The ‘origins of football debate’ and the early development of the game in Nottinghamshire

This article continues the debate on the origins of football. It contains new data which note early football activity and initial club formation in Nottinghamshire. The authors reach the conclusion that former public schoolboys were prominent in the development of football in that particular area and see this as further confirmation of their hypothesis that many of these individuals should be seen as important in the establishment of football as a modern sport.     

The Rucker-Gable educational programming scale: Stability over time

The Rucker-Gable Educational Programming Scale (RGEPS) was designed to measure a respondent's attitude toward the knowledge of appropriate program placement for handicapped students, and has been used to evaluate in-service workshops and university courses. Nonetheless, a recent investigation by Graham and Henry (1981) found that, even though the average correlation among items within the scale was substantial, the cross-correlation between similar halves of the RGEPS varied considerably over a short period of time. The present study was designed to determine if the reduction in reliability was due to either one of two factors (i.e., content inequivalence or attribute instability). The findings replicated, in part, the results obtained by Graham and Henry. In addition, it appears that the construct or constructs measured by the RGEPS are unstable over short periods of time.     

Teacher preferences for collaborative relationships: Relationship to efficacy for teaching in prevention-related domains

Recent movements in educational reform call for increased collaborative activities among school personnel. The present study examines student and practicing teacher preferences for modes of working on a variety of student-related concerns and relationships with personal and general efficacy for teaching in prevention-related areas. Elementary and secondary student teachers and practicing teachers were asked to rate their preference for working on student academic, behavioral, and self-esteem problems. The range of working preferences included working with other professionals (collaborative), letting other professionals handle the problem (expert), and working alone. These working preferences were found to vary according to teacher level of experience and grade level of teaching. Significant relationships were found between collaborative work preferences and personal teaching efficacy.     

A Perspective on Strategy Research: Progress and Prospects

Our goal in this article is to present a broad perspective on the state of strategy research and to consider, in brief, the prospects for strategy research in the future. We first draw on the literature in an effort to delineate the attributes of strategies and to consider several dimensions of strategies that dot the research landscape. Next, we distinguish strategic performance from skillful behavior. With this definitional framework in place, we survey changes that might be evidenced in learners' strategic processing over time, as a consequence of knowledge and motivation, as well as other personal factors. Additionally, we explore aspects of the task and the context that serve as change agents in strategy development, including domain, time, and instructional support. We conclude with a brief reflection on issues that deserve attention in research and practice in the next decade, to assist strategies instruction in reaching its potential as a part of integrated, validated instructional practices.