Test anxiety prevalence and gender differences in a sample of English secondary school students

The aim of this study was to estimate the proportion of students who report themselves as highly test anxious in a sample of English secondary schools and whether this proportion differed by gender. Self-report test anxiety data were collected from 2435 secondary school students in 11 schools. Results showed that 16.4% of the sample reported themselves to be highly test anxious, with the proportion significantly higher in female students (22.5%) than male students (10.3%). Moderate gender differences were present in the worry and tension components of test anxiety and small differences in the social derogation component. While not all highly test anxious students might be at risk of underperformance and disengagement from school and academic activities, there may still be a sizable group of students who would benefit from specific support and intervention.     

Educational attainment and HIV/AIDS prevalence: A cross-country study

Using data for a large cross-country sample, a reasonable model is estimated to judge the effect of adult educational attainment on prevalence of HIV. Three main points are noted. First, there is an indication of a significantly negative effect of educational attainment on HIV prevalence. Second, magnitude of the impact appears sizable. Third, a simple test suggests that the model does not have any major specification problem. Three additional aspects may also be interesting. First, the impact of per capita income is negative but statistically weak. Second, the effect of health expenditures lacks significance and does not carry the expected sign. Third, the proportion of population that is Muslim has a significantly negative association with HIV prevalence, perhaps reflecting the widely-shared view that male circumcision lowers acquisition of the disease.     

Understanding school mobility and mobile pupils in England

A significant proportion of pupils move school during their school career for reasons other than standard structural moves between educational stages. Little is known about the underlying causes of these moves and the characteristics and experiences of mobile pupils are challenging to research. There is currently a large disconnect between the macro level of system structures, data and policy and the individual experiences and journeys of mobile pupils. This article brings together international literature around school mobility and mobile pupils, with analyses of the English National Pupil Database (NPD), tracking a cohort from age 5 to 16, to better understand when school moves occur and the characteristics of mobile pupils. Findings reveal a sizable underlying rate of moves in England of about 1.5–2% per term and identify differences in mobility related to disadvantage, school phase, ethnic group and SEND status. The predictive power of the data, however, is low, highlighting the need for more research, policy and practice in this area to better understand individual mobility circumstances. By bringing together the literature and the data, the article concludes with a discussion of what is known about school mobility and recommends further areas for research into the characteristics, experiences and outcomes of mobile school pupils.     

法国的教育经费投入及其思考

法国是世界上教育财政投入最多的国家之一,在教育领域存在着分权管理、耗资巨大和投入失衡的三个主要特点。但是,最值得关注的是,分层教育的财政投入存在着明显的不均衡现象：中等教育耗资巨大,高等教育投入相对不足。从技术和政治等的角度来研究法国分层教育的财政投入,对中国当前的教育改革具有重要的意义。     

To profit or not to profit: the private higher education sector in Brazil

Brazil has by far the largest higher education system in Latin America, with a sizable share of students enrolled in private-sector institutions. Its recently established and fast-growing for-profit sector is one of the largest worldwide. The for-profit sector already surpasses the public sector in student enrollment, and its role is growing. Public policy has supported for-profit growth, ostensibly for tax revenue reasons, but the federal government has recently launched social initiatives that include tax exemption policies for the for-profit sector in exchange for need-based scholarships. Through exploratory data analysis, this study explores the role, function, and form of the for-profit sector compared with its nonprofit and public counterparts. The findings reveal that the for-profit sector shares some important characteristics with the nonprofit sector but contrasts sharply with the public sector. The study concludes that countries such as Brazil are moving toward public funding for private higher education to meet enrollment targets. These findings may be able to address issues in other countries by considering similar public policies toward private higher education.     

