Examining the Predictive Validity of an Instrument: Technology Attitudes and Learning

This article reports the results of a study examining the predictive validity of a computer attitude instrument. The researchers attempted to determine the extent to which this instrument predicts student learning. Data from two universities were collected using this instrument over a nine-year period and were sorted into three sets with a random n of 400 in each. Three procedures were performed. First, one set of data was used to develop a base model of prediction. Second, this model was used to calculate the predicted learning achievement scores for the other two sets of data. Finally, in those two sets of data, the means of the predicted and observed learning achievement scores were compared using inferential statistics. The predictive validity of the instrument was confirmed, as no significant differences were found between the mean predicted and observed learning outcome scores.     

高校社会工作的介入及学生工作系统的重构

我国目前高等学校学生工作系统承担了很多学生教育的工作,学生工作系统内部存在着分工不明、工作专业性不强等问题.随着社会的发展、大学生的情况变化,原有学生工作的体系已不能适应以学生为本的教育要求,需要学校社会工作的介入.本文从高校社会工作介入的必要性入手,探讨高校社会工作介入的方式,研究学生工作系统的重新构建,以期使学生工作系统更适应其育人要求.     

The impacts of an early mathematics curriculum on oral language and literacy

Competence in early mathematics is crucial for later school success. Although research indicates that early mathematics curricula improve children's mathematics skill, such curricula's impacts on oral language and early literacy skills are not known. This project is the first to investigate the effects of an intensive pre-kindergarten mathematics curriculum, Building Blocks, on the oral language and letter recognition of children participating in a large-scale cluster randomized trial project. Results showed no evidence that children who were taught mathematics using the curriculum performed differently than control children who received the typical district mathematics instruction on measures of letter recognition, and on two of the oral language (story retell) subtests, sentence length and inferential reasoning (emotive content). However, children in the Building Blocks group outperformed children in the control group on four oral language subtests: ability to recall key words, use of complex utterances, willingness to reproduce narratives independently, and inferential reasoning (practical content).     

Articulating the validity evidence for a science alternate assessment

Students with the most significant cognitive disabilities (SCD) are the 1% of the total student population who have a disability or multiple disabilities that significantly impact intellectual functioning and adaptive behaviors and who require individualized instruction and substantial supports. Historically, these students have received little instruction in science and the science assessments they have participated in have not included age‐appropriate science content. Guided by a theory of action for a new assessment system, an eight‐state consortium developed multidimensional alternate content standards and alternate assessments in science for students in three grade bands (3–5, 6–8, 9–12) that are linked to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS Lead States, 2013 ) and A Framework for K‐12 Science Education (Framework; National Research Council, 2012 ). The great variability within the population of students with SCD necessitates variability in the assessment content, which creates inherent challenges in establishing technical quality. To address this issue, a primary feature of this assessment system is the use of hypothetical cognitive models to provide a structure for variability in assessed content. System features and subsequent validity studies were guided by a theory of action that explains how the proposed claims about score interpretation and use depend on specific assumptions about the assessment, as well as precursors to the assessment. This paper describes evidence for the main claim that test scores represent what students know and can do. We present validity evidence for the assumptions about the assessment and its precursors, related to this main claim. The assessment was administered to over 21,000 students in eight states in 2015–2016. We present selected evidence from system components, procedural evidence, and validity studies. We evaluate the validity argument and demonstrate how it supports the claim about score interpretation and use.     

A longitudinal quantitative investigation into the concurrent validity of self and peer assessment applied to English-Chinese bi-directional interpretation in an undergraduate interpreting course

One of the productive lines of research on self-assessment (SA) and peer assessment (PA) concerns their concurrent validity with respect to a criterion measure. However, similar research has rarely been conducted for spoken-language interpreting. This article therefore reports on a longitudinal study that investigated the validity of self and peer ratings on three performance dimensions of English-Chinese consecutive interpretation (i.e., information completeness, fluency of delivery, and target language quality), taking teachers’ ratings as a yardstick. Major findings include: although the students as a group were unable to replicate teachers’ ratings, they were able to rank-order their performances in a fairly accurate manner and improved their SA and PA accuracy over time. Interpreting directionality seems to moderate the correlational strength of self/teacher ratings and peer/teacher ratings. These results are discussed in relation to previous literature, and pedagogical suggestions are provided to improve SA and PA for bi-directional interpretation.     

