Discusses the selection process when using outside professionals for school construction projects. The drawbacks of using competitive bidding for professional services are highlighted followed by tips on using a qualifications-based selection method that includes work-experience evaluation and conducting interviews for professional services. (GR)

Identified methods that six federal agencies reported using to verify and validate performance data used in complying with the requirements of the Government Performance and Results Act. Developed a framework containing four major approaches to assessing and improving data quality. (SLD)

Monitored college students' eye movements while they produced the sentence frame "The A and the B are above the C" to describe three pictured objects, with B or C varying in codability and frequency of the dominant name. Found that speakers gazed longer at lower codability and lower frequency objects before naming them. (Author/KB)

Most accounts of the Stroop effect (Stroop, 1935) emphasize its negative aspect, namely, that in particular situations, processing of an irrelevant stimulus dimension interferes with participants' performance of the instructed task. In contrast, this paper emphasizes the fact that, even with that interference, participants actually can (and…

In accounting for the well-established sex differences on mental rotation tasks that involve cube stimuli of the Shepard and Metzler (Shepard & Metzler, 1971) kind, performance factors are frequently invoked. Three studies are presented that examine performance factors. In Study 1, analyses of the performance of a large number of subjects…

In everyday tasks, selecting actions in the proper sequence requires a continuously updated representation of temporal context. Previous models have addressed this problem by positing a hierarchy of processing units, mirroring the roughly hierarchical structure of naturalistic tasks themselves. The present study considers an alternative framework,…

The UK Food Standards Agency has decided not to recommend fortification of foods with folate, the family of vitamins associated with the prevention of neural tube defects in babies. This is a change in attitude from previous recommendations made by a series of committees and reports in the UK. Notably, it differs from US policy on the matter. The…

Literacy coaching as a means of professional development has great potential for increasing student achievement, teacher effectiveness, and school success. However, schools and districts can inadvertently undermine the potential of coaching when a coach's role is not clearly defined and when the position is not adequately supported and protected.…

This brief describes estimation and measurement issues relevant to estimating the quality of instruction in the context of a cumulative model of learning. It also discusses implications for the use of value-added estimates in personnel and compensation matters. The discussion highlights the importance of accounting for student differences and the…

This report explores issues raised by the "2006 MetLife Survey of the American Teacher: Expectations and Experiences." focusing on the belief of the majority of education leaders and principals responding to the survey that a shortage of qualified teachers will be a serious problem in the near future. The brief explores what research says about…

Indonesia, like many other countries has to come to terms with the challenges of a rapidly advancing economic globalization. In order to address the major issues involved the government must take some very essential steps that are practical, attainable and sustainable. With global economies evolving from a traditional resource structure to that of…

Several factors in the H. J. Walberg Educational Productivity Model, which assumes that 9 factors affect academic achievement, were examined with a limited sample of 1st-year students in the University of Groningen. Information concerning 8 of these factors--grades, motivation, age, prior achievement, home environment, support from peers,…

Librarians often cringe when they hear the word copyright, when it is combined with electronic reserves the immediate impulse is to run away as far and as fast as possible. This paper presents the process used by the Armacost Library staff at the University of Redlands to develop and implement a copyright policy for the electronic reserve…

This commentary considers some of the challenges of applying mixed methods research in undergraduate research degrees, especially in professions with a clinical health focus. Our experience in physiotherapy academia is used as an example. Mixed methods research is increasingly appreciated in its own right as a "third paradigm," however the success…

Purpose: The resource-based view (RBV) explores the role of key resources, identified as intangible assets and capabilities, in creating competitive advantage and superior performance. To a great extent the conceptual analysis and empirical research within the RBV has focused on the firm's perspective of key resources and the value to the firm of…