Accountability through Systematic Record‐Keeping in a Residential Setting

In 1981, the New Zealand Department of Education and SUPPORT jointly opened Glenburn Centre, which operates residential, school and home programs for assisting families whose young children present severe behaviour problems at home and at school. Time‐out is the most restrictive procedure employed at Glenburn and its use is limited to certain classes of severely disruptive behaviour under specific conditions. As the “bottom line” procedure, for ethical reasons its use is carefully monitored and systematically recorded. Examination of Time‐out data cumulated over two and a half years 1) has showed positive effects coincidental with major changes in program development; 2) unusual shifts in data have pointed to the need for extra attention to staff training at particular times; and 3) the data have proved useful in providing feedback to staff and in evaluating program development. The data demonstrate the value for institutional management and ethical accountability of keeping systematic records of an institution's use of its “bottom line” procedure.     

Through a Glass Darkly: The Teaching and Assessment of Drawing Skills in the UK Post‐16 Art & Design Curriculum

This article investigates the ways in which drawing is taught and assessed in post‐16 UK schools and colleges, with a particular focus on A Level art and design courses. Through an historical survey of the development of syllabi and assessment methods, it traces how the role of drawing in the curriculum has changed over the past sixty years. From a series of prescribed observational drawing exercises, the A level exam has evolved into a holistic exploration of each student’s creative process, and drawing is now seen mainly as an integral part of that process. The article demonstrates how the art history element of the syllabus has also been gradually integrated into practice, and thus into the drawing process itself. Questions are raised about how these changes have influenced the nature of the portfolios which students entering higher education bring to interview. In short, this article seeks to answer the question: do we now teach and assess observational drawing skills ‘through a glass darkly’, obscured by other considerations within the art educational curriculum?     

Teachers’ acquisition of knowledge about English word structure

Previous research suggests that teachers’ knowledge about English word structure (e.g., the phonological structure of words and common orthographic patterns in English) may be limited, although this knowledge is important for effective teaching of word decoding. This study examined teacher education students’ knowledge about word structure, and improvements in their knowledge as a result of instruction, using three tasks: graphophonemic segmentation, classification of pseudowords by syllable type, and classification of real words as phonetically regular or irregular. Participants came from a special education certification program and included both preservice and inservice teachers. Results indicated that prior preparation to teach reading influenced participants’ initial performance on two of the three word-structure tasks (all but graphophonemic segmentation); however, prior experience in teaching reading did not influence word-structure knowledge. A subset of participants who received specific instruction about word structure improved their knowledge relative to a comparison group of teacher education students who did not receive word-structure instruction. Prior preparation did not influence participants’ responsiveness to instruction. Conclusions support the viewpoint that teacher education must include information about English word structure for educators who will teach reading and suggest that sufficiently intensive instruction may be important in developing word-structure knowledge.     

Validation of the attitude toward women in science scale for early adolescents

The purpose of this study was to measure attitude of adolescents toward women in science careers. To do so, researchers in the Career Oriented Modules to Explore Topics in Science Project validated a 27-item instrument, the Women in Science Scale (WiSS). The scale had high reliability whether measured by estimates of internal consistency or test-retest reliability. The validity was established using the known groups and correlates procedures. The test clearly distinguished between known groups and resulted in the predicted pattern of correlations with measures of other constructs. The WiSS could prove to be a valuable instrument for basic research or curriculum evaluation where adolescent attitude toward women in science careers is a variable of interest.     

Childcare Workers’ Use of Talking Up and Incidental Teaching Procedures under Standard and Self‐management Staff Training Packages

Two childcare workers in a daycare setting were trained in the use of Talking Up and Incidental Teaching procedures, designed to increase children's language. Training was introduced in two stages. The first was a standard training package comprising oral and written instructions, roleplay, modelling and feedback. The second was a modified package comprising a self‐management component (the formulation by childcare workers of specific plans to implement each procedure, and a correspondence training component in which they received feedback on correspondence between their performance and their plans). Following a baseline period in which rates of child‐initiated language were monitored the standard training package was introduced for both Talking Up and Incidental Teaching. Next, the modified (self‐management) training package was introduced, first for Incidental Teaching, and subsequently for Talking Up. Introducing the standard training package resulted in markedly increased use of Talking Up by one worker and Incidental Teaching by both workers. However there was a concomitant decrease in child‐initiated language (and hence opportunities to use Incidental Teaching). When the modified (self‐management) package was introduced for Incidental Teaching, there was a resultant increase in the use of that procedure as well as a marked increase in child‐initiated language. When the modified (self‐management) package was introduced for Talking Up, there was a resultant increase in the use of that procedure but in contrast, there was a decrease in child‐initiated language. With the introduction of each training package, nevertheless, both workers responded to increased proportions of child initiations over baseline. Results are discussed in terms of the confounding effects of the two procedures in this study and their relative usefulness in improving child language.     

Teacher Factors and Special Class Referral Decisions

Using questionnaire data an examination was made of the personal and professional characteristics of 127 regular class (Grade 2‐5) teachers, all of whom had a child in their class whom they believed to be mildly retarded and not coping academically as well as socially in school. Of this group, 53 had referred the child to school psychological services while the remainder had not done so at the time of the study. A set of 28 variables derived from the questionnaire data was subjected to multiple regression analysis in order to examine the predictability of teachers’ referral decisions. Nine significant predictors were identified which together accounted for 35 percent of the variation in referral decisions. Inter‐group contrasts on these measures revealed that referring teachers were more likely to have made previous referrals, had better access to psychologists, were more confident of their ability to identify children who would qualify for special class admission, believed their school policy to b e more encouraging of referrals, were more likely to have made use of special programs, and received more frequent visits from psychologists. Results are discussed in terms of identifying “unserved mildly retarded” children in regular classes.     

Contexts for Remedial Reading: Practice Reading and Pause,Prompt and Praise tutoring

Abstract Fourteen residential childcare workers were trained to implement both a Practice Reading and the Pause, Prompt and Praise remedial reading procedures in school and cottage settings with 18 low‐progress readers of primary school age. Pause, Prompt and Praise procedures were introduced in each setting only if readers made insufficient progress with Practice Reading alone. Childcare workers displayed major change in their tutoring behaviour between baseline (untrained tutoring) conditions and trained tutoring conditions (Practice Reading or Pause, Prompt and Praise). Readers who received a six week programme of individual reading assistance made significant gains on standardised tests of reading accuracy and comprehension and made accelerated progress through graded book levels, while children in the comparison group did not. Results are discussed in terms of the interactive social contexts provided by the two procedures and of the opportunities for reciprocal gains in skill between readers and tutors with the Pause, Prompt and Praise procedures.