The Dynamic Assessment of Reading Abilities

Dynamic assessment uses a response‐to‐instruction paradigm to complement traditional diagnostic assessment of word recognition and comprehension. The process helps the examiner to predict appropriate remedial intervention by exploring a student's responses to a series of instructional episodes in an interactive teaching‐learning relationship. Dynamic and traditional (or static) assessment differ in orientation (process vs product), procedure (response to instruction vs enumeration of existing abilities), and interpretation (patterns of response to instruction vs indices, for example percentiles or stanines). A dynamic approach to assessment provides the opportunity to evaluate systematically the instructional factors that influence reading performance.     

Intrinsic reinforcing properties of putatively neutral stimuli in an instrumental two-lever discrimination task

Four experiments examined the influence of a stimulus presented after one response in a two-lever choice task. In Experiment 1, food-deprived rats trained on a concurrent variable-interval extinction schedule responded more often on the extinction lever when such responding periodically produced a visual stimulus than when it did not. In Experiments 2 and 3, a similar signal-induced enhancement effect was found even when food was delivered randomly with respect to responding on both levers or when no food was presented. In Experiment 4, a response-contingent visual stimulus elevated responding to the lever on which it was presented, but an auditory cue suppressed responding. These findings indicate that visual stimuli may possess intrinsically reinforcing properties for rats.     

Prenatal hormones and postnatal socialization by parents as determinants of male-typical toy play in girls with congenital adrenal hyperplasia

Toy choices of 3- to 10-year-old children with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) and of their unaffected siblings were assessed. Also assessed was parental encouragement of sex-typed toy play. Girls with CAH displayed more male-typical toy choices than did their unaffected sisters, whereas boys with and without CAH did not differ. Mothers and fathers encouraged sex-typical toy play in children with and without CAH. However, girls with CAH received more positive feedback for play with girls' toys than did unaffected girls. Data show that increased male-typical toy play by girls with CAH cannot be explained by parental encouragement of male-typical toy play. Although parents encourage sex-appropriate behavior, their encouragement appears to be insufficient to override the interest of girls with CAH in cross-sexed toys.     

Review

Lively Elementary Science Programs: A Handbook of Suggestions for Introducing and Maintaining Innovative Science Activities. Submitted to the Massachusetts Advisory Council on Education by Dean K. Whitla, Project Director, and Dan C. Pinck, Associate Project Director. Office of Instructional Research and Evaluation in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, and the Harvard Graduate School of Education, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138. January 1974. $3.25     

Attempting to document teachers' professional knowledge

This paper explores ways of uncovering and documenting teachers' professional knowledge. Through a research project that has worked with a number of teachers over an extensive period of time, serious attempts have been made to make the (often) tacit nature of teachers' knowledge more explicit in ways that might begin to address the question of what a knowledge base in teaching might look like. The paper examines methodological issues that have guided this research and illustrates how the knowledge of teachers can be articulated in ways that might help to clarify particular features of practice. An important aspect of the research reported in this paper is the need to have a language of teaching that is common to participants. Therefore, the research reported in this paper offers one way of considering this issue and offers a methodology for exploration and further development whilst simultaneously highlighting some aspects of the problematic nature of developing such a methodology.     

Cooperating Teachers' Perspectives Under Scrutiny: A comparative analysis of Australia and Canada

The ways in which cooperating teachers give shape and meaning to their work in practicum settings is one of the most critical elements of initial teacher education. This international comparison draws upon surveys of Australian and Canadian cooperating teachers. The global contrast highlights taken‐for‐granted assumptions in local settings that in some instances are cause for celebration and in other instances concern. The comparison of the two settings illustrates, among other things: some striking similarities in the profiles of cooperating teachers; important differences with respect to the cooperating teachers' preparation and remuneration for their role in practicum settings; and deeper complexities regarding the relationship between schools and universities.     

Effects of the HELPS Reading Fluency Program when Implemented by Classroom Teachers with Low‐Performing Second‐Grade Students

The Helping Early Literacy with Practice Strategies (HELPS) Program was developed by integrating eight evidence‐based fluency‐building instructional strategies into a systematic program that can be feasibly implemented and accessed for free by all educators. This study examined the effects of HELPS when implemented by teachers with low‐performing second‐grade readers. Findings showed that students receiving HELPS significantly outperformed control group students across five measures of early reading, with effect sizes ranging from medium to large. Previous research indicated positive effects for students receiving HELPS, but this was the first study in which HELPS was implemented by classroom teachers (opposed to research assistants) and solely with low‐performing readers. Implications of these findings and future research directions are discussed.