Research on training wheels – embedding academic literacy and numeracy in vocational pedagogy through action research

Concerns about developing academic staff capability in literacy and numeracy development led members of the Academic Literacies Team in a New Zealand institution to research ways for achieving and sustaining educational change. The findings indicated that enquiry through action research could be beneficial for supporting the process of integrating literacy and numeracy development with the educational practices of lecturers (Tertiary Education Commission 2008 Tertiary Education Commission. 2008. “Learning Progressions for Adult Literacy and Numeracy: Background Information.” edited by Tertiary Education Commission. Wellington: Tertiary Education Commission. [Google Scholar]; Whatman, Potter, and Boyd 2011 Whatman, J., H. Potter, and S. Boyd. 2011. Literacy, Language and Numeracy: Connecting Research to Practice in the Tertiary Sector. Wellington: Ako Aotearoa. [Google Scholar]) to improve existing vocational pedagogy (Lucas, Spencer, and Claxton 2012 Lucas, B., E. Spencer, and G. Claxton. 2012. How to Teach Vocational Education: A Theory of Vocational Pedagogy. London: City &; Guilds. [Google Scholar]). This article introduces the approach taken with the second Literacy + Numeracy Enquiry Group and the research methodology that combines the gathering of impact data and process evaluation. Overall evaluation findings are outlined. Lecturers shared their challenges, successes and perceptions of how participating impacted on them. The findings show that participants clearly appreciate action research enquiry as a means of achieving change in their teaching. Moreover, the results of the evaluation also indicate the value of employing action research methodology to improve learning and teaching as evidenced by the participants of this study.     

A Content Comparison of Literacy Lessons from 2004 and 2010 for Students with Moderate and Severe Intellectual Disability

Mandates such as No Child Left Behind (2001) No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, Pub. L. No. 107-110, 115 Stat.1425 (2002). [Google Scholar] and Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (2004) Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004, 20 U.S.C. §1400, H. R. 1350. [Google Scholar] shifted the emphasis of instruction to include skills that access the general curriculum for students with moderate to severe intellectual disability. The purpose of this study was to describe changes in literacy instruction of teachers who participated in literacy research using secondary data analysis of instructional videos from 2004 to 2010. Results from the study suggest that teachers in 2004 focused on fewer components of reading that did not include phonemic awareness or phonics than teachers in 2010. Other changes in instruction included use of systematic instruction, grade-appropriate materials, and structure of literacy lessons.     

A Critical Challenge: The Engagement and Assessment of Contingent,Part-Time Adjunct Faculty Professors in United States Community Colleges

In 2011, according to a National Center for Education Statistics report, part-time instructional staff in all higher education institutions exceeded full-time faculty members for the first time, accounting for 50% of all instructional staff (National Center for Education Statistics [NCES], 2012 National Center for Education Statistics . ( 2012 ). IPEDS, Digest of education statistics, Winter 2011–12, human resources component, fall staff section: Table 286 [data file]. Retrieved from http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d12/tables/dt12_286.asp  [Google Scholar]). The same report indicates part-time faculty in community colleges exceeds 70% of instructional staff. Perhaps more alarming are the numbers of contingent instructional staff—faculty without long-term employment commitments. According to this measure, nearly 70% of faculty members in all areas of higher education have little-to-no job stability (American Association of University Professors [AAUP], 2013 American Association of University Professors (AAUP) . ( 2013 ). Background facts on contingent faculty. Retrieved from http://www.aaup.org/issues/contingency/background-facts  [Google Scholar]; Schuster & Finklestein, 2006 Schuster , J. H. , & Finklestein , M. J. ( 2006 ). The American faculty: The restructuring of academic work and careers . Baltimore , MD : The Johns Hopkins University Press . [Google Scholar]). However, limited research exists on the working experiences of this major subpopulation of United States professors.

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the experiences of part-time contingent community college faculty regarding the assessment processes their institutions implemented. Through interviews, researchers gathered data identifying what 20 part-time contingent faculty professors reported regarding teaching conditions and institutional assessment procedures. Participant interviews revealed two major themes centered on a lack of institutional engagement and meaningful assessment policies or procedures.     

