Retell as an Indicator of Reading Comprehension

The purpose of this narrative synthesis is to determine the reliability and validity of retell protocols for assessing reading comprehension of students in grades K–12. Fifty-four studies were systematically coded for data related to the administration protocol, scoring procedures, and technical adequacy of the retell component. Retell was moderately correlated with standardized measures of reading comprehension and, with older students, had a lower correlation with decoding and fluency. Literal information was retold more frequently than inferential, and students with learning disabilities or reading difficulties needed more supports to demonstrate adequate recall. Great variability was shown in the prompting procedures, but scoring methods were more consistent across studies. The influences of genre, background knowledge, and organizational features were often specific to particular content, texts, or students. Overall, retell has not yet demonstrated adequacy as a progress monitoring instrument.     

Teachers' Emotional Support Consistency Predicts Children's Achievement Gains and Social Skills

Research Findings: It is widely acknowledged that consistent, high-quality teacher–student interactions promote optimal developmental outcomes for children. Previous research on the quality of teacher–student interactions provides empirical support for this premise. Little research has been conducted on the consistency of teacher–student interactions. This study examines whether consistency in teachers' emotional support is related to better academic and social outcomes for children. Multiple observations were conducted in 694 prekindergarten classrooms. Mean levels of emotional support and consistency of emotional support were used as predictors in multilevel models. Results indicated that when mean levels of emotional support were controlled, within-day consistency of emotional support predicted several academic outcomes in prekindergarten as well as social competence in kindergarten. Practice or Policy: Results indicate that teachers' consistency of emotional support is a salient aspect of children's classroom environment. Findings suggest that consistency should be considered when evaluating teachers' emotionally supportive interactions.     

Quality in Kindergarten Classrooms: Observational Evidence for the Need to Increase Children's Learning Opportunities in Early Education Classrooms

Research Findings: Using observational data gathered in 730 kindergarten classrooms in 6 states, the present study focuses on the quality of children's learning opportunities in kindergarten classrooms. Findings show that overall, children experience moderate to low levels of quality in the areas of classroom organization and instructional support in kindergarten. Results are also presented in comparison to children's experiences in the pre-kindergarten year. These comparisons indicate that kindergarten children spend a greater proportion of the school day in language arts, math, and whole-group instruction and less time in centers than they do in pre-kindergarten. An examination of predictors of kindergarten classroom quality indicated that program characteristics (i.e., adult–child ratio, length of school day) and teacher psychological variables (i.e., beliefs and depressive symptoms) were stronger predictors of classroom quality than were teacher experience and educational background. Practice or Policy: Findings are discussed in terms of implications for children's academic and social development in kindergarten as well as for kindergarten teacher preparation and development.     

Improving indigenous and ethnic minority student success in foundation health study

This study investigates what teaching practices in the ‘non-lecture context of a foundation programme' help or hinder Māori and Pasifika students' success in a New Zealand university. This two-year qualitative project used Kaupapa Māori and Pasifika Research (KM/PR) methodologies conducted in three phases: (1) needs analysis, (2) intervention and (3) evaluation. Twenty-eight Māori or Pasifika students were interviewed using the Critical Incident Technique identifying 798 incidents grouped into four themes for institutional development: (I) use effective practices for teaching and learning, (II) grow independent learners, (III) support the empowerment of the learner and (IV) harness the positive cohort effect. Initially, students reported that intensive support provided by the foundation programme was not preparing students well for success in degree-level study. Following interventions of institutionally-led changes, students reported better preparation for ongoing study. The overall learning environment and provision of Māori and Pasifika academic and pastoral support were important factors for success.     

A nano to macroscale study on structure-mechanics relationships of archaeological oak

Mechanical properties of wood at different length scales of its hierarchical structure are governed by structural and compositional properties on smaller length scales. This opens up the possibility to use microstructural data for estimating mechanical properties, which are difficult to assess by conventional, destructive testing but are nevertheless of high relevance for conservation practice. Herein, we investigate such microstructure-mechanics relationships for a particular example, namely the load bearing archaeological oak of the Oseberg Viking ship, displayed at the Viking Ship Museum in Oslo, Norway. In order to identify the effects of degradation on the mechanical behavior and their relations to the microstructure, recent oak specimens of different geographical origin (Norway and Austria) are investigated as well. Wood exhibits a cellular structure. Its cell walls are composed of an amorphous polymer matrix consisting of lignin and hemicelluloses and embedded, stiff cellulose fibers. At the cell level, experimental studies comprised microscopic investigations of the cellular structure, chemical analyses of the composition of the cell walls, as well as nanoindentation tests on single cell walls. The same samples were also analyzed on the macroscopic level, where additionally mass density and annual ring data were measured together with ultrasonic stiffnesses. The chemical data clearly indicate deterioration in the archaeological oak, affecting mainly hemicelluloses and amorphous cellulose. At the cell wall scale, however, this does not necessarily lead to a weaker material behavior. The nanoindentation modulus, as a measure of the cell wall stiffness, was found to even increase. This is counterintuitive to our understanding of the effects of chemical degradation. It might be due to possible modification of lignin in the Oseberg oak, and thus have a stronger effect on the indentation modulus than the concurrent weakening of the interfaces between the load-carrying cellulose fibers and the connecting cell wall matrix when analyzing wood at the microscopic level. A similar effect is also observed for the transversal stiffness of macroscopic samples, which increases. In tension-dominated loading modes, however, the degradation of the interfaces is the dominant effect, resulting for example in a considerable reduction of the macroscopic stiffness in longitudinal direction. This underlines the utmost relevance of the loading condition on the remaining load-carrying capacity of degraded wood. On the macroscale, effects of the geographical origin (i.e. growth conditions) on ring characteristics of the oak tissues override the effects of degradation on the mechanical behavior. They have to be carefully extracted in order to come up with conclusions on the effect of degradation from macroscopic test results. The identified microstructure-mechanics relationships provide the basis for–in further research steps–building mathematical models describing the relations between microstructural characteristics and macroscopic mechanical properties and, thereon, for structural analyses of historical wooden objects.