Psycho-Educational Study of Selected Behavioral Variables with Children Failing the Elementary Grades

A psycho-educational test battery was administered to 472 children failing in the elementary grades in a county school system. A study of the information-processing behaviors associated with learning and related to the multiple causes of failure was the purpose of the study. The major premise was that perceptual and cognitive behavioral disability is a more concise basis for the prevention and treatment of school failure than are the numerous theories which are frequently quoted, especially when one considers the individual child.

The data showed that children failing do have specific language and perceptual information-processing behavioral problems appearing as receptive, central, and expressive language, auditory perceptual, auditory and visual perceptual memory, and perceptual integrative difficulties. The children did not seem to have perceptual copying, motor, laterality, or directionality difficulties. Teacher ratings and academic achievement did not provide a basis for understanding why failure occurs.     

Creativity, Action, Service (CAS) Activities as Part of the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme: A Case Study

The new subject of citizenship requires that students undertake community service. This is something which is also being emphasized in other countries. The International Baccalaureate has pioneered such work for thirty years. It includes a compulsory element of community service 'Creativity, Action, Service' (CAS) involving about half a day per week for two years. Though many students are likely to find this motivating the very fact that it is compulsory means that this may not always be the case.
In general, the benefits of community service to what might be termed the 'recipient' are self‐evident. Within the context of educational programmes, however, the relationship between encouraging service for reasons related to the greater good of the community, and for reasons related to the associated benefits to the individual student, is a delicate one. This paper describes a study undertaken in an international school. The study was initiated with the major purpose of determining the extent to which the school had been successful in developing the CAS programme. In particular, the study aimed to establish to what extent CAS participants achieved the programme's prescribed aims, to highlight any aims not fully achieved and, through reflecting on why this might be the case, to identify how improvements could be made. As a result of the findings it was possible to make a number of recommendations for improvements, with implications for such work both in the school and at a more general level.     

Organizational roles of university committees

On the basis of relationships found empirically to hold among 20 organizational characteristics of university committees, two distinctive sets of such characteristics are derived. The sets, in turn, are utilized as indices to the organizational roles which university committees play. The first is an essentially deliberative, collective decision-making role played by committees whose activities are member-dominated. The second is an essentially one-person advisory role played by committees whose activities are chairperson-dominated. The organizational basis of each role is inferred from the characteristics comprising each of the two sets.     

Learning the words AND knowing the concepts: an in‐depth study of one expert teacher's use of language as a cultural tool to support inquiry

This research explored the practices of one science teacher, expert in her field, as she worked to enact science discourse that incorporated language in naturalistic and rigorous ways. Difficulties in mastering the language of science contribute to troubling and persistent achievement gaps across demographic and gender groups. Science learning is based in discourse, with knowledge built by asking questions, exploring, revising views and asking new questions. But all too often students are not able to participate fully in these opportunities for discourse that is engaging and exploration due to the difficulty of science language. Qualitative analysis of this teacher's use of science discourse to establish clear links between essential science language and concepts and pre/post analysis of a science language assessment reveal important ways that teachers and researchers can work together to design and deliver instruction and assessment that supports students' mastery of sophisticated language and concepts. Results have implications for theory regarding science discourse; language learning, and conceptual development; and provide a model for teacher–researcher partnerships exploring important problems of teaching practice.     

The effect of college course evaluation feedback on instructor and student perceptions of instructional climate and effectiveness

An experimental study was undertaken to examine (1) effect of early course evaluation feedback to instructor on subsequent end-of-course class evaluations by students (n=1484) and instructor (n=78), and (2) stability of course evaluations by students and instructor. These voluntary class-instructor units were randomly assigned to experimental (feedback) and control (no feedback) groups. After attrition the feedback group contained 37 units and the control group 41 units. The 26 item Faculty-Course Evaluation Form (FCEF) was administered approximately three weeks into the quarter and again eight weeks later. The FCEF reflected the frequency of occurrence of certain instructor behaviors and over-all opinions of course value and teaching ability.The five-factor structure of the FCEF can be described with the following labels: Subject Organization and Competency, Motivation-Stimulation, Instructor-Student Relations, Reasonable Work Load and Tests, and Clearness of Grading Procedures.Individual class, instructor, and total score results were fed back to instructors in the experimental groups from the early FCEF administrators. Results indicated significant differences in favor of the feedback group on the Subject Organization and Competency, and Motivation-Stimulation scale. In addition moderately high stability of ratings for both classes and instructors was noted, but little agreement between classes and instructors.