The field as a ‘pedagogical resource’? A critical analysis of students’ affective engagement with the field environment

This paper presents findings from research into students’ perceptions and experiences of geography fieldwork. The study focused on Year 9 students (13–14 years) from three state secondary schools in urban northern England. Geography fieldwork, depending on its conceptualisation and implementation, has the potential to provide students with a wide range of environmental learning experiences. This paper analyses the implicit values and ideologies underlying the three schools’ approaches to fieldwork using Fien’s (1993 Fien, J. 1993. Education for the environment: Critical curriculum theorising and environmental education, Melbourne, Australia: Deakin University Press.  [Google Scholar]) conceptual distinction between education about, through and for the environment. The significance of these underlying values and ideologies to the students’ affective engagement with the field environment is discussed. The paper concludes that, while some students engaged with the field environment in terms of their personal values and environmental ideologies, broader influences on the fieldwork agenda were also discernable. These findings deepen our understanding of the implicit values underlying environmental education and highlight a potentially important conflict between the cognitive and affective objectives of such work.     

The Early Literacy Support Programme (ELS) and the blend and clash of national educational policy ideologies in England

In this article we consider the development of key policy issues in England, related to the area of literacy learning and children who are considered to have difficulties in literacy in their early years. We trace the tensions which have arisen since the 1980s between different policies and practices in these areas. These tensions include pressures to raise standards of literacy and to support children with difficulties, and the establishment of a prescribed curriculum for young children. In particular, we focus on the blend and clash of national educational policy ideals in areas related to literacy and children who have been categorised as having ‘special educational needs’, and how these have influenced the development of the Early Literacy Support Programme (ELS) (DfES, 2001 Department for Education and Skills 2001a Early Literacy Support Programme, materials to support teachers working in partnership with teaching assistants London DfES  [Google Scholar]a; 2001 Department for Education and Skills 2001b Early Literacy Support Programme, session materials for teaching assistants London DfES  [Google Scholar]b). This is a programme set up by the Department for Education and Science in England for children in Year 1, aged 5 to 6 years old.     

Toward “Good Enough Methods” for Autoethnography in a Graduate Education Course: Trying to Resist the Matrix with Another Promising Red Pill

Educational research suggests that the response biases of educators can negatively influence student performance and aptitude (Blanchett 2006 Blanchett, Wanda. 2006. “Disproportionate Representation of African American Students in Special Education: Acknowledging the Role of White Privilege and Racism.”. Educational Researcher, 35: 24–28. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]; Bloom 2001 Bloom, Leslie. 2001. “I'm Poor, I'm Single, I'm a Mom and Deserve Respect: Advocating Schools as and With Mothers in Poverty.”. Educational Studies, 32: 30–316.  [Google Scholar]; Darity et al. 2001 Darity, William, Castellino, Domini and Tyson, Karolyn. 2001. Report on Increasing Opportunity to Learn via Access to Rigorous Courses and Programs: One Strategy for Closing the Achievement Gap for At-risk and Ethnic Minority Students, Raleigh, NC: North Carolina Department of Public Instruction.  [Google Scholar]; Gordon 2005 Gordon, Jenny. 2005. “Inadvertent Complicity: Colorblindness in Teacher Education.”. Educational Studies, 38: 135–152. October[Taylor &; Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]; and Skiba et al. 2000 Skiba, Russell J., Robert, S. Michael, Abra, C. Nardo and Peterson, Reece. 2000. The Color of Discipline: Sources of Racial and Gender Disproportionality in School Punishment (Report #SRS1), Bloomington: Indiana Education Policy Center.  [Google Scholar]). This article introduces “good enough methods” for autoethnography as an alternative approach to this problem. Luttrell (2000 Luttrell, Wendy. 2000. “Good Enough Methods for Ethnographic Research.”. Harvard Educational Review, 70: 499–523. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar], 13) conceptualizes “good enough methods” researchers as those seeking to understand and appreciate difference and accept errors often made because of their blind spots and intense involvement. Evidence of this approach via autoethnography is provided here from cases of graduate student-practitioners and their Intergroup/Intercultural Education professor. Moreover, the article highlights (a) a connection of autoethnography to research in Education, (b) five key decisions of a “good enough methods” approach to autoethnography, and (c) how this approach can be applied to expose and address educator biases relating to “the matrix” (Hill-Collins 1990 Hill-Collins, Patricia. 1990. “Black Feminist Thought in the Matrix of Domination.”. In Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment, 221–238. London: HarperCollins. Patricia Hill–Collins [Google Scholar]) of race, class, and gender.     

