Content and Criticism: the aims of schooling

A number of recent writers have urged that schools not try to foster critical thinking in students, and this attack on what had lately emerged as very widely held to be a central aim of schooling is examined and found wanting. The debate is placed in the context of the evolving discussion in twentieth-century philosophy of education of critical thinking as an educational aim, and it is argued that the distinctions and arguments which are needed to rebut the attack on critical thinking can in large measure be found in the literature from Dewey on.     

Perceived and Measured Needs Levels of Counselor Education Students

Because the counseling profession places high value on counselors possessing accurate self-awareness, this study investigated the differences and relationships between counselor education students' self-perceived and measured needs levels. A sample of 107 counselor students estimated their needs levels and then completed the Personality Research Form (PRF). Significant differences between their perceived and measured needs levels were found for 10 of the 14 PRF scales. Wide variations were evident in both perceived and measured needs levels. Significant correlations between perceived and measured needs levels percentiles for all 14 scales indicated consistency in over or under estimation of needs levels. Age and number of quarter hours completed were generally unrelated to accuracy of needs level estimation.     

PRIORITIES OF TEST PUBLISHERS

The profiles of seven major publishers of elementary-level tests were prepared from systematic ratings of the qualities of their tests. Meaningful rating differences among the publishers' priorities were found and three types of publishers could be identified and described.     

Pastoral Care, Spirituality and Physical Education

Within the sphere of Physical Education (PE), many observers ( Shields and Bredemeier, 1995; Capel, 2003; Green, 2003 ) have identified PE staff as having a special empathy for children's pastoral care needs and the development of Personal, Social, and Health Education (PSHE). Such factors as the varied situations and venues in which the subject is delivered, including off-campus and extra curricular activities, perhaps lead interested staff into work that locks into the welfare and personal development needs of children. Accordingly, one of the more interesting challenges posed by National Curriculum Physical Education (NCPE) in England and Wales is that it requires the teacher to address the spiritual development of the pupil; this obligation is made clear through the Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural (SMSC) elements of the subject. This paper focuses attention on the merging of this separate spiritual dimension with the other three concepts. While the moral, social and cultural elements of SMSC are recognized components of PE participation, the grouping raises the question of whether PE teachers can develop children's spiritual growth. This paper argues that such a pathway may be possible but that at present there is considerable confusion related to the challenge.     

AN EXAMINATION OF THE ASSUMPTION THAT THE EQUATING OF PARALLEL FORMS IS POPULATION-INDEPENDENT

Linear conversions were developed relating scores on two recent forms of the homogeneous GRE Quantitative Test (GRE-Q) and the specially constituted heterogeneous GRE Verbal-plus-Quantitative Test (GRE-V+Q), using randomly equivalent groups of about 13, 000 taking each form. Specially defined homogeneous subpopulations were then identified, and conversions between scores on the two forms were again calculated, this time based on l000-case samples drawn at random from the subpopulations. Finally, in order to develop empirical measures of equating error, I00 samples of 1, 000 cases each were drawn at random from the two total groups and used to calculate 100 conversions between scores on the two forms. The conversions based on the specially selected subpopulations were then compared with the total-group conversions and evaluated in terms of the empirical standard errors. The results showed that the conversions for the subpopulations agreed with the total-group conversion quite satisfactorily for the GRE-Q and almost as well for the GRE-V+Q. It was concluded that the data clearly support the assumption of population independence for homogeneous tests, but not quite so clearly for heterogeneous tests.     

AN INVESTIGATION OF THE COGNITIVE CORRELATES OF TEST-WISENESS 1,2

Gibb (1964) defined test-wiseness (TW) as the ability to respond advantageously to multiple-choice items containing extraneous clues and therefore to obtain credit without knowledge of the subject matter being tested. This study investigated TW in a sample of 6th grade pupils. A test instrument was developed utilizing fictitious material similar to the strategy employed by Slakter, Koehler & Hampton (1970). The study examines the cognitive correlates of TW through the interpretation of correlational matrices. The results lend support to the notion that TW is not a general trait, but rather is clue-specific.