Do School Segregation and School Resources Explain Region-of-Origin Differences in the Mathematics Achievement of Immigrant Students? 1

Levels and Dronkers (2006 Dronkers, J. and Wanner, R. A. 2006. Waarom verdienen immigranten minder? Effecten van immigratiebeleid en arbeidsmarktkenmerken [Why do immigrants earn less? Effects of immigration policies and labour market characteristics]. Tijdschrift voor Arbeidsvraagstukken, 22: 379–394.  [Google Scholar]) showed that educational achievement differs between immigrant students from different regions of origin (Latin America, Northern Africa, and Western Asia). This follow-up paper establishes whether these differences in educational achievement between immigrant students from different regions of origin can be explained by school segregation, whether along ethnic or socioeconomic lines. Ethnic and socioeconomic school segregation have a negative influence on the scholastic achievement of all students, although the impact of socioeconomic school segregation is greater than that of ethnic school segregation. Ethnic school segregation affects the scholastic outcomes of native and immigrant students from some regions of origin more than those of immigrant students from other regions. The analysis shows that neither ethnic, nor socioeconomic, school segregation explains the lower mathematics achievement of immigrant students from Latin America, Northern Africa, and Western Asia.     

Does Investing in School Capital Infrastructure Improve Student Achievement?

Within the research community, there is a vigorous debate over whether additional educational expenditures will lead to improved performance of schools. Some of the debate is an outgrowth of the lack of causal knowledge of the impacts of expenditures on student outcomes. To help fill this void, we examine the causal impact of capital expenditures on school district proficiency rates in Michigan. For the analysis, we employ a regression discontinuity design where we use the outcomes of bond elections as the forcing variable. Our results provide some evidence that capital expenditures can have positive effects on student proficiency levels.     

A Social Support Intervention and Academic Achievement in College: Does Perceived Loneliness Mediate the Relationship?

The authors examined whether a social support intervention reduced loneliness and increased academic achievement among college freshmen. Eighty‐eight 1st‐year students randomly assigned to a social support group program reported less loneliness in the spring of their freshman year and obtained higher grade point averages in the fall of their sophomore year, compared with control participants, after controlling for demographic variables. Loneliness barely mediated the relationship between the social support intervention and academic achievement, suggesting other mechanisms by which the intervention enhanced academic performance.     

Does Parental Involvement Matter for Student Achievement and Mental Health in High School?

Parental involvement in education remains important for facilitating positive youth development. This study conceptualized parental involvement as a multidimensional construct—including school‐based involvement, home‐based involvement, and academic socialization—and examined the effects of different types of parental involvement in 10th grade on student achievement and depression in 11th grade (approximately ages 15–17 years). In addition, this study tested whether parental involvement influenced adolescent outcomes by increasing their academic engagement in school. A total of 1,056 adolescents participated in the study (51% males; 53% European American, 40% African American, and 7% other). Parental involvement was found to improve academic and emotional functioning among adolescents. In addition, parental involvement predicted adolescent academic success and mental health both directly and indirectly through behavioral and emotional engagement.     

Who Is the Tattletale? Linking Individual Differences in Socioemotional Competence and Anxiety to Tattling Behavior and Attitudes in Young Children

Although tattling is a common practice among young children, there is little systematic research about its socioemotional correlates. The current study focused on children’s tattling between the ages of 5 and 7, assessing both their explicit attitudes toward tattling and their actual reporting of a transgression and relating them to individual differences in socioemotional competence and trait anxiety. Research Findings: About half of the children reported an adult’s transgression freely or when generally prompted about the event, whereas the other half either reported only when confronted with a directly incriminatory question or completely concealed the adult’s transgression. There was a minor congruence between the actual tattling behavior and children’s explicit attitudes toward tattling (obligation to report a major transgression), measured via their reaction to a series of vignettes. A favorable attitude toward tattling was positively related to children’s ability to recognize basic emotions and their external causes, yet it was negatively associated with the understanding of more complex components, such as the possibility of hiding an emotion. Moreover, tattling behavior was negatively related to understanding internally (belief-based) generated emotions and positively related to individual levels of anxiety. Practice or Policy: Educational practices should take into account individual differences in children’s socioemotional development when relating to their tattling behaviors, preferably decreasing the amount of ambivalence a child experiences in this situation.     

