The Formation of a Developmental Literature Program for the Intermediate Grade Level at Wheeler Avenue School, Valley Stream, New York

Strong literacy skills lead to lifelong advantages. This study reviews the ideas and attitudes within the field of children’s literature, and proposes a new developmental literature program for intermediate grades at Wheeler Avenue School. The proposed program differs from the existing programs in its focus on developing students’ literary backgrounds, vs. simply improving students’ reading skills. The author emphasizes cultivating students’ interest in reading through read-alouds and providing them with enjoyable texts, and pays special attention to the importance of literature-based activities, such as puppet shows, choral speaking, and dramatic play

A detection theory approach to the evaluation of assessors in assessment centres

The ratings given to job applicants in an assessment centre (AC) will be influenced both by an assessor's sensitivity to the evidence of suitability provided by the applicants, and by whether the assessor has a liberal or a conservative rating tendency. In this study we explore the usefulness of signal detection methodology for evaluating and comparing both aspects of performance. A group of eight managerial assessors in a real-world AC rated 195 applicants for retail sales positions. The sensitivity and response bias of assessors was evaluated using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses, and their performance was evaluated by means of critical operating characteristic (COC) analyses. RscorePlus software (Harvey, 2002) was used for these purposes. We conclude that, in this and similar organizational contexts, such analyses are potentially useful for estimating and comparing the performances of assessors, thereby highlighting the need for, and subsequently evaluating the effectiveness of, any remedial intervention