The teaching portfolio: A tool for department chairpersons to create a climate of teaching excellence

Any attempt to alter the culture of higher education needs to start at the departmental level. Teaching portfolios provide a promising means to empower the department that wants to value teaching and learning. Portfolios provide faculty and chairs with the means to recognize good teaching while still promoting the values of the discipline. On the one hand, the appeal of teaching portfolios rests with the ability of faculty and their departments to recognize both disciplinary and local idiosyncrasies. On the other hand, portfolios provide prominence to what is common across disciplines — teaching and learning.John P. Murray is Associate Dean of Curriculum and Instruction at Genesee Community College in Batavia, New York. Dr. Murray holds a BA from SUNY Potsdam, a MA from Arizona State University, and a Ph.D. from Ohio State University. His current research interests include how administrators can improve teaching and the roles of department chairpersons.     

Cross-cultural reliability and validity of the Multidimensional Neglectful Behavior Scale Adult Recall Short Form

OBJECTIVE: To provide data on the cross-cultural reliability of the Adult Recall Short Form of the Multidimensional Neglectful Behavior Scale (MNBS), and also illustrative validity evidence. The MNBS includes items on four aspects of neglectful behavior: cognitive, emotional, physical, and supervisory. METHOD: The data were obtained by questionnaires completed by a convenience sample of 7179 students at 33 universities in 17 countries. RESULTS: The alpha coefficient of internal consistency for the entire sample was .72. By site, the coefficients ranged from one site with .55-12 sites in the .60-.69 range, and 20 sites with alpha of .70 or higher. The validity of the scale was indicated by low confounding with social desirability response set in all 33 cultural contexts, and by the results of construct validly analyses which controlled for physical maltreatment found that students who were victims of neglectful behavior as a child were more likely than other students to have physically assaulted a dating partner in the previous 12 months. CONCLUSIONS: Although the results are from a relatively privileged sample, they revealed high rates of neglectful behavior and are sufficiently promising to encourage use of the Adult Recall Short Form of the MNBS in a variety of cultural settings.     

Building Bridges in Teacher Education: Creating Partnerships With Parents

This study investigated the learning experiences, outcomes, and perceptions of graduate students in a collaboration and consultation course focusing on parent-professional partnerships. The course was designed as a teacher preparation model that envisions teachers, school psychologists, and families learning together to build effective partnerships to better student outcomes. Nineteen graduate students seeking a degree in special education or school psychology were provided multiple opportunities to engage in experiences with parents of children with disabilities, including having parents embedded in the course for the entire semester. Data were collected utilizing multiple methods and included a family/professional partnership survey and focus group discussions conducted both pre- and post-course, as well as a Learning Objectives and Activities Survey. Analyses of qualitative and quantitative data indicate a change in students' knowledge, beliefs, dispositions, and experiences of parent-professional partnerships.