Can Assessment Mirror Instruction? A Look at Peer Response and Revision in a Large-Scale Writing Test

Both recent research and practitioners' classroom experience repeatedly affirm that the opportunity to obtain peer response and revise rough drafts helps writers to improve their texts. With the god of aligning assessment with exemplary instructional practices, writing on the Maryland School Performance Assessment Program tests is assessed through a multiday, process-oriented framework. Results of a study analyzing students' peer response feedback and subsequent revisions through comparison of rough and final draft stage writing at Grades 3, 5, and 8 suggest that within this testing context, students' peer response is unengaged, minimal, and formulaic; revisions are similarly sparse and superficial, with scores on final drafts remaining the same or decreasing with greater frequency than they increase. This investigation demonstrates that elements of classroom-based "writing process" instruction cannot simply be inserted into otherwise unchanged assessment formats. It suggests instead a number of principles to guide a more sophisticated reconceptualization of performance-based writing assessments, the kinds of instruction they support, and the interdisciplinary research methods that inquiry into their implementation demands,     

Want to Improve Undergraduate Thesis Writing? Engage Students and Their Faculty Readers in Scientific Peer Review

One of the best opportunities that undergraduates have to learn to write like a scientist is to write a thesis after participating in faculty-mentored undergraduate research. But developing writing skills doesn't happen automatically, and there are significant challenges associated with offering writing courses and with individualized mentoring. We present a hybrid model in which students have the structural support of a course plus the personalized benefits of working one-on-one with faculty. To optimize these one-on-one interactions, the course uses BioTAP, the Biology Thesis Assessment Protocol, to structure engagement in scientific peer review. By assessing theses written by students who took this course and comparable students who did not, we found that our approach not only improved student writing but also helped faculty members across the department--not only those teaching the course--to work more effectively and efficiently with student writers. Students who enrolled in this course were more likely to earn highest honors than students who only worked one-on-one with faculty. Further, students in the course scored significantly better on all higher-order writing and critical-thinking skills assessed.     

What is GoodTechnical Communication? A Comparison of the Standards of Writing and Engineering Instructors

This article presents the results of an empirical study comparing writing and engineering instructors' responses to students' technical writing. The study, which identifies a repertoire of 21 categories of response, indicates that the gap between engineering and writing teachers' standards for evaluating technical writing is not as wide as is generally assumed. The differences that do emerge suggest ways that the teachers can learn from each other.     

Children's and Adolescents’ Evaluations of Intergroup Exclusion in Interracial and Interwealth Peer Contexts

Children and adolescents (N = 153, ages 8–14 years, M_age = 11.46 years) predicted and evaluated peer exclusion in interwealth (high-wealth and low-wealth) and interracial (African American and European American) contexts. With age, participants increasingly expected high-wealth groups to be more exclusive than low-wealth groups, regardless of their depicted race. Furthermore, children evaluated interwealth exclusion less negatively than interracial exclusion, and children who identified as higher in wealth evaluated interwealth exclusion less negatively than did children who identified as lower in wealth. Children cited explicit negative stereotypes about high-wealth groups in their justifications, while rarely citing stereotypes about low-wealth groups or racial groups. Results revealed that both race and wealth are important factors that children consider when evaluating peer exclusion.     

What Does RTI (Response to Intervention) Look Like in Preschool?

This paper examines the use of Response to Intervention (RTI) in early childhood programs, more specifically in preschool settings. The paper proposes that RTI in preschool could focus on alleviating risk factors as it relates to social emotional competence, and reduction of challenging behaviors during early childhood years. A case-study in which RTI is used for challenging behaviors of a child is examined. Further, recommendations for practice in application of Positive Behavior Support (PBS) in preschool are made.     

A Two-Generation Education Intervention and Children’s Attendance in Head Start

Two-generation human capital programs seek to promote the education of parents and children simultaneously. This study examines relations between family participation in CareerAdvance, which recruits parents of Head Start children into a workforce training program, and children’s Head Start attendance. The sample included 293 children (on average 4 years old) and their parents. After one semester, CareerAdvance children demonstrated higher rates of attendance and lower rates of absence and chronic absence (missing 10% or more of school days) than matched comparison children. These associations were similar across a range of high- and low-risk subgroups at baseline. These findings are discussed in terms of the implications of a family systems approach for improving children’s Head Start attendance.     

