The quality vs. the quantity of schooling: What drives economic growth?

This paper challenges Hanushek and Woessmann's (2008) contention that the quality and not the quantity of schooling determines a nation's rate of economic growth. I first show that their statistical analysis is flawed. I then show that when a nation's average test scores and average schooling attainment are included in a national income model, both measures explain income differences, but schooling attainment has greater statistical significance. The high correlation between a nation's average schooling attainment, cumulative investment in schooling, and average tests scores indicates that average schooling attainment implicitly measures the quality as well as the quantity of schooling.     

Delta modulation of time-discrete signals with independent samples

Previous studies of Delta Modulation (DM) were predominantly concerned with various aspects of noise introduced by the quantising process. This paper is primarily directed towards the DM-signal behaviour, a concern which becomes necessary when optimizing the DM-system against the disturbances of the transmission channel. The statistics of the output signal is considered analytically under the assumption of independent input-signal samples. The approximate distribution of the output signal is derived and graphically compared with the exact distribution. Finally, the incidence of sample correlation is considered on the basis of results produced by means of simulation.     

Process over product: the next evolution of our quest for technology integration

Educational technology research and development - The purpose of this paper is to introduce the next evolution of our quest for technology integration, one that moves away from the product of...     

Relaxation and guided imagery as an intervention for children with asthma: A replication

Asthma is a pervasive inflammatory disorder of the bronchial airways that causes the normal functioning of the airways to become overreactive. This disorder affects approximately 8 million children in schools per year and accounts for a significant amount of absences. Researchers have speculated that pharmacological interventions are alone insufficient or overaggressive in treating asthma, and numerous studies have demonstrated a connection between emotions and asthma. It has therefore been suggested that psychological interventions may be appropriate for this population. One such intervention, relaxation and guided imagery (RGI), that incorporates mental representations as well as the senses in a process of relaxing all the parts of the body has been shown to be effective with children with asthma. The current study served as a replication and extension of this previous research. The purpose of the investigation was to examine the effectiveness of RGI with an elementary school sample as well as determine the overall improvement in happiness, anxiety, and quality of life of the participants. Results demonstrated that RGI significantly improved the lung functioning of 3 out of 4 participants in the study. Furthermore, overall happiness improved for 1 participant in the study, state anxiety decreased for 2 of the 4 participants, and trait anxiety decreased for all 4 participants. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 42: 707–720, 2005.     

An examination of alternate assessment durations when assessing multiple‐skill computational fluency: The generalizability and dependability of curriculum‐based outcomes within the context of educational decisions

The current study extended previous research on curriculum‐based measurement in mathematics (M‐CBM) assessments. The purpose was to examine the generalizability and dependability of multiple‐skill M‐CBM computation assessments across various assessment durations (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 minutes). Results of generalizability and dependability studies (N = 104 students) suggest that relative interindividual decisions can rely on the results from 1‐minute administrations for low‐stakes decisions and the results of 4‐minute administrations for high‐stakes decisions. Moreover, absolute intraindividual decisions can rely on the results from 4‐minute administrations for low‐stakes decisions and 13‐minute administrations for high‐stakes decisions. The implications and limitations of these results are discussed. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 42: 615–622, 2005.     

Towards a Liberal Vocational Education

This essay takes up the issue of the impact of technology on jobs in modern workplaces, and the curricular challenges thereby engendered for vocational educators. Conceptions of the nature of workplaces are examined, along with conceptions of the types of skill needed. It is proposed that distinction be made between vocational education at the secondary school, and that beyond. At the secondary school, vocational education would be education about work , and the goal would be vocational literacy. This would constitute a liberal vocational education. Beyond that, vocational education would be for jobs , but would include liberal features, such as general education course work, and training in job families.     

Critical realist review: exploring the real,beyond the empirical

This article defines the ‘critical realist review’, a literature-based methodological approach to critical analysis of health care studies (or any discipline charged with social interventions) that is robust, insightful and essential for the complexities of twenty-first century evidence-based health and social care. We argue that this approach, underpinned by a critical realist philosophy and methodology, will facilitate students and researchers to employ relevant theoretical insights from a range of disciplines that have necessary contributions to make to our understanding of health and social care practice and provision. We explore the limitations of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and the systematic review for informing evidence-based health and social care. The article also offers some suggestions on method, although, as we argue, the approach deliberately eschews a ‘cookbook’ approach. A glossary of terms is provided in the Appendix.