Reasonable Adjustments in Assessment: Putting Law and Policy into Practice in Australia

The Australian Disability Standards for Education 2005 (Cth) require education providers to make reasonable adjustments in educational assessment so that students with disability can participate on the same basis as other students and be able to demonstrate what they know and can do. Reasonableness is governed by a determination of the balance of interests, benefits and detriment to the parties involved. The Standards require providers to consult with students and associates on adjustments, although guidance on how consultation should occur and how the views of students and associates are to be taken into account is vague. In this article, we identify three principles to be considered in order to put appropriate and effective reasonable adjustments in assessment into practice. While Australian law and assessment contexts are used to examine intentions, expectations and practices in educational assessment for students with disability, we argue that these three principles must be considered in any national education system to ensure equitable assessment practices and achieve equitable educational inclusion for students with disability.     

A Longitudinal Analysis of the Relations Among Professional Development,Educators’ Beliefs and Perceived Skills,and Response-to-Intervention Implementation

ABSTRACT

Professional development is a critical systems-level intervention thought to facilitate Response-to-Intervention (RtI) implementation. The current study examined the relations between professional development, educator outcomes, and problem-solving implementation within an RtI framework using growth curve modeling. School leadership teams from pilot schools (n = 34) participated in 3 years of training. Pilot schools also received job-embedded coaching. Comparison schools (n = 27) provided a referent group. Results indicated that problem-solving implementation increased faster at pilot schools (β = 0.10, SE = 0.05, t = 2.03, p < .05). In addition, beliefs regarding data-based decision-making (β = 0.36, SE = 0.17, t = 2.13, p < .05) and perceived problem-solving skills applied to academics (β = 0.30, SE = 0.10, t = 3.07, p < .01) positively related to implementation. Implications include the needs to further explore professional development activities and for consultants to utilize evidence-based professional development principles when supporting RtI implementation.     

Emotion theory in education research practice: an interdisciplinary critical literature review

Educational technology research and development - In this critical literature review, we seek to understand why multidimensional, psychological measures of human emotion that have been popular in...     

Strategic Planning From the Bottom Up: A Unit Strategic Plan That Pushes Change

This article describes an example of a unit level strategic plan, its formation, and its effects in implementation. The argument is presented that unit level strategic plans can help libraries by giving individuals specific goals that are tailored to their strengths and make up for the unit's weaknesses.     

Documenting professional practice through the use of a professional portfolio

Many early childhood practitioners use pedagogical documentation as an important process that enables children's thinking to be represented in a form that can be readily shared with others (Dahlberg et al., 1999 Dahlberg G Moss P Pence A (1999) Beyond quality in early childhood education and care: postmodern perspectives (London, Falmer Press)  [Google Scholar]). Documentation in the form of a professional portfolio provides a vehicle for reflection and an appreciation of the complexities and ambiguities of professional practice in the human professions. The nursing and teaching professions have also embraced professional portfolios as a means through which accountability to self and to others can be judged. However, it is the fusion of process and product within professional portfolio development that enables those involved in the human professions to examine, reflect on, understand, explain and further develop their professional practice. It is through this interrogation of practice that we can not only gain insight into our capabilities but also the theories, beliefs and values that underpin the wisdom of our professional practices. The process of professional portfolio development can be enriching and empowering. An outline for organizing a professional portfolio is provided.     

A behaviour‐genetic analysis of orthographic learning,spelling and decoding

As part of a longitudinal twin study of literacy and language, we conducted a behaviour‐genetic analysis of orthographic learning, spelling and decoding in Grade 2 children (225 identical and 214 fraternal twin pairs) in the United States and Australia. Each variable showed significant genetic and unique environment influences. Multivariate analyses revealed very high genetic correlations among the variables, indicating that the same genes are involved in their aetiology. These genes are partly independent of those contributing to intelligence. A further analysis indicated that the covariation between decoding and orthographic learning is mediated by shared genes rather than by a direct causal path. The authors argue that a learning parameter, most directly assessed by orthographic learning in this study, underlies all three literacy variables. The results are also discussed in relation to Share's self‐teaching hypothesis, which may require modification.     

Genetic and environmental influences on reading and listening comprehension

We report preliminary behaviour genetic analyses of reading and listening comprehension from The Colorado Learning Disabilities Research Center. Although the twin sample with these new measures is still of limited size, we find substantial, and significant, genetic influences on individual differences in both reading and listening comprehension. In addition, word recognition and listening comprehension each accounted for significant independent genetic influences on reading comprehension. Together, they accounted for all the genetic influence on reading comprehension, indicating a largely genetic basis for the ‘simple model’ of individual differences in reading comprehension proposed by Hoover and Gough (1990) .