The Context of Educational Measurement Instruction for Preservice Teachers: Professor Perspectives

Professors from 28 mid-western colleges responded to a questionnaire on the nature of educational measurement instruction provided to students in preservice teacher education programs. The results reported here offer insight Into (a) course and student characteristics (b) professors' educational preparation and experience, and (c) learning/ instructional activities and content emphases. These characteristics, together with findings of previous research, serve as a basis for suggestions regarding the limitations of this instruction in light of teacher needs and perceived changes needed In educational measurement instruction.     

Shifting the Zone of Mediation in a Suburban New Immigrant Destination: Community Boundary Spanners and School District Policymaking

This paper explores the context of reception for immigrant students and English learners in one medium-sized suburban school district in the northeastern United States. Using qualitative methods, the authors describe how, despite a troubling context of reception emerging from a normative and political community context that harbored resentment toward the new immigrant population, a community-based organization whose members served as boundary spanners between the school district and the community helped prompt district leaders toward more equity-minded policies. Given increasing culturally and linguistically diverse student populations in suburban school districts across the United States, findings from this paper have important implications for community engagement and school district policymaking.     

Knowledge Management in healthcare libraries: the current picture

Knowledge management has seen something of a resurgence in attention amongst health librarians recently. Of course it has never ceased to exist, but now many library staff are becoming more involved in organisational knowledge management, and positioning themselves as key players in the sphere. No single model of knowledge management is proliferating, but approaches that best fit the organisation's size, structure and culture, and a blending of evidence based practice and knowledge sharing. Whatever it is called and whatever models are used, it's clear that for librarians and information professionals, the importance of putting knowledge and evidence into practice, sharing knowledge well and capturing it effectively, are still what we will continue to do.     

Explaining the Acquisition of a Complex Skill: Methodological and Theoretical Considerations Uncovered in the Study of Simple Addition and the Moving-On Process

Research into the development of mathematical cognition has accelerated in recent times. In this literature review, findings from different approaches to studying simple addition performance are reviewed. A review of findings from studies incorporating observation, self-report or both revealed the complex process of change associated with developing retrieval strategies for simple addition. These findings are synthesized using a model of change labelled the Moving-On Process to represent the wave-like transitional pattern of strategy use preceding retrieval. A review of findings from studies based on the analysis of reaction times revealed a robust finding known as the problem-size effect. Different explanations of the problem-size effect, incorporating different theoretical accounts of the nature of retrieval, exact answers, and strategy choice, are compared and contrasted. A review of findings based on a combination of both approaches uncovered important methodological considerations associated with analyzing reaction times and offers direction for future research aimed at unravelling the convoluted construct of automaticity.     

The effect counting speed has on developing a reliance on retrieval in basic addition

The inability to develop, strengthen, and access associations in memory that allow for the rapid and accurate retrieval of answers to basic addition problems is a distinguishing characteristic of a mathematics learning difficulty. The ‘two-factor theory of math fact learning’ (Robinson, Menchetti, & Torgesen, 2002) proposes that a weakness in semantic or phonological processing relating to number underlies such difficulty. The empirical support for this theory has been limited. In this study the basic addition performance of five adolescent students still reliant on counting was examined. A regression analysis of reaction times to counting trials revealed counting-speed to be an important factor in helping to explain why practice had not led to retrieval. The findings are discussed in terms of advancing the two-factor theory of math fact learning and implications for instruction are considered.     

Analysis of faculty appointment,promotion, and retirement policies

A mathematical model of faculty flow was used to predict the effects of new operating policies on the age and rank composition of a large group of university faculty. Specific policies analyzed with this model include changing promotion rates for nontenure faculty, extending service times in nontenure, and implementing an early retirement program for tenure faculty.