Reviewing the Teaching and Learning of Children with Special Educational Needs: Enabling Whole School Responsibility

Neil Morris, Learning Support Co-ordinator, and Phil Parker, Learning Support Manger, at Colmers Farm School, use 'The four Ps of policy' (Palmer, Redfern & Smith, 1994) to review their own practice in the development of the monitoring and evaluation measures of their school's SEN (Special Educational Needs) provision. They outline their commitment to inclusive education, and analyse the ways in which the strategy of 'Subject Department SEN Reviews' focuses upon teaching and learning styles.     

Online tables of contents for books: effect on usage

OBJECTIVES: To explore whether the presence of online tables of contents (TOC) in an online catalog affects circulation (checkouts and inhouse usage). Two major questions were posed: (1) did the presence of online tables of contents for books increase use, and, (2) if it did, what factors might cause the increase? METHOD: A randomized and stratified design was used in tracking usage of 3,957 book titles that were previously divided into two groups: one with TOC and one without TOC. Stratification was done for year of imprint, location, subject, previous use, circulating or non-circulating status, and presence of TOC. The use was tracked by the online catalog statistics in the InnoPac online catalog for fourteen months. RESULTS: The study found that tables of contents do increase usage. It also showed a correlation in the size of the effect based on the currency of the titles. In general, even after adjusting for all of the variables (publication date, location, circulation status, subject, and previous use), the odds of a title being used increased by 45% if the titles had online tables of contents, a statistically significant impact at the 0.05 level. CONCLUSIONS: This case-control study presents new information about the impact on circulation and inhouse use when tables of contents for books are added to the online catalog record. The study helps to establish the positive role of tables of contents in online catalogs. The research establishes TOC as a major parameter that can be successfully studied using quantitative methods. The study also provides information professionals with some guidance on when enhancement of TOC is likely to be most effective in increasing the use of existing collections.     

Familial aggregation of aerobic power: the influence of age, physical activity, and body mass index

Whereas modest familial aggregation of VO2max has been documented after controlling for variables such as physical activity habits, the effect of adjustment for moderating variables has not been directly tested. This issue was addressed in 95 Anglo and 111 Mexican-American families who underwent submaximal cycle ergometer testing. Zero-order correlations of predicted VO2max between pairs of family members were generally weak for both Anglo families (r = 0.04 to 0.35) and Mexican-American families (r = 0.03 to 0.50). Five of 12 correlations were significant. Similar results were found for combined ethnic groups. Adjustment for age, physical activity, and body mass index by partial correlation had few significant effects on aggregation of predicted VO2max. Adjustment for body mass index produced significant decreases in the correlation for Anglo spouses and mother-older child and sibling pairs in the combined group. Although influential moderating variables were not identified, body mass index was found to be a significant, though inconsistent, mediator of aggregation of VO2max. Genetic factors were not strongly supported because of generally weak aggregation in the two ethnic groups.     

Evaluation of the 2000 and 2001 Rhode Island early childhood summer institutes

Abstract

This article presents the theoretical basis and methods for the process and outcome evaluations of the Rhode Island Early Childhood Summer Institutes held in 2000 and 2001. The article also discusses the evaluation results that demonstrated the institutes were received as high‐quality inservice professional development programs in which participants made significant knowledge gains. Additionally, the influence of the evaluations on the institute programs held in 2000 and 2001 as well as the impacts on the planning of future institutes are described. These evaluation studies can serve as models to others planning evaluations of professional development programs. © 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.     

Pricing research and development services in the USSR

Most Soviet applied research and development (R&D) is performed by organizations of industrial branch ministries. Pricing of applied R&D begins with calculations of costs. which are often inflated. Soviet specialists disagree on whether R&D prices should include a profit above cost, and, if so, how the profit should be determined. Current pricing schemes for applied R&D include profits based on planned wage cost, on planned total cost, or on the economic effect of the R&D.The use of the last pricing method is analyzed and evaluated in detail. In principle this method creates incentives for timely delivery of high quality R&D results suitable for assimilation into production. However, in practice the strength of these incentives is considerably weakened by a number of factors.     

Joining forces for public value creation? Exploring collaborative innovation in smart city initiatives

Creating public value is a key goal of public administrations, both in their daily business and in the growing field of smart government and smart cities, which focuses on IT-enabled innovations in the public sphere. However, many public administrations still struggle with such innovations due to complex technologies, high investments, and the numerous stakeholders involved. To address this issue, some local governments in continental Europe have turned to collaborative innovation approaches, partnering with (semi-)public utility companies in the hope that their additional innovation assets will boost innovativeness. Nevertheless, it remains unclear how exactly such collaborations should be governed to ensure that the focus remains on creating public value, as utility companies may have their own agendas. To explore this question, we conducted a comparative case study in the context of smart city initiatives with four cases in Swiss local governments. Drawing on agency and stewardship theory, we then propose a model of public-value-focused collaborative innovation, enabling us to explore various collaboration characteristics and their effects on public value creation. Our findings suggest that both agency- and stewardship-based collaborations increase innovativeness. However, while agency collaborations tend to produce smart city innovations that mainly serve the utility companies' business interests, stewardship relationships lead to innovations that are focused more on public value creation. As such, our study extends the literature on the effects of collaborative innovation on public value, and it provides practical recommendations on how such collaborative innovation should be designed.     

Meanings within meanings: skilled readers activate irrelevant meanings of radicals in Chinese

Reading and Writing - Many characters in written Chinese incorporate components (radicals) that provide cues to meaning. These cues are often partial, and some are misleading because they are...