Entitlement: The Coming Debate on Higher Education

There are differing opinions about how to achieve the national goal of “No Child Left Behind.” Concerns involve relevance and fairness of tests students must pass, merits and drawbacks of retention policies, access to tutoring, qualification of teachers, and sufficient funding. These issues may expand to include debate about whether college and vocational training should become an entitlement. Related factors are rising tuition, financial aid, demographic changes, career planning, curriculum practicality, and labor market forecasts.     

Assessment of Reading Comprehension: matching Test Purposes and Test Properties

Reading comprehension is difficult to measure because it is a multifaceted construct influenced by a variety of cognitive, social and affective variables. There are also many distinct reasons for measuring reading comprehension such as the evaluation of instructional programs, the ordering of students by ability, and the diagnosis of reading difficulties. In this article we suggest that appropriate measures of reading comprehension depend on the fit between the purposes for testing and the properties of individual tests. Three test properties that we identify are statistical: stability of individual differences, consistency of an individual's scores across testing occasions, and sensitivity of the criterion variable to treatment or growth. Three other properties are conceptual in nature and pertain to test validity: nomothetic span, construct representation, and penetration. Each of these test properties and purposes is described, as well as the perils of mismatches among them. Comparative research on reading tests, construction of tests from theories and models, and use of testing portfolios can all improve the effective measurement of reading.     

Basics of videodisc and optical disk technology.

This article outlines basic videodisc and optical disk technology. Both optical and capacitance videodisc technology are described. Optical disk technology as a mass digital image and data storage device is defined and briefly compared with other established information storage media including magnetic tape and microforms. The article includes a look into the future of videodisc and optical disk.     

Creating effective teaching and learning environments: Building a positive behavioural support (PBS) model for UK special schools

The importance of reducing restraint and restrictive interventions in special schools has been recognised across the four nations of the UK. Government guidance for England and Wales, and recommendations produced by Restraint Reduction Scotland, both reference Positive behavioural support (PBS) as an evidence-based approach that can be used to proactively support pupils with, or at risk of, behaviours that challenge. The Department of Education of Northern Ireland recommends the development of behaviour support plans to support children with special education needs and disabilities. Special schools, however, also have a responsibility to set high expectations for every pupil, to provide access to the respective national curricula and to meet individual needs. School-wide positive behavioural support (SW-PBS), originated in the USA in the 1990s in response to a body of evidence that showed improved social and academic outcomes when behavioural interventions were implemented across whole school settings. It is increasingly being adopted in the UK. Drawing upon examples from schools in England and Wales with which the authors are familiar, this paper outlines the rationale for a special schools' model of SW-PBS and illustrates the ways in which this can be adjusted to meet the specific needs of each setting.

Key Points

• Reducing restraint and restrictive interventions in schools is a high priority across all four nations of the UK.
• Special schools also have a responsibility to provide children with special education needs and disabilities positive learning environments that maximise learning opportunities and meet individual needs.
• School-wide positive behaviour support (SW-PBS) provides a useful framework to help special schools meet these expectations.