Family relationships and perfectionism in middle‐school students

Several authors have suggested that perfectionism develops in the context of a person's family of origin. However, there are few empirical studies that address the relationship between family variables and perfectionism. This study examined the relationship between family variables and multidimensional perfectionism among a sample of 253 middle‐school students. The results indicated that adaptive perfectionism was correlated with numerous positive family variables, and adaptive perfectionists tended to have more balanced, cohesive, adaptable families, with a greater perception of parental nurturance than either maladaptive perfectionists or nonperfectionists. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Extra‐credential experiences and social closure: Working‐class students at university

Human capital theorists perceive of educational expansion as beneficial to individuals, corporations and national economies, while social closure theorists have claimed that inflation of credential requirements maintains traditional status inequalities. In this paper I argue that status inequalities are not only maintained by credential inflation, but also the inflation of extra‐credential experiences. As undergraduate degrees become more common, access to employment and further education opportunities increasingly depend on extra‐curricular and ‘enriching’ educational experiences. Using qualitative data from a longitudinal study of working‐class university students in Canada, I will address the mechanisms by which they have gained or were denied access to such experiences. The data suggest that working‐class students’ relative lack of financial resources and social networks are barriers to the development of extra‐credential experiences, which in turn leads to the change of educational and career plans for some.     

Gender differences in science attitude‐achievement relationships over time among white middle‐school students

Four causal models describing the longitudinal relationships between attitudes and achievement have been proposed in the literature. These models feature: (a) cross‐effects over time between attitudes and achievement, (b) influence of achievement predominant over time, (c) influence of attitudes predominant over time, or (d) no cross‐effects over time between attitudes and achievement. In an examin‐ation of the causal relationships over time between attitudes toward science and science achievement for White rural seventh‐ and eighth‐grade students, the cross‐effects model was the best fitting model form for students overall. However, when examined by gender, the no cross‐effects model exhibited the most accurate fit for White rural middle‐school girls, whereas a new model called the no attitudes‐path model exhibited the best fit for these boys. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals Inc. J Res Sci Teach 39: 324–340, 2002     

Teaching first‐year statistics students with COVID‐19 real‐world data: Graphs

It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words, but what about graphs? Although graphs have the potential to bring data to life, numerous studies show that learners struggle with graphical comprehension. Furthermore, many textbook examples on graphs are boring and appear meaningless to students. Students want to know more about something which is interesting, meaningful, and worth knowing, in other words, something relevant. With the outbreak of the novel coronavirus in December 2019, COVID‐19 is dominating the news worldwide, and the internet is flooded with visual presentations about the virus. To make statistics more fascinating and exciting, relevant and real‐world data such as these can be used in the classroom to stimulate the learning of important statistical concepts such as graphs. Curcio's three levels of graphical comprehension were used as a framework in this study, while the importance of developing a global view on distributions was also emphasized.     

Using guided notes with academically at‐risk high school students during a remedial summer social studies class

This study evaluated the effects guided notes on the performance of academically at‐risk high school students during a remedial summer American History class. The study compared students' own notetaking strategies with that of short‐ and long‐form guided notes. Three students were selected for data collection due to their low baseline notetaking accuracy and quiz scores and a history of severe learning problems: One was enrolled in special education programs for developmental disabilities and the other two were enrolled in English as a Second Language programs (ESL). A modified ABAB reversal design with an imbedded alternating treatments design during intervention (A. E. Kazdin, 1982) was used to compare the effects of students' notetaking accuracy and daily quiz scores while taking their own notes with the effects of responding under the short‐ and long‐form guided notes. The results indicated that both guided notes procedures were successful at increasing the accuracy of students' notes, improving session quiz scores, and were overwhelmingly preferred when compared with students taking their own notes. Differences were the number of concepts written correctly. Practical considerations and implications for adoption in the classroom were discussed. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Humble and hopeful: Welcoming first‐generation poor and working‐class students to college

Students who are the first in their family to enter higher education join a rarified and often mystifying culture of rules, rites, and rituals. A first‐generation working‐class college student who became a faculty member offers his insights and recommendations after forty years in the academy.     

Cooperative teaching project: a model for students at risk

This article describes an innovative teaching model designed to impact students at risk with the cooperative efforts of regular and special education in Grades K-3. Evaluation outcomes are presented that show the model has a positive effect on individual student performance, total building progress as measured by curriculum based measurement, special education referrals, and attitudes of participating teachers.     