Caring for the ethical ideal: Nel Noddings on moral education

Nel Noddings is arguably one of the premier philosophers of moral education in the English‐speaking world today. Although she is outside the mainstream theory, research, and practice traditions of cognitive‐developmentalism (the Kohlberg legacy) and of character education (which is in public ascendancy), her body of work is unrivalled for originality of insight, comprehensiveness and coherence. Whilst Carol Gilligan's In a different voice (1982 Gilligan C (1982) In a different voice: psychological theory and women's development (Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press) [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]) introduced the ethic of caring into academic and public discourse, it is Noddings ‘who has done most to outline a specific feminist position on moral education’ (McClellan, 1999 McClellan B (1999) Moral education in America: schools and the shaping of character from colonial times to the present (New York, Teachers College Press)  [Google Scholar], p. 104), and whose influence extends to educational practice. This essay explicates Noddings's vision in sufficient depth to make the foregoing claims credible. Thematic focus is given to her attention to the ethical self or ethical ideal. The paper also examines Noddings's perspective on character education and the need to incorporate a morality of evil into any serious educational philosophy or practice. It is less a critical appraisal of that vision and perspective than an invitation to others to more fully engage with Noddings's writings.1 Although Noddings's primary and consistent concern has been moral education, she has also published on intuition in education (1984b), evil from a feminist perspective (1989), mathematics education (Davis, Maher & Noddings, 1990 Davis, R., Maher, C. and Noddings, N. (Eds) (1990) Constructivist views on the teaching and learning of mathematics JRME Monograph. (Reston, VA, National Council of Teachers of Mathematics)  [Google Scholar]), education, narrative, and dialogue (Noddings & Witherell, 1991 Noddings, N. & Witherell, C. (Eds) (1991) Stories lives tell: narrative and dialogue in education (New York, Teachers College Press)  [Google Scholar]), education and religious belief (1993), and caring and social policy (2002a). The present essay focuses on her writings on moral education only.      

Meeting 2020 Workforce Goals: The Role of Industry–College Collaboration and Goals for Instructional Design

Since the 1990s, federal programs for workforce training have aimed to transform the role of community colleges from narrow contract training to a broader role that encompasses strategic instructional program planning and innovation to support lifelong learning for a changing workforce and economic development (Jacobs & Teahen, 1996 Jacobs , J. , & Teahen , R. C. ( 1996 , January ). We're doing it: Michigan models for academic and occupational integration. Paper presented at Workforce 2000 annual conference on workforce training of The League for Innovation in the Community College, Orlando, FL.  [Google Scholar]). Yet, to date, there has been no study of how this changing role has affected the ways community colleges and their industry partners collaborate. With rising pressure from policy makers to accelerate training to help American workers to adjust to rapid change in the workforce, it is critical to understand the cross-organizational dynamics of these collaborations.     

