Promoting an awareness of retractions: the Louisiana State University Medical Center in Shreveport experience

The current mission statement of the Medical Library Association states that it is "dedicated to improving health through professional excellence and leadership of its members in the ... provision of information services and educational programs ..." With this goal in mind, retractions offer medical librarians a professional challenge to become involved in the scientific process. Through results of a survey conducted among the consortium of South Central Academic Medical Libraries (SCAMeL), this paper reveals opinions on the importance of retraction awareness and who is responsible for disseminating this knowledge. The paper also reports what the Louisiana State University Medical Center at Shreveport Library and other SCAMeL member libraries are doing to promote awareness.     

Taking the plunge into the gene pool: Teaching and learning in genetics

Genetics is an area of science that causes problems for children. This paper reviews initial findings from research into children's views of how inheritance works and the role this plays in their overall view of genetics. The implications these results have for the traditional approach to genetics education are outlined. An alternative approach is proposed. Specializations: teacher development, science and technology curriculum development.     

The effectiveness of machine score-ability ratings in predicting automated scoring performance

ABSTRACT

This study sought to provide a framework for evaluating machine score-ability of items using a new score-ability rating scale, and to determine the extent to which ratings were predictive of observed automated scoring performance. The study listed and described a set of factors that are thought to influence machine score-ability; these factors informed the score-ability rating applied by expert raters. Five Reading items, six Science items, and 10 Math items were examined. Experts in automated scoring served as reviewers, providing independent ratings of score-ability before engine calibration. Following the rating, engines were calibrated and their performances were evaluated using common industry criteria. Three derived criteria from the engine evaluations were computed: the score-ability value in the rating scale based on the empirical results, the number of industry evaluation criteria met by the engine, the approval status of the engine based on the number of criteria met. The results indicated that the score-ability ratings were moderately correlated with Science score-ability, the ratings were weakly correlated with Math score-ability, and were not correlated with Reading score-ability.     

Do parents,teachers, and psychoeducational evaluators agree in their perceptions of the problems of black and white emotionally disturbed children?

The aim was to examine the agreement among parents, teachers, psychologists, and educational diagnosticians in their perceptions of the problem behaviors of emotionally disturbed children. The sample of 194 emotionally disturbed boys and girls included 129 whites and 65 blacks. The use of measures of relationship showed that there was significantly greater consensus among the raters in perceptions of white than of black children; agreement was particularly poor between parents and teachers of black youngsters. The implications of these findings are discussed.     

Developing Urban School Leaders: Building on Solutions 15 Years after the Los Angeles Riots

The 15th Anniversary of the Los Angeles riots serves as an impetus to continue efforts in addressing how institutionalized theories, norms, and practices in schools and society lead to social, political, economic, and educational inequalities. The challenges of school inequalities continue to be chronic and remain unresolved through traditional practices, scholarship, theory, and professional training of school leaders. The intersection between urban school leadership and diversity is examined through critically reviewing hurdles that school leaders encounter, such as low socioeconomics, low representation of leaders of color, violence, and academic underachievement. We argue that urban school leaders can change school conditions by facilitating the development of proficient and culturally-competent teachers and administrators, and creating a positive school climate. Two existing frameworks were used to guide the researchers in the development of the Leadership in Diversity Continuum Model (LDCM) that can help guide leaders in their efforts to transform schools through an introspective analysis of their own identity development.