Book reviews

Levine, J. (1999). The Enneagram intelligences: Understanding personality for effective teaching and learning. Westport, CT: Bergin & Garvey (320 pp., $24.95, cloth, ISBN‐O‐89789‐ 562–2; $59.95 hardcover, ISBN‐0–89789–561–4).

Jacobsen, M. (1999) Liberating everyday genius: Revolutionary guide for identifying and mastering your exceptional gifts . NY: Ballantine Books. (399 pp., $25.00 hb, ISBN‐0–345–42771–8).

Cline, S., & Schwartz, D. (1999). Diverse populations of gifted children: Meeting their needs in the regular classroom and beyond. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill (207 pp., $ paper, ISBN 0–13–399908–4).

Johnson, N.G., Roberts, M.C., & Worell, J., Eds. (1999). Beyond appearance: A new look at adolescent girls. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association (408 pp., $39.95 hb, ISBN‐1–55798–582–0).     

An Approach for Evaluating the Technical Quality of Interim Assessments

Increasing numbers of schools and districts have expressed interest in interim assessment systems to prepare for summative assessments and to improve teaching and learning. However, with so many commercial interim assessments available, schools and districts are struggling to determine which interim assessment is most appropriate to their needs. Unfortunately, there is little research-based guidance to help schools and districts to make the right choice about how to spend their money. Because we realize the urgency of developing criteria that can describe or evaluate the quality of interim assessments, this article presents the results of an initial attempt to create an instrument that school and district educators could use to evaluate the quality and usefulness of the interim assessment. The instrument is designed for use by state and district leaders to help them select an appropriate interim assessment system for their needs, but it could also be used by test vendors looking to evaluate and improve their own systems and by researchers engaged in studies of interim assessment use.     

Neurological basis of language and reading

The central theme of this article is that contemporary neuroanatomical-neurolinguistic models which conceptualize language and reading as multidimensional, interactive functional systems are more able than earlier localizationist viewpoints to contribute to our understanding of individual differences. After providing a theoretical rationale for this position based on Luria (1973,1980), three modern neuroanatomical-neuroloinguistic models, derived from the extensive case study literature of adult asphasia, alexia, and acquired dyslexia, are discussed. Specifically, the Geschwind-Dejerine model of reading which stresses involvement of classical perisylvian structures in the left hemisphere, Bastian's (1898) competing model which postulates more bihemispheric involvement in reading, and a neurolinguistic model to account for the different ways surface, phonological, and deep dyslexics access meaning, are critically evaluated in terms of their empirical validation, utility, and limitations for understanding individual differences. Finally, suggestions for future research are offered.     

Publishing in Scotland: Reviewing the Fragile Revival

A comparison of analyses of the Scottish publishing industry carried out in 1992, 2002 and 2007 underscores the fragility of the sector within a small country within the English-language community. A number of indices reveal either stability or stagnation and the picture emerges of the remarkable tenacity of publishing in Scotland. Although there is already a significant and vital element of state support for publishing in Scotland, further intervention will be necessary to ensure fulfilment of its potential.

Assessing Early Childhood Teachers' Beliefs About Emotions: Content, Contexts, and Implications for Practice

This study aimed to develop a measure of early childhood practitioners' beliefs about emotions and to use this measure to examine the structure and correlates of these beliefs. A 40-item emotion beliefs measure was administered to 279 American practitioners. Internal consistency for each of 10 emotion belief areas was weak to moderate. In revising the measure, emotion belief areas with the lowest internal consistency were deleted and items were added to the 6 remaining areas to strengthen their reliability. The resulting 23-item revised measure had internal consistencies of .41 to .62 for each of 6 emotion belief areas. Participants' emotion beliefs were related to their level of education and background in early childhood education. A 4-factor solution provided the best fit to the data, explaining 40% of the variance in the U.S. teachers' emotion beliefs. This factor structure was similar to that of the conceptually derived belief scales. Cultural patterns were examined by comparing beliefs of Korean and American teachers of 4-6-year-olds, using t-tests and factor analyses. Although the structure of emotion beliefs was similar, differences appeared in the level of agreement with many items, reflecting culturally specific expectations a b u t young children's emotional vulnerability and about the nature of emotional bonds and emotion socialization in early childhood programs.     

Beginning teacher burnout in Queensland schools: Associations with Serious Intentions to Leave

In keeping with repeated calls to investigate high early career turnover within the teaching profession, the present study investigated the hypothesis that a significant positive association between burnout and turnover intention would be observed in teachers at the beginning of their careers. A sample of 112 Australian teachers working in their first or second academic year was surveyed in 2004. Respondents were administered the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI: Maslach, Jackson & Leiter 1996) and asked about serious intentions to leave their job and/or profession. Meaningful and significant associations between serious intentions to leave and all three MBI subscales were found. The findings suggest a realistic and straightforward explanation for the alarmingly high early career attrition rates that are now commonly reported for the teaching profession in a number of countries.