This paper reports on the findings from research that uses a tool to help educators assess their e-learning environment. The Online Learning Environment Survey (OLES) instrument was developed using online technologies, including a web-based survey format and an SQL database where the data is instantly captured, analysed and viewed via the data screen or the charting screen. This makes the instrument very easy to use and the results can be viewed immediately providing educators using e-learning with a mechanism to adjust their teaching and enhance the learning environment. The OLES survey was administered during 2004 and the data from three case study classes using e-learning in Hong Kong are presented. Qualitative data from the interviews was used to verify the data gathered and are discussed with regard to the support needed by educators who are developing and teaching in e-learning environments as a method to improve the quality of the e-learning environment through constructive solutions.
[Copyright of Australian Association for Research in Education (AARE) at http://www.aare.edu.au]

This paper describes a plausible values imputation approach for deriving population estimates on several language proficiency domains. The approach harnessed a multi-dimensional item response analysis combining student responses, rater judgements and student background variables. The target population comprised lower grade primary school students enrolled in the Hong Kong schooling system. The raters were local teachers of English employed within the sampled target schools. The consideration of student background variables in conjunction with student responses and rater judgements facilitated the process of "conditioning" (Reckase, 2002). The primary objective of this research was to impute plausible values for students where no data was provided or where rater data was deemed suspect. By necessity, a secondary objective of this study was to establish rules for justly excluding particular data on the basis of questionable validity. Surveys such as TIMSS, PISA and NAEP have used such "plausible value" methodologies to account for incomplete test designs and person non-response (Beaton & Johnson, 1990; Yamamoto & Kulick, 2000; Adams & Wu, 2002). The point of difference in this study was the use of item response theory (in particular plausible values imputation) to identify and correct for invalid rater judgements in a large-scale educational survey.
[Copyright of Australian Association for Research in Education (AARE) at http://www.aare.edu.au]

This paper describes the development of an improved scale for measuring sentiments, attitudes and concerns about inclusive education in pre-service teachers based on an examination of data gathered from 996 pre-service teachers from five tertiary institutions using a modified version of the Interactions with People with Disabilities scale (Forlin, Jobling & Carroll, 2001; Gething, 1991, 1994), the Concerns about Inclusive Education Scale (Sharma & Desai, 2002), and the Attitudes Toward Inclusive Education Scale (Wilczenski, 1992, 1995). Based on the results of principal component analyses, conceptual judgments made by the research team, and a critique of content and format from an "expert group", a new scale, the Sentiments, Attitudes and Concerns about Inclusive Education scale (SACIE), is developed. The rationale behind the development of the scale is discussed.
[Copyright of International Journal of Special Education is the property of Hindawi Publishing Corporation.
Access via Directory of Open Access Journals: http://www.internationaljournalofspecialeducation.com/]

Although all teachers hold beliefs about alternative curriculum designs, researchers know little about how the beliefs are related to each other and to teacher demographic characteristics such as gender and subject areas. In addition, measuring instruments in this area of curriculum enquiry remain primitive. In this article, we review issues surrounding the measurement of teachers' curriculum orientations, report the development and validation of a 30-item curriculum orientation inventory,and use the data gathered from a sample of 648 Hong Kong teachers to examine the relationships between curriculum orientations and some teacher demographic characteristics. The inventory was designed to measure teachers' five curriculum orientations: academic, cognitive process, social reconstruction, humanistic and technological. We found that the reliability and validity of the data were adequate. In contrast to logical expectation, teachers valued all the five theoretically conflicting curriculum orientations and the correlations among the orientations were considerable and positive. There was no significant difference in teachers' curriculum orientations based on gender. Primary and secondary school teachers also did not show significant difference. Furthermore, experienced teachers were more likely to value the academic orientation and English language teachers were more humanistic than science teachers. Directions for future research are suggested.
[Copyright of Curriculum Journal is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09585170210136868]

Gifted education in Hong Kong reflects the Chinese tradition of valuing and nurturing special abilities in children. Thus, identifying and selecting gifted and talented students into programs are central. Currently, procedures in Hong Kong generally emphasize the use of standardized instruments for identifying the intellectually gifted (using the Hong Kong Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children or Raven's Standard Progressive Matrices), the academically gifted (using the Hong Kong Attainment Tests), and the creatively gifted (using the Chinese versions of the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking or the Wallach-Kogan Tests). Advocating the use of multiple criteria, educators in Hong Kong also employ informal measures such as nominations and rating scales. The complexity of the identification process was illustrated with the Chinese University Summer Gifted Program procedures of nomination, screening, and selection based on multiple measures and the ultimate criteria of matching individual specific needs with program services available. The issues regarding students being labeled as gifted or nongifted as a result of identification, the all-or-none misconception of giftedness, and the need to design and evaluate multiple measures and identification procedures are discussed.
[Copyright of Roeper Review is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1080/02783190009554008 ]

The Hong Kong Classroom Environment Scale (HKCES) is a new instrument designed to assess upper primary and junior secondary school students' perceptions of actual and preferred classroom environment. The development of the scale involved 2 stages of study. In the 1st stage of study, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses clearly identified 4 dimensions of classroom environment: teacher involvement, teacher support, order and student involvement and collaborativeness. In the 2nd stage of study, the instrument was administered to a new sample of about 6,000 students from 13 primary schools and 5 secondary schools for cross-validation.
[Copyright of Educational Research & Evaluation is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1076/edre.9.4.317.17813 ]