Reading attitudes and reading interests of urban intermediate grade students

The Survey of Reading Attitudes and the Bundy Reading Preference Survey were administered to 130 fourth- and fifth-grade students enrolled in an urban school with a student body that is representative of the student population of the city. The total score of the Bundy Reading Preference Survey resulted in a significant moderate correlation with the Reading as Enjoyment Dimension of the Survey of Reading Attitudes. This correlation contributes to the construct validity of both measures.     

Assessment of alcohol and other drug abuse with referred adolescents

Adolescents with alcohol or other drug problems may be referred to school psychologists for assessment and demonstrate symptoms similar to handicapping conditions such as learning disabilities or emotional disturbance. Therefore, school psychologists have a need for assessment techniques to determine the probablity that referred adolescents have alcohol or other drug problems. In this paper, prereferral questionnaires, initial interviews, behavioral observations, and assessment devices are discussed. Suggestions are made for referring substance-abusing adolescents.     

Now you see it; now you don't: the elusive nature of electronic information

As more and more information is made available in electronic formats, ensuring reliable access to that information over time is becoming a concern for acquisitions and collection management personnel in all types of libraries. This paper looks at the current situation regarding the availability of monographs, serials, government publications, and web-based information. Possible resolutions must be viewed from a library-wide basis since the situation impacts all of us.     

2-1-1 Information services: Outcomes assessment,benefit–cost analysis,and policy issues

This study investigates policy issues surrounding the implementation and assessment of 2-1-1 information and referral services. More specifically, the study explores the benefits that users receive from 2-1-1 referral services that are distinct from the actual social assistance provided by various service agencies; what policymakers should consider when funding and implementing 2-1-1 services; and the operational structure and interagency relationships that can maximize the benefit of the referral service to both individuals and existing social service agencies. Researchers conducted an extensive literature review and case study to examine dimensions of service performance, benefit–cost, and user outcomes of 2-1-1 services. This study further identifies potential measures and protocols for developing a holistic assessment program that goes beyond the reporting of quantitative inputs and outputs associated with a 2-1-1 agency. The centerpiece of this study is the creation of a logic model that identifies benefits and costs at three different levels: the individual, organizational, and societal. In addition, the model incorporates the dimension of time in order to distinguish between short-, medium-, and long-term benefits. Thus, the model provides a basis for incremental and flexible assessment of service performance that can lead to the creation of a culture of continuous improvement and ongoing evaluation for 2-1-1 services.     

THE APPLICATION OF REPERTORY GRID TECHNIQUE TO COURSE EVALUATION — A PILOT PROJECT

This paper reports on a pilot project carried out between September 1989 and June 1990 at a large college of Further and Higher Education. Using Interactive software based on Repertory Grid Techniques, the authors monitored the progress of a group of students undertaking theflrst year of the Diploma In Nursing (University of London). The primary focus was on how the students were reacting to the course as a whole and to Illuminate Individual difficulties and concerns, which could then be fed back to the course team. It was hoped that the complete process would provide a unique picture of how individual perceptions and responses changed throughout the year.

The authors explain how the software was used, the data analysed, and how the feedback to students and tutors was managed. The prime purpose of the activity was to gain insights into how the technique could be most effectively used across a wide range of courses within the college and to determine whether it was feasible for students to use each other for reflective analysis and discussion of grids. Such an approach should provide useful Information both to course providers and evaluators.     

Evangelical-Christian publishing: Where it’s been and where it’s going

For all of its apparent success, evangelical-Christian publishing has gone largely unnoticed by the book-publishing world and now finds itself confronted by several challenges. This article provides an overview of the development of evangelical-Christian Moody helped in its launch, and of changes in the way Christian books are distributed. While these changes intersect those in general bookselling, they are also unique in several ways.     

Distributed Departments: A New Approach to Protecting the Vitality of Small Programs

The Texas Electronic Coalition for Physics was established in 2000 as a means of demonstrating that by linking together, small programs can maintain their vitality in higher education. Using Interactive Television, the Internet, telephones, faxes, and other electronic media, five physics programs scattered across the state of Texas formed a distributed physics department. In addition to jointly offering lecture courses, the group (i) established procedures for operating as a unified entity, (ii) encouraged research regardless of location, (iii) provided a locus for professional camaraderie, (iv) created a distance-based advanced physics laboratory course, and (v) developed assessment tools for measuring success in a distance environment. Through these, the coalition demonstrated that a distributed department can carry out all of the functions associated with a traditional department.