Smaller, Quicker, Cheaper: Improving Learning Assessments for Developing Countries

More and more children are going to school in developing countries. In the years since the 2000 UN Education for All Summit in Dakar, the poorest nations have made the most gains in achieving improved educational access. This is a major achievement. Such success also comes with a realization that rapid growth in school enrollments is not enough. Schooling must be of good quality for all children, and that has not been the case for too many children to date. The next push for educational development will surely focus on improving learning and educational quality. Learning assessments can play an important role to drive school reform in many countries, but many are not adaptable for developing country needs, or are not financially sustainable. Thus, it is imperative tht we develop the appropriate tools that can provide better ways of measuring learning outcomes that nations wish to achieve

Review of R.V. Kail, Jr. and J.W. Hagen (Eds.), \u3cem\u3ePerspectives on the Development of Memory and Cognition\u3c/em\u3e, and D.G. Bobrow and A. Collins (Eds.), \u3cem\u3eRepresentation and Understanding: Studies in Cognitive Science\u3c/em\u3e

The use of narrative and other prose forms as a tool for investigating mental processes is not new. Psychologists such as Jean Piaget and F.C. Bartlett both used stories in research on complex cognitive skills in children and adults. However, with the advent of Ebbinghaus\u27 monumental work on memory using non-sense syllables, theoretical psychology turned away from the use of meaningful material. With the use of nonsense syllables, researchers hoped to isolate the variables of memory and individual content associations. Recently, there has been a renewal of interest in the study of narrative and memory due to the recognition that narrative taps certain processes that syllables and isolated words do not. In addition, narrative and memory studies have generated interest among those researchers concerned with the applicability of memory studies to educational settings

Literacy and Adult Education: Thematic Studies

The 1990 World Conference on Education for All (WCEFA) in Jomtien, Thailand, included adult literacy as one of its six major worldwide goals. Although the complete elimination of illiteracy by the year 2000 was adopted as a goal of UNESCO and a significant number of its Member States in the Udaipur Declaration of two decades ago, the Jomtien Conference scaled back such promises, and chose a more modest, and theoretically achievable, goal of cutting illiteracy rates in half by the year 2000. The reasons for this reduction in targeted goal were numerous. As this report describes, important gains have been made in literacy and adult education over the decade since Jomtien – in various places and using various methods – but the overall literacy situation remains one of the major concerns of the twenty-first century

Education and Childhood in Japan: Lessons to be Learned? Review of Merry White, \u3cem\u3eThe Japanese Educational Challenge: A Commitment to Children\u3c/em\u3e, and Harold W. Stevenson, Hiroshi Azuma, and Kenji Hakuta (Eds.), \u3cem\u3eChild Development and Education in Japan\u3c/em\u3e

America\u27s increased concern about its economic productivity has led government and public officials to start searching for policy responses. Some suggest economic remedies tied to interest rates, tariffs, and the like. Others have sought to link the current malaise with a number of differences that distinguish America from its most obvious economic rival, Japan. Representing the latter perspective, the former Secretary of Education, William Bennett, has suggested that is is education that is the critical factor in producing different human capital between the two industrial powers. He, and many others, claim that the Japanese culture in general, and Japanese education in particular, provide the sort of stimulation that leads to higher rates of literacy, greater mathematical achievement, more social control in the classroom, and, subsequently, a more productive work force

Who\u27s a Literate? Assessment Issues in a Global Perspective

Demographic and economic changes around the world and the linkage between literacy and development have made literacy a critical issue especially in the developing countries. But the uncertainty about the nature and extent of literacy has necessitated taking a new look at literacy assessment. Policy-makers have been hampered not only by too little data, but also by a failure to capture varying types and levels of literacy in each society. Dichotomies like literate—illiterate are inappropriate for conceptualising the problem and limit the potential for more effective decision-making. The paper analyses the problems of determining reliable and valid criteria for literacy. The way in which the problem of who\u27s a literate? is resolved has serious policy implications

Literacy

Literacy is a complex and dynamic phenomenon that varies across time, language, and geography. The origins of literacy can be traced back thousands of years, initially invented as a tool for communication to be shared amongst only a small portion of \u27educated\u27 human society. However, within the past few centuries, many societies have experienced transitions from mostly illiterate to predominantly literate populations through a variety of means involving both formal and informal learning. The present review considers literacy in a global perspective, with short sections that review: the history and definition of literacy; life-span perspectives; and finally some challenges and opportunities for the future

Cross-Cultural Salad: A Bit Mixed. Review of Neil Warren, \u3cem\u3eStudies in Cross-Cultural Psychology\u3c/em\u3e

Neil Warren has put together a volume containing contributions from five well-known cross-cultural investigators. According to the foreword, this book was intended to meet the need for detailed high-level presentations and evaluations of particular areas of enquiry in cross-cultural psychology . . . (p. ix). And, Warren says, the book was designed primarily for graduate students and professional peers who are interested in cross-cultural psychology. the two inferred goals would be: (1) an up-to-date and detailed account of particular research domains and (2) coverage of a variety of topics useful for graduate-level courses. Despite some individual instances of excellence, the volume as a whole fails on both accounts. As the author admits, the volume was delayed so much that more recent chapters by the same investigators (covering much the same research) have already appeared or will soon appear elsewhere. Also, a paucity of only five unrelated contributions leaves the book scattered over a domain so large that only the cross-cultural eclectic would find each chapter of interest

Ethno-Graphies: An Introduction

\u27Literacy is a remarkable term. While seeming to refer to simple individual possession of the complementary mental technologies of reading and writing, literacy is not only difficult to define in individuals and delimit within societies, but it is also charged with emotional and political meaning. It was not long ago that newspapers and scholars referred to whole societies as \u27illiterate and uncivilized\u27 as a single referent, and \u27illiterate\u27 is still a term which carries a negative connotation

Pro-Poor Approaches to Using Technology for Human Development: Monitoring and Evaluation Perspectives

I am pleased to be able to contribute a chapter to this volume that honors the work of Çiğdem Kağitçibaşi. In my view, Dr. Kağitçibaşi\u27s work is unique in that it approaches, in significant and creative ways, the intersection of the science of human development with the potential of practical benefits for children and families. This may sound easy, and even obvious – but it is not. The field of child and human development has often evidenced a high though largely impreceptible wall between science and practice. That wall is even higher when cultural and international perspectives are taken into account. That is, when cross-cultural and cross-national dimensions of any phenomenon are taken into consideration, it is most often to confirm (or deny) the validity of some universal theory. Kağitçibaşi is one of the few scholars who has not only drawn our attention to the ethnocentric nature of simplistic theory-testing, but has tried, in her seminal work, to promote bridges that will translate theory into the practice (and vice versa) of improving children\u27s lives. She has charted new ground consistently on a professional voyage that has allowed her to become one of the most recognized of development psychologists worldwide – which she richly deserves. The present chapter picks up on one of Kağitçibaşi\u27s continuing themes, namely, that of how to meet the needs of poor children and youth, and understand impacts derived from interventions

Mobiles for Reading: A Landscape Research Review

This landscape review takes the broad domain of new information and communications technologies (ICTs) for education, and focuses on the fast-evolving sub-domain of mobiles for reading, or M4R. The \u27mobiles\u27 in this review primarily refer to mobile technologies— ICTs that are portable, typically battery powered, and may be connected to cellular networks and/or the Internet. The term \u27reading\u27 refers to the joint abilities of understanding and producing written language, for children, youth and adults. This review of M4R focuses primarily on the use of mobile ICTs designed to help children learn to read, practice reading (reading to learn), and acquire a broader range of learning skills that support a literate society