Sexual Health Education for Individuals with Disabilities: A Call to Action

Expressing sexuality is part of the human experience, yet sexual health is often ignored in regard to persons with disabilities. Individuals with disabilities are at risk of sexual abuse and exploitation, unwanted pregnancies, and sexually transmitted diseases. Additionally, many adolescents with disabilities lack the knowledge needed to develop a healthy sexual identity, therefore, increasing their vulnerability (Baladerian, et al., 2013 Baladerian, N. J., Coleman, T. F., &; Stream, J. (2013). Abuse of people with disabilities: Victims and their families speak out: A report on the 2012 national survey on abuse and people with disabilities. Retrieved from http://disability-abuse.com/survey/survey-report.pdf [Google Scholar]; Boehning, 2006 Boehning, A. (2006). Sex education for students with disabilities. Law &; Disorder, 1, 56–66. [Google Scholar]; Preston, 2013 Preston, M. (2013). ‘Very very risky’: Sexuality education teachers' definition of sexuality and teaching and learning responsibilities. American Journal of Sexuality Education, 8(1-2), 18–35. doi:10.1080/15546128.2013.790223.[Taylor &; Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]; SEICUS, 2012 SIECUS: Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States. (2012). Bibliography: Sexuality and disabilities. Retrieved from http://www.siecus.org [Google Scholar], 2014 SIECUS: Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States. (2014). Retrieved from http://www.siecus.org [Google Scholar]). Resources have been developed to improve the sexual health of individuals with disabilities; however, those who need this education may not have access to the resources. The purpose of this literature review is to examine sexual health education for individuals with disabilities; it focuses on risks to people with disabilities, current barriers to education, and available resources.     

Analysis of Parent,Teacher, and Consultant Speech Exchanges and Educational Outcomes of Students With Autism During COMPASS Consultation

The significant increase in the numbers of students with autism combined with the need for better trained teachers (National Research Council, 2001) call for research on the effectiveness of alternative methods, such as consultation, that have the potential to improve service delivery. Data from 2 randomized controlled single-blind trials indicate that an autism-specific consultation planning framework known as the collaborative model for promoting competence and success (COMPASS) is effective in increasing child Individual Education Programs (IEP) outcomes (Ruble, Dalrymple, & McGrew, 2010 Ruble, L. A., Dalrymple, N. J. and McGrew, J. H. 2010. The effects of consultation on Individualized Education Program outcomes for young children with autism: The collaborative model for promoting competence and success. Journal of Early Intervention, 32: 286–301. doi:10.1177/1053815110382973[Crossref], [PubMed] , [Google Scholar]; Ruble, McGrew, & Toland, 2011 Ruble, L., McGrew, J. and Toland, M. Randomized controlled study of teacher training in autism. Poster session presented at the meeting of the American Psychological Association. Washington, DC. August.  [Google Scholar]). In this study, we describe the verbal interactions, defined as speech acts and speech act exchanges that take place during COMPASS consultation, and examine the associations between speech exchanges and child outcomes. We applied the Psychosocial Processes Coding Scheme (Leaper, 1991 Leaper, C. 1991. Influence and involvement in children's discourse: Age, gender, and partner effects. Child Development, 62: 797–811. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.1991.tb01570.x[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) to code speech acts. Speech act exchanges were overwhelmingly affiliative, failed to show statistically significant relationships with child IEP outcomes and teacher adherence, but did correlate positively with IEP quality.     

Legal Aspects of Preventing Problem Behavior

Changes to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (Public Law 108-446) (now known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 2004 Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004, H.R. 1350 (passed both houses of Congress 11/19/04; signed by President Bush 12/3/04) [Google Scholar]: IDEA) mandated new requirements for providing discipline to students with disabilities. These changes led to simplified procedures when students with disabilities commit infractions of the school code. A review of potential legal dilemmas, however, challenges the simplicity of the revised procedures and may actually underscore new legal entanglements to parents and school officials. We discuss what we know about discipline and reasons for an interest in discipline applications, potential legal complications resulting from the reauthorized IDEA, and implications of prevention strategies for students with disabilities demonstrating problem behaviors.     

Identifying Best Practice in a Shifting Landscape: Making Sense of RTI in the Context of SLD Identification

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (2004) Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. 1997, 1999, 2004. 20 U. S. C. 1400 et. Seq. (Statute). 34 C.F.R. 300 (Regulations) [Google Scholar] has had substantial influence on special education in general and the field of learning disabilities in particular. Since its reauthorization in 2004, ongoing regulatory efforts have been underway to determine its operationalization and implementation. Of particular concern to those involved in the educational process (i.e., special educators, school psychologists, families, advocates) are the guidelines for identifying children with specific learning disabilities (SLD), including the use of Response to Intervention (RTI). In this article, some of the most relevant and controversial issues associated with the use of RTI for the identification of SLD are detailed. We discuss how SLD is conceptualized in terms of identification approaches and classification criteria and present position statements of special education professional associations on the changes to the federal SLD definition and identification criteria. Finally, we summarize proposed resolutions to the seemingly irreconcilable differences identified throughout the article.     

