This report summarizes the results of a project to develop a professional competence description for teachers in technical and further education (TAFE) in New South Wales to inform the initial and continuing educational needs of the profession. Chapter 1 discusses the conception of competence that underpins professional practice and includes a…

This thesis reports on a study in which 10 Swedish special education teachers were interviewed concerning the following six topics: (1) personal background and choice of a career; (2) professional knowledge; (3) the role of a special education teacher; (4) educational goals and methods; (5) cooperation; and (6) thoughts about the future.…

This report reviews recent initiatives to improve family-school collaboration and communication. The six articles are: (1) "Schools, Families, and Students Get Stronger When Parents and Teachers Take Collaboration into Their Own Hands," which highlights parent-teacher action research projects at eight schools through eight case studies; (2)…

This chapter focuses on the innermost level of Bronfenbrenner's four-level conception of the human environmental ecology, namely the microsystem, and more specifically, the child's socialization in the family. Following discussion of concepts related to socialization, competence, and environmental ecology, selected research studies are reviewed to…

This report describes an extension of the Learning Outcomes Study (a nationwide longitudinal investigation of 1,010 students just entering programs for gifted learners in grades 2 and 3) to investigate excellence within each of the four program types considered: within-class programs, pull-out programs, separate classes, and special schools. The…

This study investigated construct validity and factorial invariance of a performance assessment of reading comprehension and writing proficiency through a multitrait-multimethod (MTMM) structure using confirmatory factor analysis. The performance assessment was administered to 1,023 fifth and sixth graders. Interrater reliability was examined for…

Focusing on the theme of what literacy is and how it grows, this book presents 25 essays and studies that explore literacy growth in young children, teens, college students, and adults. Essays and studies in the book are (1) "Kindergarten Children's Uses of Oral Language and Social Interaction in Literacy Activities during Unstructured Play" (J.K.…

This book presents 11 papers on the use of neuroimaging technology in brain-related disorders. The text contains full-color neuroimaging scans and provides both theoretical and methodological explanations of the various neuroimaging techniques and their application to developmental disorders in children. The papers are grouped into three sections,…

A study investigated (1) whether Japanese learners of a second language have the same learning strategies as other groups previously studied, and (2) whether the experience of studying or living abroad affects learning strategy use. Subjects were 24 Japanese third-year college students, learners of English as a second language who were studying in…

Since educational statistics, which are relatively easy to obtain, can only attempt to measure "quality," this paper asks how quality in higher education is assessed and how educational rankings, which are defined as benchmarks or attempts to measure, contribute to this process. The paper notes that while attempts to rank institutions of…

The emphasis of this symposium was to examine national and international ways to preserve, access, and digitize human heritage and culture. Many internationally recognized librarians shared their experiences and ideas on that topic. The 19 papers presented at the symposium dealt with issues such as: the impact of new technologies on information…

These four papers are from a symposium facilitated by David Antonioni on the transfer of learning at the 1995 Academy of Human Resource Development (HRD) conference. "Supervisory Support as a Transfer Enhancing Activity: Synthesis of Four Research Projects" (Esther W. M. Gielen, Marcel R. van der Klink) presents four case studies that show, with…

It is generally accepted in the library world that an automated catalog means more accessible data for patrons, greater productivity for librarians, and an improvement in the sharing of bibliographic data among libraries. While the desirability of automation is not a controversial issue, some aspects of automating remain problematic. This article…

This two-volume set presents 11 papers on the state of the art in learning and behavioral disabilities, the first volume, Part A, includes 6 papers providing theoretical perspectives and, the second volume, Part B, includes 5 papers on intervention research. The theoretical papers are: "Defining Emotional or Behavioral Disorders: Divergence…

This guide reports on classroom research conducted by experienced teachers of adult basic education students of limited English and/or native language literacy. Most chapters are illustrated with excerpts from instructional materials, and provide practical information about classroom techniques and activities. Chapters include: "Introduction"…