CHOICE OF VARIABLES AND GENDER DIFFERENTIATED PREDICTION WITHIN SELECTED ACADEMIC PROGRAMS

The existence of differential prediction of 2-year grade point average is reported for gender groups within programs of study at a large state university. Johnson-Neyman analyses indicate regions on the predictor score scales where differential prediction has practical impact within each program. A significant portion of students is generally affected. It is shown that careful selection of a subset of variables reduces differential prediction while maintaining predictive potency.     

VALIDITY OF APPROXIMATION TECHNIQUES FOR DETECTING ITEM BIAS

The purpose of this research was to recommend an item bias procedure when the number of minority examinees is too small to use preferred three-parameter IRT methods. The chi-square, Angoff delta-plot, andpseudo-IRT indices were compared with both real and simulated data. For the real test data a criterion of known bias had been established by cross-validated IRT-3 results. The findings from the Math Test and the simulated test were consistent. The pseudo-IRT approach was best (measured by both correlations and percent agreement) in delecting criterion bias. The chi-square was close in accuracy to the pseudo-IRT index. The Angoff delta-plot method was found to be inadequate on both heuristic and empirical grounds. In extreme cases it even identified items as biased against whites that were simulated to be biased against blacks. However, a modified Angoff index, where p-value differences were regressed on item point biserials (and the residualized values used as the index), was nearly as good as the chi-square in identifying known bias. A final caution was offered regarding the use of item bias techniques. The statistical flags should never be used mechanically to discard items; rather they should be used to inspect items for possible differences in meaning.     

Examination of Gender Bias in University Admissions

In this study we examined whether the measures used in the admission of students to universities in Israel are gender biased. The criterion used to measure bias was performance in the first year of university study; the predictors consisted of an admission score, a high school matriculation score, and a standardized test score as well as its component subtest scores. Statistically, bias was defined according to the boundary conditions given in Linn (1984). No gender bias was detected when using the admission score (which is used for selection) as a predictor of first-year performance in the university. Bias in favor of women was found predominantly using school grades as predictor whereas bias against women was found predominantly in using the standardized test scores. It was concluded that the admission score is a valid and unbiased predictor of first-year university performance for the two genders.     

The delicate dance: the assessment implications of awarding students vocational qualifications within university degrees

This paper explores the implications for assessment of embedding qualifications from the vocational education and training (VET) sector within university qualifications. As VET qualifications are now all competency based, assessment in the two sectors is quite different, since universities have generally eschewed competency‐based training and assessment. A general discussion of the issues is followed by the results of a small‐scale research study carried out in the VET discipline area itself, with participants drawn from the AVTEC list of VET teacher‐educators. Telephone interviews were conducted with nine Australian university academics involved with such qualifications; and data were extracted from a broader study of students who had undertaken the Certificate IV in Assessment and Workplace Training embedded within degrees and graduate diplomas in VET at one of these universities. It is clear that there are many assessment challenges involved with the practice of embedding, which have not yet been systematically addressed.     

On the effects of training inductive reasoning: How far does it transfer and how long do the effects persist?

Using the same program, two training experiments have been conducted in a Dutch and in a German elementary school. The common expectation was that training in inductive reasoning would transfer both on intelligence tests measuring inductive reasoning and on math performance. Furthermore, it was expected that the training effects would persist for at least some months after training had ended. In experiment 1 (N=34), a rather short training period turned out to be effective with respect to the intelligence test performance but not with respect to math performance. In experiment 2 (N=23), the amount of training in inductive reasoning was systematically varied. It could be shown that transfer on intelligence test as well as on math performance was linearly dependent on the amount of prior training. The training effects were found to persist between four and nine months after training.     

