Utilizing Additional Measures of High School Academic Preparation to Support Students in their Math Self-Assessment

ABSTRACT

This study describes student behavior through the actual assessment and placement (A&P) process. It then uses an alternative A&P policy that utilizes an additional measure that assesses prior math preparedness alongside subtest choice. Utilizing data from a community college that allows its' students to choose the assessment subtest used to place them, we find a misalignment between students’ subtest choice and the highest math course they passed. After correcting for this misalignment through our alternative A&P criteria, we found that students experience increased access to higher levels of math while exhibiting similar success rates in their placed courses.     

Career Development Among Ethnic and Age Groups of Community College Students

The purpose of this study was to examine differences in career development among four ethnic groups and two age groups of community college students in regard to their career goals, career preparation actions, and the number of job seeking strategies utilized. Data were obtained from the Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study (BPS: 90/94) of the National Center for Educational Statistics (NOES), U.S. Department of Education. Results suggest that there are statistically significant differences among the ethnic groups in six of the seven career goals; however, there are no significant differences between the traditional and non-traditional age groups in career goals. For career preparation action there are significant differences between the two age groups and also between Black/African American and White/European American students. There is no significant difference among the age or ethnic groups in the number of job seeking strategies utilized. These findings imply that student services providers, such as counselors, should be sensitive to community college students' backgrounds and experiences related to ethnicity and age. Individualized career-related workshops tailored to the career needs of specific student populations should be offered. The function of community colleges as providers of employment preparation can be enhanced by familiarizing students with accurate career information, considering students' ethnic backgrounds and their age.     

Academic Outcomes Among a Sample of Learning Support Community College Students

This research examined the relationship between placement in a learning support college program and subsequent academic outcomes. The sample consisted of 275 entering freshmen students who were enrolled in the Learning Support reading courses in the fall of 2005. Data were collected from the Gordon College Office of Institutional Research. The data showed that of the 275 students who enrolled in a Learning Support reading course in the fall 2005 semester, 189 returned for the spring 2006 semester. Data also showed that 58% of the 275 students enrolled in Learning Support reading during fall 2005 successfully completed a basic reading intensive course upon completion of their remedial reading class. One hundred eighty seven students who had previously completed Learning Support reading enrolled (spring 2006 or later) in Introductory English 101 and 121 passed. Fifty-five students who had completed Learning Support reading enrolled (spring 2006 or later) in History 1121, Western Civilization, and 20 students passed. Six of the 205 students who completed Learning Support reading graduated Gordon College within a three-year period. The results of the present study indicate that the Learning Support Reading Program in place at Gordon College has proven to be a beneficial tool for at-risk college students. It is assumed that programs such as the Learning Support Program described here may help students build a foundation that will aid them throughout their college career.     

Spiritual Capital in Communities of Color: Religion and Spirituality as Sources of Community Cultural Wealth

The Urban Review - In this paper, we seek to advance theoretical understanding of how religion, spirituality, and spiritual capital serve as key sources for community cultural wealth (Yosso in Race...     

Pedagogies of Survival: Cultural Resources to Foster Resilience Among Mexican-American Community College Students

This in-depth case shows how five Mexican-American community college students use their pedagogies of survival to build resistance and navigate through the barriers of community colleges. Pedagogies of survival emanate from social, cultural, economic, and historical struggles of the students, their families, and their communities which engender orgullo (pride) and sabiduría (wisdom) and fosters their resilience. This resilience evolves from a long history of inequitable treatment and is maintained from birth to the present.     

Academic Capital and the Career Orientations of High School Students

In this study, we explore how career orientations of Russian high schoolers are related to the quality of their academic capital. We introduce and validate the concept of the academic capital of high school students. We describe why we chose Schein’s Career Orientations Inventory as a screening instrument, which allows us to determine whether the individual is aware of their vector of future career advancement, and we propose how the instrument can be modified to be used among the cohort of high school students that form the subject of our study. During the course of the study, we tested three hypotheses of the interrelationship between the academic capital of high school students and their career orientations.     

民族高中和普通高中学生职业兴趣比较研究

本研究采用巴雷特(Jim Barrett)的职业调查测验量表,对青海民族地区的618名高中生进行了职业兴趣问卷测查。结果显示:(1)民族地区高中生的职业兴趣特征倾向依次是:实验型→文字型→组织型→艺术型→商业型→社会型→自然型;(2)民族高中和普通高中同一年级的学生、同一学校不同性别的学生、同一民族而不同学校的藏族学生,均在职业兴趣类型上具有显著性差异,但差异性程度不同。文章还分析了民族地区高中生的职业兴趣类型差异及其成因。     

Walking the Path Together from High School to STEM Majors and Careers: Utilizing Community Engagement and a Focus on Teaching to Increase Opportunities for URM Students