Externalizing Behavior Problems and Low Academic Achievement: Does a Causal Relation Exist?

Educational Psychology Review - Children’s low academic skills are associated with a variety of behavior problems and maladaptive outcomes throughout childhood and adulthood. Given the...     

Drawing-to-Learn: Does Meta-Analysis Show Differences Between Technology-Based Drawing and Paper-and-Pencil Drawing?

Journal of Science Education and Technology - Drawing-to-learn is a specific learning/reading strategy studied across many domains. In response to gaps in our knowledge about drawing-to-learn, we...     

Correction to: Externalizing Behavior Problems and Low Academic Achievement: Does a Causal Relation Exist?

Educational Psychology Review -     

Sex Differences in Science and Technology Among 11‐year‐old Schoolchildren: II‐‐affective

Two thousand and sixty‐five 11‐year‐olds in their first term at secondary school were given a variety of attitude and achievement tests. Overall both girls and boys had positive attitudes to science but there were substantial sex differences‐‐boys were much keener than girls to learn about physical science, and girls were keener than boys to learn about nature study and human biology. Boys had much greater experience than girls of tinkering activities, but girls had more experience of biological science activities. Boys were much more likely than girls to see science as a masculine preserve. At this age attitudes to science were virtually unrelated to achievement in science‐ and technology‐related areas. One important exception to this is that girls who saw science as masculine tended to perform worse on the cognitive tests.     

The Role of Parental Math Anxiety and Math Attitude in Their Children’s Math Achievement

The present study investigated the antecedents and consequences of children’s math anxiety and math attitude. A total of 595 students aged 10 to 15 years (5th to 10th grades) and 1 parent of each (mother or father) participated in the study. The study was conducted in India, with the study sample drawn from schools in South-West Punjab. Math anxiety of parents and their children was measured using the Mathematics Anxiety Scale Short Version (MARS-SV), the Mathematics Anxiety Scale for Elementary School Students (MARS-E), and the Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale for Adolescents (MARS-A). Math attitude was assessed with the Attitude Towards Mathematics Inventory (ATMI). A math achievement test was constructed for each grade level based on their curriculum. Path analyses were conducted to test the suggested conceptual model, and the results indicate that parental math anxiety and math attitude act as precursors to their children’s math anxiety and math attitude and further influence the math achievement of their children.     

Race and sex: teachers' views on who gets ahead in schools?

The research reported here was part of a large study of the impact of age, disability, race and sex on the teaching profession in England. The basic question asked in this research was how do these factors interact with career aspirations and achievements of classteachers, promoted teachers and headteachers? There were three different data sources: a large postal survey drawn from diverse geographic regions across England with over 2000 respondents; face‐to‐face individual interviews with over 100 teachers in 18 case study schools from across all of the main regions of England; discussions with special interest groups of teachers. Not surprisingly, the answer to the above question was complex. Nonetheless, the paper's conclusion highlights some of the noteworthy themes across this broad sample of teachers from primary, secondary and special schools.

Les travaux de recherche décris dans cet article ont fait partie d'une large étude sur l'impact de l'age, des handicaps, de l'origine ethnique et du genre sur les professions de l'enseignement. L'une des questions abordées dans cette recherche était de savoir comment ces facteurs interagissaient avec les aspirations professionnelles et les carrières des enseignants, administratifs et chefs d'établissement. Trois principales sources d'information ont été utilisées: un sondage par courrier de plus de 2000 personnes, couvrant différentes régions géographiques de l'Angleterre; des entretiens individuels avec une centaine d'enseignants de 18 écoles cibles, reparties sur les principales régions de l'Angleterre; des discussions avec des groupes de travail d'enseignants. De manière non surprenante, la réponse à la question ci‐dessus s'est avérée complexe. Néanmoins, cet article met en évidence un ensemble de thèmes significatifs à travers ce large groupe d'enseignants issus du primaire, du secondaire et d'institutions spécialisées.

