Best Practices for English Language Learners in Massachusetts: Five Years After The Question 2 Mandate

Educating English language learners (ELLs) presents a challenge for teachers and policy makers; the population of ELLs increases, yet their achievement trails that of their native English-speaking peers. In November 2002, Massachusetts voters supported a law that mandated Sheltered English Immersion (SEI) as the primary means of instruction for ELLs, effectively ending transitional bilingual education. This report examines key considerations in educating ELLs, and in implementing SEI in Massachusetts schools. It also presents case studies of three schools making significant strides with ELLs through innovative programming built around SEI methods yet maintaining important bilingual education practices that promote educational equity. Cross-case analysis identified themes about strategic data use, staff recruitment, and supports for students and families.     

Creating Inclusive,Literacy-Embedded Play Centers in a Children's Museum: Connecting Theory to Practice

Preservice teachers enrolled in an early literacy or developmental preschool course collaborated in order to create inclusive, literacy-embedded play centers at a local children's museum. Using a grounded theory approach, theoretical questions were generated after analyzing multiple data sources. The focus of this paper is how preservice teachers connected theory to practice in an authentic setting. The importance of connecting theory to practice, the place of play in assessment, and the viability of children's museums as alternative field placements are discussed. Implications for preservice teacher education are presented.     

Training program in child abuse for community health workers

A wide range of health workers in the community provide care for families that abuse or have a potential for abusing their children. Frequently these workers are unable to work effectively because of difficulty dealing with feelings aroused by contact with such families.An experimental child abuse training program for community health workers was designed by a pediatrician, a social worker, a public health nurse and two child psychiatrists. This program included a six-month study group which met weekly to focus on feelings and conflcts aroused during the course of work with abusing or potentially abusing families.Through analysis of the group experience, the leaders identified eleven sets of feelings or conflicts which seemed to interfere consistently with effective delivery of care: 1)anxieties about a) being physically harmed by angry parents and b) about the effects of a decision; 2) denial and inhibition of anger; 3) need for emotional gratification from clients; 4) lack of professional support; 5) feelings of incompetence; 6) denial and projection of responsbility; 7) feeling total responsibility for assigned families; 8) difficulty separating personal from professional responsibility; 9) feelings of being a victim; 10) ambivalent feelings a) toward clients and b) about one's professional role; 11) need to be in control.This type of group experience seems to be an effective method for exploration and resolution of feelings and conflicts.     

“Blockers” do not block recall during tip-of-the-tongue states

Tip-of-the-Tongue experiences (TOTs) are often accompanied by incorrect answers (blockers) that come to mind persistently and seem to block recall. According to the blocking hypothesis, blockers cause retrieval difficulty during TOTs. We predicted that delay would allow participants to forget their blockers, and thereby enhance TOT resolution. In Experiment 1 participants were asked trivia questions and then retested on the ones that elicited TOTs, either immediately or after a delay. There was an incubation effect overall, with greater TOT resolution after a delay than on an immediate test. Contrary to the blocking hypothesis, however, delay did not enhance resolution of blocked TOTs more than non-blocked TOTs. In Experiment 2, during the retest, participants were reminded of their previous blockers on some questions, but the reminders did not affect TOT resolution. These findings suggest that blockers may be a side effect, not a cause, of retrieval difficulty during TOTs. This paper is based on the first author’s Master’s thesis.     

Lifelong learning and the reform of the teaching practicum in Australia

This paper reports the findings of a project—‘Lifelong learning and teacher education’—undertaken by the Centre for Lifelong Learning, Australian Catholic University, under the auspices of the Australian Commonwealth Department of Education, Science and Training. The study was designed to investigate the operationalization of lifelong learning in Australian teacher education. The study revealed that there is a range of existing, innovative practices regarding partnerships between schools and higher and further education that are in keeping with emerging ideas about lifelong learning. Moreover, some of these take the form of collaborative action research projects focused on improving the learning occurring in the partnership schools. This paper describes some current approaches in Australia to collaborative action research by teacher educators' and their partnership schools and shows how they contribute to lifelong learning. The approaches are then analyzed to suggest ways of advancing lifelong learning within Australian Education Faculties thus helping to make lifelong learning more of a reality for all.     

QUALITY INDICES FOR FACULTY EVALUATION

This paper investigates procedures and criteria for the evaluation of faculty in higher education. It first surveys the different indices currently in use for evaluating research, teaching and service activities. It then discusses the use of these criteria in view of the shifting framework of evaluation in the university from that based on promotion and tenure decisions to one which is based on institutional review. Finally, conditions for the success of faculty evaluation are outlined. These include evaluation procedures that are consultative in nature, the specification of criteria and standards, and an emphasis on the critical role of faculty in evaluation and in becoming evaluators themselves.