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.     

Barriers to older people’s participation in local governance: The impact of diversity

Creating opportunities for inclusive participation by older people in local governance is made more complex by their diversity, which can shape who participates, in what ways, and how effectively. The existing research, however, largely focuses on the impact of socio-demographic characteristics or of individual barriers on participation, without considering how interactions between these may shape pathways to participation among older people. This quantitative study explored the relationships between participation by older people, barriers to participation, and socio-demographic characteristics. The results indicate that socio-demographic diversity impacts on the importance attributed to barriers as well as the strength and direction of their relationships with participation. The findings problematize the dominant approaches to understanding barriers to and patterns in participation. A more sophisticated understanding of inclusive governance in ageing communities needs to consider the iterative and interactional nature of pathways to participation in the context of the complexity of the “older population.”     

Teaching learning disabled adolescents to think critically using a problem‐solving schema

Abstract

In this study we describe and examine the effectiveness of an instructional program designed to teach learning disabled adolescents to make better personal decisions. We presented problems in short narratives based on the types of problems these students must solve in their own lives. The program, conducted as part of the students' regular resource room curriculum, incorporated schema‐general questions for problem solving coupled with practice in generating problem‐specific questions to reach an appropriate decision. Participants were 70 resource room students in two large, urban high schools. We employed a pretest‐posttest comparison group design. On the posttest, instructed students performed significantly better on (1) identifying a general schema for making a personal decision and (2) applying the schema to reach appropriate decisions concerning novel problem narratives. The results support the view that application of a general schema to specific problems can be an effective instructional method to improve critical thinking and decision making.