Determinants of placement for sexually abused children

While conducting a prospective study of 100 sexually abused children, we found a much higher rate of out-of-home placement than has been previously described for child maltreatment. This study was designed to determine which factors were most influential in predicting the placement experiences of this cohort. The children, ages 6-17 years, were recently substantiated victims of intrafamilial sexual abuse whose parents or guardians permitted study involvement. We examined child and family demographics, abuse characteristics, and family response as possible determinants of immediate and later placement. At the initial assessment, within a few weeks of the disclosure, 50% of the children had already been removed. A follow-up assessment of 83 children two years later revealed that 73% had been removed from the abusing home. In a multivariate regression model, only maternal support of the child emerged as a significant predictor of immediate placement and placement over time. The offender's status as a resident in the child's home was an important predictor of immediate placement but was not significant as a predictor of all placements at any time. As maternal support is an important predictor of the need for placement, workers are encouraged to seek ways of enhancing maternal support as a means of reducing placement.     

Chapter 1 Introduction,The Field Study

This study was an investigation of the effectiveness of eight types of visual illustrations used to complement oral instruction. An attempt was made to evaluate the instructional value of black and white and colored visual Illustrations. Two hundred sixty-four eleventh-grade students were randomly assigned by class to one of nine treatment groups. Student learning was evaluated by means of five criterion tests designed to measure different educational objectives. Comparisons among the means of the nine treatment groups yielded significant differences. It was found that the realism continuum for still visuals is not a reliable predictor of learning efficiency; however, visual illustrations were found to significantly increase student learning on three criterion tests. Color in visual illustrations did not appear to be an important variable in increasing student learning in is study.     

The impact of culture contact and desegregation on the whites of an urban high school

Conclusion Desegregation has generally been presented as an outgrowth of the civil rights movement and as an attempt to redress the educational disadvantages blacks have suffered as the result of a racial imbalance. Given the general theoretical considerations of resource allocation, the assumption has been that reallocations of resources to blacks would necessarily mean reallocation of these resources to blacks from whites. This view is also part of the popular culture where the process of desegregation has caused turmoil and disturbance among whites based, manifestedly at least, on the notion that improving educational benefits for blacks necessarily means a reduction in the same benefits for whites.Based on an analysis of the experiences of teachers and students at one polyethnic inner-city high school, we suggest that not only have whites at this school not been disadvantaged by the desegregation process but that there is evidence indicating that there have been more advantages for whites than for blacks. What, then, are the advantages of desegregation for whites, both students and teachers? In this school it was found that the advantages differed for white students and for white teachers, with white students experiencing more positive outcomes than white teachers experienced.     

Effects of minimum competency testing for minority students: A review of expectations and outcomes

As a new approach to educational accountability, minimum competency testing (MCT) has created considerable controversy. While its supporters believe that the new policy will be of particular value to students from minority and low-income backgrounds, critics are concerned about the possible adverse consequences for these groups. A review of research evidence and results of statewide MCT programs indicate that there is a substantial discrepancy between the initial test performances of black students and their white classmates and that, in some cases, post-test remediation seems relatively ineffective for blacks. Moreover, blacks may be receiving a disproportionate share of all diploma sanctions imposed on repeated MCT failers. It is proposed that some problems currently associated with competency testing can be avoided by emphasizing the remedial rather than the punitive function of these programs.     

Training Alone Is Not Enough

Improving healthcare services in the developing world remains a major goal for many organizations and despite enormous training and program investments from international organizations, service improvements have been modest. This study looks at how to improve results by examining the relationship between the conditions in a healthcare providers' work environment and his or her performance. Drawing upon a human performance model that assumes that performance expectations, timely feedback, adequate environment, incentives, and skills and knowledge are required for a worker to perform well, this study explores how these conditions might affect healthcare provider performance in four countries. The study successfully shows that although multiple conditions were deficient or missing in every country, significant association is found between the performance of workers and conditions in the workers environment. Further, when viewed across all countries, non‐monetary incentives is the most powerful “predictor‘ of performance when compared with other factors. Of particular interest to Performance Improvement practitioners, knowledge and skills surfaced as important in only three of eight possible cases (with multiple cases in each country)—the least influential factor overall.     

