Is a Phone-Based Language and Literacy Assessment a Reliable and Valid Measure of Children’s Reading Skills in Low-Resource Settings?

Technology-based remote research methods are increasingly widespread, including learning assessments in child development and education research. However, little is known about whether technology-based remote assessments remain as valid and reliable as in-person assessments. We developed a low-cost phone-based language and literacy assessment for primary-school children in low-resource communities in rural Côte d’Ivoire using voice calls and SMS. We compared the reliability and validity of this phone-based assessment to an established in-person assessment.679 5th grade children completed language (phonological awareness, vocabulary, language comprehension) and literacy (letter, word, pseudoword, passage reading and comprehension) tasks in-person and by phone. Reliability (internal consistency) and predictive validity was high across in-person and phone-based tasks. In-person and phone-based assessments were moderately to strongly correlated. Phonological awareness and vocabulary skills measured in-person and by phone significantly predicted in-person and phone-based letter, word and pseudoword reading. Oral language and decoding skills measured in-person and by phone also significantly predicted in-person and phone-based passage reading and comprehension scores.Our phone-based assessment was a reliable and valid measure of language and reading and feasible for low-resource settings. Low-cost technologies offer significant potential to measure children’s learning remotely, contributing to greater inclusion of remote and low-resource populations in education research.

JUDICIAL ACTIVISM IN INDIAN DEMOCRACY

Judicial Activism is a powerful weapon, which the judges have to wield to Sub serves the ends of justice by making the law responsive to the felt necessities of the changing times. The scope of judicial activism varies with the courts power of Judicial Review. The judicial activism is use of judicial power to articulate and enforce what is beneficial for the society in general and people at large. Supreme Court despite its constitutional Limitation has come up with flying colors as a champion of justice in the true sense of The word .JUSTICE…this seven letter word is one of the most debated one sin the entire English dictionary. With the entire world population being linked to it, there is no doubt about the fact that with changing tongues the definition does change. The judicial activism has touched almost every aspect of life in India to do positive justice and in the process has gone beyond, what is prescribed by law or written in black and white. This article covers definition, Theories of judicial activism, development of Judicial Activism in India, Judicial Activism in various periods.

Crackup

Crackup: The Republican Implosion and the Future of Presidential Politics explains how changes in campaign finance laws and the proliferation of mass media fractured the Republican Party into uncompromising groups with irreconcilable demands. The 2002 “McCain-Feingold” campaign finance reform bill aimed to weaken the power of big businesses and strengthen political parties by ending corporate donations to the parties. Instead, it weakened legislative leaders and made bipartisanship a four-letter word. Moving money outside the political parties fuelled the rise of “purity for profit” groups and Super PACs funded by billionaires with pet issues. This allowed self-promoting politicians to undermine intraparty colleagues with an unprecedented use of tactics once only used to disrupt the opposition.

Autobiographical adaptation in NBC’s Love Is a Four-Letter Word

This article analyses the adaptation process from the Danish relationship drama television series ‘Nikolaj and Julie’ (2002–03) to Love Is a Four-Letter Word, the NBC pilot and remake attempt (2015). This comparison is a prime example of autobiographical adaptation, in which the adaptation process can be closely intertwined with a desire to tell autobiographical stories. Using production studies and textual analysis, the article illustrates how Diana Son, the showrunner responsible for adapting the original format into the NBC version, rewrote the original script using a location, themes and characters largely inspired by her personal life and surroundings. The article ultimately argues that in format adaptation, research combining established theoretical frameworks and approaches with the idea of autobiographical adaptation is likely to be a fruitful endeavour in a great many cases.