Data-driven assessment of teacher candidates during their internships in deaf education

Deaf education teacher training programs have received criticism for graduating students with gaps in knowledge and skills required for specific placements. The National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) requires that accredited programs engage in self-study, and NCATE guidelines require programs to collect valid, reliable evidence of teacher candidate performance and candidates' effect on student learning. In the present study, an ecobehavioral assessment computer program, MS-CISSAR (Mainstream Code for Instructional Structure and Student Academic Response), was used in evaluations of 8 teacher candidates during internship experiences. Results were mixed. Some of the instructional arrangements, teaching behaviors, and student responses resembled those found in studies using in-service teachers as subjects; however, some data revealed a need for changes in instruction. Data gathered with MS-CISSAR could be added to evaluations to help training programs meet NCATE requirements for evidence on teacher candidate performance and candidates' effect on student learning.     

The real implications of ‘benevolent’ SEN reform

Consultation of the DfE's Green Paper, Support and Aspiration: A New Approach to Special Educational Needs, provoked considerable debate among public and private sector professionals, parents and young people over the planned special educational needs reform. Since then, publication of the Children and Families Bill in 2013 indicates definitive changes in law, while the revised SEN Code of Practice, which will provide professional guidance, is awaited. There are implications to this reform beyond those which have already been published, although alluded to in the Green Paper. This article will explore the influence of language in the deconstruction of disability, the implications of raising the threshold before a categorisation of SEN applies, concerns arising from implementation of the Single Assessment Process and, finally, how funding reforms will negate some of the anticipated benefits for parents and their children.     

Broadcasting Business

Martin Mayer's About Television (New York: Harper & Row, 1972 —$10.00)

Feedback: A Survival Primer (New York: The Network Project, 102 Earl Hall, Columbia University, 1972—donation requested, paper)     

Understanding new teachers’ professional identities through metaphor

This qualitative study based on semi-structured interviews examines the metaphors new teachers use to describe their professional identities and compares metaphors chosen immediately following graduation with those suggested part way through their first year of teaching. Findings indicate that new teachers make a shift from seeing themselves as ready for the challenge, to adopting a survival mode. The metaphors suggest that new teachers struggle to develop a professional identity during their first year, and that this development process is gradual, complex and often problematic. Implications for teacher education indicate that greater emphasis needs to be placed on exploring professional identity in pre-service programmes.     

Effects of Fact Retrieval Tutoring on Third‐Grade Students with Math Difficulties with and without Reading Difficulties

The purpose of this study was to assess the efficacy of fact retrieval tutoring as a function of math difficulty (MD) subtype, that is, whether students have MD alone (MD‐only) or have concurrent difficulty with math and reading (MDRD). Third graders (n= 139) at two sites were randomly assigned, blocking by site and MD subtype, to four tutoring conditions: fact retrieval practice, conceptual fact retrieval instruction with practice, procedural computation/estimation instruction, and control (no tutoring). Tutoring occurred for 45 sessions over 15 weeks for 15–25 minutes per session. Results provided evidence of an interaction between tutoring condition and MD subtype status for assessment of fact retrieval. For MD‐only students, students in both fact retrieval conditions achieved comparably and outperformed MD‐only students in the control group as well as those in the procedural computation/estimation instruction group. By contrast, for MDRD students, there were no significant differences among intervention conditions.