Impact of an Early Reading First program on the language and literacy achievement of children from diverse language backgrounds

This study used an age-cutoff regression discontinuity design to examine the impact of a well-resourced Early Reading First prekindergarten program designed to foster the language and literacy development of 4-year-old children from low-income homes. A special challenge for the application of the language-rich curriculum and professional development package implemented in this study was the presence of a large proportion of ELL children in essentially English-speaking classrooms. We, therefore, sought to determine whether the program was effective for improving English language and literacy outcomes for English-language learners as well as native English speakers. There were large and significant differences between treatment and control groups on literacy outcomes for all students. On the literacy tasks, ELL students in the treatment groups performed nearly as well or better than non-ELL students at the beginning of kindergarten, and reached national norms on standardized tests. There were also significant program impacts on some language outcomes for all students. ELL students who received the intervention significantly outperformed ELL students in the control groups on English receptive and expressive vocabulary. On the more complex oral comprehension skills, preschool did not have a significant impact for ELL students. Intervention effects on receptive vocabulary and oral comprehension for native speakers were found only for the third cohort and were not found for expressive vocabulary. These results provide evidence that, given material supports, coaching, professional development, and the use of a language and literacy-focused curriculum, prekindergarten classrooms can enable low-SES children from diverse language backgrounds to enter kindergarten with literacy skills at or near national norms and can significantly impact some language skills. While non-native speakers of English continued to score lower on language measures than their native-speaking peers, results show that 1 year of preschool can put all children on a positive trajectory for long-term success in school.     

高校推行全员聘用制的思想政治工作探索

事业单位推行全员聘用制，是事业单位用人制度的重大改革，也是高校用人机制的根本转变。改革必将破除终身制，必将触动人事管理工作中长期存在的弊端，触动教职工的切身利益，因此，必须坚持改革中的思想政治工作，确保改革顺利进行。     

Combining self-assessments and achievement tests in information literacy assessment: empirical results and recommendations for practice

This article examines the significance of information literacy self-assessments in higher education with a special focus on situational conditions increasing their explanatory power. First, it was hypothesised that self-assessments of information literacy correlate higher with factual information literacy if measured after the administration of information search tasks (and tests) due to the intrinsic feedback associated with their completion. Furthermore, it was assumed that self-assessments measured after the administration of information search tasks explain incremental variance over standardised information literacy tests in information search performance. A study with N = 82 German psychology students was carried out to verify these assumptions. Information literacy self-efficacy (as one form of self-assessment), as well as the PIKE-P information literacy test and several standardised information search tasks, was included in the test battery. As both assumptions were largely supported, we recommend that researchers complement their test batteries by self-assessments but warn them against relying primarily on this method. We further recommend that self-assessments should take place at the end of testing.     

Reflections on the Teacher Education System Overhaul (TESO) program in Ethiopia: Promises, pitfalls, and propositions

In 2003 the Ethiopian education system experienced wide-ranging reform that touches every aspect of the system. This reform is called TESO (Teacher Education System Overhaul). Designed to address educational problems in Ethiopia, TESO introduced significant structural changes and promised to bring a ‘paradigm shift’ in the Ethiopian educational system by engaging teacher education in changing society and promoting democratic, practical, and problem-solving education. This paper examines, through an analysis of the TESO document and an examination of the views of teacher educators, TESO’s assumptions, mission and the coherence among the various components of TESO. It also reveals gaps and discrepancies between TESO’s mission, its reform process, and strategies. The promise and assumptions of TESO are challenged by considering extant realities in Ethiopian schools and evidence from literature on effective teacher education programs and educational reform. The paper reflects on how, by giving priority to equity, TESO compromises on some elements of effective teacher education programs. It is indicated that TESO has been a welcome addition to the Ethiopian education system as it addresses elements that had previously been missing from the system, such as, outlining directions to teacher education, devoting longer duration for practicum, and heeding seriously to the professional preparation of teachers. At the same time, it is contended that the imbalance among program components, its permeability to ill-prepared students and the contradiction between program rhetoric and strategy and reform processes, as described by teacher educators, could be stumbling blocks which prevent TESO from fulfilling its promises.     

