Legal and educational perspectives of equity in assessment

Equity in assessment concerns all educational authorities and practitioners. While educators commonly consider issues of equity in terms of accommodations for students with special needs, or addressing cultural difference, equity issues in educational assessment have emerged outside these bases. This paper examines equity assessment issues, drawing predominantly on case history from the United States of America (US) with examples from Australia and England, to demonstrate areas that may draw legal consideration. The discussion shows that the legal standard to establish inequity is high and sometimes illogical from an educational perspective. The paper is intended to assist understanding of legal implications of educational assessment in order to reduce the likelihood of legal claims and the resultant redirection of valuable resources from educational provision. The discussion is also intended to broaden thinking on matters that impact on the provision of equitable educational and assessment opportunities for all students.     

Applying Diversity Management Concepts to Improve the Minority Educational Pipeline

The objective of this conceptual article is to investigate existing diversity management paradigms and extend their implications toward the goal of increasing minority representation in management education. We suggest that the existing learning‐and‐effectiveness diversity management paradigm (Thomas & Ely, 1996, Harvard Business Review, 74(5), 79–90), which integrates contributions from diverse individuals, can be utilized in addressing the underrepresented minority shortage at each progressive stage of the education pipeline, beginning with the high school level. We propose and discuss a complex set of solutions that highlight the students’ educational experience, motivation, awareness, and social environment. These solutions target minority underrepresentation with the goal of ultimately increasing the proportion of minorities in the PhD pool and subsequently within the management professoriate.     

The acquisition of spatial constructions in American sign language and English

Spatial relations in American Sign Language (ASL) are often signed from the perspective of the signer and so involve a shift in perspective and mental rotation. This study examined developing knowledge of language used to refer to the spatial relations front, behind, left, right, towards, away, above, and below by children learning ASL and English. Because ASL is a classifier language in which noun referents are placed into groups, each spatial relation also appeared with person, animal, and vehicle classifiers. Twenty-three children and adults who learned ASL before the age of 5 years and 23 native English-speaking adults and children participated. Both language groups participated in a comprehension task in which they chose which of 2 pictures depicted a signed or spoken relation. Results showed that children learning ASL acquired the constructions for spatial relations that typically involve perspective shifts and mental rotation later than constructions that do not involve these abilities and later than English-speaking children. Children learning ASL did not differ from English-speaking children in learning constructions that did not involve these abilities. Results also suggest that users of ASL initially comprehend spatial relations more accurately with person and animal classifiers than with the classifier for vehicles. The results are relevant to understanding the acquisition of spatial relations in ASL.     

Invigorating pedagogic change. Suggestions from findings of the development of secondary science teachers' practice and cognisance of the learning process

A long‐term, 2 year in‐service provision to develop pupils thinking capability was provided for 91 secondary schools during the period 1998–2002. The science teachers involved reported that the in‐service experience impacted on their pedagogic practice. The evidence was gathered through reflective surveys and interviews. The in‐service programme engaged the teachers in authentic learning activities. The findings suggest that engaging the teachers in actions or processes which are then transformed into conceptual (scientific and cognitive) objectives can influence their perception of learning. Through collective reflection of their active participation they objectified connections between learning processes and learning outcomes. The explicit reflections of the modelled experiences provided the opportunity for the teachers to empathize, as learners, with their pupils' learning situations. They were guided to reflect on how the nature of social interactions can impact on reasoning and meaning making. The reflective cognitive and learning objectivity of the in‐service programme appeared to influence their pedagogy in a variety of ways. The pedagogic changes included a significant increase in pragmatic interpretation and application of learning theories to classroom situations. Teaching strategies were also developed to include: proactive management of collaborative learning; a generally more interactive and dynamic way of learning through questioning; promotion of more prediction opportunities; encouragement of more reflection, in a variety of ways, on the processes by which potential or actual solutions to scientific tasks or challenges were reasoned. As a result of this study pedagogic principles to support learning and cognitive development in science and learning generally are proposed.