Positive Peer Support or Negative Peer Influence? The Role of Peers Among Adolescents in Recovery High Schools

Evidence from previous research suggests that peers at times exert negative influence and at other times exert positive influence on drug and alcohol use among adolescents in recovery. This study explores recovery high school staff members’ perceptions of peer support among students in recovery high schools using qualitative interview data. Themes of peer support are discussed in terms of positive peer support, negative peer influence, peer relationships, and sense of community. In general, recovery school staff members discuss peers in the school as sources of positive support and peers outside the schools as sources of risky influence. Themes and quotes are presented to highlight the diverse ways that staff members discussed peer influence. Limitations of this study and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

Values and Needs of Children With and Without Special Educational Needs in Early School Years: A Study of Young Children’s Views on What Matters to Them

Understanding how children experience life in educational settings should be an imperative for educational practitioners, evaluators, and researchers. Listening to children’s points of views would facilitate the development of educational settings that meet the needs of children and contribute to their wellbeing and development so that their experiences are both joyful and meaningful. A total of 56 children between the ages of 5 and 7 in 65 educational settings located in central Sweden were included in the study. Amongst the 56 participating children, 29 were identified as having special educational needs. The children’s views were collected from 2012 to 2015 using drawings and interviews, and these were analysed using a thematic analysis. Nine themes that reflected matters of importance for the children, both those with and without special educational needs, are described. These themes are discussed and linked to previous research, educational evaluation models, and theories of values and needs.     

A Study on Preschool Children＇s Reading and Listening of Literary Works

国内外一些研究者进行过学前儿童阅读理解和听读理解文学作品的研究。然而国内迄今为止还没有人对这方面的研究成果做过梳理。笔者通过查阅相关大量文献资料,对相关研究成果进行了较详尽的介绍,并从中进行了相应的分析与评述。     

Writing and conceptual change. What changes?

This study was focused on elementary school students'processes of scientific understanding within aclassroom environment characterized as a community ofdiscourse. In particular, it explored the role ofwritten discourse both on the plane of knowledgedevelopment and the conceptualization and evaluationof the writing activity itself. The purposes of thestudy were: (a) to see whether students could use writingas a means to express and compare ideas, reason andreflect on them in the process of scientificunderstanding; (b) to see whether writing in the serviceof learning facilitated the understanding of the newtopic through conceptual change; (c) to see whetherwriting affected the conceptualization of the writingactivity itself. Thirty-six fourth graders divided intwo groups, experimental (writing) and control(no-writing), were involved in the implementation ofcurriculum units on plants, whose target concept wasphotosynthesis. The findings show that in theexperimental group the students reached a betterconceptual understanding of the target concept andmore advanced metaconceptual awareness of the changesin their own knowledge structures. Moreover, theconceptualization of the writing activity seemed tochange as well to some extent as writing in aconceptual change process affected the ways learnersviewed some functions of it.     

What Characterizes Adolescents Struggling With Educational Decision‐Making?

Educational decision‐making is a complex process where individual factors such as how adolescents think about and evaluate themselves could play an important role. In this study, (N = 84), we combined behavioral and neural correlates of self‐concept and self‐esteem to examine what characterizes adolescents who struggle with educational decision‐making. We included 38 adolescents (16–24 years, M = 18.7 years) from “the Gap‐Year program.” This program focuses on personal development for adolescents who have dropped out of higher education or stay undecided after high school. We compared these adolescents prior to the start of the training with 46 peers (17–21 years, M = 19.4 years) who reported to have successfully chosen a major. The results showed that adolescents struggling with educational decision‐making reported lower levels of self‐esteem and self‐concept clarity. Neurally, higher self‐esteem was associated with more self‐related activity in the medial prefrontal cortex. Together, these results suggest that healthy self‐esteem levels are an important condition for the ability to make a well‐suited educational choice.     

Effects of a Developmentally Based Intervention With Teachers on Native American and White Early Adolescents’ Schooling Adjustment in Rural Settings

This study reports the effectiveness of a developmentally based, teacher professional development intervention aimed at improving early adolescent school adjustment. Teachers in rural schools in a Northern Plains state took part in professional development activities across a year. Following a randomized control trial design, Native American and White students’ (N = 165) social, behavioral, and academic adjustment was assessed in intervention compared with control schools. Regression analyses, controlling for baseline and demographic variables, indicated that students in intervention schools improved in achievement, and improved or sustained beginning-of-year schooling dispositions, and perceptions of the school social/affective context, in comparison with evident declines for students in control schools. Native American students more so than White students evidenced particular gains in achievement and perceptions of the school social/affective context.     

What Preschool Classroom Experiences Are Associated With Whether Children Improve in Visuomotor Integration?

