Research in Clinical Supervision: Revitalizing a Scientific Agenda

The purpose of this article was to revitalize and disentangle common misconceptions about a scientific agenda for clinical supervision.     

Student Teachers' Attitudes Towards the Inclusion of Children with Special Needs

Previous research has suggested that teachers' attitudes are crucial to the success of inclusion programs for children with special needs. In the present study, the impact of special needs category (intellectual disabilities versus emotional and behavioural problems) and student teachers' training (being trained to work with either younger or older children) on their attitudes towards inclusion were explored. Ninety three student teachers completed a new measure of attitudes towards inclusion: the Impact of Inclusion Questionnaire (IIQ). Results showed that student teachers were more negative about the impact of children with emotional and behavioural problems on other children, teachers, and the school environment than they were about children with intellectual disabilities. There was little support for the effects of training background or student teachers' previous experience of special needs on their attitudes. Implications for inclusion programs and future research are briefly discussed.     

SAT SCORES AND AMERICAN STATES: SEEKING FOR USEFUL MEANING

Despite difficulties, states frequently seek to compare their test performance with that of other states, or with the published national norms. All states have some students taking the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) exams for college admissions, but because the numbers vary widely, when the state means are made public by the College Boards, there is debate about their interpretation. Here the 50 state SAT means are the criterion in a multivariate model, together with the state variables of percent taking the SATs (very influential), percent of minority in the state, average income, unemployment rate, and per pupil expenditure. Regression is analyzed (without expenditure) to examine the state residuals compared with the "expected" scores. And briefly noted is the difficulty of using alternative tests for such comparisons, as these are currently normed, selected, and used.