Une expérience continue à long terme sur une période de deux ans pour développer la capacité de réfléchir chez les élèves a été offerte à 91 collèges et lycées pendant la période entre 1998 et 2002. Les professeurs de sciences qui y étaient engagés ont déclaré que l'expérience continue a influé sur leur pratique pédagogique. Les preuves ont été réunies grâce aux enquêtes et aux interviews. L'expérience a engagé les professeurs dans des activités d'apprentissage authentiques. Les conclusions semblent indiquer qu'en engageant les professeurs dans des actions ou des procédés qu'on transforme ensuite en objectifs conceptuels (scientifiques et cognitifs) on peut influer sur leur perception de l'apprentissage. En réfléchissant collectivement à leur participation active, ils s'étaient engagés dans l'activité collective de faire de ce qu'on faisait auparavant l'objet de réflexion. Par suite de ces réflexions, les professeurs, en tant qu' apprenants, ont pu comprendre ce que ressentent leurs élèves dans les situations d'apprentissage. Ils ont été guidés à considérer l'effet des relations sociales sur le raisonnement et la compréhension. Il paraît que l'objectivité d'apprentissage cognitive et réflective a influé sur leur pédagogie à bien des égards. En ce qui concerne les changements pédagogiques, il y a eu une augmention significative de l'interprétation pragmatique et de l'application des théories d'apprentissage dans la salle de classe. Des stratégies pédagogiques ont également été développées qui comprennent une direction d'apprentissage qui fait preuve d'initiative; une façon d'apprendre en posant des questions qui est généralement plus interactive et dynamique; la promotion de plus de possibilitiés de prévision et l'encouragement à réfléchir plus à bien des égards sur les procédés qu'on utilise pour arriver aux solutions potentielles ou réelles des tâches et des défis scientifiques. L'impact de ces développements pédagogiques dans la salle de classe a été étudié mais on le présente ailleurs. Par suite de cette étude on propose des principes pédagogiques pour soutenir chez les élèves le développement cognitif et l'apprentissage des sciences et l'apprentissage en général.

Un estudio a largo plazo de dos años se llevó a cabo en 91 escuelas secundarias durante el periodo de 1998–2002, para desarrollar las capacidades de pensamiento de los alumnos. Los profesores de ciencia que participaron en el estudio informaron que la experiencia tuvo impacto en sus prácticas pedagógicas. La evidencia se obtuvo a través sondeos y entrevistas de reflexión. El estudio involucró a los profesores en experiencias auténticas de enseñanza. Los hallazgos sugieren que involucrar a los profesores en acciones o procesos los cuales luego son transformados en objetivos cognoscitivos (científicos o conceptuales), puede influenciar su percepción a cerca del aprendizaje. Las reflexiones explícitas de las experiencias modeladas proveyeron la oportunidad a los profesores de tener empatía, como estudiantes, con las situaciones de aprendizaje de sus alumnos. Ellos fueron guiados a reflexionar a cerca de cómo la naturaleza de las interacciones sociales puede tener impacto en el razonamiento y en el proceso de crear significado. La reflexión cognoscitiva y la objetividad del aprendizaje por parte de los profesores participante pareció influenciar sus métodos pedagógicos de varias formas. Los cambios pedagógicos incluyeron un aumento significativo en la interpretación pragmática y la aplicación de las teorías de enseñanza en las situaciones en la sala de clases. También se desarrollaron estrategias de enseñanza para la administración activa del aprendizaje en colaboración; una forma de aprendizaje a través de hacer preguntas que es generalmente más interactiva y dinámica; el promover más oportunidades para hacer predicciones y estimular más reflexión, de varias maneras, en los procesos por los cuales se razonan las soluciones actuales o potenciales para las tareas o retos científicos. Se estudió el impacto de estos desarrollos pedagógicos en el aprendizaje de los alumnos, pero son mencionados en otra parte. Como resultado de este estudio se proponen principios pedagógicos que apoyan la enseñanza y el desarrollo cognoscitivo en las ciencias y la enseñanza en general.