Research Findings: This study examined the contribution of several class-room experience measures (classroom characteristics, teacher characteristics, and teacher–child interactions) to preschoolers’ improvement in visuomotor integration. Children (N = 467) ranged in age from 3 to 5 years old and were enrolled in 115 classrooms in 5 U.S. states. Children’s visuomotor integration was measured twice (on average 5.2 months apart) using the Beery-Buktenica Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration (visuomotor integration subtest). Hierarchical linear models controlling for background characteristics and inhibitory control showed that children improved more in visuomotor integration when they were in classrooms with fewer 3-year-olds, when their teacher had at least a bachelor’s degree, and when teachers demonstrated high quality in their interactions. Practice or Policy: Visuomotor integration, and specifically the ability to copy designs with a writing utensil, is a robust indicator of children’s school readiness and longitudinal achievement. U.S. preschoolers gained more on visuomotor integration in classrooms with fewer 3-year-old children that were taught by a college-educated teacher and when such classrooms provided high-quality organizational and instructional interactions. These results expand the outcomes linked to early childhood education experiences and emphasize the need for well-prepared early childhood teachers who interact with children effectively.     

Effect of a Mindful Breathing Intervention on Community College Students’ Writing Apprehension and Writing Performance

Mindful breathing has been linked to changes in physiology, but we took the practice further by examining whether a mindfulness breathing intervention, a three-minute breathing exercise marked by focused attention on the sensations of breath, affected writing anxiety, and writing performance measures. In addition, we examined mindful breathing as an intervention for community college students—some of the most at risk and underprepared students in higher education in the United States. We compared Daly Miller Writing Apprehension surveys and narrative writing samples from 277 students enrolled in a freshman composition course at a southeastern community college, half of the class sections were randomly assigned to practice a mindful-breathing technique at the beginning of class sessions. Students in the class sections that practiced mindful-breathing group experienced a statistically significant decrease in writing apprehension and mechanical error scores from pre- to post-test when compared to students in the comparison class sections.     

Review and Discussion of Children’s Conceptions of Computers

Today’s children grow up surrounded by computers. They observe them, interact with them and, as a consequence, start forming conceptions of how they work and what they can do. Any constructivist approach to learning requires that we gain an understanding of such preconceived ideas and beliefs in order to use computers as learning tools in an effective and informed manner. In this paper, we present five such conceptions that children reportedly form about computers, based on an interdisciplinary literature review. We then evaluate how persistent these conceptions appear to be over time and in light of new technological developments. Finally, we discuss the relevance and implications of our findings for education in the contexts of conceptual pluralism and conceptual categorisation.     

What Does the Skill of Observation Look Like in Young Children?

Fifty‐six children, aged between 4 and 11 years, in seven groups, were videoed playing with, being questioned about and sorting a collection of toys in order to identify what skills of observation looked like in young children, how observations influenced other scientific skills and what supported the skill of observation. Children’s skills of observation were found to be similar across all ages and included affective, functional, social and exploratory comments, actions, and questions. These initial observations led to the use of other scientific process skills: classification, prediction, hypotheses, along with explanation for younger children and interpretations for older children. There was generally a greater sophistication of observation skills with increasing age of the children. Observations in young children were found to be tactile and developed in two ways: by engaging in more unique close observation and interpreting observation by utilising previous knowledge and experiences. Important factors affecting the development of observational and other scientific skills were found to be the context (activity, environment, resources) and combination of social interactions between individuals, peers, and adults. This combination supported the development of both observational and other scientific skills, although the nature and amount of this interaction appeared individual to different groups of children and could not be predicted.     

What is the Most Effective Method of Error Correction in L2 Writing?

The efficacy of error correction and various kinds of correction approaches is one of the key issues in second language writing faced by both teachers and researchers. The current paper reviews the definition of error correction and examines the different views on whether error correction in L2 writing should be corrected. In particular, the paper discusses and analyses the three common correction methods: direct correction, peer feedback and indirect correction. Teachers are encouraged to weigh and analyze the advantages and disadvantages of these methods according to the current literature, employ the most beneficial error correction method in L2 writing, and adapt its suitability to their teaching context.     

A Review of “Faith in Children: Stories from Faith-Based Children's Centers”

Islamic education has always recognized spiritual and moral values as significant elements in developing a “balanced” human being. One way of demonstrating spiritual and moral concepts is through effective teaching methods that integrate and forefront these values. This article offers an investigation of how the authors’ teaching approaches integrate spiritual and moral values in tertiary/university curriculum subjects as part of the students’ spiritual and moral development.