The Otis and Otisennon Tests: Their Contributions

After tracing the development of the Otis test series from 1918 to the present, the author argues that there will be a continuing demand for group-administered general mental ability tests in education. Nevertheless, he foresees a need for better ways of relating ability test scores with skills and achievements to make them more educationally useful.     

Central Government and Higher Education Planning 1965–1986

The development of a planning body for public sector higher education in England has created the potentiality for an integrated planning approach to university and non-university higher education. Following a difficult birth, the National Advisory Body has worked with the University Grants Committee on a range of transbinary issues. The contrasting relationships between the Department of Education and Science and the two planning bodies is discussed and the need for further developments of the planning machinery debated. The arrangements for Wales and Scotland are also discussed .     

Emergent Team Roles in Organizational Meetings: Identifying Communication Patterns via Cluster Analysis

Previous team role taxonomies have largely relied on self-report data, have focused on functional roles and have described individual predispositions or personality traits. Instead, this study takes a communicative approach and proposes that team roles are produced, shaped and sustained in communicative behaviors. To identify team roles communicatively, 59 regular organizational meetings were videotaped and analyzed. Cluster analysis revealed five emergent roles: the solution seeker, the problem analyst, the procedural facilitator, the complainer, and the indifferent. In terms of meeting outcomes, solution seekers were beneficial to idea longevity, whereas complainers were harmful for meeting satisfaction and idea longevity. Future research directions and managerial implications are highlighted.     

The Influence of Instructor-Student Rapport on Instructors’ Professional and Organizational Outcomes

Students and teachers have relational goals and needs, yet little research has examined the relational goals of instructors and how achieving those goals may affect instructor outcomes. This study examined instructors’ perspectives on instructor-student rapport. Results revealed that instructors who build rapport with students are likely to experience teaching satisfaction, affective commitment to the institution, and enhanced teaching efficacy. However, instructor-student rapport was not related to instructor morale. The findings in this study highlight the importance of positive instructor-student relationships in the classroom and the implications for both instructors and administrators.     

School Effectiveness and School Improvement in Context: The Case of South Africa

This article explores the issue of whether lists of characteristics constituting the effective school are universally valid. It argues that the effectiveness or otherwise of schools must be understood contextually as there are significant differences between both the material and ideological contexts of schooling. The article uses the example of South Africa to demonstrate the difficulties in judging schools in one context using criteria developed in another. Three examples of schools that can be considered effective in the context of the new South Africa are described and discussed and the article concludes by arguing that education for peace and democracy is an essential feature of school effectiveness in South Africa.