Issues in Constructivist Early Moral Education

The authors address Goodman's critique of constructivist moral education as articulated by DeVries and Zan (1994) and respond to her proposal that constructivist education be blended with traditional moral education as advocated by Wynne (1991). The authors cite empirical evidence contrary to Goodman's assertion that preschool children are egocentric and incapable of moral reflection. This difference links to dramatically opposed views on the educational implications of Piaget's research and theory. Goodman advocates that teachers should “exploit the child's natural heteronomy” by giving children rules and demanding obedience. The authors cite empirical evidence showing that heteronomous regulation of children leads to a host of undesirable outcomes and that encouragement of children's autonomy leads to positive outcomes. The authors also point out a number of misconceptions of constructivist education as propounded by DeVries and Zan. They discuss Goodman's specific suggestions for blending constructivist and traditional moral education, and conclude that such a blending contradicts considerable research on child development and early education and eliminates critical components of constructivist early moral education.     

Cross‐informant agreement of children's social‐emotional skills: An investigation of ratings by teachers,parents, and students from a nationally representative sample

This study examines the agreement across informant pairs of teachers, parents, and students regarding the students’ social‐emotional learning (SEL) competencies. Two student subsamples representative of the social skills improvement system (SSIS) SEL edition rating forms national standardization sample were examined: first, 168 students (3rd to 12th grades) with ratings by three informants (a teacher, a parent, and the student him/herself) and a second group of 164 students who had ratings by two raters in a similar role—two parents or two teachers. To assess interrater agreements, two methods were employed: calculation of q correlations among pairs of raters and effect size indices to capture the extant rater pairs differed in their assessments of social‐emotional skills. The empirical results indicated that pairs of different types of informants exhibited greater than chance levels of agreement as indexed by significant interrater correlations; teacher–parent informants showed higher correlations than teacher–student or parent–student pairs across all SEL competency domains assessed, and pairs of similar informants exhibited significantly higher correlations than pairs of dissimilar informants. Study limitations are identified and future research needs outlined.     

Effects of Improving the Reliability of the GPA on Prediction Generally and on Comparative Predictions for Gender and Race Particularly

The reliability of a method of adjusting grade point averages for differences in departmental grading standards was examined, as were the effects of such adjustments on the predictive validity of high school grades, SAT scores, and achievement test scores. The index of differential grading standards for all on-time graduates of the Dartmouth College class of 1986 was quite reliable, and its use in adjusting grade averages increased predictive validity, reduced its erosion over years, reduced the apparent underprediction of women, and improved predictions for blacks. Differential group enrollment in courses in the science division seems to account for much of the effect of adjustment on grades. Improvement in the reliability of the criterial grade averages also was shown to have similar effects on gender and race prediction in another data set     

Clinical Teacher Preparation: A Retrospective

In this article, we explore how teacher preparation programs have developed from the mid-1800s to present day, emphasizing changes in the clinical component. Drawing from the history of teacher education from the normal schools of the 19th century to present-day interest in clinically based preparation, we first review the migration of teacher preparation from normal schools into higher education. Next we discuss how accreditation has shaped programs. We then turn our attention to major initiatives in the 1980s that explicitly focused on linking school improvement with teacher education reform—partnerships that emphasized clinical aspects of teacher preparation. Finally, we discuss efforts to enhance clinical learning, highlighting instructional strategies and issues regarding design, settings, and outcomes for programs as they work to meet challenging new accreditation standards.     

Disorganized Infant Attachment Classification and Maternal Psychosocial Problems as Predictors of Hostile-Aggressive Behavior in the Preschool Classroom

This study of 62 lowincome families examined the relation between maternal and infant measures assessed at 18 months infant age and child behavior problems at age 5 as rated by preschool teachers. The infancy assessments included measures of mother-infant interaction, maternal psychosocial problems, infant cognitive development, and infant attachment security, including the disorganized/disoriented classification. The strongest single predictor of deviant levels of hostile behavior toward peers in the classroom was earlier disorganized/disoriented attachment status, with 71% of hostile preschoolers classified as disorganized in their attachment relationships in infancy. Maternal psychosocial problems independently predicted hostile aggressions in preschool and combined additively with infant attachment security in prediction. Results are discussed in relation to the asymmetry of forward and backward prediction that characterized the findings and in relation to the potential significance of disorganized attachment behavior as a precursor to later maladaptation.     

The Tao of Empowerment

After all the trendy approaches to improving performance have failed, where can we look for the wisdom we need to advise management on how to overcome employee apathy? The concept of employee empowerment is far from new. Five thousand years ago, the sages of ancient China first formulated the principles of Tao, the primal power that forges all phenomena in the universe. They believed that each individual was a microcosm of the universe. Twenty–five hundred years ago, gifted Chinese scholar Lao-tzu eloquently and concisely described the power that comes from being in harmony with the evolving force of nature. The principles Lao-tzu set forth in Tao Te Ching are as valid today as they were 26 centuries ago. They challenge us to use nature as our model, balancing the extremes in life and work, not causing them; to discover intellectual independence, relying on our own inspiration and instincts; to practice simplicity; to build personal power through awareness and knowledge, and to direct events without resorting to force.