Categories as Rhetorical Barriers and the Federal Response to Hurricane Katrina

I explore the role of categories as rhetorical barriers in organizations responding to crisis (Veil, 2011 Veil, S. R. (2011). Mindful learning in crisis management. Journal of Business Communication, 48(2), 116–147. doi:10.1177/0021943610382294[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]). I analyze some problematic categories of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the categories’ impact on the organizations’ response to Hurricane Katrina. My analysis shows that unintended and perverse consequences (Giddens, 1984 Giddens, A. (1984). The constitution of society: Outline of the theory of structuration. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press. [Google Scholar], 1987 Giddens, A. (1987). Social theory and modern sociology. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. [Google Scholar]) reversed the power of a key legitimated category (Orlikowski, 1995 Orlikowski, W. J. (1995). Categories: Concept, content, and context. Computer Supported Cooperative Work, 3, 73–78.[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]; Giddens, 1984 Giddens, A. (1984). The constitution of society: Outline of the theory of structuration. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press. [Google Scholar]) and exposed a set of reified categories (Giddens, 1984 Giddens, A. (1984). The constitution of society: Outline of the theory of structuration. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press. [Google Scholar]).     

Vader-Mccormick,Nancy (2011). the Engaged Teacher: What Works with Today's Students.

Community colleges have responded to the increased use of technology for instruction by providing support and professional development opportunities for faculty. However, differences in perceptions, expectations, and opportunities exist between full-time faculty at community colleges and their adjunct colleagues when it comes to adopting technology into instruction. Because adjunct faculty represent 68.5% of faculty teaching at community colleges (U.S. Department of Education, 2007 U.S. Department of Education . ( 2007 ). National Center for Education Statistics, 2007 Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), Winter 2007–08. Retrieved from http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d09/index.asp  [Google Scholar]), it is imperative to understand their intentions to integrate technology into instruction. This study adopted the Decomposed Theory of Planned Behavior (DTPB) as a theoretical framework to survey 130 community college adjunct faculty member's intentions to participate in technology integration. Multiple regression analyses were used to analyze the data collected. Results showed that DTPB was useful in explaining much of the variance in the intention to integrate technology into teaching by community college adjunct faculty. Results also suggested that community college administrators can play an important role toward increasing technology integration by adjunct faculty through leveraging types of influence in support of behavioral intention. Research implications for instructional technologists at community colleges indicated that professional development programs should be designed based on the significant predictors in the DTPB.     

Adaptation and Pilot Testing of a Sexual Health Intervention for Female Survivors of Violence

Experiences of violence and behaviors that increase the risk of acquiring a sexually transmitted infection are high among women in the United States, and they often intersect (Meyer, Springer, &; Altice, 2011 Meyer, J. P., Springer, S. A., &; Altice, F. L. (2011). Substance abuse, violence, and HIV in women: A literature review of the syndemic. Journal of Women's Health (2002), 20(7), 991–1006. doi:10.1089/jwh.2010.2328[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]; Montgomery et al., 2015 Montgomery, B., Rompalo, A., Hughes, J., Wang, J., Haley, D., Soto-Torres, L., &; Hodder, S. (2015). Violence against women in selected areas of the united states.e1-e11. Am J Public Health, 105(10), 2156–2166 [Google Scholar]; World Health Organization (WHO), 2010 World Health Organization (WHO). (2010). Addressing violence against women and HIV/AIDS: What works?. Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization. [Google Scholar]). However, there are few evidence-based HIV-prevention interventions that address the special needs and challenges faced by female survivors of violence (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, (CDC), 2017a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2017a). Compendium of evidence-based interventions and best practices for HIV prevention. Atlanta, GA: Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention, National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, Sexual Transmitted Diseases and Tuberculosis Prevention. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/research/interventionresearch/compendium/rr/index.html [Google Scholar]). To address this gap, we adapted and pilot-tested an existing evidence-based women-focused sexual risk-reduction intervention (The Future Is Ours) with 23 self-identified female survivors of violence. The intervention comprised eight-weekly, two-hour cognitive behavioral group sessions focusing on reducing sexual-risk and improving trauma-based coping skills. Using mixed-methods analyses, the adapted intervention was determined feasible and acceptable to participants, and preliminary results suggest that participation could reduce risk factors for sexually transmitted infections. Therefore, testing on a larger scale is warranted.     

