Films and Film-Makings: The Current Scene

I.C. Jarie's Movies and Society (Basic Books, $10.00)

Gone Youngblood's Expanded Cinema (Dutton, $9.95)

Robert Gessner's The Moving Image (Dutton $8.95)

Robert Richardson's Literature and Film (University of Indiana Press, $4.95)

Wolf Rilla's A-Z of Movie-Making (Viking/Studio Press Book, $6.95)     

Effects and side effects of inspections and accountability in education: an overview of empirical studies

This paper presents an overview of studies into effects and side effects of control mechanisms in education. We focus on effects and side effects of inspection visits and public performance indicators. A first conclusion is that the studies do not provide us with a clear answer to the question of whether inspections have positive causal effects on the quality of schools. Results of studies of publications on public performance indicators are more unambiguous. They lead us to the conclusion that although principals and teachers believe performance indicators are important, parents and pupils take very little notice of these indicators when choosing schools. A third conclusion concerns the occurrence of side effects of school inspections and other control mechanisms in education. Several of the studies discussed clearly refer to the existence of these side effects, such as ‘window dressing’ and other types of ‘gaming’.     

Teacher depressive symptoms and children's school readiness in Ghana

This study investigated associations between kindergarten teachers' (N = 208) depressive symptoms and students' (Ghanaian nationals, N = 1490, M_age = 5.8) school-readiness skills (early literacy, early numeracy, social–emotional skills, and executive function) across 208 schools in Ghana over one school year. Teachers' depressive symptoms in the fall negatively predicted students' overall school-readiness skills in the spring, controlling for school-readiness skills in the fall. These results were primarily driven by social–emotional skills (r = .1–.3). There was evidence of heterogeneity by students' fall skill levels; teacher depressive symptoms predicted more negative spring overall school readiness for children who had higher fall school-readiness skills. Findings underscore the importance of teachers' mental health in early childhood education globally, with implications for policy and practice.     

Orthographic processing efficiency in developmental dyslexia: an investigation of age and treatment factors at the sublexical level

Reading fluency beyond decoding is a limitation to many children with developmental reading disorders. In the interest of remediating dysfluency, contributing factors need to be explored and understood in a developmental framework. The focus of this study is orthographic processing in developmental dyslexia, and how it may contribute to reading fluency. We investigated orthographic processing speed and accuracy by children identified with dyslexia that were enrolled in an intensive, fluency-based intervention using a timed visual search task as a tool to measure orthographic recognition. Results indicate both age and treatment effects, and delineate a link between rapid letter naming and efficient orthographic recognition. Orthographic efficiency was related to reading speed for passages, but not spelling performance. The role of orthographic learning in reading fluency and remediation is discussed.     

If You Haven't Been There, You Don't Know What It's Like: Doing Day Care

This article examines Sarason's (1995) political principle-“if you are going to be affected, directly or indirectly, by a policy, you should stand in some relationship to the decision making process”-in the work lives of teacher-caregivers in a day care center in a small Midwestern town. Based on ethnographic research, the article explores the face-to-face interactions of teacher-caregivers in the larger highly asymmetric and highly regulated relational system within which day care is situated. It concludes that they have little say in the decisions that affect their daily work lives.     

Biochemical diagnosis of liver disease

It is important that clinicians and laboratorians, including clinical chemists and pathologists, recognize and understand the clinical significance of abnormal liver function tests. The liver regulates many important metabolic functions. Hepatic injury is associated with distortion of these metabolic functions. Hepatic disease can be evaluated and diagnosed by determining serum concentrations of a number of serum analytes. Many serum analytes exist to assist in the biochemical diagnosis of liver disease. The focus of this paper is on the analytes which are associated with hepatic necrosis, cholestasis, defects in excretion and end stage hepatic disease which results in decreased synthetic function. The abnormalities of these serum analytes will be correlated with the important types of liver disease.     

Attending behavior of children near a child who is reinforced for attending

The present study investigated effects of a token program for one child on the behavior of other children in the class. Three nursery school children, sitting at adjacent desks, were observed under five conditions. In Baseline I and Reinforcement I the rewarded child sat between the two unrewarded children. In Baseline II, Reinforcement II and Baseline III the rewarded child sat on the end, and the two unrewarded children alternated at the middle desk. The rewarded child received tokens for attending behavior in the Reinforcement conditions. The teacher's behavior was carefully controlled. Results were: (a) The rewarded child's attending increased in the Reinforcement conditions; (b) The unrewarded children's attending increased in Reinforcement I but remained at baseline in Reinforcement II; (c) Both unrewarded children attended better when seated at the center desk in Reinforcement II; (d) No disturbing effects were found in the behavior of unrewarded children.     

MAKING CONNECTIONS: FROM THE COLLEGE CLASSROOM TO THE EARLY CHILDHOOD SETTING

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to examine the beliefs, attitudes, and knowledge of early childhood teacher candidates within the state of Texas about the inclusion of students with disabilities in the general education classroom. The “Inventory of Opinions About Persons with Disabilities” (IOPD) was utilized to collect self‐report data from preservice educators in their last semester of practical experience (i.e., student teaching or final intern semester) in 10 Texas universities. The return rate of the inventories was 70.85%, with data from 172 useable inventories reported in this study.

The research questions indicated early childhood teacher candidates held positive self‐perceptions (mean = 2.0388) about their beliefs, attitudes, and knowledge related to inclusion and students with disabilities. However, the participants reported less positive attitudes about training (mean = .09884).     

Infusing Mentoring and Technology within Graduate Courses: Reflections in practice

This article provides an overview of relevant connections that can be used to strengthen an instructor's mentoring abilities, specifically those connections between adult development, technological interaction elements, use of course management software, and corresponding mentoring practices. From a context supported by literature within adult development and computer-mediated communication, the authors examined a series of courses at a large university and how mentoring and instruction were infused. In this article, mentoring refers to a collective process that guides and facilitates a learner's educational growth. The unique nature of adult learners and their educational needs emphasises the need for a facilitative rather than a didactic approach in technology-supported courses. Various facets of interactions and the concept of transactional distance provide an additional framework from which to examine professional practice. The authors recommend further refinement and development of the mentoring practices that infuse emerging technologies and facilitate the teaching and learning process.