Methodological Choices in the Content Analysis of Textbooks for Measuring Alignment With Standards

With the recent adoption of the Common Core standards in many states, there is a need for quality information about textbook alignment to standards. While there are many existing content analysis procedures, these generally have little, if any, validity or reliability evidence. One exception is the Surveys of Enacted Curriculum (SEC), which has been widely used to analyze the alignment among standards, assessments, and teachers’ instruction. However, the SEC can be time‐consuming and expensive when used for this purpose. This study extends the SEC to the analysis of entire mathematics textbooks and investigates whether the results of SEC alignment analyses are affected if the content analysis procedure is simplified. The results indicate that analyzing only every fifth item produces nearly identical alignment results with no effect on the reliability of content analyses.     

Eating Attitudes and Behaviors Among Female College Students

The authors assessed the influences of several risk factors—self‐esteem, history of unwanted sexual contact (USC), depression, and sorority membership—on eating‐related and weight‐related attitudes and behaviors. Findings provide support for the roles of self‐esteem, depression, and USC on restricting attitudes. According to the authors' model, these independent variables predicted restricting attitudes that then predicted restricting behaviors. Implications for preventive interventions and the study's limitations are discussed.     

DIRECT NON‐VIOLENT ACTION AND THE LAW

This article was delivered as the plenary address at the Massachusetts Association for Bilingual Education Annual Conference, November, 1986. The style of the speech has been preserved.     

Distance education copyright,intellectual property,and antitrust concerns

Abstract

An empirical examination of accredited American higher education institutions was conducted to obtain baseline data regarding distance education copyright, intellectual property, and antitrust concerns. Additionally, a multiple‐case study involving ten of the top thirty accredited distance education institutions in America was conducted. Policy approaches were examined for all institutions, and differences were discussed between public and private institutions as well as between the following Carnegie Classification institutions: Research I and II, Doctorate I and II, and Master's I and II. Data indicated that, out of the schools surveyed, 22% of the institutions in these Carnegie Classification categories published copyright and intellectual property policies on their institution's Web site. In the case study, it was found that 90% of the institutions centrally controlled their distance education program administration as well as the copyright and intellectual property policies related to it.     

The Effect of a National Initiative on Exam Results

ABSTRACT

This paper considers the examination results of TVEI and non TVEI pupils in the database established at the University of Newcastle in 1985‐87. The pupils took national exams in the summer of 1987, when they were about 16 years old. Their average grades (Exam Means) and their accumulated grades (Exam Totals) were considered separately.

The Exam Mean and Exam Total scores were generally worse for TVEI than non TVEI pupils, even when pupils with the same ability test scores and aspirational scores were compared. However, it is possible that non TVEI factors caused the discrepancy in results and it is these factors which are the subjects of this paper.

The paper considers firstly whether the differences are an artefact of regression analysis. Secondly, the data are considered using various multilevel models. Both analyses suggest that there was no TVEI effect on the Exam Mean score and a negative TVEI effect on the Exam Total. Various explanations for these findings, concerning internal school allocational and curriculum policies, are considered and discussed.     

Information Technology and Special Needs in Education

Abstract

The paper discusses some theoretical and practical problems in using information technology to help people with special needs with some aspects of education. The paper reports the progress on two projects and some findings from a recent survey on Information Technology and Special Needs.     

An intervention in the Halliwick Method procedures (swimming) for a group of individuals with Downs syndrome

The purpose of this study was to intervene in the process of the Halliwick Method (swimming), in order to improve the method, or some of its aspects, for a sample of 14 individuals with Downs syndrome (aged six to 21 years), using both an individualized educational setting approach and a differentiation of the elements of the Halliwick Method. The pre-intervention phase included medical examination, IQ, measurement of the behaviour according to the Rutter Scale and a Test of Physical Performance for each subject. Next, the subjects were assigned to seven pairs of case studies, where each individual following a Halliwick Methods swimming programme was paired with an individual following a modified swimming programme based on the same method, on physical health variables, IQ, behaviour and motor abilities. The duration of each swimming programme was 24 weeks for each individual, at a frequency of once per week, for 40 minutes. In the light of the findings of this study, further recommendations for the improvement of Halliwick Method procedures were made, common factors that affected the performance of each individual were identified and their relation with performance was explored.