The Media and Educational Testing: In Pursuit of the Truth or in Pursuit of a Good Story?

The measurement community needs to better understand how to interact with the media to effectively disseminate important findings from educational testing efforts. To this end, the current paper will review media coverage of educational testing and related issues and elaborate on areas of concern and opportunities for improved communication between measurement professionals and the media. Common misinterpretations of test results and measurement concepts will be discussed and suggestions for the clearer presentation and explanation of such information will be offered. Also, practical advice and strategies for handling different types of interactions with the media will be provided. The implications of focusing on this topic in the measurement profession and the inherent public value of this focus are highlighted throughout the paper.     

Physical activity,physiological, and psychomotor performance: a study of variously active older adult men

This research examined varying levels of physical activity and psychomotor and physiological function in variously active older men. Very active moderately active, and low active participants were tested on simple (SRT) and choice reaction time (CRT), coincidence-anticipation timing (CAT), and VO2max. No significant differences for age or height were found, although percentage of fat, and weight were statistically different. Active groups were leaner and lighter. VO2max was significantly different between groups, as physically active groups yielded geater values. SRT and CAT also yielded significantly different results with more active participants showing better performance. No between-groups significant differences resulted for CRT. Generally, increased levels of physical activity were related to superior physiological outcomes and improved psychomotor peformance.     

SPECIAL ISSUE COMMENTARY: Cross-Disciplinary Perspectives on Consultation in Gifted Education: Focusing on Practice Issues

This article provides a response from the perspectives of a teacher of the gifted and a trainer of teachers of the gifted. Following a brief summary of the authors' collective experience, the article highlights major issues represented by the four articles and identifies common themes across the various disciplines with respect to consultation and gifted education. A call for needed research and more collaborative work among gifted educators and school support personnel is made.     

Counselor Educators' Experiences Preparing Preservice School Counselors: A Phenomenological Study

The authors conducted a phenomenological study to explore the experiences of 32 school counselor educators preparing preservice school counselors. Analysis of data from 3 focus groups revealed 3 themes: breadth versus depth, balancing specialties and professor partiality, and preparation versus practice. These results highlight the need for collaboration across counseling specialties at the preservice level.     

Evaluating the impact of library user training programmes across Thames Valley Strategic Health Authority in the UK

BACKGROUND: This study was undertaken to provide evidence that library outreach projects in the NHS in the Thames Valley Strategic Health Authority area were effective and could justify continued funding. Objectives: The object was to assess whether information literacy skills training taken up by health professionals impacts on their confidence and skills in using electronic sources of health information. METHOD: A total of 487 health professionals taking up training on a voluntary basis were assessed by completing a self-assessment questionnaire prior to and after training to establish their information literacy skills and confidence levels. Of these, 223 trainees (46%) also returned 6-week follow-up questionnaires. RESULTS: Results showed that 464 trainees (95%) intended to apply what they had learnt in a variety of ways; use of specific resources greatly increased after training and confidence in using them increased substantially. Use of search techniques increased considerably overall, whereas use of Google decreased. CONCLUSIONS: The major findings of this research are that training health-care personnel in the use of electronic resources impacts positively on their information literacy skills and confidence, and that the information available to them is considered to have potential value across health-care practice.     

Nursing Reference Center: A Point-of-Care Resource

Nursing Reference Center is a point-of-care resource designed for the practicing nurse, as well as nursing administrators, nursing faculty, and librarians. Users can search across multiple resources, including topical Quick Lessons, evidence-based care sheets, patient education materials, practice guidelines, and more. Additional features include continuing education modules, e-books, and a new iPhone application. A sample search and comparison with similar databases were conducted.     

Investigating the effect of an adaptive learning intervention on students’ learning

Educators agree on the benefits of adaptive learning, but evidence-based research remains limited as the field of adaptive learning is still evolving within higher education. In this study, we investigated the impact of an adaptive learning intervention to provide remedial instruction in biology, chemistry, math, and information literacy to first-year students (n = 128) entering a pharmacy professional degree program. Using a mixed methods design, we examined students’ learning in each of the four content areas, their experience using the adaptive system, and student characteristics as related to their choice of participating in the intervention. The findings showed the adaptive learning intervention helped address the knowledge gap for chemistry, but the same effect was not observed for the other three content areas. Math anxiety was the only student characteristic that showed a significant relationship with students’ participation. While the students reported an overall positive experience, the results also revealed time factor and several design flaws that could have contributed to the lack of more student success. The findings highlight the importance of design in adaptive learning.     

Correction to: What do teacher educators know about English spelling?

Reading and Writing -     

Knowledge hustlers: Gendered micro-politics and networking in UK universities

This article explores the role of gendered academic networks in the context of research evaluation, and women’s lived experiences of UK universities. Gendered power is conceptualised as an important aspect of inequality regimes, providing insight into how men maintain power and how power dynamics and informal networks function, characterised in this article as ‘the hustle’. A case study comprising 80 in-depth, semi-structured qualitative interviews was completed in a UK university. Acker’s theory of inequality regimes informed the central analytical framework, and Bradley’s resource-based theory of power was used to explore the power dynamics in the case study. The findings have resulted in the creation of a conceptual framework which theorises the hybridised nature of inequality, gendered power and organisational lived experience, in which inequality regimes and gendered power interact and are mutually reinforced through informal processes. This article argues, from the findings of the empirical research, that in the context of the neoliberal university, inequality regimes and gendered power interact, and are mutually reinforced through informal processes and networks—‘the hustle’.