STATE PARTNERSHIPS TO ENHANCE THE QUALITY OF LIFE OF OLDER AMERICANS WITH LIFELONG DISABILITIES

The Older Americans Act and its network of state and area agencies are dynamic mechanisms for human services. The “aging network” has entered a period of expanded policy arenas which require broader agendas and applications, from long‐term‐care systems development to assisting employers who are creating flexible work and retirement programs. It is appropriate for the aging and developmental disabilities networks to explore the intersections of their operations with respect to their methods of administration, advocacy, service systems development, and policies.     

The Effect of a National Initiative on Exam Results

ABSTRACT

This paper considers the examination results of TVEI and non TVEI pupils in the database established at the University of Newcastle in 1985‐87. The pupils took national exams in the summer of 1987, when they were about 16 years old. Their average grades (Exam Means) and their accumulated grades (Exam Totals) were considered separately.

The Exam Mean and Exam Total scores were generally worse for TVEI than non TVEI pupils, even when pupils with the same ability test scores and aspirational scores were compared. However, it is possible that non TVEI factors caused the discrepancy in results and it is these factors which are the subjects of this paper.

The paper considers firstly whether the differences are an artefact of regression analysis. Secondly, the data are considered using various multilevel models. Both analyses suggest that there was no TVEI effect on the Exam Mean score and a negative TVEI effect on the Exam Total. Various explanations for these findings, concerning internal school allocational and curriculum policies, are considered and discussed.     

Information Technology and Special Needs in Education

Abstract

The paper discusses some theoretical and practical problems in using information technology to help people with special needs with some aspects of education. The paper reports the progress on two projects and some findings from a recent survey on Information Technology and Special Needs.     

The Teaching of Modern Languages in Primary Schools

The teaching of a foreign language before ten or eleven years of age has always existed, but it is only since the second world war, and with the object of promoting better international understanding, among other things, that it has undergone extensive development, especially in the United States, Great Britain and France. As far as Europe is concerned, a meeting of all the European ministers of education was held in Hamburg in 1962; on this occasion the ministers stated that the teaching of languages was not giving satisfactory results, and they made recommendations intended to encourage     

The self experience of the gifted person: Theory and definitions

Recent articles on the gifted self are characterized by theoretical confusion and lack of definitional clarity. This article, anchored in current self psychology theory, defines the self experience as the person's subjective experience of organization and meaning, the maintenance of which is crucial to normal functioning. Interactions with others are a formative part of the self experience. Traits of giftedness, and the reactions of others to these, contribute to the gifted self experience. Social and emotional problems of giftedness, such as those that arise with asynchronous development and perfectionism, are based on a compromised sense of cohesion and unity of the self experience.