Modelling the relationships between teacher working conditions,job satisfaction and workplace mobility

Teacher shortages are a recurring problem in publicly funded schools, in part because of poor retention. Working conditions in schools are an important predictor of teacher job satisfaction and retention, yet research has so far made limited headway in identifying the specific aspects of the working environment which matter. This research uses representative data on state secondary school teachers in England in 2013 to derive an unusually rich set of working conditions variables. Regression analysis is used to model the relationships between working conditions, teacher job satisfaction and turnover intentions. The results show strong associations with the nature of school leadership, whether teachers have received training in the specific subjects they are assigned to teach and scope for career progression within the school. These results are robust to checks for common source bias. The study identifies ways in which schools can improve retention.     

Is There a Link Between Teachers' Beliefs and Behaviors?

This study examined the link between beliefs and behaviors for early childhood teachers. Currently, consensus has not been reached regarding the belief-practice relationship for early childhood educators due to inconsistent attention to measurement specificity, perceived ability to practice beliefs, and strength of teacher training. The participants in this study were 47 early childhood educators. Teachers were primarily female and all worked with children aged 3-5. Teachers had worked with children aged 3-5 an average of 7.6 years (range = 0-30). Many teachers had training in early childhood. Twenty-nine had majored in early childhood and 26 held teaching certificates. Teaching beliefs were measured with a self-report questionnaire. Teaching actions were assessed with four observational measures via videotape. The results showed that there was not a relationship between teachers' beliefs and actions. In addition, the results indicated that when teachers had more experience with children they were less sensitive and that early childhood teaching certification held was a positive predictor of high level involvement and verbalizations.     

Is There a Link Between Teachers' Beliefs and Behaviors?

This study examined the link between beliefs and behaviors for early childhood teachers. Currently, consensus has not been reached regarding the belief-practice relationship for early childhood educators due to inconsistent attention to measurement specificity, perceived ability to practice beliefs, and strength of teacher training. The participants in this study were 47 early childhood educators. Teachers were primarily female and all worked with children aged 3–5. Teachers had worked with children aged 3–5 an average of 7.6 years (range = 0–30). Many teachers had training in early childhood. Twenty-nine had majored in early childhood and 26 held teaching certificates. Teaching beliefs were measured with a self-report questionnaire. Teaching actions were assessed with four observational measures via videotape. The results showed that there was not a relationship between teachers' beliefs and actions. In addition, the results indicated that when teachers had more experience with children they were less sensitive and that early childhood teaching certification held was a positive predictor of high level involvement and verbalizations.     

Racial differences in factors associated with bachelor's degree completion: A nine-year follow-up

This study employed a sample of 5,577 students initially enrolling in 352 four-year colleges and universities. The study's purpose was to investigate racial differences in the factors associated with bachelor's degree completion. The sample was followed over a nine-year period, from 1971 to 1980. Tinto's (1975) theoretical model guided the selection of 19 predictor variables. This set of predictors accounted for between 15% and 29% of the variance in attaining the bachelor's degree for white and black men and women. For all race and sex subgroups, measures of the collegiate experience (e.g., number of institutions attended, academic and social integration, and subsequent institutional commitment/satisfaction) had the strongest and most consistently positive regression weights with degree completion. Only a small number of significant race or sex differences were found in the factors associated with degree completion. For black men, the number of institutions attended and the size of the institution initially attended had significantly stronger negative associations with degree attainment than they did for white men. Institutional commitment/satisfaction had positive regression weights for all subsamples, but the magnitude was greater for men of both races than it was for women. Within samples, academic integration was a somewhat stronger predictor of degree attainment than social integration for whites but not for blacks.     

‘Six packs and big muscles,and stuff like that’. Primary school‐aged South African boys,black 1 and white,on sport

This paper explores the salience of sport in the lives of eight‐year‐old and nine‐year‐old South African primary school boys. Drawing on ethnographic and interview data, I argue that young boys' developing relationship with sport is inscribed within particular gendered, raced and classed discourses in South Africa. Throughout the paper I show differences and durability of meanings across the social sites that affect and position blacks, white, boys and girls. It is argued that young boys' early association with sport is centrally about identity and doing sport, or at least establishing interest in sport is one important way in claiming to be a real boy. The findings have implications for the call by the South African Government to get the nation to play.     

