Why go to school? Student,parent and teacher beliefs about the purposes of schooling

This qualitative study explored the beliefs of students, parents and teachers on the purposes of schooling in order to provide a context for understanding beliefs and attitudes to school learning and achievement. Focus groups were conducted with Year 9 and 10 students (aged 13–15 years) and parents and teachers in three secondary schools in different socio-economic areas in an urban district. Four categories were identified in relation to beliefs about the purposes of schooling: (1) to learn and gain self-knowledge; (2) to develop life and social skills; (3) to optimize life chances and quality of life; (4) to enable future employment and economic wellbeing. Comparisons revealed that students, parents and teachers all believed in the learning purpose of schooling, but did not all endorse an economic purpose. Students had the broadest views on school purposes. The greatest alignment between views was found for students and parents. The greatest difference between groups was found for students and teachers from high socio-economic area schools. Findings were considered in relation to national curriculum aims and external pressures from globalization. Overall, findings are conducive to a lifelong learning approach, pointing to belief in the intrinsic value of school learning independent of any economic function it may serve.     

Economic perspectives on the development of complex products for increasingly demanding customers

Rival firms produce products with a variety of characteristics. It is typically assumed that consumers purchase those products that most closely match their ideal set of characteristics. Orthodox production theory economics offers no analysis of how to divide limited product development budgets between different characteristics. Furthermore, orthodox consumer economics assumes buyers make compensatory trade-offs between different product characteristics; this approach ignores problems caused by bounded rationality that, in complex choice environments, leads buyers to formulate simplifying heuristics such as hierarchical (non-compensatory) preferences over characteristics. An integrative analytical framework is developed, drawing upon orthodox economics, behavioural economics and evolutionary economics. Implications for the relationship between incremental product development and the firm's evolving capabilities are emphasized.     

Comparability of WISC-R and WAIS IQ scores in educable mentally handicapped adolescents

The WISC-R and WAIS were administered to 30 16-year-old EMH students in a test-retest design to distribute practice effects. The average interval between administrations was approximately 37 days. Results from t-tests of significance of difference between the means were obtained for the total group and for two subgroups, one receiving the WISC-R first and one the WAIS first. Analysis of data revealed significantly higher WAIS scores on all levels of VIQ, PIQ, and FIQ for all groups.     

Secondary school students' conceptions of learning and their relationship to achievement

Conceptions of learning were investigated in three studies. Study 1 piloted a modified version of Purdie and Hattie's (2002) Conceptions of Learning Inventory (COLI-I) with 236 secondary students. Multilog analysis was used to remove items with poor measurement characteristics. Study 2 used a nationally representative sample of 701 New Zealand secondary school students who completed the COLI-II. The measurement model had marginally acceptable fit. Study 3 consisted of 608 secondary students who completed a slightly revised COLI-III and provided standardised academic reading and mathematics achievement data. The Study 2 and 3 samples were found to have configural invariance and the structural model mapping students' conceptions of learning onto their academic achievement had acceptable fit. The conception that learning is a duty predicted lower achievement and the conception of learning as continuous predicted higher achievement. This is the first study to empirically demonstrate a direct relationship between learning conceptions and academic outcomes in the secondary sector.     

Gender and mode of assessment at university: should we assume female students are better suited to coursework and males to unseen examinations?1

This paper reports on research conducted at the University of Sussex and examines whether female students have a particular preference for coursework, and whether such a preference is a key factor in their current undergraduate success. The performances of 638 students on courses whose assessment modes comprised both coursework and examinations were analysed to determine what, if any, gender differences were evident in relation to performances on each elements. In order to supplement the quantitative findings, qualitative data elicited via two online surveys, and focusing on student perceptions of coursework and examinations and attitudes to undergraduate study, are also discussed. Our findings contribute to the debate about gender differences across modes of assessment, and in particular take issue with the claim that female students, by contrast with males, both favour and are favoured by the use of coursework as opposed to unseen examinations in mode of assessment arrays.     

Reading Disabled Students’ Word Recognition Abilities: An Elementary and Secondary Perspective

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to describe and compare three word recognition abilities of reading disabled students. One hundred and fifty (150) reading disabled pupils, 75 elementary and 75 high school, were randomly selected to participate in this study. Correlated t‐test procedures were used to process the data. The dependent variables were the students’ analytical, phonics, and context analysis word recognition abilities as measured by the Wide Range Achievement Test, Stanford Diagnostic Reading Test, and 12 cloze passages. Results indicated that elementary and secondary reading disabled pupils have significant differences in their ability to use the three different word recognition abilities investigated. Implications for minimum competency testing in reading were discussed.