In practice: Community service scholarship programs provide meaningful engagement for low‐income students

The University of Wisconsin‐Milwaukee offers financial incentives to low‐income students to perform community service. Laurie Marks explains why.     

Improving educational outcomes for at‐risk students

Drawing on data from a longitudinal study of at‐risk youth (n = 593), this article reports on the analysis of factors that enabled these youth to succeed at school. It considers the impact of three baseline factors (age, gender, ethnicity) and a number of time‐dynamic factors [positive school environment, additional educational support, positive peer and parent relationships, exclusion/expulsion from school, depression and externalising individual risk, as well as the involvement of a range of services (mental health, justice, welfare)] upon educational progress. Over time, the educational status of this group of youth deteriorated. Differences were observed for indigenous, older and male youth who had poorer outcomes on average. Positive peer groups and a positive school environment predicted better outcomes, while the use of harsh disciplinary practices such as expulsion was the strongest predictor of poorer educational outcomes and had a pervasive negative impact on all three educational progress measures. Formal services did not make an appreciable difference to educational outcomes, while the provision of additional educational support only contributed to keeping youth enrolled in educational programmes but did not appreciably improve their educational outcomes. Improving educational outcomes for at‐risk youth requires a pan‐system response, whereby schools reduce the use of expulsion and create a positive school climate, other professionals support schools to retain challenging students at school and the positive resources generated by pro‐social peer groups are harnessed.     

Willing to play the game: How at‐risk students persist in school

A qualitative case study of 17 high‐school students identified as at risk for dropping out, this research develops a grounded theory describing the process of students' persistence and the support they received from teachers and school administrators. Three interactive factors appear critical to persistence: (a) goal orientation—students' belief they will benefit from graduating, (b) willingness to play the game—students' willingness to follow school rules, and (c) meaningful connections—relationships with teachers who believed students could graduate and provided support and caring. All three factors were present for students who stayed through the school year whereas one or more was absent from the experiences of the students who left school before graduation. The research provides further support for the role of schools in supporting students' persistence and has implications for how schools support students who are struggling to stay in school. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 43: 599–611, 2006.     

RESEARCH SECTION: Curriculum integration and at‐risk students: a Canadian case study examining student learning and motivation

The combining of subject areas or disciplines, referred to in this article as curriculum integration, has been recognised as being linked to high levels of student motivation and learning. Sheryl MacMath of the University of Toronto, Jillian Roberts of the University of Victoria, and John Wallace and Xiaohong Chi of the University of Toronto discuss the findings of their case study (n = 23 students) based in a Canadian secondary school where an integrated unit on energy was taught to pupils identified as being ‘at risk’ of not completing high school. Teacher and student interviews, classroom observations and surveys were used in the case study to investigate student motivation and learning. Results from the study illustrate that students experienced higher levels of motivation and academic success compared to work on previous units. The authors explore how higher levels of student self‐efficacy were also recorded due to the repetition of content in different classrooms and across different contexts. The authors argue that further research in this area should examine more than student learning and motivation and highlights the need to focus specifically on opportunities for successful academic experiences where student efficacy is increased.     

Obesity‐Related Hormones in Low‐Income Preschool‐Age Children: Implications for School Readiness

Mechanisms underlying socioeconomic disparities in school readiness and health outcomes, particularly obesity, among preschool‐aged children are complex and poorly understood. Obesity can induce changes in proteins in the circulation that contribute to the negative impact of obesity on health; such changes may relate to cognitive and emotion regulation skills important for school readiness. We investigated obesity‐related hormones, body mass index (BMI), and school readiness in a pilot study of low‐income preschoolers attending Head Start (participating in a larger parent study). We found that the adipokine leptin was related to preschoolers' BMI z‐score, the appetite‐regulating hormones ghrelin and glucagon‐like peptide 1 (GLP‐1), and pro‐inflammatory cytokines typically associated with early life stress; and that some of these obesity‐related biomarkers were in turn related to emotion regulation. Future work should evaluate how obesity may affect multiple domains of development, and consider modeling common physiological pathways related to stress, health, and school readiness.     

