The estimation of a conceptual model of nontraditional undergraduate student attrition

The purpose of this study was to estimate a conceptual model of nontraditional student attrition. Data were gathered from 624 nontraditional (commuter, part-time) freshmen at a midwestern urban university enrolling 22,000 students. For these nontraditional students, dropout was a function of GPA and credit hours enrolled, as well as the utility of education for future employment, satisfaction with the student role, opportunity to transfer, and age affecting dropout through intent to leave. In addition, absence from class, age, high school performance, and ethnicity had indirect effects on dropout through GPA. These results suggested that nontraditional students dropped out of college for academic reasons or because they were not committed to attending the institution, but their reasons for leaving were unrelated to social factors at school. The findings helped validate the conceptual model.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Francisco, April 1986.     

Reread-adapt and answer-comprehend intervention with Deaf and hard of hearing readers: effect on fluency and reading achievement

The researchers investigated the effect of the Reread-Adapt and Answer-Comprehend intervention (Therrien, Gormley, & Kubina, 2006) on the reading fluency and achievement of d/Deaf and hard of hearing elementary-level students. Children in the third, fifth, and sixth grades at a state school for d/Deaf and hard of hearing students received a fluency intervention that was supplemental to their regular reading instruction. Significant improvement was found on a generalized measure of reading fluency after intervention. Though the researchers found no significant improvement in performance on a generalized measure of comprehension after intervention, the students demonstrated consistently good comprehension on both literal and inferential questions during the intervention sessions. The findings support the importance of incorporating a comprehension monitoring strategy in fluency instruction.     

The Impact of Item Dependency on the Efficiency of Testing and Reliability of Student Scores From a Computer Adaptive Assessment of Reading Comprehension

The objective of the present study was to evaluate the extent to which students who took a computer adaptive test of reading comprehension accounting for testlet effects were administered fewer passages and had a more precise estimate of their reading comprehension ability compared to students in the control condition. A randomized controlled trial was used whereby 529 students in Grades 4–8 and 10 were randomly assigned to one of two conditions, both of whom took a computerized adaptive assessment of reading comprehension. Participants in the experimental condition had ability scores estimated as a function of an item response model, which accounted for item-dependence effects in the reading assessment, whereas control students took a version where item-dependence effects were not controlled. Results indicated that examinees in the experimental condition took fewer passages (average Hedges' g = 0.97) and had more reliable estimates of their reading comprehension ability (average Hedges' g = 0.60). Findings are discussed in the context of potential time savings in assessment practices without sacrificing reliability.     

Assessment of Science Teaching Efficacy of Preservice Teachers in an Australian University

Research investigating science teaching efficacy was conducted in 1 Australian university. A sample of 314 elementary preservice teachers responded to the Science Teaching Efficacy Belief Instrument (STEBI; L. G. Enochs & I. M. Riggs, 1990), which assesses 2 teaching efficacy dimensions: Personal Science Teaching Efficacy Beliefs (PSTEB) and Science Teaching Outcome Expectancy (STOE). Confirmatory factor analysis substantiated this 2-factor structure. The use of this instrument revealed that the completion of 2 science teaching subjects within the preservice program had a significant effect on the PSTEB, but not the STOE. Similarly, the number of high school science subjects studied by these elementary preservice teachers had a significant effect on PSTEB, but not STOE. However, neither gender nor the particular high school science subjects studied by these elementary preservice teachers had a significant effect on either the PSTEB or the STOE.     

The impact of a class visit to a participatory science museum exhibit and a classroom science lesson

Cognitive and affective outcomes of a class visit to a participatory science museum were examined by comparing responses of 416 fifth and sixth graders randomly assigned to four conditions (control, exhibit only, lesson only, and exhibit followed by lesson) and two tests (verbal and visual). Students visiting a simple machines exhibit scored higher on a test of science content than the control group, but lower than the group attending a classroom lesson in the museum. The study did not demonstrate conclusively a cognitive advantage of having the exhibit experience prior to the lesson. Scores on the visual test were consistently higher than scores on the verbal test. Study findings indicate that the particular strength of the science museum exhibit lies in the affective domain. Students found the exhibit much more enjoyable, interesting, and motivational than a classroom lesson. Implications of the findings for science education are discussed.     

A beginner's beginning

Seventeenth‐Century Lyrics. By Alexander Corbin Judson (Indiana University). Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1927. Pp. xx + 413. Price, $2.50.

