Improving teacher preparation and selection: lessons from the Pennsylvania experience

This paper examines Pennsylvania's teacher preparation and selection processes over the last decade. Teacher test scores are examined across colleges of education, and extreme differences in teacher test scores are found. Also, extreme variations are evident among districts' employed teachers. A unique survey of district employment practices reveals that, on average, 40% of a district's teachers previously attended there as students. An exploratory econometric model indicates that the higher the unemployment rate in a district, the more likely it will hire its former students to teach, and that the greater the fraction of former students now in the district's teacher force, the lower is student achievement. The paper concludes with a discussion of conventional and unconventional strategies to improve the quality of teachers actually hired by school boards.     

Designing Online Workshops: Using an Experiential Learning Model

This article describes 4 online workshops designed to assist college students with improving their time management, textbook reading, memory and concentration, and overall academic performance. These workshops were created to work equally well with imaginative, analytic, common‐sense, and dynamic learners. Positive student feedback indicated that these workshops met students' perceived needs and expectations.     

Beyond the early adopters of online instruction: Motivating the reluctant majority

Now that most of the innovators and early adopters of online instruction are comfortably teaching online, many institutions are facing challenges as they prepare the next wave of online instructors. This research study examines how faculty in this “next wave” (the majority of adopters) differ from the innovators and early adopters of online instruction. A specific online course development program is described and the experiences of the “majority” in the program are examined in relation to the experiences of previous participants (the innovators and early adopters).     

Project Clarion: Three Years of Science Instruction in Title I Schools among K-Third Grade Students

The purpose of the study was to measure the effects of higher level, inquiry-based science curricula on students at primary level in Title I schools. Approximately 3,300 K-3 students from six schools were assigned to experimental or control classes (N?=?115 total) on a random basis according to class. Experimental students were exposed to concept-based science curriculum that emphasized ??deep learning?? though concept mastery and investigation, whereas control classes learned science from traditional school-based curricula. Two ability measures, the Bracken Basic Concept Scale-Revised (BBCS-R, Bracken 1998) and the Naglieri Nonverbal Intelligence Test (NNAT, Naglieri 1991), were used for baseline information. Additionally, a standardized measure of student achievement in science (the MAT-8 science subtest), a standardized measure of critical thinking, and a measure for observing teachers?? classroom behaviors were used to assess learning outcomes. Results indicated that all ability groups of students benefited from the science inquiry-based approach to learning that emphasized science concepts, and that there was a positive achievement effect for low socio-economic young children who were exposed to such a curriculum.     

The status of evaluation research in communication training programs

The purpose of this study was to determine the frequency and types of evaluation research methods used in communication training programs. A random sample of internal or in‐house human resource (HR) trainers were surveyed and asked to respond to a series of questions concerning evaluation practices used in planning, implementing, and assessing communication training programs. The findings suggest that: (1) HR trainers, for the most part, do not conduct needs analyses while planning communication training programs; (2) the majority of HR trainers collect data on trainees’ attitudes toward communication training programs; (3) the majority of HR trainers do not measure changes in cognitive, affective and psychomotor behaviors or job performance that may occur as a result of participation in communication training programs; (4) experimental and quasi‐experimental designs are used by only a very small percentage of HR trainers; and (5) cost benefit analyses are seldom used to assess the economic effects of communication training programs. The findings of this study suggest that although communication training programs have significantly increased in the past decade, the use of systematic and controlled evaluation research is presently not being undertaken to plan, implement, and assess communication training programs.     

Assessing Knowledge and Attitudes of U.S. Healthcare Providers about Benefits and Risks of Consuming Seafood

An online needs assessment survey of healthcare providers was developed and implemented to determine knowledge and attitudes about the benefits and risks of consuming seafood along with how this might impact patient/clientele counseling. Only 6 of the 45 knowledge items queried (13%) met the 80% subject mastery or proficiency with a total knowledge score of 56 ± 18%. Based on this survey, it was found that healthcare providers were less than proficient regarding all knowledge areas for seafood. Understanding of seafood safety and contaminants was low. In addition, while the majority (76%) of healthcare respondents knew the correct recommendation for seafood meals per week, they failed to identify the groups that were targeted by the Food and Drug Administration/Environmental Protection Agency (FDA/EPA) advisory about seafood and mercury and therefore could be providing inaccurate information. Attitudinal responses for 18 items resulted in an overall average score of 3.28 ± 0.47 meaning slightly agree (based on a 5‐point Likert scale strongly disagree—strongly agree). While trends showed that it was important to the respondents to provide accurate information (3.78 ± 1.06) about seafood to their patients, they felt more comfortable recommending that their patients follow government advice (3.52 ± 0.91) about both seafood safety and which seafood to eat over other sources. Combined with a low knowledge base, attitudinal responses indicate that there could be a barrier to both outreach education to these healthcare providers and to their patient counseling regarding seafood consumption. Results also showed that a combination of online, science‐based, easy to access information with the capability to provide brochure‐formatted information would appear to be the best way to communicate seafood safety, nutrition, and health information.     

What Your Patient Reads: Creating a Value-Added Tool for Physicians

Through a number of media sources, today's consumers have unprecedented access to health information of varying reliability and authority. Empowered by this information, patients are more involved in their health care decisions and more willing to question physicians' advice. This poses a challenge for physicians who must now find time to read mass media health reports in addition to medical research. In order to help physicians with this task, librarians at the University of Manitoba Health Sciences Libraries created What Your Patient Reads – one-page summaries of health-related media reports supplemented with references to evidence-based medical literature.