The development and application of affective assessment in an upper‐level cell biology course

This study exemplifies how faculty members can develop instruments to assess affective responses of students to the specific features of the courses they teach. Means for assessing three types of affective responses are demonstrated: (a) student attitudes towards courses with differing instructional objectives and methodologies, (b) student self‐efficacy (confidence) in completing tasks common to practicing experts, and (c) interests in subject‐specific topics and associated intellectual skills. The iterative processes used in refining the instruments and performing the statistical analyses of their effectiveness are detailed. An analysis of data obtained using these instruments is also included. Positive attitudes towards courses emphasizing analytical thinking increased significantly over the course of a 14‐week semester, as did the measures of self‐efficacy. Despite the rigorous analytical nature of the course experience, the initial strong interest in cell biology topics and higher order thinking skills remained unchanged. There were no significant differences based on gender in any of the affective measures. We discuss the apparent dichotomy, revealed in these assessments, between students' idealistic, academic attitudes towards the course's effectiveness and their opinions of its effects on them personally. We conclude by reporting how insights garnered both from these formal assessments and from anecdotal communications have prompted experimental modifications in the design and conduct of the course. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 44: 1057–1087, 2007     

Conflict and contentment: Case study of the social mobility of working‐class students in Canada

This article offers a tentative exploration of how working‐class students' mobility is affected by the push to enter middle‐class careers and lifestyles, and the pull of their working‐class origins. Based on a nine‐year qualitative longitudinal study of working‐class students at a Canadian university, I will show that few study participants experienced mobility as an uncontested or linear trajectory. Two key storylines can be identified: (a) a story of adjustment, modification and contentment; and (b) a story of conflict, loss, and struggle. For most, educational mobility was tempered by revisions of occupational ambitions, by returns to their home communities and by lifestyle choices that do not fit simple narratives of status mobility. And yet, all expressed a growing sense of self‐confidence, appreciated their education as an experience of personal growth, and achieved on their own terms, in post‐graduate education and newly discovered careers.     

Still humble and hopeful: Two more recommendations on welcoming first‐generation poor and working‐class students to college

Following up on his 2007 About Campus article, Kenneth Oldfield shares six more lessons he wishes he had known as a working‐class, first‐generation college student and argues that higher education should pay more attention to first‐generation and class status among students, faculty, and staff.     

Control is the key: Unlocking the motivation of at‐risk students

Traditional instructional environments for at‐risk (i.e., unmotivated) students are teacher controlled and provide low‐level, routine tasks. This, however, contradicts current theory and research regarding environments that enhance motivation to learn. To effectively assist motivationally disadvantaged students, instructional environments must support autonomy and challenge. Six “at‐risk” students in an alternative education program completed motivation surveys after engaging in various learning activities. Overall, the participants completed 54 surveys. Using multiple regression, involvement, boredom, confusion, competence, and desire to be doing something else were regressed on perceived challenge and perceived control. The results indicated that control and challenge were significant predictors of the motivation variables. The findings are discussed in terms of awakening to the powerful influence of instructional tasks on student motivation and desire to engage in learning activities. Limitations of the present study provide insights into future endeavors. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Teaching as a trans‐world activity

John Hull lost his sight more than 20 years ago. He has written extensively about the nature of blindness. In the course of this, he has developed a philosophy of disability or impairment which emphasises the many different worlds of human experience. This leads him to the thought that the teacher of special children, many of whom will be living in or on the fringes of one of these worlds, must be able to enter imaginatively into other human worlds and thus become a trans‐world educator.     

Growth in Precursor and Reading‐Related Skills: Do Low‐Achieving and IQ‐Discrepant Readers Develop Differently?

Poor readers who met low achievement and IQ‐discrepancy definitions of reading disability were compared with nonimpaired readers on their development of eight precursor and reading‐related skills to evaluate developmental differences prior to students’ identification as reading disabled. Results indicated no evidence for differences between the two groups of poor readers in the development of the eight skills, with three exceptions. Students in the IQ‐discrepant group demonstrated greater growth in letter sound knowledge, greater mean performance in visual‐motor integration at the beginning of first grade, and greater deceleration in rapid naming of letters. When compared to the nonimpaired group, low‐achieving readers demonstrated poorer performance and development in all skills, while the IQ‐discrepant readers demonstrated poorer performance and development in phonemic awareness, rapid naming of letters and objects, spelling, and word reading. The largely null results for comparisons between the two groups of poor readers challenges the validity of the two‐group classification of reading disabilities based on IQ‐discrepancy.