Trainers,Performance Technologists,and Environmentalists Originally published in 1991, PIQ 4.2

Performance technology is expanding its horizons. We have witnessed an increasingly wider-ang]e concern which has moved from a focus on task components to jobs, and from those to organizational concerns—a movement from the microscopic to the big picture. In making this transition, there are important lessons to be learned from environmentalists: they encourage us to think globally and act locally. By expanding from a concern with micro-level performance improvement to a focus where the primary clients and beneficiaries include concerns for performance improvement on all levels—individual, organizational, and client/societal—we too can think globally, act locally, and also improve our contributions at all levels. This article presents expanding horizons, building upon current models and understandings to develop both strategic thinking and practical tools for both doing our jobs right as well as defining the right job to be done in the first place. The world has shifted, and it is up to us to be increasingly responsive and responsible.     

Trainers,Performance Technologists,and Environmentalists

Performance technology is expanding its horizons. We have witnessed an increasingly wider–angle concern which has moved from a focus on task components to jobs, and from those to organizational concerns–a movement from the microscopic to the big picture. In making this transition, there are important lessons to be learned from environmentalists: they encourage us to think globally and act locally. By expanding from a concern with microlevel performance improvement to a focus where the primary clients and beneficiaries include concerns for performance improvement on all levels–individual, organizational, and client/ societal–we too can think globally, act locally, and also improve our contributions at all levels. This article presents expanding horizons, building upon current models and understandings to develop both strategic thinking and practical tools for both doing our jobs right as well as defining the right job to be done in the first place. The world has shifted, and it is up to us to be increasingly responsive and responsible.     

Differential validity of reversal errors as predictors of first-grade reading achievement for blacks and whites

The aim was to explore race and sex differences on a measure of reversal and sequencing errors for a group of 401 first-grade children. Differences were examined in two ways: comparisons of mean scores on the Horst Reversals Test, and comparisons of the predictive validity coefficients of this reversals measure. White children scored significantly higher than black children on the reversals test, although predictive validity coefficients were substantial (.50s-.60s) for both races. Sex differences tended to be minor and of little consequence.     

Use of the WISC-R with a learning disabled population: Some diagnostic implications

A group of 41 learning disabled children in Hawaii, aged 6 to 151/2, were tested on the WISC-R. Two main questions were explored: (a) Do the separate WISC-R tests assess “g” for learning disabled children to the same degree that they do for normal children? (b) Is there significantly more scatter among the tests for learning disabled than for normal youngsters? The answers to these questions were interpreted in terms of their diagnostic significance.