The Validity of National Testing at Age 11: the teacher's view

National testing at age 11 in mathematics, science and English has been introduced into all primary schools in England from 1995, following voluntary trials in 1994. Data gathered in 32 representative schools as part of the National Assessment in Primary Schools (NAPS) Project is used to report teachers’ views of the validity of the results of these tests, using theoretical notions proposed by Messick in the Interplay of Evidence and Consequences in the Validation of Performance Assessments (1992). Teachers’ major concerns about validity centred around the unfairness of the tests to specific types of pupils, and the poor match with classroom practice. These factors were believed to account for the significant discrepancies between teacher‐assessed levels and test results. While a minority of teachers remained opposed in principle to national tests, most teachers accepted them as fulfilling a moderation role, believing that the results should be combined with teacher assessments rather than being separately reported.     

Breaking the language barrier: an emergentist coalition model for the origins of word learning

How do children learn their first words? The field of language development has been polarized by responses to this question. Explanations range from constraints/principles accounts that emphasize the importance of cognitive heuristics in language acquisition, to social-pragmatic accounts that highlight the role of parent-child interaction, to associationistic accounts that highlight the role of "dumb attentional mechanisms" in word learning. In this Monograph, an alternative to these accounts is presented: the emergentist coalition theory. A hybrid view of word learning, this theory characterizes lexical acquisition as the emergent product of multiple factors, including cognitive constraints, social-pragmatic factors, and global attentional mechanisms. The model makes three assumptions: (a) that children cull from multiple inputs available for word learning at any given time, (b) that these inputs are differentially weighted over development, and (c) that children develop emergent principles of word learning, which guide subsequent word acquisition. With few exceptions, competing accounts of the word learning process have examined children who are already veteran word learners. By focusing on the very beginnings of word learning at around 12 months of age, however, it is possible to see how social and cognitive factors are coordinated in the process of vocabulary development. After presenting a new method for investigating word learning, the development of reference is used as a test case of the theory. In 12 experiments, with children ranging in age from 12 to 25 months of age, data are described that support the emergentist coalition model. This fundamentally developmental theory posits that children construct principles of word learning. As children's word learning principles emerge and develop, the character of word learning changes over the course of the 2nd year of life.     

Impulse control or selective attention: Remedial programs for hyperactivity

The purpose of the present study was to compare various cognitive treatment approaches for ameliorating the difficulties of hyperactive children on tasks requiring sustained vigilance and accuracy. Differential training techniques comparing training in attention to inhibitory control indicated that a combination of attentional and inhibitory control strategies was most efficacious in enhancing cognitive performance of these children. The findings from the present research further were interpreted to support the hypothesis suggesting that problems with impulse control and attention occur concurrently in hyperkinetic children, although remediation in attentional deploying strategies is necessary for enhancing cognitive performance of these children. The results from this study further indicated that training hyperkinetic children solely in inhibitory control simply is not sufficient for enhancing cognitive performance.     

Right ventricular function in elite male athletes meeting the structural echocardiographic task force criteria for arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy

Athlete pre-participation screening is focused on detecting pathological conditions like arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC). The diagnosis of ARVC is established by applying the revised 2010 ARVC Task Force Criteria (TFC) that assesses RV structure and function. Some athletes may meet structural TFC without having ARVC but we do not know the consequences for RV function. This study compared RV structural and functional indices in male athletes that meet the structural TFC (MTFC) for ARVC and those that do not (NMTFC). We recruited 214 male elite athletes. All participants underwent 2D, Doppler, tissue Doppler and strain (ε) echocardiography with a focused and comprehensive assessment of the right heart. Athletes were grouped on RV structural data: MTFC n = 34; NMTFC n = 180. Functional data were compared between groups. By selection, MTFC had larger absolute and scaled RV outflow tract (RVOT) diameter compared to NMTFC (P ?0.05) but these athletes did not develop a proportional increase in the RV inflow dimensions. There was no difference in global conventional RV systolic function between both groups however, there was significantly lower global RV ε in athletes that MTFC which can be explained, in part, by the RVOT dimension.     

Federal information policy: Protecting the free flow of information

Federal information policy is a tangled web, woven over many decades and one which tends to trap information, rather than making it easily available. Although some of the difficulty has been caused by a lack of coherence and by some confusion among members of the Congress, the principal difficulty recently has been the lack of trust exhibited by the Reagan administration. If the United States is to regain its economic and technological health, a well-thought-out and administered Federal information policy will be the cornerstone to those ends. An informed electorate can help by assisting Congress with ideas regarding needs, both present and future. Together with an informed administration, we can, and must, create the Federal information policy that meets all our needs without jeopardizing our national security.