Judgments of successful inclusion by education service personnel

Three different methods were used to investigate the basis of judgments about the success of inclusion made by key staff in an education service in the UK. First, a structured questionnaire was used by staff to rate the pupil social and learning skills needed for success in mainstream classes. Second, an open-ended elicitation technique was used to identify criteria for successful inclusion that are spontaneously generated by staff. Third, a scenario rating scale was constructed to assess experimentally the relative priority accorded by staff to each success criterion. A substantial degree of consensus across methods was identified in the specific skills and key success criteria considered important by different groups of staff. Parallels with previous questionnaire-based research conducted in the US are discussed. Some differences across methods and respondent groups are also identified, and the potential advantages of multi-perspective, multi-method approaches to assessing inclusion success criteria are considered.     

Effect on subsequent fixed-interval schedule performance of prior exposure to ratio and interval schedules of reinforcement

In three experiments, we examined the effect on the patterns of responding noted on fixed interval (FI) schedules of prior exposure to a range of interval and ratio schedules. Rats leverpressed for food reinforcement on random ratio (RR), random interval (RI), or variable interval (VI) schedules prior to transfer to FI schedules. In Experiment 1, prior exposure to an RR schedule retarded the development of typical FI patterns of responding. Exposure to a yoked RI schedule produced even greater retardation of typical FI performance. This effect was replicated in Experiment 2, using a within-subjects design. Rats responded on a multiple RR-RI schedule prior to a multiple FI-FI schedule. Typical FI performance emerged more slowly in the component previously associated with the RI than with that associated with the RR. In Experiment 3, exposure to an RR schedule retarded the development of FI performance to a greater extent than did exposure to a VR schedule. The latter schedule was programmed to allow the possibility that inhibitory control would develop after reinforcement. These results confirm that ratio schedules independently result in the disruption of FI responding. This effect was not long lasting and cannot be used plausibly to explain species differences in responding to FI schedules. However, it does suggest that temporal control—as manifested by the transfer of inhibitory control from one schedule to another—could facilitate movement between interval schedules.     

Best Practices for Best Practices: The Story Behind the BISG Best Practices for Identifying Digital Product

On December 7, 2011, the Book Industry Study Group released BISG Policy Statement POL-1101, Best Practices for Identifying Digital Products, capping an 18-month project by a working group of the BISG Identification Committee. This article chronicles how a diverse group of industry professionals, from every sector of the supply chain, came together to deal with an issue that had polarized the industry since 2005. Based on a presentation made by the author at the 2011 Annual Meeting of the Book Industry Study Group, this article delves further into the history and the methodology behind the drafting of the Policy Statement.