Division business

This article briefly reviews three areas of research related to testing and the assessment of memory structures. The research is criticized from the stand point of either, (a) failing to provide achievement testing methods that yield useful diagnostic information for instruction or, (b) not being prac tical for instructional purposes. An alternative achievement testing method, based on research on reading comprehension, is proposed. Preliminary research on the alternative testing method is summarized.     

Key issues for research in self‐directed learning

This paper consists of two parts. The first part gives an overview of two major paradigms which have influenced research in education; the positivist/empiricist and the interpretive. It is argued that research into self‐direction has been dominated by the positivist/empiricist paradigm and that, because of a fundamental incompatibility between the assumptions underlying positivism and those underlying ‘self‐direction,’ research into self‐direction has been ‘blocked.’ It is suggested that the adoption of an interpretive paradigm promises to reinvigorate and redirect research into self‐direction in learning.

The second part of the paper represents an attempt to develop a research agenda into self‐direction from an interpretive perspective; that is, one which takes account of the learner's subjective construing of the learning situation. This subjective construing includes pur elements: (1) the learner's view of learning in general; (2) the learner's view of the specific learning endeavour being researched; (3) the learner's view of assistance or direction received; and (4) the learner's view of autonomous leaming and the development of personal autonomy. It is also suggested that any adequate research into ‘self‐direction’ should ideally take account of the perspective of the facilitator or other person offering help and assistance, since learning situations depend largely on the quality of the relationship established between the learner and the ‘helper’.     

School Leadership and Change in East Asia: Building Capacity for Education Reform

On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education (1954), recent global immigration to the U.S. interior compels local education systems that are relatively inexperienced with immigration to address new integrating and segmenting tendencies expressed by the growing and diversifying number of immigrants from Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The authors discern 4 patterns of integrating and segmenting tendencies from self-proclaimed education needs expressed in focus groups by African, Asian, and Latin American immigrant residents of Nashville, Tennessee. Integrating tendencies were expressed more frequently than segmenting tendencies by group participants. Results suggest further integration of immigrants into the Nashville education system can be achieved with policies that overcome economic, linguistic, child care, scheduling, and discriminatory barriers to adult and children's education.     

An Event‐Related Potential Study of Adolescents' and Young Adults' Judgments of Moral and Social Conventional Violations

The neurocognitive development of moral and conventional judgments was examined. Event‐related potentials were recorded while 24 adolescents (13 years) and 30 young adults (20 years) read scenarios with 1 of 3 endings: moral violations, conventional violations, or neutral acts. Participants judged whether the act was acceptable or unacceptable when a rule was assumed or removed. Across age, reaction times were faster for moral than conventional violations when a rule was assumed. Adolescents had larger N2 amplitudes than adults for moral and neutral, but not conventional, acts. N2 amplitudes were larger when a rule was removed than assumed for moral, but not conventional, violations. These findings suggest that the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying moral and conventional judgments continue to develop beyond early adolescence.     

Using Motivational Interviewing Techniques to Address Parallel Process in Supervision

Supervision offers a distinct opportunity to experience the interconnection of counselor–client and counselor–supervisor interactions. One product of this network of interactions is parallel process, a phenomenon by which counselors unconsciously identify with their clients and subsequently present to their supervisors in a similar fashion ( Searles, 1955 ). Addressing parallel process has the potential to be valuable in the advancement of counselor development, but few strategies exist in the literature for working with the phenomenon. The authors describe the use of motivational interviewing as one method for effectively addressing parallel process in supervision.     

Henry Barnard—Educator of Teachers

Palestinian youth face developmental, cultural, and political barriers that impede them from fully engaging in civic life. Non-traditional, youth-centered pedagogies of engagement, like community-based service-learning (CBSL), have shown promise to motivate marginalized populations and provide space and roles for them to form individual identities while developing civic skills. Using data collected through focus group interviews, this paper reports how West Bank youth who participated in a non-governmental organization's CBSL leadership program were impacted.