The structured flexibility of Orton-Gillingham

This paper discusses a philosophic basis for Orton-Gillingham teaching and attempts to demonstrate how certain of the features of such multisensory teaching act to remediate language problems exhibited by many dyslexic students. The common basis of the array of programs coming from both Orton and Gillingham is addressed. Some individual strengths and minor differences between Orton and Gillingham variations are examined. The author is grateful to Margaret Rawson who coined the phrase “Structured Flexibility” in her article, “The Structure of English: The language to be learned,” in theBulletin of the Orton Society 20:103.     

Educational psychologists’ support roles regarding the implementation of inclusive education in Zimbabwe

This article focuses on a phenomenological study of trainee/educational psychologists’ lived experiences regarding the support roles in the implementation of inclusive education practices in Zimbabwe. In‐depth phenomenological interviews were done with 16 purposely selected participants (13 trainee/educational psychologists located at three administrative offices and three experts on inclusion from three universities) and data was transcribed verbatim and thematically analyzed. Monthly/annual reports from trainee/educational psychologists were used as reference material. Three major themes emerged from the support roles: (1) diverse views on inclusion; (2) critical roles, successful and unsuccessful experiences in implementing inclusive education; and (3) impact of experiences on rendering support services. Key findings indicate that advocacy and consultation, assessment and placement, and in‐service training were viewed as critical and successful experiences, whereas negative teacher attitudes and limited resources were viewed as barriers toward the implementation of inclusive education practices. The impact of experiences indicates inadequacy in the provision of support services. Annual reports of trainee/educational psychologists indicated inadequate ongoing training on inclusive education practices. These findings are discussed in relation to the inclusive education literature.     

Television Violence and Its Effects on Young Children

This article examines research on television violence and links violence to specific programs commonly watched by young children. Although there are some who try to disprove any connection between television and aggresive behavior, there is evidence to suggest that such linkages do exist.     

Designing for Differences: Cultural Issues in the Design of WWW-Based Course-Support Sites

Culture is a critical influence on the acceptance, use of, and impact of learning resources. WWW-based course-support sites are becoming an increasingly familiar type of learning resource in higher education. How might different aspects of culture be predicted to affect the institution's, instructor's, and student's reactions to WWW-based course-support sites? How can such sites be designed to adapt to different expectations and learner preferences, especially those related to culture? This article analyses various of these cultural aspects, and argues that WWW-based course-support sites should be designed to be adaptable to different types of cultural differences through the application of a set of ten design guidelines. An example illustrating the design guidelines, the TeleTOP Method from the University of Twente, is described and evaluated relative to the design guidelines. Important considerations related to feasibility as well as to conceptual and strategic choices are included in the scope of the guidelines; the instructor's cultural ecology requires particular attention. But WWW sites and guidelines in themselves are not enough for cultural flexibility; sensitivity and appropriate responsiveness remain human activities.     

On Rewards, Punishments, and Possibilities: Teacher Compensation as an Instrument for Education Reform

This commentary is organized around three cross-cutting themes contained in the articles: assessing school based rewards, envisioning other promising possibilities, and evaluating policy as well as people. The discussion of these broad themes illustrates both the power and limits of policy initiatives, particularly in the area of monetary incentives or sanctions as vehicles for enhancing school performance.     

Comparison of force-related performance indicators between heavyweight and lightweight rowers

The aim of this study was to examine biomechanical variables relating to the force production of men's Lightweight (LW) and Heavyweight (HW) rowing pairs. Seven HW and seven LW coxless pairs were studied under a range of stroke rates, from 20 spm to race rating (average of 33.7 spm for the HWs and 33.9 spm for the LWs). Each crew was equipped with biomechanical apparatus allowing the measurement of gate force, horizontal oar angle, and boat velocity. The HW crews exhibited significantly higher (p < 0.05) values for all variables examined, at all rates. Peak handle force was 26.2% to 30.2% higher in the HW group. Average handle force ranged from 18.7% to 22.1% higher than the LW group. Work per stroke was found to be 26% to 28% higher for the HW crews, and Power Per Kilogram was also greater for the HW crews, from 24.0% to 29.2%. The LWs were observed to be consistently, but not significantly, slower than the HWs (from 96.9% at the race situation, to 98.7% at 28 spm). These observations are important when considering biomechanical performance indicators in rowing, as significant changes in performance indicators may lead to only minimal alteration in boat velocity.     

Prestige auditing and the market for academic esteem: a framework and an appeal

Much has been written about the remarkable rise of global university rankings from their initial appearance in the Academic Ranking of World Universities (Shanghai) tables in 2003. The examination of all things rankings, however, has arguably outpaced its conceptual uptake. This paper addresses this imbalance by reviewing prestige audits as resource management tools and status allocation measures. The paper argues that audit ambition has courted audit failure in both dimensions. The resource management justification underestimates the challenge of devising reliable proxy variables across international higher education sectors, organizational types, and disciplinary/departmental objectives. Evidential data sets are duly recast as data narratives that compete with each other and cloud the ordinal clarity aspired to in ranking tables. The status competition approach generates Matthew effects and encourages factor gaming. Positional goods investments are also socially and economically wasteful. In either strict (rigid) or relaxed (normed) form, finally, their zero-sum logic fails to account for private and public externalities. The paper closes with an appeal to soft-variable evaluations in higher education contexts as well as to closer scrutiny of the vocabulary informing both quantitative and qualitative assessments.     

Self-confidence and performance goal orientation interactively predict performance in a reasoning test with accuracy feedback

This study takes an individual differences' perspective on performance feedback effects in psychometric testing. A total of 105 students in a mainstream secondary school in North East England undertook a cognitive ability test on two occasions. In one condition, students received item-specific accuracy feedback while in the other (standard condition) no feedback was provided. While accuracy feedback had, on average, no effect on test performance, differential effects were observed. Performance goal orientation and self-confidence moderated feedback effects on performance. The provision of accuracy feedback seemed to have performance optimising effects upon test takers with high performance goal orientation in combination with low self-confidence. The implications of these findings in relation to the validity of findings from psychological testing are discussed.