A Cognitive View of Reading Comprehension: Implications for Reading Difficulties

Our aim in the present paper is to discuss a “cognitive view” of reading comprehension, with particular attention to research findings that have the potential to improve our understanding of difficulties in reading comprehension. We provide an overview of how specific sources of difficulties in inference making, executive functions, and attention allocation influence reading comprehension processes and outcomes and may lead to reading comprehension problems. Finally, we discuss how the consideration of these potential sources of difficulty have practical implications for the design and selection of instructional materials.     

From performance management to capacity-building: an escape from the cul de sac?

This article examines the many critiques of educational policies concerning the National Curriculum and the standards and testing regimes for pupils and teachers associated with it. It goes on to suggest that there is a danger of educational researchers and policy-makers arguing themselves into a cul de sac where an unproductive stand-off may prevail. It is argued that a more productive way forward is to be found in a focus on the ‘capacity-building’ of teachers using formative assessment and double-loop learning as the basis for action. This will present a challenge for teachers as well as for policy-makers.     

透过泪眼感怀爱

那是在感恩节后的那个周末,路易丝带着她的黑棕色混种可卡犬散步穿过屋子后面多山的小树林。那是个微寒的早上,薄雾扫过青草,穿过林木。在她们动身离家之前,路易丝为她那个毛茸茸的伙伴穿上了一件黄色外套。这只狗狗的名字叫黛西,她有点怕冷。路易丝喜欢给黛西穿上颜色鲜艳的衣服,因为这样的话,在黛西     

Afterword: in and out of the archives

This Afterword to the papers in the ARCS special issue on Knowledge Cultures assesses the historical approach contained in most of the essays in light of current concerns in archival science and among contemporary scholars in the field.     

Modeling the Interrelationships Among Pre-service Science Teachers’ Understanding and Acceptance of Evolution, Their Views on Nature of Science and Self-Efficacy Beliefs Regarding Teaching Evolution

This study proposed a path model of relationships among understanding and acceptance of evolution, views on nature of science, and self-efficacy beliefs regarding teaching evolution. A total of 415 pre-service science teachers completed a series of self-report instruments for the specified purpose. After the estimation of scale scores using unidimensional IRT models, path analysis suggested that sophisticated views on NOS were associated with higher levels of both understanding and acceptance of evolution, and the higher level of understanding of evolution was related to the higher level of acceptance of evolution. Besides, higher levels of both understanding and acceptance of the theory and na?ve views on NOS were found to be associated with stronger self-efficacy beliefs for teaching evolution effectively.     

Rater calibration when observational assessment occurs at large scale: Degree of calibration and characteristics of raters associated with calibration

Observational assessment is used to study program and teacher effectiveness across large numbers of classrooms, but training a workforce of raters that can assign reliable scores when observations are used in large-scale contexts can be challenging and expensive. Limited data are available to speak to the feasibility of training large numbers of raters to calibrate to an observation tool, or the characteristics of raters associated with calibration. This study reports on the success of rater calibration across 2093 raters trained by the Office of Head Start (OHS) in 2008–2009 on the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS), and for a subsample of 704 raters, characteristics that predict their calibration. Findings indicate that it is possible to train large numbers of raters to calibrate to an observation tool, and rater beliefs about teachers and children predicted the degree of calibration. Implications for large-scale observational assessments are discussed.