Combining Data on Criticality and Frequency in Developing Test Plans for Licensure and Certification Examinations

Job analysis is a critical component in evaluating the validity of many high-stakes testing programs, particularly those used for licensure or certification. The ratings of criticality and frequency of various activities that are derived from such job analyses can be combined in a number of ways. This paper develops a multiplicative model as a natural and effective way to combine ratings o f frequency and criticality in order to obtain estimates of the relative importance of different activities for practice. An example of the model's use is presented. The multiplicative model incorporates adjustments to ensure that the effective weights of frequency and criticality are appropriate.     

Student ratings and various instructional variables from a within-instructor perspective

The relationship between class size, instructional method, course level, reason for enrollment, and student ratings of instruction was assessed from a within-instructor perspective. Two hundred fifty-four pairs of courses taught by the same instructor were correspondingly identified and subjected to a stepwise multiple regression procedure. Only class size was found to be a significant predictor of ratings once individual differences between instructors were controlled, hence underlining the importance of (1) taking cognizance of the size of the course when using student ratings of instructors as a measure of teaching effectiveness, and (2) controlling for systematic variation due to instructor idiosyncracies in instructional research.     

Gender, equity and the discourse of the independent learner in higher education

The ‘independent learner’ is a key construct within discourses of educational policy and practice in the UK. Government policy statements stress the importance of developing learner independence, and higher education pedagogical practices tend to rest on the assumption that students are independent learners. This paper draws on research with undergraduate students in a post-1992 university to offer a critical appraisal of the discourse of the independent learner. The paper examines students’ perceptions of independence in both their first year of undergraduate study, and in the later years of their degree courses. Support for learning and issues related to asking for help are discussed. Whilst students tend to both expect and want to be independent, it is suggested that dominant constructions of the independent learner are gendered and culturally specific, and as such are inappropriate for the majority of students in a mass higher education system.     

A systematic review of controlled trials evaluating interventions in adult literacy and numeracy

This paper reports a systematic review of the quasi‐experimental literature in the field of adult literacy and numeracy, published between 1980 and 2002. We included 27 controlled trials (CTs) that evaluated strategies and pedagogies designed to increase adult literacy and numeracy: 18 CTs with no effect sizes (incomplete data) and 9 CTs with full data. These nine trials are examined in detail for this paper. Of these nine trials, six evaluated interventions in literacy and three evaluated interventions in literacy and numeracy. Three of the nine trials showed a positive effect for the interventions, five trials showed no difference and one trial showed a positive effect for the control treatment. The quality of the trials was variable, but many of them had some methodological problems. There was no evidence of publication bias in the review. There have been few attempts to expose common adult literacy or numeracy programmes to rigorous evaluation and therefore in terms of policy and practice it is difficult to make any recommendations as to the type of adult education that should be supported. In contrast, however, the review does provide a strong steer for the direction to be taken by educational researchers: because of the present inadequate evidence base rigorously designed randomised controlled trials and quasi‐experiments are required as a matter of urgency.     

Impacts of a university-elementary school partnership designed to support technology integration

Although administrators are scrambling to bring technology into their schools, the introduction of computers into individual classrooms has created challenges for both experienced and inexperienced teachers. Recognizing that teachers' use of technology is likely to increase when support is more readily available, a university-elementary school partnership was formed to provide ongoing professional, instructional, and technical support to teachers at one elementary school. Professional support was provided through monthly meetings and ongoing interactions initiated by teachers' changing technology needs. Instructional support was provided through two teacher inservice workshops that emphasized practical ideas for infusion. Technical support was provided, at least in part, by training 18 third- to fifth-grade students to serve as technology experts for the school. Survey and interview data from teachers, students, the principal, and the library media specialist were used to examine the impact of these efforts. Findings describe perceived increases in teachers' levels of instructional and professional uses, and in students' confidence, self-esteem, and computer skills. Although participants described changes in the school's overall approach to technology use, use of student-trainers was limited.Special thanks to other team members who contributed to this project: Justin Ahn, Brooke Banta, Kathy Cennamo, Tristan Johnson, Wade Oliver, Feng-Qi Lai, Scott Ringer, and Jamie Turpin, as well as the students, teachers, library media specialist, and principal from Midland School.     

