Child, Program, and Family Ecological Variables in Early Intervention

This study is based on a conceptual framework which emphasized the importance of viewing early intervention outcomes in relation to both program and nonprogram variables. Three broad classes of independent variables were included in the framework child, program, and family ecology. The unique and combined contributions of these three sets of variables to the prediction of three indices of intervention outcome was assessed through regression techniques. As much as 68% of the variance in children's post-intervention developmental age (DA2) was explained by the combined influence of all three classes of variables. All three classes of variables again contributed uniquely to the prediction of parental satisfaction with the intervention, explaining 45% of the variance. The three classes of variables explained 36% of the variance in children's rate of development during the intervention (RDI), although the contribution of the program class was very minimal. In addition to ascertaining the contributions of sets of variables, the importance of individual variables within sets was also examined. Results from both types of analysis underscored the important role of nonprogram variables in the determination of both child and parental outcomes. The implications of these findings for the design and evaluation of early intervention are discussed.     

Project THREAD: Technology helping restructure educational access and delivery

This article describes Project THREAD (Technology Helping Restructure Educational Access and Delivery), an initiative funded by the U.S. Office of Education through its PT3 grant program. The project’s overarching goal is to prepare teachers to integrate modern technologies to fundamentally enhance teaching and learning in K-12 schools. Project initiatives include: (a) a series of in-service workshops for university faculty, administrators, field supervisors, and mentor teachers; (b) one-on-one follow-up support provided by project staff; (c) a minigrant program to support the development of technology-based learning activities for university courses; (d) expanded opportunities for students to apply technology in thier courses and field experiences; and (e) a redesign of selected courses that impact a large number of teacher candidates. The project’s evaluation is described, along with a discussion of outcomes and lessons learned. in recognition of the project’s scope and accomplishments thus far, the College of Education at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), was named the 2002 winner of the Best Practice Award for the Innovative Use of Technology by the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE).     

Picturing global educational inclusion? Looking and thinking across students’ photographs from the UK,Zambia and Indonesia

Over the last few years we have engaged children and young people in participatory photography projects in a diverse range of international contexts. The projects, diverse as they are, have been school-based and primarily focused on students' experiences of educational inclusion/exclusion. Photographs taken by students can stimulate conversations in which different perspectives are shared and considered. Whilst this process is meaningful within a local context, it is also compelling to reflect more widely on what children and young people's photographs and commentary (and through these their interpretations of their educational experiences) have to tell and, indeed, show us about educational inclusion globally. In this paper, we begin by explaining what we mean by the term 'educational inclusion', and consider what methodological relevance the participatory photography has for engaging in research with children and young people about their educational experiences. We then briefly describe the contexts of the projects this paper draws on, which took place in the UK, Zambia and Indonesia. In the main body of the paper, we will look across these international projects and consider a selection of students' photographs and interpretations in relation to several broad themes about educational inclusion which they suggest.     

Disseminating the right information to the right audience: cultural determinants in the use (and misuse) of rankings

Rankings and league tables, or Report Cards (RCs), of Higher Education Institutions have become a global phenomenon. Their purpose, it is claimed, is to help “student-consumers” make informed decisions. Yet the degree to which RCs succeed in helping students in their college choice is disputed. Even though RCs are intended for all, which information is sought and how it is used may differ between potential students hailing from different social, economic and cultural backgrounds. In particular, RCs may neglect certain cultural determinants that influence students’ college choice behaviour. The article reviews the literature on the cultural determinants of college choice and especially the use of RCs in the ambit of cultural determinants. In the United States, possibly because of evident educational gaps between ethnic groups in society, the issue of cultural perceptions in college choice has been addressed, albeit scantly. In Europe, this field of study is virtually non-existent, despite increasing indications that second and third generation immigrants still lag behind in terms of higher education participation and graduation rates.

An Assessment of Statistical Process Control-Based Approaches for Charting Student Evaluation Scores

We compare three control charts for monitoring data from student evaluations of teaching (SET) with the goal of improving student satisfaction with teaching performance. The two charts that we propose are a modified p chart and a z‐score chart. We show that these charts overcome some of the shortcomings of the more traditional charts for analyzing SET data. A comparison of three charts (an individuals chart, the modified p chart, and the z‐score chart) reveals that the modified p chart is the best approach for analyzing SET data because it utilizes distributions that are appropriate for categorical data, and its interpretation is more straightforward. We conclude that administrators and faculty alike can benefit by using the modified p chart to monitor and improve teaching performance as measured by student evaluations.     

A solid base for decisions

To gain insight into the use of the VSNU research quality evaluations (since 1993) in the practice of research and of institutional management in Dutch universities, interviews were held in eight cases evaluated in the first year of this procedure. The main conclusions are that use of these research evaluations is universal, both instrumentally (in decisions directly based on the judgements) and incrementally (in decision-making processes not directly linked to the evaluation). Underlying this is conceptual use: an important change in deans and rectors views of their role in managing research, which they now can realise, because the VSNU research evaluations give them, for the first time, solidly legitimate arguments on which to base strategic decisions. Next to use, other effects can be discerned within universities, pointing to a growing dependency of researchers on managers, necessitating amongst others ever more consciously strategic publication behaviour. Whether quality of research improves in this way, cannot be answered here, but certainly it is more difficult for academics not to engage in research.