A profile graph for interpreting the Detroit Tests of Learning Aptitude

Diagnostic information from any test is of little value unless the results can be interpreted to parents and teachers in ways they can understand and find useful. The Profile Graph for Selected Subtests of the Detroit Tests of Learning Aptitude was designed as a diagnostic aid to focus interpretation of Detroit results on intraindividual ability strengths and weaknesses as related to a child's own expected level of functioning. Using the Profile Graph can expedite communication to parents and teachers and facilitate educational placement and program planning decisions for learning disabled children.     

This way please! Improving school leadership: the OECD way

In August 2008, the OECD published Improving School Leadership Volume 1: Policy and Practice and Improving School Leadership Volume 2: Case Studies on System Leadership. The main objectives of these reports were to compare school leadership policy between participating countries and to identify innovative practices and options for policy development. As part of the preparation for the final report, a background report on school leadership in the Republic of Ireland was prepared by the Department of Education and Science in 2007. This report will be analysed in this paper in order to identify the degree to which the background report achieved the objective of capturing the current and emerging issues facing school leaders in Ireland. A critique of the ‘one size fits all’ approach to policy in the area of school leadership detailed in Volume 1 of the OECD report follows. This critique contests that some of the policy recommendations contained in the report are based on a narrow and selective range of supporting evidence. A number of these are a cause of some concern particularly when considered in the context of specific features of the schools in the Republic of Ireland.     

Opportunity for change in the future roles for the health library and information professional: meeting the challenges in NHS Scotland

BACKGROUND: NHS Education for Scotland (NES) is the Special Health Board responsible for supporting best practice in education, training and development for all staff groups within NHS Scotland. As part of its remit, the Knowledge Services Group within NES is responsible for the e-Library, a national electronic resource providing and supporting access to the evidence base. The Knowledge Services Group also supports the national development of library services to NHS Scotland. AIMS: This article aims to provide a reflective overview of some recent challenges within the health library and information field in Scotland, and the positive role opportunities these have afforded. METHODS: The information was gathered through extensive professional interaction with staff across the sector over the first year of establishing the new role of Librarian Staff Development Manager. FOCUS: New roles have emerged for health library and information professionals generally; for example, in response to new technology or new user groups. The development of the NHS Scotland e-Library provides examples of role development that emerges symbiotically from core skills applied to a new situation or applied in an innovative way. Role development among health library and information professionals operating at the local service level can be both reactive and proactive. Working together, the partnership between the national Knowledge Services Group and local library and knowledge services for NHS Scotland has resulted in the emergence of additional new roles, extending the role portfolio of the local professional (for example, the Librarian-Tutor role) and supported by other national infrastructures (for example, the competency framework initiative).     

Motivation Terminology in Reading Research: A Conceptual Review

Despite the importance of motivation in understanding the development and practices of reading, problems persist in how motivation-related constructs are defined and investigated. This article reports a concept analysis of how 12 terms have been used in current reading research. Selection criteria resulted in the identification of 92 data-based articles published in 28 peer-reviewed journals from 2003 to 2013. Over the period examined, there was a steady increase in the number of studies reported. Most were conducted in North America and Europe. Only 17 % of the studies offered explicit definitions of the target constructs they examined. Another 64 % relied on various forms of implicit definitions, and 19 % provided no definitions of any kind. Usage problems frequently occurred as well. These included instances of vague associations among terms, occurring in 20 % of the studies, synonymous reference to distinctly different constructs in 32 %, and inaccurate statements made about constructs in 20 %. Although a variety of motivation theories were used to ground the investigations, some 22 % were essentially atheoretical. These difficulties were unrelated to the impact factor of the journals in which they appeared. Possible causes are discussed, together with suggestions for improvement.     

Emerging teachers–emerging identities: trust and accountability in the construction of newly qualified teachers in Norway,Germany, and England

Within the context of globalisation, this article problematises some of the literature on teachers’ professional identities in which a convergence and homogenisation of the profession is implied. It achieves this by focusing on the early experiences of 32 newly qualified teachers in Norway, Germany, and England. The article explores conceptions of identity, deployed for this research, relating these to high- and low-trust forms of trust and accountability in teaching. Aspects of similarity and difference between the three education systems are then used to focus on generic as well as culturally specific issues raised by some of the interview extracts.