Classification of children in special education: Importance of pre-assessment information

The records of 137 students for whom complete data files were available were examined in order to determine the extent to which pre-assessment data (teacher referral information and standardized reading test scores) could successfully be used to predict the handicapping classifications decided on by child-study teams. We were specifically interested in the predictive power of pre-assessment information above and beyond that provided by handicapped children's race and gender. Results of our analyses indicated that pre-assessment data can successfully predict the handicapped classifications of the majority of special education students, as well as differentiate students who are found eligible for special education from those found to be ineligible.     

Faculty autonomy: Perspectives from Taiwan

Recent legislative initiatives indicate thatlong-standing traditions of centralized state controlof higher education in Taiwan are being displaced bynew arrangements emphasizing institutional autonomy. Autonomous institutions are assumed to be flexible andresponsive, given their relative freedom fromgovernment control. Institutional autonomy is assumedto ``trickle down' to organizational members, who arethen empowered to devise unique solutions to solveparticular problems. Asserted benefits ofinstitutional autonomy may not accrue, however, whereorganizational members are unable to determine thestructures and processes of their work. The purposeof this study was to examine relationships betweeninstitutional autonomy and dimensions of facultyautonomy. Findings lend conditional support to theclaim that faculty members work within the constraintsof ``regulated autonomy,' where their individualbehaviors are delimited by government and management.