Teachers' Perceptions of a Learner-Centered Teacher Evaluation System

Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability - Promoting success for all students is the driving force to develop and implement sound teacher evaluation systems. As Stronge suggests,...     

Book reviews

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'I Want More Freedom,but Not Too Much': British Muslim girls and the dynamism of family values

ABSTRACT This article elucidates the dynamics of Muslim family life and the role of family values in shaping the present experiences and future aspirations of adolescent British Muslim girls. A group of Muslim girls in three schools, their parents and some of their teachers were interviewed. The research shows the dynamism of family values and the way British Muslims are socialising their daughters to construct a British Muslim identity by adopting and rejecting aspects of their Asian and British ethnicities and through a combination of freedom and control. It also argues that British Muslim young women are getting ambiguous messages about freedom and they feel ambivalent about various features of their Asian and British ethnicities. Furthermore, the research notes the stereotypical notions held by some of the teachers, which are apparently based on assumptions regarding the lives of British Muslim girls.     

Shared Reading within an Apprenticeship Approach to Reading

Williamson & Carrington argued, in a recent edition of Educational Studies, the need for a major investigation of the effectiveness of an apprenticeship approach to reading. This paper considers some of the problems associated with such investigations. It also seeks to clarify some of the terminology in the whole language repertoire before looking in detail at shared reading as an important part of such approaches. The article concludes by suggesting that ethnographic studies are the means by which issues in the teaching and learning of reading may best be clarified, and teachers and children assisted.     

Impact of end-user search training on pharmacy students: a four-year follow-up study.

The Alfred Taubman Medical Library at the University of Michigan has offered instruction in online literature searching to third-year pharmacy students as a component of the course "Drug Information and Scientific Literature Evaluation" since 1983. In the spring of 1989, a follow-up study was conducted to assess the impact of instruction on four classes of graduates. Of a pool of 151 graduates, 90 (60%) responded to a mailed questionnaire on their use of information and computerized literature searching. The respondents were divided into four subgroups: end-user searchers, users of intermediaries, end users who used intermediaries, and those who did not use computerized literature search systems. Seventy-two percent of the respondents used some type of computerized literature searching, and 42% performed their own searches. The four subgroups differed in general computer use, familiarity with MEDLINE search terminology, information use, reasons for using or not using literature searching, and characteristics of searches (i.e., type, time frame, amount, and frequency). Training in end-user search systems appears to have had an impact on the continued use of computerized literature searching several years after the formal educational program.