La investigación que se presenta aquí formó parte de un largo estudio sobre el impacto que tenía la edad, discapacidad, diferencias de etnia y género en la profesión de maestro en Inglaterra. Una de las principales cuestiones a contestar en la presente investigación fue cómo estos factores interactúan en las aspiraciones profesionales de maestros, jefes del departamento y directores, se presentan en este artículo. Hubo tres principales fuentes de datos. Estas incluían: una amplia encuesta por correo la cual tuvo en cuenta diversas regiones de la geografía de Inglaterra, con cerca de unas 2000 personas encuestadas; entrevistas individuales cara a cara a unos 100 maestros en 18 estudios de casos de escuelas a través de todas las principales regiones de Inglaterra; y discusiones con grupos interesantes de maestros. No nos debe sorprender que las respuestas a las preguntas comentadas anteriormente fueran complejas de resolver. De todas formas las conclusiones del artículo dan luz a algunos de los temas significativos a través de la amplia muestra de maestros de escuelas de primaria, secundaria y escuelas especiales.

Die hier präsentierte Forschungsarbeit war Teil einer umfassenden Studie, die sich mit der Auswirkung von Alter, Behinderung, ethnischer Herkunft und Geschlecht auf den Lehrberuf in England auseinandersetzt. Die wesentliche Frage, die in dieser Forschungsarbeit gestellt wurde, lautete wie folgt: wie wirken sich genannte Faktoren auf Karriereaspirationen und Leistungen von Klassenlehrern, beförderten Lehrern und Schulleitern aus? Die Daten wurden aus drei Hauptquellen bezogen; dazu gehören: eine umfassende, geographisch breitgefächerte Postumfrage in England, auf die über 2000 Befragte antworteten; persönliche Gespräche mit über 100 Lehrern aus 18 zu Fallstudien herangezogenen Schulen in den Haupregionen Englands; und Diskussionen mit Lehrern, die bestimmte Interessengruppen vertreten. Die Antwort zu der oben genannten Frage war erwartungsgemäss komplex. Nichtsdestoweniger werden in dieser Arbeit einige der Themen hervorgehoben, die Lehrer aus dem Primär‐, Sekundär‐ und Sonderschulbereich für besonders erwähnenswert hielten.     

Testing Rhyme Recognition: How Does Your Test Measure Up?

New rhyme tests are being devised throughout the U.K. by educators in response to the Baseline Assessment procedures. The writers, a speech and language therapist and a teacher-educator, are concerned that rhyme tests should be designed in a way which is sensitive to children’s developmental levels. This report on Rappaport’s (1993) Test of Rhyme Recognition (TORR) is part of a larger multidisciplinary study developing a Teaching Programme.     

Sex and Language:-on Differences Between Male And Female Speech In Language Use

Language use varies from one regional group to another, from one social group to another, and even from one individual to another. Even within the same speech community everyone has his distinctive language features from others. We often call this social phenomenon language variation or speech variation. Language variation can be found in language use and on language user. Linguistic peculiarities, to some extent, show a person's social status, cultural background , ethnic and even sex differe…     

Room for All? Comparing Criminology and Sociology Completion Rates Across Sex,Race, and Degree Level

This article presents findings based on an alternative to the Association of Doctoral Programs in Criminology & Criminal Justice data that allowed for examining the intersection of sex and race among criminology and criminal justice (CJ) and sociology program completers at the Bachelor’s, Master’s, and doctoral level. Five years’ worth of data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System revealed that, on average, 85% of students who completed a doctoral degree in criminal justice were white, but only 74% of students who completed a doctoral degree in sociology were white. The average percentage of CJ degree completions accounted for by black Americans and Latinos also decreased by 9 and 15%, respectively, from the Bachelor’s level to the doctoral level. We discuss the need for universities to invest in student and faculty diversity, and conclude by highlighting the importance of building strong partnerships between predominantly white and minority-serving institutions.     

Transnational Education in the Slovak Republic: Threat or Challenge?

This article discusses the pros and cons of transnational higher education offerings from the vantage point of a small Central European country, the Slovak Republic, and with special reference to franchising. Transnational higher education offerings are definitely needed, not only in the Slovak Republic, but in the other countries of Central and Eastern Europe as well, existing national higher education systems and institutions not being sufficiently developed to cope with increasing enrolment pressures. But there need to be adequate safeguards against fraudulent offerings, debased standards, and other such problems. The implantation of two franchised campuses of City University, Bellevue, Washington (USA) is cited as a very positive example of a foreign higher education institution that has been able to successfully integrate itself into the fabric of Slovak higher education by faithfully complying with all Slovak higher education regulations and offering high-quality course programmes.