Despite decades of efforts to increase the participation of women and people from underrepresented minority groups (URM) in science and math majors and careers, and despite the increasing diversification of the US population as a whole (Planty et al in National Center for Education Statistics, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, Washington, DC, 2008), participation in STEM majors and STEM careers (including STEM teaching) remains stubbornly male and white (Landivar in American Community Survey Reports, ACS-24, U.S. Census Bureau, Washington, DC, 2013; National Science Foundation and National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics in Special Report NSF 15-311, Arlington, VA, 2015). This paper describes a project with two central goals: (1) to provide opportunities for URM high school students to engage in authentic science and math inquiry with the support of skilled college undergraduate mentors in the hope that these experiences will encourage these high school students to choose and persist in pursuing careers in STEM fields and, even if they do not choose those careers, to feel confident making complex, science or math-based decisions in their everyday lives and (2) to help the mentors (young people, mostly STEM majors) see teaching as a vital, intellectually challenging career that can provide them the opportunity to work for social justice in their communities. While it is unlikely that any one experience will help young people overcome the long odds that face them as they consider either path, our analysis suggests that projects of this kind can make a meaningful contribution to the effort.     

Career Decisional States of Australian and South African High School Students

The influence of contextualfactors on the career decision states of 429South African and 623 Australian male andfemale students in grades 8 to 12 wasinvestigated. The results for both nationalsamples on the Career Decision Scaledemonstrate that grade, gender, and theinteraction of grade and gender impact on thedevelopmental progression of career decisionbehaviour. Gender differences across nationswere more pronounced for males than females.Both South African and Australian students aremore decided in lower grades. Internationaldifferences suggest that South African studentsare less certain and evidence greaterindecision than Australian students. Theimplications for educational decision pointsand career education practices are discussed.     

北京市初中生生涯适应力及生涯需求调查研究

对北京市某中学初中生生涯适应力水平和生涯需求的调查发现,北京市初中生生涯适应力达到中上水平,初二学生的生涯适应力显著高于初一学生,但男女生在生涯适应力各维度上不存在显著差异;有无理想专业对初中生的生涯适应力有显著预测作用.调查样本中,87.70％的初中生认为生涯指导重要,64.30％的初中生希望通过课程的形式开展生涯指...     

农村高中毕业生升学意愿的现状及其影响因素分析

本研究利用对江西省所做调查的数据，运用Logistic多元逐步回归分析的方法，对在高校收费条件下影响农村高中毕业生升学意愿的因素进行了分析。结果显示，在所有被考虑的自变量相同的情况下，被调查学生的升学意愿与高考有关科目成绩排名、母亲的期望程度、学生就读学校的类别、学生对国家所做的承诺以及家庭是否以政府或社会救济为经济来源之一等因素密切相关。其他因素对升学意愿没有显性影响。     

从一个高中生的角度看社团建设对高中生的影响

目前,高中社团建设越来越受到重视,高中三年是人生中至关重要的三年,除了课堂学习以外,高中生还要用丰富多彩的社团活动主动营造全面成长的天地,参加社团活动使当代高中生锻炼了能力、展现了自我,提高了素质,缓解了学习和心理压力,提供了全面发展的舞台。     

Achievement Outcomes Among High School Graduates in College and Career Readiness Programs of Study

This study investigated the relationships between completing the high school portion of a college- and career-preparatory program of study and high school achievement outcomes in a large urban district in the West. Programs of study are secondary-to-postsecondary educational programs mandated by the federal legislation (Perkins IV) governing career and technical education (CTE) in the United States. At graduation, 49.5% of students in the sample who began a program of study had completed their programs. Using multiple regression models, we compared graduates who completed a program of study (hereafter POS completers) to graduates who completed a number of CTE courses in a specific occupational area (CTE concentrators), and to graduates who may have taken a CTE course or two during high school but were neither POS completers nor CTE concentrators (All Others). POS completers were more likely to (a) have a higher overall GPA, (b) have a higher CTE GPA, and (c) earn more STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) credits than All Other students. Compared with CTE concentrators, POS completers were more likely to (a) have a higher overall GPA and (b) earn more STEM credits. Qualitative data describe contextual elements of programs of study as offered in West District that could explain these results. Study results suggest that districts should consider implementing career-themed programs such as programs of study that enhance their existing college- and career-readiness initiatives. We also call for further study of the postsecondary and labor market outcomes associated with programs of study in order to generate a clearer picture of their potential to increase academic and technical achievement and promote successful student transitions to higher education and the workplace.     