Scale of Pedagogical Authority Meanings in the classroom (ESAPA) for Ibero-America built on the opinions of teaching students

Students’ perceptions of teachers as authority figures affect teaching-learning processes. This quantitative instrumental study encompasses the design and assessment of the psychometric properties of a Likert scale (the Scale of Pedagogical Authority Meanings in the Classroom¹ –ESAPA) that examines these perceptions. The scale underwent an expert assessment and was applied to 913 university students from four Ibero-American countries. After the factor analyses, the goodness-of-fit indices revealed that the four-factor correlated model fitted the data well. Thus, the scale is a reliable instrument to spot the meanings attributed to pedagogical authority.     

Screening for potential child maltreatment in parents of a newborn baby: The predictive validity of an Instrument for early identification of Parents At Risk for child Abuse and Neglect (IPARAN)

For preventive purposes it is important to be able to identify families with a high risk of child maltreatment at an early stage. Therefore we developed an actuarial instrument for screening families with a newborn baby, the Instrument for identification of Parents At Risk for child Abuse and Neglect (IPARAN). The aim of this study was to assess the predictive validity of the IPARAN and to examine whether combining actuarial and clinical methods leads to an improvement of the predictive validity. We examined the predictive validity by calculating several performance indicators (i.e., sensitivity, specificity and the Area Under the receiver operating characteristic Curve [AUC]) in a sample of 4692 Dutch families with newborns. The outcome measure was a report of child maltreatment at Child Protection Services during a follow-up of 3 years. For 17 children (.4%) a report of maltreatment was registered. The predictive validity of the IPARAN was significantly better than chance (AUC = .700, 95% CI [.567–.832]), in contrast to a low value for clinical judgement of nurses of the Youth Health Care Centers (AUC = .591, 95% CI [.422–.759]). The combination of the IPARAN and clinical judgement resulted in the highest predictive validity (AUC = .720, 95% CI [.593–.847]), however, the difference between the methods did not reach statistical significance. The good predictive validity of the IPARAN in combination with clinical judgment of the nurse enables professionals to assess risks at an early stage and to make referrals to early intervention programs.     

Explaining the Predictive Accuracy of Teacher Judgments of Their Students' Reading Achievement: The Role of Gender,Classroom Behavior,and Emergent Literacy Skills in a Longitudinal Sample of Children Exposed to Poverty

The factors that explain why teachers are ableto accurately predict their students' futurereading ability were examined in a longitudinalstudy from first- to third-grade in childrenexposed to poverty (N = 170). Teacher ratingswere similarly based on both their students'emergent literacy skills and classroombehavior. Meanwhile, the influences ofclassroom behavior on later variability inreading skills were much less than, and almostcompletely redundant with, prior emergentliteracy. Virtually all of the shared variancebetween teacher ratings and later readingskills was explained by prior levels ofemergent literacy. Implications of the resultsand future research were discussed.     

论高职“双师型”教学团队建设的制度保障

＂双师型＂教学团队建设是高职院校可持续发展和人才培养质量提高的关键问题。我国高职教学团队建设中存在诸多问题,借鉴国外职教师资培训的经验,我们应该加强＂双师型＂教学团队建设的制度保障,为教师成长营造良好的环境。     

Narrative inquiry for teacher education and development: Focus on English as a foreign language in China

Teacher education and development takes place within an encompassing local system of education and ongoing forms of school improvement. Critical to successful teacher development when Western ideas are being adopted in other cultures is narratively linking development programmes to this local education system, such as in China, and to its culturally established ways of knowing and being. This paper presents a narrative inquiry approach to teacher development that builds on the existing educational system, ongoing school reforms, and culturally established ways of knowing and being. The paper concludes with the potential of teacher development to shape global values that may be shared among cultures.     