The Patterns of Religious Struggle Among Undergraduates Attending Evangelical Institutions

Of the 900 religiously affiliated colleges and universities in the United States, a sizable portion (approximately 118) are members of the Council for Christian Colleges &; Universities (CCCU). As members of the CCCU, these institutions have a shared commitment to the academic and spiritual development of their students. However, relatively few studies have included data sets with multi-institutional types and longitudinal data. The purpose of this two-part study was to examine the patterns and predictors of religious struggle among traditional undergraduate students attending evangelical institutions compared to those at three other types of institutions. This article addresses the following question: How does the level of religious struggle change between the freshmen and junior years among college students attending evangelical institutions? A quantitative design using the 2004 and 2007 College Student Beliefs and Values Survey (CSBV)—which was last administered in 2007—with responses from 14,527 students attending evangelical, Catholic, other religious, and nonsectarian institutions was employed. Results indicate that significant differences in the levels and patterns of religious struggle exist between evangelical institutions and other types of institutions. Longitudinal measures revealed that students from evangelical institutions experience higher levels of religious struggle compared to their peers at other types of institutions at the end of their junior year. This article is the first in a two-part series and focuses on the patterns of religious struggle among students attending evangelical institutions.     

Weekend feeding (“BackPack”) programs and student outcomes

Weekend feeding (“BackPack”) programs that provide food to children have grown dramatically in recent years, yet their effects on educational outcomes have been little investigated. Our study combines administrative student data on test scores and absences in Northwest North Carolina elementary schools with primary data on program participation. School and student program eligibility criteria is used to estimate the intent-to-treat effect within a difference-in-difference-in-difference (DDD) framework. Results suggest a sizable 0.09 standard deviation improvement in reading scores, with a similar but weaker effect for math scores. These effects are strongest for the youngest and lowest performing students.     

Social class differences on the Boehm test of basic concepts: Are they due to bias?

One of Jensen's internal criteria for the detection of bias was applied to the standardization data for the Boehm Test of Basic Concepts (BTBC). Despite sizable social class differences in mean scores, differences in the rank orders of item difficulties were negligible. Thus, by this one criterion, there was little evidence of test bias. Instead, the findings suggest that children of different socioeconomic levels master basic concepts in about the same temporal order, differing only in the rate at which they do so.     

Memories of childhood sexual abuse: a survey of young adults

Objective: To explore the prevalence of, characteristics of, and factors associated with forgetting of childhood sexual abuse memories in a large non-clinical sample (N = 1712).Method: Using an anonymous survey, we asked respondents about (a) the nature and severity of their childhood abuse; (b) the continuity of their abuse memories; and (c) their experiences with others suggesting to them that they might have been abused.Results: A substantial minority of victims in our sample reported having temporarily forgotten their childhood sexual abuse. Forgetting was largely unassociated with victim or abuse characteristics. Compared to individuals who always remembered their abuse, however, individuals who temporarily forgot were more likely to report that someone had suggested to them that they might have experienced abuse. Those who received such suggestions were particularly likely to suspect that they may have experienced childhood sexual abuse that they do not yet remember.Conclusion: Forgetting may be less common than implied by earlier estimates from clinical samples, yet it is not uncommon. Also, a sizable minority of the population is wondering whether they have experienced unremembered abuse, and these suspicions are linked to having encountered suggestions from others. We discuss the implications of these findings for understanding the phenomenon sometimes labeled repression.Spanish abstract was not available at time of publication.     

Memories of childhood sexual abuse: a survey of young adults

Objective: To explore the prevalence of, characteristics of, and factors associated with forgetting of childhood sexual abuse memories in a large non-clinical sample (N = 1712).Method: Using an anonymous survey, we asked respondents about (a) the nature and severity of their childhood abuse; (b) the continuity of their abuse memories; and (c) their experiences with others suggesting to them that they might have been abused.Results: A substantial minority of victims in our sample reported having temporarily forgotten their childhood sexual abuse. Forgetting was largely unassociated with victim or abuse characteristics. Compared to individuals who always remembered their abuse, however, individuals who temporarily forgot were more likely to report that someone had suggested to them that they might have experienced abuse. Those who received such suggestions were particularly likely to suspect that they may have experienced childhood sexual abuse that they do not yet remember.Conclusion: Forgetting may be less common than implied by earlier estimates from clinical samples, yet it is not uncommon. Also, a sizable minority of the population is wondering whether they have experienced unremembered abuse, and these suspicions are linked to having encountered suggestions from others. We discuss the implications of these findings for understanding the phenomenon sometimes labeled repression.Spanish abstract was not available at time of publication.     