Self- and Peer Assessments of Oral Presentations by First-Year University Students

Forty science students received training for 12 weeks on delivering effective presentations and using a tertiary-level English oral presentation scale comprising three subscales (Verbal Communication, Nonverbal Communication, and Content and Organization) measured by 18 items. For their final project, each student was given 10 to 12 min to present on 1 of the 5 compulsory science books for the module and was rated by the tutor, peers, and himself/herself. Many-facet Rasch measurement, correlation, and analysis of variance were performed to mine the data. The results show that the student raters, tutor, items, and rating scales achieved high psychometric quality, though a small number of assessments exhibited bias. Although all of the biased self-assessments were underestimations of presentation skills, the peer and tutor assessment bias had a mixed pattern. In addition, self-, peer, and tutor assessments had low to medium correlations on the subscales, and a significant difference was found between the assessments. Implications are discussed.     

Entry to the Skilled Trades in Australia: the role of family background and school achievement

This paper reports an analysis of factors associated with entry to skilled trades through the Australian apprenticeship system. It is based on data collected from a sample of nearly 2500 17‐year‐old males in 1978. The results suggest that:

(a) young males whose fathers were tradesmen were more likely to participate in apprenticeship training than other young males;

(b) apprentices had relatively higher achievement on numerical tests than on verbal tests;

(c) the sons of migrants from non‐English speaking countries were less involved in apprenticeship than other 17‐year‐old males; and

(d) young males who had attended private secondary schools were less likely to be involved in apprenticeship training than those who had attended public schools.

It was found that whether a person's father was a tradesman was a better predictor of participation in apprenticeship than the social prestige of the father's occupation.     

Accuracy of metacognitive judgments as a moderator of learner control effectiveness in problem-solving tasks

A possible explanation for why students do not benefit from learner-controlled instruction is that they are not able to accurately monitor their own performance. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether and how the accuracy of metacognitive judgments made during training moderates the effect of learner control on performance when solving genetics tasks. Eighty-six undergraduate students solved self-selected genetics tasks using either a full learner control or a restricted learner control. Results indicated that learner control effectiveness was moderated by the absolute accuracy (i.e., absolute bias) of metacognitive judgments, and this accuracy was a better predictor of learning performance for full learner control than for restricted learner control. Furthermore, students’ prior knowledge predicted absolute accuracy of both ease-of-learning judgments (EOLs) and retrospective confidence judgments (RCJs) during training, with higher prior knowledge resulting in a better absolute accuracy. Overall, monitoring guided control, that is, EOLs predicted time-on-task and invested mental effort regardless of the degree of learner control, whereas RCJs predicted the total training time, but not the number of tasks selected during training. These results suggest that monitoring accuracy plays an important role in effective regulation of learning from problem-solving tasks, and provide further evidence that metacognitive judgments affect study time allocation in problem solving context.     

用迭代摄动法求解含立方项强非线性振动方程

采用迭代摄动法求解含有立方项的非线性振动微分方程,得到形式简单的近似解析解.通过讨论解析解在各种情况下的近似程度,说明所采用的方法及得到的简单公式在很大范围内是有效的.     

Item Parameter Drift in a Time-Varying Predictor

The current simulation study examined the effects of Item Parameter Drift (IPD) occurring in a short scale on parameter estimates in multilevel models where scores from a scale were employed as a time-varying predictor to account for outcome scores. Five factors, including three decisions about IPD, were considered for simulation conditions. It was revealed that IPD occurring in a relatively shorter scale led to a substantial increase in the amount of relative bias in parameter estimates. The bias was more prominent in the estimates of level-2 time-varying predictors relative to those of level-1 time-varying predictors. Regarding the decisions about IPD, keeping items exhibiting IPD was more appropriate than removing them based on the results from relative bias of standard errors of estimates. Based on the findings, it can be concluded that removing items exhibiting IPD may lead to an increase of Type II errors due to the underestimation of parameter estimates and overestimation of standard errors. The applied example showed findings consistent with those in the simulation study.