Assessing the cognitive abilities of culturally and linguistically diverse students: Predictive validity of verbal,quantitative, and nonverbal tests

Verbal and quantitative reasoning tests provide valuable information about cognitive abilities that are important to academic success. Information about these abilities may be particularly valuable to teachers of students who are English‐language learners (ELL), because leveraging reasoning skills to support comprehension is a critical aptitude for their academic success. However, due to concerns about cultural bias, many researchers advise exclusive use of nonverbal tests with ELL students despite a lack of evidence that nonverbal tests provide greater validity for these students. In this study, a test measuring verbal, quantitative, and nonverbal reasoning was administered to a culturally and linguistically diverse sample of students. The two‐year predictive relationship between ability and achievement scores revealed that nonverbal scores had weaker correlations with future achievement than did quantitative and verbal reasoning ability scores for ELL and non‐ELL students. Results do not indicate differential prediction and do not support the exclusive use of nonverbal tests for ELL students. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The effects of daily homework assignments on the acquisition of basic skills by students with learning disabilities

Examined in this two-study investigation was the effectiveness of supplemental homework assignments on the acquisition of basic skills by students with diagnosed learning disabilities (LD). In Experiment 1, an adapted alternating treatments design was used to investigate the efficacy of unstructured homework assignments with 6 elementary school-aged students having basic math problems. Although the impact of the homework assignments differed across students, three factors maximized the effectiveness of the homework assignments: rate of homework completion, percentage correct on the homework assignments, and the rate of acquisition of the content being presented. Experiment 2, designed to formally test the effectiveness of homework assignments structured specifically to address these identified factors, confirmed that homework can be employed to increase the effectiveness of direct instruction sequences with students diagnosed as LD.     

高职学生机测中“命题说话”项失误分析及对策

普通话机测后出现了很多新问题,特别是第四题＂命题说话＂项,被测人失分增加,严重影响了测试成绩。针对机测后被测人第四项＂命题说话＂失误原因提出了相应的对策。     

体验式道德教育课外作业设计与安排

课外作业在学生品德建构方面起着课堂教学不可替代的作用。体验式作业一端连着活动或情境,另一端连着认知与感悟。课外体验、作业的形式多种多样,对体验解读的角度不同也就构建了不同的体验作业的范式。     

Transfronteriza pre-service teachers managing,resisting, and coping with the demands of mathematical discourse

This article reports on a case study of a college class for pre-service teachers on the US–Mexico border in which students participated in in-depth discussion around mathematical problems every day. This pedagogical approach promotes the socialization of students into and through the specialized discourse of mathematics. The focus of this paper is on the experience of transfronterizo students in that course. Transfronterizos are Mexican residents who periodically cross the border to attend school. For these students, whose educational background in Mexico allowed them to develop proficiency in elementary mathematical discourse in Spanish, their socialization experience includes ways in which they draw on language, and other social and learning experiences in Mexico. The focus of this paper is an assignment called Thinking Logs, a genre that required the use of mathematical discourse for teaching. Drawing on data gathered from participant observation of the course, interviews, analysis of study session discourse, and genre analysis, I highlight agentive ways that each participant used in their own socialization process. I show how participants improvised writing of models, asked for clarification in the first language, and even resisted the discourse. Students who resisted the demands might incur negative effects. Furthermore, I argue that the role of the guidance from an expert (such as a professor) is imperative in a socialization process, and I offer implications for ways that teachers can guide second language writers to develop mathematics discourse.     

Assessing Learning Quality: reconciling institutional,staff and educational demands

Two major frameworks for educational decision making, including decisions on assessment, can be distinguished: quantitative, whichis adequate for construing some kinds of learning; and qualitative, which should be the appropriate framework for enabling decisions flowing from most tertiary educational aims. However, for various reasons, institutions implicitly encourage a quantitative framework for assessment‐related decision making, particularly evident in the recent emphasis on accountability and performance indicators. This is unfortunate because, through the backwash effect, quantitative modes of assessment encourage surface approaches to learning, which typically lead to low cognitive‐level outcomes that are not compatible with stated course objectives. It is argued that an institution and its educational practices comprise a system in equilibrium, and that if educational goals are to be realised, the whole system needs to be compatible with those aims.     

布置怎样的化学作业最能打动学生的心

作业是帮助学生巩固、理解、消化知识的重要途径,然而我在教学实践中。发现欠做作业、抄袭作业的现象时有发生。欠做、抄袭作业的往往是成绩差的学生。将绚丽多彩的化学变成一套刻板的习题演练,将远较其他学科有趣的化学变得索然寡味、望而生畏,甚至使学生受到不必要的折磨,这些教学中的     

论师生话语权的共享

长期以来，在师生交往中师生话语权处于失衡状态，主要表现为教师话语的膨胀与学生话语的失落。让师生共享话语权的关键在于唤醒学生的主体意识，通过对话使师生共享话语权力。     

Variation in class size,the class size paradox,and some consequences for students

Even where a total allocation of resources is fixed, it is often possible to vary the distribution of the given resources. This distribution can have important, if sometimes hidden, consequences. In the case of universities, considering the mean class size as given, three nonobvious consequences of the amount of variation in class size are examined. (1) The average class size experienced by students is directly related to the amount of variation in class size. (2) Overall student attendance is inversely related to the amount of variation in class size. (3) Overall student participation time is directly related to the amount of variation in class size. The logic of these relationships is explored, and data on 49 departments and interdisciplinary programs at one university are used to illustrate the nature and extent of the class size paradox at one university.     

