The Media and Educational Testing: In Pursuit of the Truth or in Pursuit of a Good Story?

The measurement community needs to better understand how to interact with the media to effectively disseminate important findings from educational testing efforts. To this end, the current paper will review media coverage of educational testing and related issues and elaborate on areas of concern and opportunities for improved communication between measurement professionals and the media. Common misinterpretations of test results and measurement concepts will be discussed and suggestions for the clearer presentation and explanation of such information will be offered. Also, practical advice and strategies for handling different types of interactions with the media will be provided. The implications of focusing on this topic in the measurement profession and the inherent public value of this focus are highlighted throughout the paper.     

Response to Intervention in Middle Schools: Practices and Outcomes

Response to intervention (RTI) is advocated in elementary school as a system‐wide, multitiered model of academic and behavioral interventions. Middle schools have begun adopting RTI models based on these existing elementary models. This investigation into current middle school RTI practices describes technical aspects as well as some of cultural and contextual issues surrounding implementation. The study included multiple data collection procedures including surveys, discussion groups, phone interviews, and site visits. Although many schools reported substantial progress with implementation, they recognized rigorous implementation of RTI posed such on‐going challenges as changes in staffing, curricular realignments, very limited selections of screening and progress monitoring tools aligned with their curriculum, and scheduling of secondary and tertiary level interventions.     

International coproduction

Dealing with international coproduction of educational films in an article like this asks for a certain introudction. The ever-increasing influence of visual media on the community today and the intensified use of these media in all forms of instruction and education in schools and other educational institutions constitute an inducement to examine the possibilities of international cooperation in the production of these media.     

Language arts in the elementary school: A challenge to teachers

According to Dr. Cooper, the students of some teachers are still spending most of their time filling in blanks, labeling parts of speech, and even diagramming sentences. The result is that most students dislike language and develop a meager facility in oral and written communication.     

ECOLES D'TUDES SUPERIEURES POUR QUELQUES ELEVES:

En Amdrique, il y a des centaines de petites Ecoles Superieures isolees qu'il est impossible denoyauter etant donne les distances geogra-phiques, le terrain accidente et les intemperies del'hiver.