Moving From the Lab to the Field: The Role of Fidelity and Achieved Relative Intervention Strength

Abstract

As an example of how the effectiveness of well-designed laboratory interventions is often diffused in the field, we examined the effects of a motivation intervention on students' perceptions and learning. The intervention proved to be more effective in the laboratory (g = 0.45) than the field (g = 0.05) in enhancing subsequent motivation. We explored this reduction in treatment effectiveness through a fidelity analysis that examined the extent to which participants responded to the treatment. We calculated fidelity as three indices of achieved relative treatment strength (Cordray & Pion, 2006 Cordray, D. S. . The cause … or the ‘what’ of what works?. Paper presented at the Institute for Education Sciences 2006 Research Conference. Washington, DC. June,  [Google Scholar]), and found that, regardless of how fidelity was calculated, achieved relative strength was about 1 standard deviation less in the classroom than the laboratory. In addition, greater levels of achieved relative strength were associated with greater differences in the motivational outcome—indicating that intervention was more effective for participants who actually received the treatment than those who did not. Multilevel analyses indicated that the drop in classroom treatment fidelity was partially because of teacher, rather than student, factors. Implications for theoretical models of change and research are discussed.     

Contextualized Learning May Redefine Remedial Education

Paul Fain (2011 Fain , P. ( 2011 , September 26 ). Questioning assumptions. Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved from http://www.insidehighered.com/  [Google Scholar]), cited community college leaders who overwhelmingly voted at the Reimagining Community Colleges invitation-only conference held September 23, 2011 in New York City, for team teaching and other innovations as the most important fix for remedial education in community colleges. Team teaching is not common in postsecondary education and is difficult to do well. This paper presents the argument that it is the contextualized material that leads to team teaching success. Contextualized learning has not been rigorously researched, and it is far from having enough research for most community colleges to learn from and adapt. Although Perin (2011 Perin , D. ( 2011 ). Facilitating student learning through contextualization: A review of evidence . Community College Review , 39 ( 3 ), 268 – 295 .[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]) found that contextualized learning had been used in various ways in educational literature, this paper focuses on the integration of remedial education materials into a community college career technical skills coursework.     

Mathematics Achievement in the Netherlands and Appropriateness of the TIMSS Mathematics Test

Evaluators are frequently asked to assess the effectiveness of school programs implemented to improve academic achievement. School connectedness has been shown to be directly related to academic achievement (McNeely, Nonnemaker, &; Blum, 2002 McNeely, C. A., Nonnemaker, J. M. and Blum, R. W. 2002. Promoting school connectedness: Evidence from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Journal of School Health, 72: 138–146. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) and is therefore of interest to evaluators. The construct of school connectedness has been shown to consist of 3 elements: connectedness to adults in schools, connectedness to peers, and connectedness to the school (Karcher &; Lee, 2002 Karcher, M. J. and Lee, Y. 2002. Connectedness among Taiwanese middle school students: A validation study of the Hemingway Measure of Adolescent Connectedness. Asia Pacific Education Review, 3: 92–114. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]). This paper reports the psychometric properties and factor analyses findings from a School Connectedness Scale (SCS) given to adolescents in 2 very different high schools in the Northeast, one a large urban school and one a medium-sized suburban school. The results indicate that the SCS is highly reliable with a stable factor structure across diverse populations. The broad applications of use for the instrument are discussed.