高中化学新课教学中作业改革的探索

为适应教育发展的需要，本文在进行了理论研究和实践研究的基础上，提出目前高中化学作业改革的一些具体方法和策略。     

Self-regulation of homework behaviour: relating grade,gender, and achievement to homework management

Abstract

The present investigation linked grade, gender, and maths achievement to homework management strategies using data from 305 Chinese students in grades 7, 8, and 9. These strategies included arranging the environment, managing time, handling distraction, monitoring motivation, and controlling potentially interfering emotion. A three-way MANOVA examined the effects of grade, gender, and maths achievement on homework management strategies. Grade or gender was not related to homework management strategies. Meanwhile, high-achieving students (compared with low-achieving students) were more likely to arrange the environment, manage time, handle distraction, monitor motivation, and control negative emotion.     

Assessing alignment between information technology educational opportunities,professional requirements,and industry demands

Information technology (IT) and computing are growing fields, offering far more job opportunities than applicants. Yet, little data are available to indicate how course content, employer needs, and additional learning opportunities work together the prepare graduates to enter the IT workforce. To understand the extent to which learners were prepared to for these highly technical careers, we used text analysis to examine the extent to which course syllabi, job postings, internship postings, and industry certifications from information technology preparation programs at state college and two universities commonly reflected national IT curriculum knowledge areas. Integrated data suggested that while the two-year and four-year programs imparted key technical skills, to qualify employers sought applied, or “soft,” skills such as critical thinking, problem solving, teamwork, and written and verbal communication. These soft skills were more difficult to detect as learning outcomes, but the determination of the extent to which the examined programs foster these skills presents a fertile area for subsequent research.     

An examination of the homework practices of teachers of students with learning disabilities

This study examined the homework practices of 88 teachers of students with learning disabilities. While the findings indicated that the respondents were using several quality homework practices, some problems were noted. Suggestions for improving the homework procedures of teachers of students with learning disabilities are presented.     

学生话语权缺失的表征及原因探析

学生话语权是指学生在课堂教学中所具有的表达自己的思想、情感和见解的权利.制度话语权、课堂惯习、现代知识观的思维成见、课程类型单一、结构不合理是传统课堂学生话语权缺失的原因.提升学生课堂主体意识、建立平等对话的师生关系、实现学生与知识对话、重建学校课程制度可以多方面构建新课堂学生话语权.     

英语课堂话语的认知语境与交际效果分析

英语课堂话语,是指其在特定的对话环境和语境当中,要求交流双方在参与交流过程当中采取最理想的交流方式来达到一定的交流目的教学活动。通过对英语课堂话语的认知语境的主要特征进行研究分析及课堂话语的认知语境对教学效果的影响,从而给出设计课堂话语认知语境的具体措施和对策。     

Processing demands of reading comprehension tests in young readers

In the present study we examined the processing demands of three reading comprehension tests, namely the Woodcock–Johnson Passage Comprehension (WJPC), a Curriculum-Based Measure test (CBM-Maze), and a Recall test, in the early elementary years. Our investigation was theoretically motivated by Perfetti’s Verbal Efficiency Theory and examined the contribution of a set of skills that are important in early reading (i.e., rapid naming, phonological processing, orthographic processing, fluency, vocabulary, and working memory) to the three reading comprehension tests. Furthermore, because this set of skills undergo rapid development in the early years, we assessed them in two consecutive years, Grade 1 and Grade 2, before examining their prediction to the three reading comprehension tests in Grade 2. The findings showed that the three reading comprehension tests pose different demands to the young reader. Implications of these findings are discussed with respect to reading comprehension assessment and diagnosis of reading difficulties.     

Re-negotiating the discourse of lower track high school students

The purpose of this study was to examine how lower track science students would understand shifts in standard classroom discourse patterns. The researcher videotaped his daily efforts to renegotiate the lower track classroom environment to become more representative of a scientific community. This paper is an analysis of the implicit obstacles inherent in shifting class discussions to classroom arguments examining tentative hypotheses. Students have inserted struggles for social status into classroom arguments about scientific ideas making it difficult to separate in a group discussion when the evidence convinced a student or whether the social politics of the class had persuaded her. As a result of changing classroom rules for participation, engagement, and collaborative inquiry, students' abilities to argue scientifically were changed. Despite these shifts students continued to insert their own interpretations of argumentation, social norms, and strategies for active re-negotiation of the teacher's agenda for the construction of scientific classroom discourse.     

Quality of parental support and students’ emotions during homework: Moderating effects of students’ motivational orientations

Two studies investigated the relationship between, parental support, students’ motivational orientations, and students’ emotions during homework. It was assumed that intrinsically motivated students would feel better when parents provided much learning autonomy, while extrinsically motivated students would experience more positive affect when directive parental support was given. In study I, students (N=181) reported their emotions after having read two vignettes (autonomy-supportive vs. directive parental support). In study II, 38 students reported their motivation, the perceived quality of parental support, and their emotions after each of 21 homework sessions. Results of extreme group comparisons (intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivation) partly supported the assumed Aptitude-Treatment-Interaction: Even when students’ academic self-concept was controlled, extrinsically motivated students tended to report more negative affect than intrinsically motivated students under autonomy-supportive conditions; for directive parental support, the reverse trend was discovered. Consequences for homework interventions are discussed.