An Evaluation of the Linearity of Curriculum‐Based Measurement of Oral Reading (CBM‐R) Progress Monitoring Data: Idiographic Considerations

Educators use curriculum‐based measurement of oral reading (CBM‐R) to measure student response to instruction. Current decision‐making frameworks assume students demonstrate linear growth across a school year. However, growth appears nonlinear for at least a subgroup of students. We assessed the degree to which grade two (n = 800) and grade three (n = 800) students receiving intensive interventions experienced discontinuous growth. We also explored when discontinuous growth tended to occur, and whether students improved or regressed afterward. Results indicate linear patterns were adequate for most students (80 percent). Students who showed discontinuous growth early tended to improve afterward. Conversely, students who showed discontinuous growth later tended to plateau. Findings suggest multilevel models may obscure variability in growth patterns. Practice and research implications are discussed.     

Curriculum Reform and the Case of the Disappearing Agents

It is an irony that, as the educational world has come to recognise the value of school or district‐based teacher leaders, many teachers have become wary of involvement in activities which take them beyond their own classrooms or schools. The problem becomes particularly apparent in centrally organised curriculum reform efforts that call for a cadre of teachers to be co‐opted to act as ‘link’ or ‘lighthouse’ teachers. This paper examines these issues in the context of an Australian state‐wide physics curriculum project in which a ‘pyramid’ implementation model required a group of school‐based ‘link’ or ‘lighthouse’ teachers to work as change agents in district school clusters. The study focused on the motivations of those teachers who chose, and those who chose not, to become involved. It reports a number of critical distinctions, in both experience and motivation, between these two groups of teachers. These differences are analysed as a set of interlocking themes: personal meaning, professional history, ownership, rewards, professional autonomy and gender.     

A Case Study of Student Teachers' Science Placements

The role of placements in the development of the education/industry partnership is considered with particular reference to initial teacher education. A detailed study of a placement scheme run by an ITE institution and Teacher Placement Organisers (TPO) is described and analysed to highlight issues regarding the nature and process of students' learning from placements. In the context of science and technology it is suggested that modifications to the content of subjects are necessary if students are successfully to investigate the workplace using their subject understanding. However, there are dangers that learning might become narrowly vocational and it is argued that in the evaluation of learning it is necessary to consider the use of inquiry skills in relation to the subject‐specific context if educational concerns are to be safe‐guarded.     

A Consideration of the Relationship Between Creativity and Approaches to Learning in Art and Design

Creative intelligence is relevant to all aspects of the school curriculum, yet it is through art and design that pupils may come to experience the significance of creativity as a means of exploring innovative and original ideas which offer credence to the individual and affect approaches to learning. This article analyses creativity and the creative process and addresses the links between creativity and intelligence by examining the implications such factors may hold for the teacher when developing approaches to learning in art and design. It focuses in particular on the use of sketchbooks within the context of a number of Art and Design GCSE courses and explores how students have been provided with opportunities to develop creative responses to set tasks. In addition, it sets out to challenge the notion that the requirements of GCSE assessment criteria inevitably restrict creativity and lead to non‐creative formulaic practice.