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This paper discusses performance measurement in the Blake Dawson Waldron (BDW) law firm, a partnership with five offices in Australia, as well as a number overseas. Three levels of performance measurement are described: (1) personal level--through annual performance appraisals; (2) team level--the annual team meeting; and (3) service level--regular surveys and focus group meetings. Graphs present customer satisfaction survey results related to the library's importance, performance, and overall service delivery. Other ways that the library seeks continuous feedback are also summarized, e.g., librarian attendance at weekly meetings of lawyers, an e-mail newsletter, evaluation of training sessions, and client comments. The questionnaire used for evaluation of library training is appended. (MES)

Students are empowered or disempowered by the information that we provide or withhold from them; nowhere is this more significant that in assessment practices (Popham 1997). While some students are able to successfully navigate the nuances of assessment, others see assessment as a bamboozling array of "smoke and mirrors" designed to shroud achievement in mystery (Martin-Kniep 2000; Weiner 2000). In 2008 the academic staff of the School of Education and Humanities at Christian Heritage College, a private higher-education provider in South-East Queensland, initiated an action research project designed to address the gaps and silences evident in assessment processes in order to encourage justice in and equity of engagement with assessment practices for all students. The aims of this research were to: (1) Identify aspects of assessment practices that were not being overtly and openly communicated with students; (2) Consider the use of rubrics as an assessment tool to address these gaps, silences and inconsistencies between the declared and actual assessment processes; (3) Understand how students engage with rubrics as an assessment tool; and (4) Explore the potentialities of using rubrics as a means of leading students towards empowered understanding of assessment practices. To date, two cycles of action research have been completed (Freebody 2003; Kemmis & McTaggart 1988). The first involved a working party of three full-time lecturing staff; the purpose being to establish the scope of potential action through the undertaking of an audit of practice, a review of literature and the development of recommendations that would structure further action. The second cycle involved five full-time staff in applying the nine recommendations with undergraduate students across all four years of the Bachelor of Education programs. Data was collected from participating lecturers and students across Years 2-4 by the means of email-back questionnaires. Lecturers were asked open-ended questions and the data was analysed by the identification and classification of unique meaning units leading to emergent categories (Glesne 1999; Johnson & Christensen 2004). Students were asked to respond to a yes/no survey questioning the nature of their engagement with the rubrics across six possible processes. This data was collated quantitatively then linked to the students' results for each task. Descriptive statistics such as frequency distributions and measures of central tendency were used to identify patterns in the data relating to rubric usage and corresponding assessment outcomes (Johnson & Christensen 2004). The data collected demonstrated that there were differential levels of engagement with rubrics within both the staff and student groups. For students, the data showed that while not using the provided rubrics did not automatically lead to lower levels of achievement, a greater level of engagement with the rubrics did correlate with higher levels of achievement. For lecturing staff, the level of engagement in the use of the recommendations was shown to positively affect the lecturer's impression of the quality of their linguistic clarity in and alignment of teaching and learning with assessment practices. The findings from the student data shows that there are, broadly speaking, three types of students in relation to assessment practices; the mystified, the intuitive and the empowered. Analysis of the data collected from both staff and students also supports the conclusion that rubric usage does affect learning and assessment outcomes, and that student knowledge of and engagement with rubrics will positively impact results. A process of learning was also evident in the differential processes and practices of lecturing staff as they engaged with creating, teaching about and teaching with rubrics. These findings have led to the initiation of a third cycle of action designed to engage with more lecturing staff to investigate what intuitive and empowered students actually do, in order to bring justice to the assessment practices of the mystified. (Contains 4 figures and 2 tables.)

This report describes the results of a longitudinal study of 30 Australian children with behavior disorders who were placed in 15 regular primary schools in Victoria and New South Wales. All of these schools were in the process of integrating children with behavior disorders. In each school in the initial study, the principal, classroom teacher, parents, peer group, and support staff were asked to respond to questionnaires, interview questions, and self-report inventories. In Victoria, a follow up survey was sent to each school's principal after two years. In New South Wales, a follow up survey was sent to principals after 12 months. The results of the study indicate that 2 years after the initial survey, over 70 percent of the students in Victoria schools were no longer enrolled in their surveyed school. In New South Wales, over 33 percent of the students no longer attended the surveyed school 1 year after the initial survey. In conclusion, it would seem that for many children with behavior disorders placement in the regular school may not be the most appropriate educational placement. The factor that appeared to assist in the length of placement of the child in a regular school was a close working relationship with a special school. The effects of social, academic, and resource factors on regular school placement are discussed. (Contains 26 references.) (CR)

This paper provides both a preliminary analysis of a survey on media education in India, and reviews of the research on media education in the western world, the limited media education research already done in India, and the more extensive research that has been done on the sociology of Indian youth and the media. The purpose of the survey was to investigate the extent of media access and exposure, the place of exposure, content preferences, and the views of secondary school students (N=1,000), teachers (N=150), and parents (N=60) on media and computer education. Students were from three distinct types of schools, as well as from different castes and religious and socioeconomic backgrounds. Preliminary analyses of responses to completed questionnaires indicated that the majority of all students favored certain Hindi programs, but that they differed in the kind of television serial or film they liked, and the newspapers, magazines, and comics they preferred. A model of media education for India should take into account: (1) the striking similarities and differences among Indian children from different types of schools; (2) the mix of the traditional and modern in Indian society; (3) the diversity of regional, linguistic, and religious groups; (4) theories of communication developed from Indian thought and experience; and (5) the Latin American 'liberation' approach to media education which seeks to promote a dialogic and participative communication system as opposed to a top-down hierarchical communication structure. (46 references) (CGD)

This research project used a conceptual framework to study television viewing as a process of communication rather than as a one way transfer of information from the set to the person. Children's own definitions of experience of television viewing/behavior were used to shape the direction and concerns of the project. As background to, and in support of, this project, a review of research on children and television is included. A three stage research design used a combination of methods to explore the relationship of children between the ages of 8-9 and 11-12 years with television. For Stage 1, 64 Australian school children were interviewed to determine their definitions of the television world and their television behavior. Stage 2 involved observations of 23 children at home watching television and doing other routine activities. In Stage 3, 486 school children were surveyed by questionnaire. Data collected were summarized under two headings: television viewing as children understand it, and social interaction during television viewing. It was concluded that: (1) adults need to be more aware of the dynamic relationship children have with television and its special significance to those who have little access to other kinds of leisure; (2) program content should do justice to their viewing abilities and curiosity; and (3) children must be given programs that deserve their enthusiasm. (33 references) (CGD)