Not Proved: Reply to Wynn

Findings on whether young infants look longer at incorrect addition and subtraction have been inconsistent or, as in our study, negative. We hypothesize that imprecise ordinal calculating with very small numbers of objects develops in late infancy and precise calculating in early childhood.     

Collaboration between 3- and 4-year-olds in self-initiated play on instruments

This article reports on a study of collaborative music-making on instruments among 3- and 4-year-old children. An area equipped with musical instruments was provided as a free-choice play option in an early childhood setting and a fixed camera recorded the children's play continuously during a number of visits. From the total 17 h of data five episodes of paired play were selected. Through a process of comparison across these episodes, it was established that children were coordinating their play through a repertoire of communicative and expressive behaviours. One episode of paired play considered to be representative was micro-analysed in detail.     

A collaborative assessment of students’ placement learning

The research informing this paper set out to investigate the qualitative experiences of students, supervisors and tutors involved in a summative collaborative assessment of placement learning on an undergraduate professional qualifying programme in the UK. Analysis of data gathered through semi-structured interviews provides valuable insights into its use. In particular, engagement in a collaborative assessment brings a degree of exposure for all concerned. Participants need to feel ‘able’ to participate, and ability to participate is linked to notions of agency and autonomy. Collaborative assessment design needs to acknowledge power relations and include strategies to reduce imbalances. The importance of recognising and working with the complexities of assessment should not be underestimated. Criterion referencing offers a guide to support consistency but can also falsely present assessment as mechanistic and instrumental. The research shows that it is in the ‘doing’ of assessment that a ‘shared language’ is developed. It demonstrates the value of active student engagement in assessment in relation to the construction and use of theory, developing reflective practice and assessment literacy. The collaborative assessment provides students with the opportunity to experience a ‘performance of understanding’ in a community of practice that, whilst pressured, reflects ‘real’ professional life.     

The NCTQ Selectivity Standard and Principal Evaluation of Teacher Preparation

Ratings published by the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) require selectivity in admission to educator preparation programs. NCTQ provides a list of citations to support the selectivity standard termed “strong support.” A review of each citation in the list found little or no support for the standard. Original data was collected examining employment supervisor ratings of over 11,000 teachers’ preparation and analyzed for correlations and differences based on the selectivity standard. No significant differences were found between supervisor ratings of teachers who met or did not meet the NCTQ test standard and no significant correlations were found between the selectivity tests, grade point average, and principal ratings of teachers. These findings bring into question the listed selectivity standard and the rationale for its inclusion in NCTQ's public ranking process.     

Searching for Safety Online: Managing "Trolling" in a Feminist Forum

A common phenomenon in online discussion groups is the individual who baits and provokes other group members, often with the result of drawing them into fruitless argument and diverting attention from the stated purposes of the group. This study documents a case in which the members of an online community--a feminist web-based discussion forum--are targeted by a "troll" attempting to disrupt their discussion space. We analyze the strategies that make the troller successful and the targeted group largely ineffectual in responding to his attack, as a means to understand how such behavior might be minimized and managed in general. The analysis further suggests that feminist and other nonmainstream online forums are especially vulnerable, in that they must balance inclusive ideals against the need for protection and safety, a tension that can be exploited by disruptive elements to generate intragroup conflict.     

Internationally educated female teachers in the neoliberal context: Their labour market and teacher certification experiences in Canada

In this paper, we consider the difficulties that a group of internationally educated female teachers (female IETs) encountered in the process of seeking certification in the Canadian Maritimes. We read their experiences in the context of neoliberalism, in particular how they are positioned in the labour force and also the teaching profession. We consider the material effects of differences such as gender, race, ethnicity, and regional location for the female IETs. Further, we underscore implications for teacher education.     

An experimental study evaluating professional development activities within a state funded pre-kindergarten program

This paper describes the implementation and evaluation for scaling up a comprehensive early childhood teacher professional development program into 11 communities across 2 years with funding through state legislative actions. The comprehensive program had four major components based on results from a previous multi-condition random assignment study across four states. The previous results demonstrated that the most optimum approach for supporting children??s school readiness included: (1) teacher on-line professional development with facilitation, (2) classroom mentoring, (3) implementation of a research-based curriculum, and (4) technology-driven progress monitoring that informed instruction. The comprehensive professional development program was evaluated in a new state program designed to bring childcare, Head Start, and public school pre-kindergarten together into integrated partnerships. In Year 1, 220 teachers serving 3834 children were randomly assigned to either receive the comprehensive program or not. Teachers who served as controls in Year 1 received the program in Year 2, and those who received the program in Year 1 participated for an additional year in Year 2, allowing for examination of the effects of one versus 2 years of participation. The program improved teachers instructional practices relative to controls, and a second year of participation resulted in greater gains in children??s language and literacy. Results support the need for well-integrated, comprehensive professional development for early childhood educators.     

Pragmatic language in deaf and hard of hearing students: correlation with success in general education

Deaf and hard of hearing children have shown delays and difficulties in pragmatic behaviors due to insufficient exposure to common daily discourse and underlying impoverishment in all components of language development. In a study in a school district in a southeastern U.S. state, the researchers investigated the relationship between sociolinguistic pragmatic competence in 81 deaf and hard of hearing students and these students' degree of hearing loss, communication mode, and degree of success in general education. Two measures, one devised by the state's department of education and one developed within the local school system, were used: the Criterion-Referenced Competency Test (Georgia Department of Education, 2000) and the Socio-Pragmatic Skills Checklist for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students (Cobb County School District, 1997). The researchers found that whether the students used spoken language or signed language, socio-pragmatic language had a high, positive correlation with academic outcomes.