Accuracy and Fluency in List and Context Reading of Skilled and RD Groups: Absolute and Relative Performance Levels

The purpose of this study was to examine (1) the performance levels and the magnitude of performance difference between students with reading disabilities (RD) and skilled readers when reading a typical classroom text; (2) the hypothesis that students with RD have specific difficulty using context in such a way that reading fluency is affected; and (3) whether RD subtypes may be differentiated according to performance on contextual and context‐free reading tasks. Two groups of fourth graders (85 skilled readers and 24 students with RD) completed a standardized test of reading comprehension, read aloud a folktale, and read aloud the folktale's words in a randomly sequenced list. Performance was scored as correct rate and percentage correct. Based on the number of words per idea unit in the passage, we also estimated the rate at which reader groups encountered and processed text ideas. Compared to the RD group, skilled readers read three times more correct words per minute in context, and showed higher accuracy and rates on all measures. Both context and isolated word‐reading rates were highly sensitive to impairment. We found no evidence for RD subtypes based on these measures. Results illustrate differences in reading levels between the two groups, the temporal advantage skilled readers have in linking text ideas, how word reading differs as a function of task format and performance dimension, and how limited word‐identification skills (not comprehension) produce contextual reading difficulties for students with RD.     

SYMPOSIUM: HOW, AND HOW NOT, TO STUDY OTHER CULTURES

The papers that comprise this symposium are adapted from remarks delivered on 31 May 2002 in Washington, DC, at the NAS's tenth national conference titled "Higher Education and Democracy in Peace and War."     

Use of hierarchical linear modeling and curriculum-based measurement for assessing academic growth and instructional factors for students with learning difficulties

The main purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how to apply the Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM) technique to multi-wave Curriculum-Based Measurement (CBM) measures in modeling academic growth and assessing its relations to student- and instruction-related variables. HLM has advantages over other statistical methods (e.g., repeated measures ANOVA, Structural Equation Modeling) in modeling academic growth. The advantages include allowing more flexible research designs in collecting multiple data points and estimating growth rates and their relations to correlates in more reliable, accurate ways. CBM, as a multi-wave progressmonitoring system, also has distinctive psychometric features that facilitate longitudinal research on academic skill development. These features include provision of multiple data points within short time periods, good validity and reliability, and sensitivity for detecting small degrees of change. Finally, research questions related to assessing the academic growth of students with learning difficulties and using assessment results to improve educational practices for them are discussed     

The Faculty Development Portfolio: A Framework for Documenting the Professional Development of Faculty Developers

Portfolios are used for a variety of purposes in higher education. Two such purposes are the documentation of one's professional development for others and the improvement of one's own performance over time. This article discusses the concept of the faculty development portfolio and, in doing so, outlines the work of faculty development professionals. It also identifies characteristics of effective faculty development professionals and defines the steps involved in creating a faculty development portfolio. These steps include how to conceptualize, gather, and present evidence of items that can be used as a framework for faculty developers to consider when documenting their professional development for summative and formative purposes.     

Variation in student selection within the Australian Unified National System: A case study in undergraduate business studies from Western Australia

This paper draws on data relating to the field of business studies from four Western Australian universities to illustrate differences between institutions in the Australian Unified National System (UNS) of Universities. Large differences exist between universities in the input characteristics of students which may be expected to affect student progress and presumably student outcomes. These differences have implications for issues like credit transfer where the transferring student may have come from an institution with a much lower entry criterion and presumably different learning culture.     

Out of this World: Theme Parks' Contribution to a Redefined Aesthetics and Educational Practice

There are few links between art education and popular entertainment. Major attractions, such as theme parks, have come to question the relationship between the everyday and the aesthetic. These parks have become sources of ‘calculated hedonism’ where visitors enjoy physical experience in elaborately designed sets. But young people, in particular, approach this experience in varying ways. This paper explores the several options that they may adopt to become aware of the ‘visual ideology’ at work in the entertainment, as well as the stratagems employed. Hopefully, visitors to such parks may become accomplished critics of the politics of display.