General and Specific Factors in Reading Comprehension

One explanation for why many students routinely choose to do their homework with a radio or TV operating is that this distraction facilitates studying. To investigate the validity of this explanation, the authors carried out two experiments with sixth-grade students who worked on two difficulty levels of individualized mathematics assignments (N = 12) and reading assignments (N = 9) under three distraction conditions: quiet; self-selected, self-regulated radio; and self-selected, self-regulated TV. The data yielded no evidence of sizable distractor effects on students' time spent studying, computational accuracy, reading comprehension, or reading rate. These results generally are consistent with the theoretical conceptualization of attention as flexible and adaptable.     

Season of birth is related to child retention rates, achievement, and rate of diagnosis of specific LD

A sizable literature has demonstrated that the achievement of children in early elementary school is related to their season of birth: Those born in summer typically perform less well than those born in the fall. A small literature indicates that more children diagnosed with specific learning disabilities (SLD) are born in the summer. We have begun to explore the possibility that the same processes may account for both outcomes. In order to better understand these processes, the standardized achievement levels and rates of diagnosis of SLD for children born during each season were studied in one geographical area of the State of Georgia served by 28 school districts. Standardized achievement scores in reading, mathematics, and science were reliably lower for those born in the summer. Furthermore, there was a strong relationship between season of birth and the rate at which children received a diagnosis of SLD. Summer-born children were diagnosed with SLD at a higher rate than their peers. Four hypotheses for both the lower performance in the general school population and the greater rate of SLD diagnosis among these children are discussed.     

《全宋词》校勘拾遗三则

《全宋词》卷帙浩繁,校订难免尚有疏漏处,词中有些字词不同版本有不同说法,很难定夺。以“蝉辉”、“带酒”、“星屏”为例,试对《全宋词》三处漏校予以补正。     

Degree Upgrades: A New Service,a New Market and a New Strategy for Higher Education

ABSTRACT

A proposed new educational service, the degree upgrade, is targeted toward a new market segment for higher education, graduates who are not seeking advanced degrees. The degree upgrade is accompanied by a new marketing strategy that attempts to build a continuing relationship with the new segment of graduates. Several advantages are achieved by the combined targeting strategy and the upgrade concept, (1) In combination, degree upgrades and the new targeting strategy aim at a sizable market segment that has not been effectively targeted in the past. (2) Economic benefits are strong because the service and strategy builds a continuous and increasing demand for educational services from a market segment that steadily increases in size. (3) The service and strategy redefines traditional concepts of “Lifelong Learning” and “Continuing Education” and suggests the upgrade concept creates more urgency among target market members. The purpose of this discussion is to initiate dialogue about the new service and strategy. Many questions are raised; some are unanswered.     

Substance Use Disorder and College Students:

The college student population is at high risk to develop substance use disorder. A sizable minority of students will manifest addictions of major severity. Lacking sophistication in the process of substance use disorder assessment precludes objective identification of students requiring intensive precludes objective identification of students requiring intensive inpatient treatment. A multivariate model of alcohol and other drug addiction is proposed. A multidimensional comprehensive assessment and treatment matching instrument is presented. A working inpatient addictions treatment unit is outlined to demonstrate intensity of tertiary intervention.     

Making broadcast television participative: Eliciting mathematical behavior throughSquare One TV

The current reform movement in mathematics education has called for new ways of teaching that encourage children to become active participants in mathematical problem solving. In this article, the potential of educational television to elicit such behavior is investigated by reviewing research on theSquare One TV television series. A sizable body of evidence indicates that, through viewer participation,Square One TV can promote mathematical behavior directly among its target audience of 8- to 12-year-olds. Described in the article are the types of viewer participation that have been observed, threeSquare One TV formats that have consistently been found to elicit participative behavior, and several characteristics of these formats that may have been responsible for increased viewer participation. If these characteristics are incorporated into future television-based materials, they may increase the potential of the materials to elicit active participation among viewers. The production ofSquare One TV and the research described here were supported by the National Science Foundation, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the Carnegie Corporation, and the U.S. Department of Education. Production of the first season was also supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and by the IBM Corporation. Additional funding for the fourth and fifth seasons was provided by the Intel Corporation. This article is based on a paper presented at the 1993 meeting of the American Educational Research Association in Atlanta, Georgia.     

