ITEM BEHAVIOR ASSOCIATED WITH CHANGES IN THE NUMBER OF ALTERNATIVES IN MULTIPLE CHOICE ITEMS1

Language reading examinations in French and Spanish were administered to students in order to compare the behavior of “natural” four-choice items with “natural” five-choice items rescored as four-choice items after removing the least popular incorrect alternative. No significant differences in the regression systems of these items were found. However, “natural” four-choice items were significantly less reliable than “natural” five-choice items.     

Academic Criteria,Experiential Background,and Personal Interviews as Predictors of Success in a Counselor Education Program

A 4-year evaluation was conducted of a counselor education trainee selection process that places approximately equal weight on three selection criteria: academic index, experiential background, and personal interviews. Mean faculty rankings were obtained for 77 trainees on three separate evaluative areas: (a) academic success in the program, (b) overall counseling competency in the program, and (c) anticipated success in the field. Results of Pearson product-moment correlational analyses indicated that two selection criteria (Miller's Analogies Test and the Verbal portion of the Graduate Records Examination) were significantly related to faculty-ranked academic success. No single criterion, however, was significantly related with faculty rankings of either counseling competency or anticipated success in the field. The correlation between the Miller's Analogy Test and a measure of “overall success in counselor education” was in the predicted direction but failed to reach the traditional levels of statistical significance (p < .09). Implications for future research and limitations of the study are discussed.     

Teacher Identity in an Era of Educational Reform: The case of Trinidad and Tobago

The pace of educational reform has been increasing significantly at the global level and teachers have significant roles to play in such reform movements. This paper compares the beginning teacher identity of primary teacher trainees in Trinidad and Tobago with the concept of the teacher that seems to underpin present reform initiatives. Beginning teacher identity, explored through the use of a questionnaire and interviews, is portrayed as images and metaphors. It seems to encapsulate the missionary ideology of teaching and the notion of child-centred pedagogy, with the classroom as the centre of interaction between pupil and teacher. The reforms, on the other hand, look to teachers to support, as well, the decentralisation effort that calls for collaboration with the community, and the promotion of continuous assessment practices that calls for collaboration across grade levels in the school. Both the community focus and the school focus are likely to pose problems for beginning teachers who maintain a classroom focus. The paper highlights the need for reform efforts to take into account the gaps between existing teacher identity images and those envisioned for the reformed system.     

The Effects of Anxiety on Recall in Self Versus Other-Model Observation

To determine whether differential levels of anxiety and recall occur during vicarious modeling or self-observation, six counselor trainees were shown five videotaped segments of counselor-client interactions—two of a different counselor and client and three of themselves counseling (one of which was viewed in the presence of the trainees' supervising professor). Anxiety was measured by self-reports and hand temperature and recall was assessed by several questions regarding the verbal and nonverbal behaviors demonstrated in each segment. Although a significant negative correlation was found between the physiological measure of anxiety and recall (ρ = –.90), no significant differences were revealed in the amount of anxiety relative to other-model versus self-observation. Trainees recalled a significantly greater amount of verbal behaviors during other-model observation than in self-observation conditions, whereas the reverse was found for nonverbal behaviors. Additionally, the presence of the supervising professor effected a dramatic increase in anxiety and decrease in recall.     

Consultation Training Program for School Counselors

In order to increase counselors' effectiveness in cooperative and systemic approaches to problem solving, a large school district offered an in-service consultation program. Two successive training designs were piloted and evaluated. Evaluation of the first training model led to a shortened, revised model that was more efficient and as highly rated by counselor trainees as the earlier, lengthier model. This training program was associated with significant increases in counselor collaboration with faculty and staff. Several recommendations are proposed for further improvements in the training design.