The Relationship Between Career Maturity and Work Commitment in a Sample of Australian High School Students

The present study reports on a study conducted with 377 Australian students enrolled in grades 9 through 12. The Australian version of the Career Development Inventory (CDI-A; Lokan, 1984) and a work commitment measure modified for the Australian context (Rowley & Feather, 1987) were administered. Analyses were conducted with the four subscales of the CDI-A as the dependent measures, and two levels of work commitment (high/low), four levels of age (14–17) and gender (female/male) as the independent variables. Work commitment was moderately correlated with all subscales of the CDI-A. Gender differences were evident on work commitment and career maturity. A striking finding was the strong relationship between work commitment and the knowledge component of career maturity for females. Findings are discussed in the context of changing educational and labour market opportunities and the role of education programs in career maturity development.     

教师自主支持对初中生学校适应的影响:有调节的中介模型

采用学习氛围量表、学校适应量表、青少年学业情绪问卷和意向性自我调节量表,对663名初中生进行问卷调查,探讨学业情绪在教师自主支持与初中生学校适应之间的中介效应,以及这一中介效应能否被意向性自我调节所调节.结果发现:学生感知的教师自主支持、学业情绪、意向性自我调节、学校适应之间均呈现显著相关关系;消极高唤醒和消极低唤醒学业情绪在教师自主支持与学校适应关系中起部分中介作用;学业情绪的中介作用受到意向性自我调节的调节.为了改善和提高青少年的学校适应水平,学校和教师应积极营造自主支持的教育氛围,注重改善学生的学业情绪,同时着力提升青少年的意向性自我调节能力.     

The Influence of Career Beliefs and Socio-Economic Status on the Career Decision-Making of High School Students in India

This paper responds to current discussions in career psychology that emphasise the importance of understanding how socio-economic backgrounds and social-cognitive environments influence career development. Located in India, this study examines the interaction between career beliefs and socio-economic status within a sample of Indian high school students. Significant socio-economic status differences were observed, with the lower SES groups showing higher levels of negative career beliefs. The relevance of these findings to career psychologists who work in multi cultural contexts is discussed within the framework of the Social Cognitive Theories of Career Decision Making. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Correction to: The Role of Family Support in Facilitating Academic Success of Low-Income Students

Research in Higher Education - The original version of this article unfortunately contained a mistake in the acknowledgement section. Some of the vital information is missing in the published...     

Reconstructing the Cultural Context of Urban Schools: Listening to the Voices of High School Students

Through listening to the voices of students, educators and community members can begin to reconstruct the culture of urban schools that are often full of stories about student deficits, genetic explanations about achievement, and cultural mismatch theories that may be traced to historical and sociological ideologies. The purpose of this heuristic qualitative investigation was to explore the ways in which student voice can contribute to reculturing high schools in urban settings. Data sources for this study included videotaped interviews and observations in two Midwestern urban high schools to explore the stories of 28 culturally and linguistically diverse students in grades 10 through 12. Findings suggested that the teens in these urban high schools want caring teachers who listen attentively, provide engaging learning opportunities, and who demonstrate high expectations for achievement. They did not want teachers who, in essence, perpetuate hegemonic discourses via pedagogical practices, and school environments that resemble prisons. At the same time, students wanted more structure to “avoid chaos” and asked teachers to give attention to the paradigm of the personal within the school curriculum. We extend the meaning of the study to include student voice as a critical stance for reconstructing the cultural context of urban schools, which entails listening to students to identify complex and sensitive topics for dialogue and inquiry.     

Cultural Relay in Early Childhood Education: Methods of Teaching School Behavior to Low-Income Children

There is a distinct class difference in the way that children are taught school behavior. Teachers in affluent schools use more implicit teaching techniques while teachers of low-income children are more explicit in their teaching of behavior. This stems largely from the alignment of the home culture of middle class children to school behavior and the difference between the home culture of low-income children to school codes. However, middle class children learn behavior at home implicitly. This study examines the possibility of low-income children learning school behavior implicitly while at school. The researcher observed two Chicago Head Start centers??one using implicit instruction and one teaching behavior explicitly??over a period of 5?months. Observational data showed that the children that learned school behavior through implicit teaching techniques better internalized school behavior and, by extension, middle class codes.     

Self-Regulated Learning and a Sense of Achievement in MOOCs Among High School Science and Technology Students

This study, conducted in Israel, examined how learning strategies and motivational orientations contributed to high school students’ sense of achievement in a massive open online course. The objective was to integrate an innovative teaching–learning strategy into the educational system that is based on online learning for students in subjects that are rich in knowledge and technology. The researchers used a motivated strategies learning questionnaire modified to fit the purpose of this study. In addition, the researchers built and used a sense of achievement index based on social pedagogy as a leading principle in the current learning model. Structural Equation Modeling path analysis results suggested that projects-based learning subjects had a significant positive impact on motivational orientations and learning strategies, and they in turn had a significant positive impact on students’ sense of achievement.