Child, Program, and Family Ecological Variables in Early Intervention

This study is based on a conceptual framework which emphasized the importance of viewing early intervention outcomes in relation to both program and nonprogram variables. Three broad classes of independent variables were included in the framework child, program, and family ecology. The unique and combined contributions of these three sets of variables to the prediction of three indices of intervention outcome was assessed through regression techniques. As much as 68% of the variance in children's post-intervention developmental age (DA2) was explained by the combined influence of all three classes of variables. All three classes of variables again contributed uniquely to the prediction of parental satisfaction with the intervention, explaining 45% of the variance. The three classes of variables explained 36% of the variance in children's rate of development during the intervention (RDI), although the contribution of the program class was very minimal. In addition to ascertaining the contributions of sets of variables, the importance of individual variables within sets was also examined. Results from both types of analysis underscored the important role of nonprogram variables in the determination of both child and parental outcomes. The implications of these findings for the design and evaluation of early intervention are discussed.     

Project THREAD: Technology helping restructure educational access and delivery

This article describes Project THREAD (Technology Helping Restructure Educational Access and Delivery), an initiative funded by the U.S. Office of Education through its PT3 grant program. The project’s overarching goal is to prepare teachers to integrate modern technologies to fundamentally enhance teaching and learning in K-12 schools. Project initiatives include: (a) a series of in-service workshops for university faculty, administrators, field supervisors, and mentor teachers; (b) one-on-one follow-up support provided by project staff; (c) a minigrant program to support the development of technology-based learning activities for university courses; (d) expanded opportunities for students to apply technology in thier courses and field experiences; and (e) a redesign of selected courses that impact a large number of teacher candidates. The project’s evaluation is described, along with a discussion of outcomes and lessons learned. in recognition of the project’s scope and accomplishments thus far, the College of Education at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), was named the 2002 winner of the Best Practice Award for the Innovative Use of Technology by the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE).     

Disseminating the right information to the right audience: cultural determinants in the use (and misuse) of rankings

Rankings and league tables, or Report Cards (RCs), of Higher Education Institutions have become a global phenomenon. Their purpose, it is claimed, is to help “student-consumers” make informed decisions. Yet the degree to which RCs succeed in helping students in their college choice is disputed. Even though RCs are intended for all, which information is sought and how it is used may differ between potential students hailing from different social, economic and cultural backgrounds. In particular, RCs may neglect certain cultural determinants that influence students’ college choice behaviour. The article reviews the literature on the cultural determinants of college choice and especially the use of RCs in the ambit of cultural determinants. In the United States, possibly because of evident educational gaps between ethnic groups in society, the issue of cultural perceptions in college choice has been addressed, albeit scantly. In Europe, this field of study is virtually non-existent, despite increasing indications that second and third generation immigrants still lag behind in terms of higher education participation and graduation rates.

An Assessment of Statistical Process Control-Based Approaches for Charting Student Evaluation Scores

We compare three control charts for monitoring data from student evaluations of teaching (SET) with the goal of improving student satisfaction with teaching performance. The two charts that we propose are a modified p chart and a z‐score chart. We show that these charts overcome some of the shortcomings of the more traditional charts for analyzing SET data. A comparison of three charts (an individuals chart, the modified p chart, and the z‐score chart) reveals that the modified p chart is the best approach for analyzing SET data because it utilizes distributions that are appropriate for categorical data, and its interpretation is more straightforward. We conclude that administrators and faculty alike can benefit by using the modified p chart to monitor and improve teaching performance as measured by student evaluations.     

A solid base for decisions

To gain insight into the use of the VSNU research quality evaluations (since 1993) in the practice of research and of institutional management in Dutch universities, interviews were held in eight cases evaluated in the first year of this procedure. The main conclusions are that use of these research evaluations is universal, both instrumentally (in decisions directly based on the judgements) and incrementally (in decision-making processes not directly linked to the evaluation). Underlying this is conceptual use: an important change in deans and rectors views of their role in managing research, which they now can realise, because the VSNU research evaluations give them, for the first time, solidly legitimate arguments on which to base strategic decisions. Next to use, other effects can be discerned within universities, pointing to a growing dependency of researchers on managers, necessitating amongst others ever more consciously strategic publication behaviour. Whether quality of research improves in this way, cannot be answered here, but certainly it is more difficult for academics not to engage in research.     

Next Generations,Catwalks, Random Walks and Arms Races: conceptualising the development of quality assurance schemes

The emergence and development of quality assurance schemes in European countries over the last 15–20 years has inspired many national case studies of the systems and procedures adopted. The methods, contexts, and procedures associated with this policy change are diverse. But although individual countries have set about changing policy in different ways there appear to be some common developmental patterns within the Europe of the Bologna Process. How can these developments be conceptualised? In a first step this paper advances a typology based on the quality assurance literature. In a second step, the paper applies the typology to quality assurance developments in three countries. The third part of the paper discusses the strengths and weaknesses of the modelling approach in the light of the empirical evidence and a political science analysis of policy change. The paper concludes with a discussion on future directions for the comparative study of policy change within the European Higher Education Area on the basis of this conceptualisation of developments in quality assurance policy.     

(Trans)national Advocacy in the Ousting of Milošević: The Otpor Movement's Glocal Recursions

Over the past decade a remarkable number of revolutions worldwide imitated the touchstone youth movement Otpor, which played an influential role in ousting Serbian President Slobodan Milo?evi? in 2000. Given the continual presence of Western organizations and resources in Otpor's uprising, I argue that the movement demonstrates a type of communication termed glocal recursion—a rhetorical strategy that invites social change by imitating global methods of resistance, with slight variations, in local contexts. In addition to its time-based connotations (in which activists ground new messages in old texts), glocal recursion advances a space-based understanding of recursive appeals (with activists creating local messages from global structures). This essay analyzes four aspects of Otpor's glocal recursions, including its technological conditions, structured spontaneity, indigenous adaptations, and dialectical reappropriations. Various implications are drawn for communication research.