澳门教师专业发展新动向评析——基于《非高等教育私立学校教学人员制度框架》的分析

文章对澳门《非高等教育私立学校教学人员制度框架》颁布的背景、主要目标、内容和特点作了简要述评。阐述了该法案对培养澳门私立学校未来教师和促进教师的专业持续发展所具有的重要意义,体现出澳门教师专业发展"以人为本"的原则和终身持续发展的理念,从而促进澳门教师教育逐步走上规范化和专业化的轨道。     

博士学位论文评审指标体系可靠吗——基于全数据的信度和效度研究

论文评审是学位论文质量评价的重要环节。为了使评审结果能真实地反映博士学位论文的质量和水平,必须首先保证论文评审指标体系的准确性、可靠性和有效性。信度和效度分析是验证指标体系准确性、可靠性和有效性的重要方法。文章利用北京师范大学五年博士学位论文匿名评审全数据量化结果,对评审指标体系的信度和效度进行实证研究。结果表明,目前广泛采用的评审指标体系具有良好的信度和效度,能够真实地反映博士学位论文的质量和水平。     

An instrument in search of a theory: Structural validity of the Kaufman assessment battery for children-second edition normative update at school-age

The present study examined the factor structure of the Kaufman assessment battery for children-second edition normative update with normative sample participants aged 7–18 years (N = 500) using confirmatory factor analysis with maximum likelihood estimation and multidimensional scaling procedures. For the 10 subtest Cattell-Horn-Carroll core battery configuration, an alternative hierarchical model with four group-specific factors (crystallized ability, perceptual reasoning, short-term memory, and long-term storage and retrieval) provided the best fit to the normative data for both age groups. These results suggest caution for interpreting the visual processing and fluid reasoning index scores in isolation given the inability to locate those constructs independently at school-age. Implications for the clinical interpretation of the measurement instrument moving forward are discussed.     

The Chilean instructional pattern for the teaching of language: A video-survey study based on a national program for the assessment of teaching

I investigated the instructional pattern for the teaching of language at the elementary school level in Chile. The data were obtained from analyzing videos filmed for a teaching assessment system implemented by the Chilean Government. The system identified four levels of teacher competence. I treated these levels of competence as an independent factor. The dependents variables of interest were frequency of teacher questions and follow-ups in four categories, social organization of the lesson and time on task. Most of teachers studied are clearly aligned with an adult-run model of education. Evidence for adherence to this pedagogical approach can be found in (a) teacher questioning and teacher reactions to students' contributions, and (b) the place accorded to the teacher in the social organization of the lesson. The teaching pattern uncovered has its roots in the intuitive pedagogies endorsed by Chilean teachers, which in turn rest on Chilean cultural models of pedagogy.     

Expanding an Action Research framework for an evidence based mentoring program in nursing: an exploration of cooperative inquiry

ABSTRACT

This paper explores the development of cooperative inquiry as a methodology for nursing research. It commences with a historical overview of Action Research and its use in nursing. The applicability of Action Research approaches in higher education are then discussed in the context of creating partnerships between universities, students and the wider civic and social community. The concept of partnerships informs discussion of a peer mentoring project for undergraduate nursing students conducted using a cooperative inquiry methodology.     

浅谈农村小学语文教师的语文素养及其提升策略

文章以文献研究的方法梳理了语文素养的内涵,得出语文素养包含人文素养、语文知识、语文技能等内容。同时,文章分析了农村小学语文教师群体存在的问题：语文教师群体结构不良、语文素养内涵不足、缺乏竞争压力和自我发展意识,进而提出提升其语文素养的策略：将年轻高学历毕业生充实到农村教师队伍中、对现有教师进行适当的在职培训、建立合理的考核与退出机制,保障高素养教师从事农村语文教育。