The Golden Trumpets. By Blanche Jennings Thompson. New York: The Macmillan Co., 1927. Pp. x + 163.

Essentials of Electrical Work. By George A. Willoughby. Peoria, Ill.: The Manual Arts Press, 1927. Pp. 242. Price, $1.60.

With the Circus. By Courtney Ryley Cooper. Boston: Little, Brown &; Co., 1927. Pp. vi + 212. Price, 75 cents.

Old Testament Stories. By Eulalie Osgood Grover. Boston: Little, Brown &; Co., 1927. Pp. x + 309. Price, 85 cents.

History of Socialist Thought. By Harry W. Laidler. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Co., 1927. Pp. xxii + 713. Price, $3.50.

The Organisation and Administration of Playgrounds and Recreation. By Jay B. Nash. New York: A. S. Barnes &; Co., 1927. Pp. xii + 547. Price, $4.

Historical Foundations of Modern Education. By Edward H. Reisner. New York: The Macmillan Co., 1927. Pp. xvi + 513. Price, $2.60.

Algebra, Book II. By William Raymond Longley and Harry Brooks Marsh. New York: The Macmillan Co., 1927. Pp. xii + 457.

Swimming Simplified. By Lyba and Nita Sheffield (Universities of California and Columbia). New York: A. S. Barnes &; Co., 1927. Pp. xiii + 297. Price, $2.

The Reorganization of Mathematics in Secondary Education (Part I). By John Wesley Young. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1927. Pp. xiv + 181. Price, $1.20.

Principles of Secondary Education. By L. A. Williams and G. A. Rice (University of California). Boston: Ginn &; Co., 1927. Pp. xi + 339. Price, $2.

Outlines of Historical Study. By George W. Robinson (Harvard University). Boston: Ginn &; Co., 1927. Pp. vii + 375. Price, $2.40.

Human Thinking. By Arthur Cary Fleshman (Converse College). Spartanburg, S. C: Piedmont Publishing Co., 1927. Pp. 58.

The Philosophy of Education. By Herman H. Horne (New York University), Revised Edition. New York: The Macmillan Co., 1927. Pp. xvi + 329.

A First Course in the New Mathematics. By Edward I. Edgerton and Perry A. Carpenter. Boston: Allyn &; Bacon, 1927. Pp. viii + 348.

Preventive Medicine. By Mark F. Boyd. Philadelphia: W. B. Saunders Co., 1925. Pp. 429.

Football Conditioning. By Holger Christian Langmack. New York: A. S. Barnes &; Co., 1926. Pp. xi + 48. Price, $1.50.

Prehistoric Man—Life in the Old and New Stone Ages, By Mary E. Boyle. Boston: Little, Brown &; Co., 1924.

Creative Education. By Henry Fairfield Osborn (President, American Museum of Natural History). New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1927. Pp. xiv + 360. Price, $2.50.

Children's Stories That Never Grow Old. Adapted by Mary Stone. Chicago: The Reilly &; Lee Co. Pp. 248. Price, $1.50.

Skeezix at the Circus. By Frank King. Chicago: The Eeilly &; Lee Co., 1926. Pp. iii + 106. Price, $1.

Children's Poems That Never Grow Old. Compiled by Clement F. Benoit. Chicago: The Reilly &; Lee Co., 1922. Pp. xxii + 298.

Recitations for Younger Children. Compiled and edited by Grace Gaige. New York: D. Appleton &; Co., 1927. Pp. xviii + 215. Price, $2.

Nature Study and Health Education. By Alice Jean Patterson. Normal, Ill.: McKnight &; McKnight. Fourth Year, xii + 131 pp.; Fifth Year, 192 pp.; Sixth Year, 224 pp.     

A comprehensive needs assessment to facilitate prevention of school drop out and violence

The present study addresses school violence and school drop out and proposes that the underlying factor of school connectedness/school climate should guide preventive and intervention efforts. Data were gathered from five schools in a small city school district in north Georgia. Group and individual interviews served as the basis for constructing a 78‐item district‐wide survey administered to 304 school employees. Data are presented on individual items from the survey. Principal components analysis revealed five distinct factors: school connectedness/positive school climate, causes of violence, causes of school drop out, interventions for drop out, and interventions for violence. The principal components analysis was the basis for construction of a revised scale. Differences between revised scale scores were noted as a function of whether respondents were from central office, elementary or secondary schools. The five revised scales had correlation ranging from .31 to .59. Implications for research and practice are discussed. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.