The FCC's disposition of “fairness doctrine” complaints

How the FCC actually handles “Fairness Doctrine”; complaints was the topic of Bradley Canon's 1967 Ph.D. dissertation, completed in the University of Wisconsin. Dr. Canon currently is assistant professor of political science at the University of Kentucky.     

STATE PARTNERSHIPS TO ENHANCE THE QUALITY OF LIFE OF OLDER AMERICANS WITH LIFELONG DISABILITIES

The Older Americans Act and its network of state and area agencies are dynamic mechanisms for human services. The “aging network” has entered a period of expanded policy arenas which require broader agendas and applications, from long‐term‐care systems development to assisting employers who are creating flexible work and retirement programs. It is appropriate for the aging and developmental disabilities networks to explore the intersections of their operations with respect to their methods of administration, advocacy, service systems development, and policies.     

Learning More About Learning Improves Teacher Effectiveness

The present study examines the possibility that teacher knowledge about learning may have an impact on the effectiveness of a school. Thirty-two secondary qualified teachers engaged in a professional development program that provided a framework for reflective study of the learning process, analysis of key aspects of learning in their classes, and identification of the implications for teaching. Changes in teacher effectiveness were monitored in several ways: (1) changes in the display of effective teacher behaviours consistent with a social-constructivist model of learning, (2) changes in perceived ability to facilitate learning in classes, and (3) changes in student performance. The findings support the prediction that involvement in a systematic exploration of the learning process, with teachers explicating their knowledge of learning, has an direct impact, on the display of effective teaching behaviours and on teachers' personal explicit theory of learning.     

The Effect of a National Initiative on Exam Results

ABSTRACT

This paper considers the examination results of TVEI and non TVEI pupils in the database established at the University of Newcastle in 1985‐87. The pupils took national exams in the summer of 1987, when they were about 16 years old. Their average grades (Exam Means) and their accumulated grades (Exam Totals) were considered separately.

The Exam Mean and Exam Total scores were generally worse for TVEI than non TVEI pupils, even when pupils with the same ability test scores and aspirational scores were compared. However, it is possible that non TVEI factors caused the discrepancy in results and it is these factors which are the subjects of this paper.

The paper considers firstly whether the differences are an artefact of regression analysis. Secondly, the data are considered using various multilevel models. Both analyses suggest that there was no TVEI effect on the Exam Mean score and a negative TVEI effect on the Exam Total. Various explanations for these findings, concerning internal school allocational and curriculum policies, are considered and discussed.     

Information Technology and Special Needs in Education

Abstract

The paper discusses some theoretical and practical problems in using information technology to help people with special needs with some aspects of education. The paper reports the progress on two projects and some findings from a recent survey on Information Technology and Special Needs.     

The Teaching of Modern Languages in Primary Schools

The teaching of a foreign language before ten or eleven years of age has always existed, but it is only since the second world war, and with the object of promoting better international understanding, among other things, that it has undergone extensive development, especially in the United States, Great Britain and France. As far as Europe is concerned, a meeting of all the European ministers of education was held in Hamburg in 1962; on this occasion the ministers stated that the teaching of languages was not giving satisfactory results, and they made recommendations intended to encourage     

Inclusive Learning: the Report of the Committee of Enquiry into the postschool education of those with learning difficulties and/or disabilities,in England, 1996

ABSTRACT

The Report, Inclusive Learning (1996), is the result of a three‐year enquiry into the educational needs of and provision for adults with disabilities and/or learning difficulties in England. It arose from the requirement of an Act of Parliament, in 1992, that the new national funding council for further education should ‘have regard’ for such students in all its work of funding, development and evaluation. The Committee commissioned some fundamental research into the nature and extent of provision, the actual and potential demand for further education and the current requirements of law, and also reviewed existing academic research (chiefly in English‐speaking countries). It took extensive evidence in many modes and, in particular, created a series of workshops in which the students and their advocates could speak for themselves. The outcome was the main Report and summary, together with six supplementary publications. The core of the Report is the notion of ‘inclusive learning’, which places the responsibility for providing appropriate education with the teachers, the managers and the system (ultimately, with society), rather than problematizing the student as one with a deficit. A good education system is not merely about offering access to what is available, but also the making of what needs to be available accessible: the moulding of opportunity. Thus the Report concentrates on a theory of learning and its educational consequences. It represents another step towards embracing students with learning difficulties and/or disabilities unequivocally within the general approach to learning appropriate for all students. This article summarizes the main lines of analysis and argument in the Report and its framework of recommendations to the Further Education Funding Council, teachers, managers, voluntary organizations and to the government.