Attachment Theory in Supervision: A Critical Incident Experience

Critical incident experiences are a powerful source of counselor development (T. M. Skovholt & P. R. McCarthy, 1988a, 1988b) and are relevant to attachment issues. An attachment theory perspective of supervision is presented and applied to a critical incident case scenario. By focusing on the behavioral systems (i.e., attachment, caregiving, and exploratory) identified by J. Bowlby (1969), previous conceptualizations are expanded by illuminating relational concepts that supervisors could use to facilitate counselor learning.     

Weak information work in scientific discovery

Scientists continually work with information to move their research projects forward, but the activities involved in finding and using information and their impact on discovery are poorly understood. In the Information and Discovery in Neuroscience (IDN) project we investigated the information work involved as researchers make progress and confront problems in the practice of brain research. Through case studies of recent neuroscience projects, we found that the most difficult and time-consuming information activities had parallels with Simon’s explication of weak methods in scientific problem solving. But, while Simon’s weak/strong distinction is an effective device for interpreting information work, his general conception of how discovery takes place is artificially constrained. We present cross-case and case-based results from the IDN project to illustrate how the conditions of problem solving Simon associated with weak methods relate to information work and to identify additional weak aspects of the research process not considered by Simon. Our analysis both extends Simon’s framework of what constitutes the discovery process and further elaborates how weak approaches influence the conduct of research.     

Infantile amnesia across the years: a 2-year follow-up of children's earliest memories

Although infantile amnesia has been investigated for many years in adults, only recently has it been investigated in children. This study was a 2-year follow-up and extension of an earlier study. Children (4-13 years old) were asked initially and 2 years later for their earliest 3 memories. At follow-up, their age at the time of these memories shifted to several months later, with younger children unlikely to provide the same memories. Moreover, when given cues about memories recalled 2 years previously, many were still not recalled. In contrast, older children were more likely to recall the same memories, and cues to former memories were successful. Thus, older children were becoming consistent in terms of recalling very early memories.     

Experimental trials and ‘what works?’ in education: The case of grammar for writing

The place of evidence to inform educational effectiveness has received increasing attention internationally in the last two decades. An important contribution to evidence‐informed policy has been greater attention to experimental trials including randomised controlled trials (RCTs). The aim of this paper is to examine the use of evidence, particularly the use of evidence from experimental trials, to inform national curriculum policy. To do this the teaching of grammar to help pupils’ writing was selected as a case. Two well‐regarded and influential experimental trials that had a significant effect on policy, and that focused on the effectiveness of grammar teaching to support pupils’ writing, are examined in detail. In addition to the analysis of their methodology, the nature of the two trials is also considered in relation to other key studies in the field of grammar teaching for writing and a recently published robust RCT. The paper shows a significant and persistent mismatch between national curriculum policy in England and the robust evidence that is available with regard to the teaching of writing. It is concluded that there is a need for better evidence‐informed decisions by policy makers to ensure a national curriculum specification for writing that is more likely to have positive impact on pupils.     

Elaborate Isolation: Metastructures of Knowledge About Women

This paper examines the category of "Woman" within the metastructure of a system of knowledge organization. We trace the subject scheme used to list books about women in a standard bibliographic guide over the first three-quarters of the twentieth century.Building on the feminist critique of subject representation, our analysis documents how the category was continually constructed over time, providing evidence of multiplication, isolation, and confusion in the process. The outcome is a framework that fails to capture the complex nature of knowledge about women and conceals relationships to the larger body of knowledge. The case of this legacy system exemplifies problems associated with representing the complexity and integration of knowledge and provides a basis for considering the potential residual impacts of current information organization and navigation systems.