Infant search and object permanence: a meta-analysis of the A-not-B error

Research on Piaget's stage 4 object concept has failed to reveal a clear or consistent pattern of results. Piaget found that 8-12-month-old infants would make perserverative errors; his explanation for this phenomenon was that the infant's concept of the object was contextually dependent on his or her actions. Some studies designed to test Piaget's explanation have replicated Piaget's basic finding, yet many have found no preference for the A location or the B location or an actual preference for the B location. More recently, researchers have attempted to uncover the causes for these results concerning the A-not-B error. Again, however, different studies have yielded different results, and qualitative reviews have failed to yield a consistent explanation for the results of the individual studies. This state of affairs suggests that the phenomenon may simply be too complex to be captured by individual studies varying 1 factor at a time and by reviews based on similar qualitative considerations. Therefore, the current investigation undertook a meta-analysis, a synthesis capturing the quantitative information across the now sizable number of studies. We entered several important factors into the meta-analysis, including the effects of age, the number of A trials, the length of delay between hiding and search, the number of locations, the distances between locations, and the distinctive visual properties of the hiding arrays. Of these, the analysis consistently indicated that age, delay, and number of hiding locations strongly influence infants' search. The pattern of specific findings also yielded new information about infant search. A general characterization of the results is that, at every age, both above-chance and below-chance performance was observed. That is, at each age at least 1 combination of delay and number of locations yielded above-chance A-not-B errors or significant perseverative search. At the same time, at each age at least 1 alternative combination of delay and number of locations yielded below-chance errors and significant above-chance correct performance, that is, significantly accurate search. These 2 findings, appropriately elaborated, allow us to evaluate all extant theories of stage 4 infant search. When this is done, all these extant accounts prove to be incorrect. That is, they are incommensurate with one aspect or another of the pooled findings in the meta-analysis. Therefore, we end by proposing a new account that is consistent with the entire data set.     

Subsidization of higher education versus expansion of primary enrollments: What can a shift of resources achieve in Sub-Saharan Africa?

In many LDCs today, the distribution of public resources for education tends to be inefficient and inequitable in that subsidization often increases rather than decreases with the level of education. To improve efficiency and equity, a shift of resources from higher to primary education should therefore be considered. Such a shift would obviously imply an increase in the private cost of higher education, but its effect could be mitigated through a loan scheme. In this paper, our main purpose is to show what a cut in subsidies to higher education can achieve in terms of expanding primary enrollments. The results show that although the outcome differs from country to country, such a cut would permit a sizable increase in primary enrollments in Sub-Saharan Africa, and especially in Francophone countries. Despite its effectiveness, however, reduction in higher education subsidies alone is unlikely to overcome all the obstacles faced by the poorest countries to attaining universal primary education. Our results only argue that it should be considered as part of the policy package directed towards this goal.     

Parental education, grade attainment and earnings expectations among university students

While there is an extensive literature on intergenerational transmission of economic outcomes (education, health and income for example), many of the pathways through which these outcomes are transmitted are not as well understood. We address this deficit by analysing the relationship between socio-economic status and child outcomes in university, based on a rich and unique dataset of university students. While large socio-economic differences in academic performance exist at the point of entry into university, these differences are substantially narrowed during the period of study. Importantly, the differences across socio-economic backgrounds in university grade attainment for female students is explained by intermediating variables such as personality, risk attitudes and time preferences, and subject/college choices. However, for male students, we explain less than half of the socio-economic gradient through these same pathways. Despite the weakening socio-economic effect in grade attainment, a key finding is that large socio-economic differentials in the earnings expectations of university students persist, even when controlling for grades in addition to our rich set of controls. Our findings pose a sizable challenge for policy in this area as they suggest that equalising educational outcomes may not translate into equal labour market outcomes.     

Reaching Year 12 in Victoria,Australia: student and school influences

This paper examines student and school influences on reaching Year 12, the final year of schooling in Victoria, Australia. It analyses data from the population of students who were in Year 9 in 2008. Male, English-speaking background, government school, and especially Indigenous students were less likely to reach Year 12 than comparison groups. Performance in the Year 9 in national standardized tests was the strongest influence. There were only limited school effects in reaching Year 12, when taking into account individual student characteristics. Less than a quarter of schools had significant net effects on reaching Year 12. School differences are sizable only when comparing schools towards each end of the school effects continuum.