Interdisciplinary Collaboration Supporting Social-Emotional Learning in Rural School Systems

In this article we illustrate the roles of school psychologists, administrators, social workers, teachers, and parents in school reform by describing the adoption, initial implementation, and formative evaluation of an evidence-based social and emotional learning (SEL) program within several rural Midwestern school districts in a geographically large county. As part of a countywide initiative aimed at improving children's mental health services, an interdisciplinary team collaborated to select and implement a universal school-based curriculum addressing SEL objectives. Professionals in the county's special education cooperative lead the reform effort, general education teachers deliver the curriculum, and school psychologists and school social workers have served as trainers and consultants to educators and building administrators. An ecological model of organizational consultation informs these efforts. We illustrate this model by describing its application to the collaborative school-based initiative addressing SEL objectives. We also discuss implications for future consultation research, training, and practice.     

The hidden benefits of part-time higher education study to working practices: is there a case for making them more visible?

Within the UK, part-time study is now seen as important in meeting wider government objectives for higher education (HE) and for sustainable economic growth through skills development. Yet, measures to capture the impact of HE may not be wholly appropriate to part-time study. In particular, the continuing focus on tangible, economic measures may be down-playing, or even completely overlooking, other gains. Data from a longitudinal study of part-time students show that irrespective of whether graduates had changed job or employer, or had stayed in the same job, individuals reported substantial work-related gains from their HE studies. We suggest that current research questions that focus on job moves and progression within the labour market, may well be the wrong questions to ask to gauge measures of benefits/returns to HE. Further research is needed to develop measures to fully capture the social returns of skills acquisition through part-time study.     

The effectiveness of Web search engines for retrieving relevant ecommerce links

Ecommerce is developing into a fast-growing channel for new business, so a strong presence in this domain could prove essential to the success of numerous commercial organizations. However, there is little research examining ecommerce at the individual customer level, particularly on the success of everyday ecommerce searches. This is critical for the continued success of online commerce. The purpose of this research is to evaluate the effectiveness of search engines in the retrieval of relevant ecommerce links. The study examines the effectiveness of five different types of search engines in response to ecommerce queries by comparing the engines’ quality of ecommerce links using topical relevancy ratings. This research employs 100 ecommerce queries, five major search engines, and more than 3540 Web links. The findings indicate that links retrieved using an ecommerce search engine are significantly better than those obtained from most other engines types but do not significantly differ from links obtained from a Web directory service. We discuss the implications for Web system design and ecommerce marketing campaigns.     

Teaching and researching critical academic writing: scrutiny of an action research process

This article aims to explore one way of making connections between a teaching problem, a research process and a theory arrived at through action research. The article suggests this as a fruitful approach to pedagogic research in general. It focuses on a particular action research project on developing critical academic writing in an international context, illustrating how a particular teaching problem led to an action research investigation which resulted in a principled, theoretical framework to describe and guide the development of critical academic writing. Arriving at the theoretical framework involved the iterative interaction of theory with practice and required the integration of multiple theoretical perspectives. The theoretical framework was based on general principles or praxiology. There are few studies of this type on critical academic writing, or indeed any pedagogic issue, which seek to: (1) provide a framework for teaching; (2) operationalise this framework; (3) rigorously research its impact in in-depth case studies; and then (4) revise the framework in the light of reflection and analysis.     

African-American Women in the Professoriate: Addressing Social Exclusion and Scholarly Marginalization through Mentoring

African-American women and other underrepresented faculty members often report experiences of social exclusion and scholarly marginalization in mainstream institutions of higher education. This lack of inclusion challenges their retention and hinders them from becoming productive members of the professoriate, positioning them at a disadvantage for achieving tenure and promotion. In this article, mentoring is conceptualized as socialization and examined as a strategy for addressing social exclusion and scholarly marginalization as associated with the advancement of African-American women faculty in academe. Highlighting traditional and nontraditional mentoring initiatives and formal and informal networks, the discussion features the idea of a broad, flexible network of support. In addition, recommendations from the existing literature are offered for mentors, mentees, and academic department chairs to facilitate effective mentoring strategies.     

Cross-Language Transfer of Phonological Awareness and Letter Knowledge: Causal Evidence and Nature of Transfer

Using a randomized control trial, this study examined the causal evidence of cross-language transfer of phonological awareness and letter knowledge (names and sounds) using data from multilingual 1st-grade children (N = 322) in Kenya. Children in the treatment condition received an 8-week instruction on phonological awareness and letter knowledge in Kiswahili. The comparison group received business-as-usual classroom instruction. Children in the treatment condition showed greater improvement in phonological awareness and letter-sound knowledge in Kiswahili and English (positive transfer; effect sizes from .37 to .95), whereas a negative effect was found in letter-name knowledge (interference; effect size, g = .27). No effects were found in reading, nor did the results vary by moderators (e.g., Kiswahili vocabulary). Path analyses revealed divergent patterns of results for different outcomes. Results provide causal evidence for cross-language transfer of phonological awareness and letter knowledge and offer important theoretical and practical implications.     

Psychological testing of sign language interpreters

Twenty-eight sign language interpreters participated in a battery of tests to determine if a profile of cognitive, motor, attention, and personality attributes might distinguish them as a group and at different credential levels. Eight interpreters held Level II and nine held Level III Virginia Quality Assurance Screenings (VQAS); the other 11 held Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf (RID) certification. Six formal tests, the Quick Neurological Screening Test-II, the Wonderlic Personnel Test, the Test of Visual-Motor Skills (TVMS), the d2 Test of Attention, the Integrated Visual and Auditory Continuous Performance Test, and the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF), were administered to the interpreters. Average scores were high on most of the tests; differences across the three groups were not statistically significant. Results from only one test, the d2 Test of Attention, were significantly correlated with interpreter level. Comparisons between educational and community interpreters also revealed no differences. Personality traits were widely distributed, but one trait, abstract reasoning, tested extremely high in 18 interpreters. Discussion of the potential implications of these results, particularly for educational interpreters, is offered.