The fallacy of “two years below grade level for age” as a diagnostic criterion for reading disorders

The use of grade equivalent scores contrasted against grade placement is widespread in the diagnosis of dyslexia and other reading disabilities. This method substantially overstates disabilities at upper grade levels while underestimating the severity of difficulties in the early grades. Other difficulties and difficulties and distortions of this methods are also pointed out. An accurate, alternative method for reliably determining aptitude/achievement discrepancies is presented and its use discussed.     

Effects of behavioral and medical models of consultation on teacher expectancies and instruction of a hypothetical child

Sixty first- and second-grade teachers were randomly assigned to one of four conditions representing variations in consultation where they were required to teach a hypothetical child to add. The first condition involved face-to-face behavioral consultation in which the consultant cued a teacher to verbalize antecedent and consequent conditions that might affect learning and prompted the teacher to specify the kinds of capabilities that the child would need in order to master the academic task targeted for instruction. In the second type of behavioral consultation, face-to-face consultation was augmented by a task analysis report specifying prerequisite skills. The third type, medical model consultation, involved face-to-face consultation focusing on temporally remote environmental circumstances accompanied by a traditional psychological report specifying that the child was of low ability. The control group was asked general questions about the school. Results suggested that behavioral consultation with task analysis was associated with significantly more teaching success than was control, medical model, and behavioral consultation without task analysis. Moreover, behavioral consultation without task analysis was better than medical model consultation. Implications for psychoeducational assessment are discussed within the context of teacher expectations and instruction.     

Effects of peer reporting on cooperative play and aggression of kindergarten children

Kindergarten children were given opportunities to report to their class during “sharing time” the cooperative or friendly behaviors of their peers which had occurred during the day. Children whose cooperative behavior was reported by a peer received a happy face badge as a reward. Later, only peer praise served as a reward for those whose friendliness was mentioned by a peer. Cooperative behavior increased and aggressive acts decreased when peers reported prosocial behavior to the class. A reversal phase, in which unfriendly acts were reported, produced a decrease in cooperation and an increase in aggression. Peer reporting was a natural and inexpensive means of increasing prosocial responses of these children. Anecdotal teacher reports suggested a generalized behavioral improvement.     

Email, voicemail, and privacy: What policy is ethical?

Business people repeatedly asked Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility (CPSR) to recommend a policy to deal with email and voicemail. After many such requests to our organization, we attempted to construct guidelines that we could endorse. This paper outlines the guidelines that we proposed and the public reaction to them. The paper discusses the tensions inherent in a business environment, and the means of identifying ethical behavior for both companies and their employees. A version of this paper was presented at ETHICOMP98, the Fourth International Conference on Ethical Issues of Information Technology, March 25–27, 1998. Erasmus University, the Netherlands. Dr. Woodbury is the former Chair of CPRS. Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility. She is also a curriculum developer and faculty member of the Information Group of the Women’s International University (ifu) in Germany in 2000.     

From case management to prevention of scientific dishonesty in Denmark

In 1992, The Danish Medical Research Council established a national committee on scientific dishonesty with the twofold task of handling cases of scientific misconduct and taking preventive initiatives. Scientific dishonesty was proven in only five cases, but in another nine cases lesser degrees of deviations from good scientific practice were found. The experiences from a total of 24 treated cases indicated that three key areas were at the basis of most of the accusations and the deviations from good practice: uncertainty about 1) authorship, about 2) rights and duties to use scientific data and about 3) agreements at the initiation of joint studies. As a consequence guidelines on good practice have been issued on these key subjects. An earlier version of this paper was presented at a symposium, Scientific Misconduct. An International Perspective, organised by The Medical University of Warsaw, 16 November, 1998.