Research On The Effects of Group Standardized Testing On Instruction, Pupils, and Teachers: New Directions for Policy

In response to an increasingly "test driven" approach to curriculum and instruction, a growing body of research is documenting the negative effects of standardized testing on instruction, pupils, and teachers. The curriculum has been narrowed to fit the tests, valuable instructional time is spent on test preparation, students are stressed by the preparation and the test-taking, and teachers are pressured to use unacceptable testing procedures which may even include blatant cheating. Students are subjected to instructional methods that provide them with test taking skills but no genuine understanding of the subject matter. Research supports that there is an urgent need for a change in testing policies. Massive standardized testing of young children must be eliminated. More authentic and performance based evaluation such as the development of student portfolios should be instituted. Attention to the negative effects of standardized testing and the elimination of such testing of young children is especially urgent in light of the current discussions centering on increasing the scope of national testing beginning with the administration of a school readiness instrument prior to school entry.     

Fissures in the Federal Structure? The Case of the University of Wales

The paper describes the evolution of the University of Wales, and describes the attempts made at the end of the 1980s to instigate university-wide planning. These arrangements were, however, of short duration and have recently been reviewed and revised. A degree of tension and instability is endemic in all federations and 'Wales' is no exception. Its large colleges are impatient of central control and planning, and the Welsh Funding Council is unsympathetic to an increase in the sphere of influence of the federal university. Such factors are fissiparous forces, but they have to be set against the symbolic importance of the University of Wales as a means of representing and giving expression to Welsh national feeling.     

English language learning difficulty of korean students in a Philippine Multidisciplinary University

This qualitative study analyzed the English language learning difficulties of 13 purposively chosen Korean students relative to their sociolinguistic competence, motivation in using the English language, and cultural factors. Interview responses were transcribed, categorized and thematised according to saliency, meaning and homogeneity. The findings of the study disclosed that, on the whole, while the subjects never had the opportunity to use the English language in Korea, they use it almost everywhere in the Philippines. Their difficulties exist both in daily conversation and in the academic setting. Such difficulties are attributable to both the subjects’ and the Filipinos’ different entry points in the learning and use of English. Despite cultural barriers in communication, however, the Koreans studying in the Philippines are instrumentally motivated to learn the English language.     

The third Amendment to the Higher Education Law of the German Federal Republic

The article describes and analyses some of the important changes which have been brought about by the most recent Amendment to the 1976 Higher Education Law. It attempts to show the rationale for some of these changes and to give a flavour of the public debate surrounding the new legislation. The following issues are discussed: university democracy, research, staff structure, the curriculum, the problems of non-university institutions and the position of comprehensive universities.     

Beyond English hegemony: language,migration and Appalachian schools

Co‐authored by an academic who has worked in ESL teacher improvement programmes under the No Child Left Behind Act, an assistant director of an Appalachian school district, and a trilingual translator and teacher who works with indigenous Mexican populations, this article is narrated in the voice of the first author. The essay addresses how teachers in a Tennessee school district have learned to engage new English speakers and how existing ‘English only’ law affects the process. Contrasting today's immigrants with those of the past, the narrator relates her experience of working with Purépecha children in Morristown and considers the perils of stereotyping others' literacy. The children's comfort with speaking English is affected by their awareness that, as undocumented people, they and their families do not enjoy full citizenship.     

Was East German Education a Victim of West German 'Colonisation' after Unification?

German unification took place very rapidly, and it is sometimes argued that East German education was colonised in a process according to which ideas and structures (some of which were not very successful in the West) were foisted on the East in the cause of unity and homogeneity. This paper argues that the 'victim/colonisation' hypothesis is exaggerated. There was a suppressed reform tendency in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) that resulted in several distinctive educational institutions in the New Bundesländer. Although it is true that a controversial divided secondary school structure replaced the GDR unified school, it was the East Germans themselves who clamoured for the grammar school without paying sufficient attention to the implications for those pupils who failed to obtain entry into it. Their suspicions that their most able children were under-achieving were not validated by empirical studies. To a certain degree, reverse transformation can be observed (influence from East to West). In the field of pre-school education and childcare, for example, the spectacle of a well-developed sector in the East made the Westerners realise that they themselves had no adequate policy or strategy so they began to develop one. The Wisssenschaftsrat (Higher Education Council) too drew attention to the efficiency of the GDR higher education system, and in certain respects is striving to emulate it in the Old Bundesländer. The conviction of having been 'colonised' feeds resentment that could result in a backlash against democratic values. The paper ends with a brief discussion of the implications of the colonisation hypothesis for citizenship.     

The systematic review team: contributions of the health sciences librarian

While the role of the librarian as an expert searcher in the systematic review process is widely recognized, librarians also can be enlisted to help systematic review teams with other challenges. This article reviews the contributions of librarians to systematic reviews, including communicating methods of the review process, collaboratively formulating the research question and exclusion criteria, formulating the search strategy on a variety of databases, documenting the searches, record keeping, and writing the search methodology. It also discusses challenges encountered such as irregular timelines, providing education, communication, and learning new technologies for record keeping. Rewards include building relationships with researchers, expanding professional expertise, and receiving recognition for contributions to health care outcomes.