This paper looks at underlying patterns of school effectiveness through analysing a GCSE examination data-set over a period of ten cohorts (1993-2002) in one very large English school district. Both value added and raw score approaches were explored by employing different statistical multilevel models to examine time trends of school and pupil…

Moral text processing was used as an ecologically valid method for assessing implicit and explicit moral understanding and development. The authors tested undergraduates, seminarians, and graduate students in political science and philosophy for recall of moral narratives and moral expository texts. Multivariate analyses of covariance using…

In this article, we describe the identities of U.S. suburban high school students as they attempt to ensure their "market relevance" in a neoliberal era. The data are drawn from a four-year ethnographic study of the construction of educational advantage conducted by a diverse five-person research team. These identities were characterized by strong…

Is it feasible and appropriate to develop a sustainability metrics which captures cosmological-spiritual dimensions of un/sustainability? Departing from the supposition that the crisis of unsustainability is a crisis of worldview and misguided cosmology which needs redirection on a cultural and global scale, this essay introduces the notion of a…

This study evaluated the stage structure of several quasi-simplex and non-simplex models of moral development in two domains of moral development in a British and a Chinese sample. Analyses were based on data reported by Sachs (1992): the Chinese sample consisted of 1,005 students from grade 9 to post-college, and the British sample consisted of…

This book examines the nature of moral issues in education while attempting to provide both a clarification of the issues and suggestions as to what might be done in the social context. The job of the school is not to teach morals but provide students with appropriate ways to respond to moral issues and dilemmas. Suggestions are given for teaching…

Arguing that there is still no single, noncontroversial foundation on which the world's present multi-structure of ethics can be built, this paper examines a scientific ethics approach. It is postulated that in North American culture, the approach to instruction in ethics for youth is haphazard at best. Society does not provide an adequate means…

This paper analyzes ideas that concern the concepts of truth and ethics in order to clarify the issues involved in education reform. Three levels exist in the idea of truth: sincerity, honesty, and the reality of persons. The reality of persons is the central idea of truth and truth at each of these levels is an issue in several ethical criteria…

The concept of autonomous identity, derived from Piaget's theory of personality, is distinguished from other applications of the term "autonomy" in psychological theory. Introductory comments suggest that both biological and mental development express autonomy in the same two senses: as self-regulating and progressively self-liberating.…

A study examined the extent to which organizations in three New England states valued newly hired older workers. Telephone interviews were conducted with 105 directors of human resources (DHRs) and with 113 director supervisors from a broad range of organizations. Major dependent variables were general employer motivations and expectations related…

The work of the ethicist Charles Curran and the problem-solving strategy of the mixed consequentialist ethical model are applied to a traditional social science measurement problem--that of how to adjust a recommended standard in order to be fair to the test-taker and society. The focus is on criterion-referenced teacher certification tests.…

Some research has shown that women's achievements in traditionally masculine fields are devalued. To determine if females would be judged more harshly than males for performing unethical behaviors in order to gain entry in competitive professions, and to examine gender differences in the evaluation of unethical conduct, college students (52 males…

While research examining altruism has relied on subject responses to written vignettes rather than actual altruism-eliciting situations, the relationship between written responses and actual behavior has not been established. To assess the degree to which some classic social/psychological behavior results could be replicated using short, written…

Examined how adolescents reason as they make choices about drug use. Findings from students (N=54) from two eighth grade classes showed that middle school students seemed to reason at higher stages of moral development on abstract social dilemmas than on drug-related dilemmas, and that girls reasoned at higher stages of moral development on…

This article defines educational evaluation; describes its role in education; and compares and contrasts it to measurement, research, and learner appraisal. Evaluation is shown to have an important role in play in education, notably in relation to program improvement. Limitations of educational evaluation are noted. (Author/JAZ)