A summary of research in reading readiness

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston UniversityPurpose: To measure the various abilities presented in the readiness workbooks of basal reading series and to relate the findings to reading achievement of Grade One in January; to measure, also, the knowledge of letter names and sounds and relate the findings to reading achievement of Grade One in January. Materials Used: Workbooks of nine systems were analyzed to discover types and frequency of suggested exercises. Four general areas were in evidence; auditory discrimination, language development, motor skills, and visual discrimination. Groups tests were constructed to include exercises comparable to the published ones with ceilings in all areas beyond the workbook material. In addition to these four tests, the Boston University Individual Test and the Boston University First Grade Success Study (January Test) were given. Intelligence was measured by the Otis Quick Scoring Mental Ability Test which had been given in October [TRUNCATED

Introducing the Democratic Dashboard: a new voter information resource

Today Democratic Audit UK presents the Democratic Dashboard, a new voter information resource which for the first time brings together an array of information on different types of elections and constituencies, and aims to make often difficult to find data more widely accessible. The UK has the lowest rate of electoral participation by young people in the OECD, and we hope to play a part in using the digital environment to spread engagement, writes Carl Cullinane

The democratic dashboard: a digital resource for engaging voters

In March 2016, Democratic Dashboard 2.0 was launched, a web portal aimed at giving voters in the UK easily accessible information for the elections on May 5th. This was the culmination of several years of work and preparation by Democratic Audit UK, based in the LSE, seeking to engage voters in the increasingly active civic technology field. Carl Cullinane outlines the project’s goals and impact

First-Past-the-Post means that many constituencies are foregone conclusions, so how much power do voters really have?

Of the many indicators of various kinds hosted on the constituency pages of the Democratic Dashboard , none gets such a reaction as the Voter Power Index. In this article, Carl Cullinane explains how, because of the UK’s First Past The Post electoral system, some voters come to wield far more influence than others. Not only is this unfair, but the inequity that comes about because of the division between safe seats and marginal seats also has a corrosive effect on democracy, he argues

Comprehensive in name only: social selectivity and school places

England’s top comprehensive schools are often socially selective, writes Carl Cullinane. He outlines the evidence that supports this claim as well as the implications of current policy, and explains what needs to change in order to ensure a fairer admissions process, so that more disadvantaged pupils can access the best schools

The latest Commons Political Reform Committee report illustrates popular opinion on voter engagement measures

The House of Commons Political and Constitutional Reform Committee recently released a new report evaluating a range of ideas to increase political engagement and to stem the tide of apathy towards democracy. Democratic Audit’s Carl Cullinane runs the rule over the report, assessing its recommendations and findings on voting, registration and voter information

Human Resource Management: A Critical Analysis

Since the 1970-BOs, employment relationships in the western world have been influenced by the emergence of human resource management (HRM) which has, to some degree, challenged the existing order- industrial relations (IR). The debate resulting from the emergence of HRM has kept the academic presses churning. At one Level, there is a 'co-existence' debate which explores the likelihood that HRM will supplant IR. At another Level, debate focuses on the 'distinctiveness' of HRM from IR and/or personnel management theory. However, the debates between the HRM and IR fields have only been intra-discourse; HRM literature has been almost silent on the subject of IR, while IR has had little to say about HRM. This, despite the fact that it could be argued that IR and HRM are simply different views of the same set of phenomena. Neither the HRM nor IR fields seem able to incorporate the strengths of the other. By mapping the underlying paradigms of these two fields, this paper explores the question: 'What makes the fields of HRM and IR unable to articulate?