Zwischen 1998 und 2002 wurde an 91 amerikanischen Mittelstufenschulen ein zweijähriges Projekt durchgeführt, das dazu diente, die Fähigkeit zu selbständigem, wissenschaftlichem Denken der Schüler zu entwickeln und zu fördern. Die beteiligten Lehrer in den wissenschaftlichen Fächern berichteten, dass dieses Experiment ihre pädagogische Praxis beeinflusst hat. Dieses Ergebnis beruht auf der Auswertung von Fragebögen und Einzelgesprächen. Durch das Projekt wurden die Lehrer mit authentischen Lernprozessen konfrontiert. Die Ergebnisse deuten darauf hin, dass die Einbeziehung der Lehrer in Prozesse, die anschließend in konzeptionelle (wissenschaftliche und kognitive) Zielsetzungen umgewandelt werden konnten, ihre Vorstellung vom Lernprozess ändern kann. Durch die expliziten Reflektionen über die gewonnene Erfahrung wurde es den Lehrern ermöglicht, sich als Lernende mit den Lernsituationen ihrer Schüler zu identifizieren. Sie wurden angeregt, darüber nachzudenken, wie die Art sozialen Umgangs Einfluss auf Argumentation und Meinungsbildung haben kann. Die reflektive kognitive Objektivität des Experiments scheint die Pädagogik auf mehrere Arten zu beeinflussen. Pädagogische Änderungen erstreckten sich u.a. auf eine signifikante Zunahme der pragmatischen Interpretation und Anwendung von Lerntheorien auf Situationen im Klassenzimmer. Darüber hinaus wurden Lernstrategien entwickelt, um proaktives Management kollektiven Lernens, eine generell interaktivere und dynamischere Art des Lernens durch gezielte Fragen, eine Förderung von Vorhersagemöglichkeiten und Ermutigung zu mehr Reflektion auf verschiedene Arten einzuschließen. Die Auswirkungen dieser pädagogischen Entwicklungen auf das Lernverhalten von Schülern wurden untersucht und in einer separaten Studie veröffentlicht. Aufgrund dieser Studie werden pädagogische Prinzipien zur Unterstützung kognitiver Entwicklungen in Wissenschaft und Lehre vorgeschlagen.     

Thyroid hormone levels and psychological symptoms in sexually abused adolescent girls

OBJECTIVE: To explore the relationships between psychological symptoms and thyroid hormone levels in adolescent girls who had experienced the traumatic stress of sexual abuse. METHOD: The study design was cross-sectional/correlational. Subjects (N=22; age range=12-18 years) had their blood drawn, and they completed 2 psychological tests (depression and general distress/posttraumatic stress disorder [PTSD]). A pediatrician completed a sexual abuse questionnaire after reviewing law enforcement and Child Protective Services reports and conducting forensic interviews and medical examinations. RESULTS: Girls' average free T4, total T4, free T3, total T3, and TSH levels were within age-specific laboratory reference range limits, as were most individual concentrations. The strongest correlations (p<.05) were between free T3 and PTSD total score (-.50), PTSD-avoidance/numbing (-.49), and general distress (-.48); and between total T3 and depression (-.46), general distress (-.45), and PTSD-arousal (-.44). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings support one of the two contemporary models of the relationships between thyroid hormones (i.e., free and total T3) and psychological symptoms (i.e., depression, general distress, and PTSD)--one of "shutting down" (vs. "activation") in the face of trauma.     

A paradigm for evaluating assessment interviewing techniques

For the school psychologist, interviewing is a commonly used but little understood assessment technique, often appreciated for its apparent simplicity and flexibility but criticized for its frequent lack of psychometric rigor. With few standardized and/or validated assessment interview schedules and little systematic training in diagnostic interviewing, the school psychologist is left to develop his or her own personalized assessment interview style. Three dimensions (namely, predetermination of questions, interviewer response options, and breadth of content explored) which appear to determine assessment interview structure and format are described and operationally defined and then combined into a conceptual model indicating 27 different assessment interview formats. This paradigm affords practitioners a model for classifying their own assessment interview techniques. Further research into the psychometric qualities of different types of assessment interviews so classified is suggested.