of its historical connection with the Braverman proletarianisation thesis. This has produced a focus on a single mode of control (scientific management) and its effects (e.g. deskilling and intensification), rather than on the forms and purposes of control of teachers. As a consequence, labour process theory has appeared deterministic. If it is to fulfil its potential as an important lens through which to analyse empirical research into the work of educators, labour process theory requires theoretical renovation, particularly in relation to the special contexts and circumstances of education and teachers' work. The paper contributes to one aspect of that task—the nature of control and its purposes in relation to state teachers.