TRAINING POLICY GERONTOLOGISTS: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY OF NEEDED SKILLS,KNOWLEDGE, AND ATTRIBUTES

Findings from a survey of policy professionals in aging (n = 114) and experience with a demonstration program to train policy gerontologists indicates that (1) the demand for policy gerontologists is moderately high; (2) training requirements include specific skills training in political processes, communication, analysis, and administration; (3) policy gerontologists require such personal attributes as follow through, initiative, and innovation; and (4) knowledge of the content of specific policy areas as well as an understanding of the policy‐making process is important. Findings have been used to develop a model curriculum for training policy gerontologists which is presented and discussed.     

Obtaining Diagnostic Classification Model Estimates Using Mplus

Diagnostic classification models (aka cognitive or skills diagnosis models) have shown great promise for evaluating mastery on a multidimensional profile of skills as assessed through examinee responses, but continued development and application of these models has been hindered by a lack of readily available software. In this article we demonstrate how diagnostic classification models may be estimated as confirmatory latent class models using Mplus, thus bridging the gap between the technical presentation of these models and their practical use for assessment in research and applied settings. Using a sample English test of three grammatical skills, we describe how diagnostic classification models can be phrased as latent class models within Mplus and how to obtain the syntax and output needed for estimation and interpretation of the model parameters. We also have written a freely available SAS program that can be used to automatically generate the Mplus syntax. We hope this work will ultimately result in greater access to diagnostic classification models throughout the testing community, from researchers to practitioners.     

Open government

Access to government information in electronic form is essential to the realization of a civil society, democratization, and a rule of law. Freedom of information issues are centrally important in countries around the world, and the Internet's World Wide Web offers the potential to provide freedom of information at low cost. Achieving a sound information policy to promote open government requires constant vigilance by those who care about the goal. The greatest threat is state sponsored monopoly. State sponsored monopolies are inimical to open government and rule of law because they open the possibility of censorship, because they raise prices and increase cost, and because they deprive the public of new technology developments. Agencies should never seek to restrict redissemination or to prescribe prices at which information may be distributed to redisseminated. Copyright law may be interpreted to exclude the possibility of copyright in basic public information. Finally, the proposed database protection treaty now pending before the World Intellectual Property Organization should be opposed, unless drafters add a compulsory license provision to mandate multiple sources and channels for public information locked up by intellectual property and database rights.