Phonological awareness, reading skills, and vocabulary knowledge in children who use cochlear implants

In hearing children, reading skills have been found to be closely related to phonological awareness. We used several standardized tests to investigate the reading and phonological awareness skills of 27 deaf school-age children who were experienced cochlear implant users. Approximately two-thirds of the children performed at or above the level of their hearing peers on the phonological awareness and reading tasks. Reading scores were found to be strongly correlated with measures of phonological awareness. These correlations remained the same when we statistically controlled for potentially confounding demographic variables such as age at testing and speech perception skills. However, these correlations decreased even after we statistically controlled for vocabulary size. This finding suggests that lexicon size is a mediating factor in the relationship between the children's phonological awareness and reading skills, a finding that has also been reported for typically developing hearing children.     

Social Networks and Mothers' Interactions with Their Preschool Children

The relation of mothers' personal and maternal networks to the quality of their play interactions was examined. Personal networks consisted of all persons the mother deemed important in her life at the present time; her maternal network consisted of those who were important in her role as a mother. 44 mothers were $$ extensively about their social networks and kept a logdiary for 1 week of their contacts with networks members. They were also observed during a play session with their 4-year-old child. Intercorrelations among network variables supported the conceptualization of social networks as multifaceted with major distinctions between personal and maternal networks and between structure and satisfaction. Mothers who were more satisfied with their personal networks and mothers with larger maternal networks demonstrated more optimal maternal behavior: they praised their children more and they were less intrusively controlling. Mothers with less cohesive networks also demonstrated this pattern.     

Using Library Funds to Support Open Access Publishing through Crowdfunding: Going Beyond Article Processing Charges

Publishers commonly use Article Processing Charges (APCs) to fund open access publications, and some libraries and institutions help local authors pay these costs. However, this strategy is expensive and can usually only address one article at a time. A number of relatively new publishing initiatives rely on a crowdfunding model and allow many libraries to share the cost of open access, often at a fraction of the cost of APCs. This article highlights several alternative publishing projects to help librarians think further about how library funds could be used to support open access.     

The Long-term Contribution of Early Childhood Education to Children's Performance--Evidence from New Zealand

Evidence from the longitudinal Competent Children project is provided which shows the continuing contribution of early childhood education to children's competencies at age 10. Among the New Zealand sample, children had higher average scores if they had 3 or more years of early childhood education in general. The quality of their final early childhood education centre, particularly related to teacher-child interaction, also continued to show enduring associations with children's performance. The socio-economic mix of the children's final early childhood education centre also had a bearing on their competency levels 5 years later. L'e´vidence du projet longitudinal 'Enfants Compe´tents' ici fournis montre la contribution continue de la e´ducation de la premie ¤ re enfance aux compe´tences des enfants a ¤ l'age 10. Parmi l'e´chantillon de la Nouvelle-Ze´lande, les enfants avaient des points moyens plus hauts s'ils avaient trois anne´es ou plus d'e´ducation de premie ¤ re enfance en ge´ne´ral. La qualite´ de leur dernier centre d'e´ducation de la premie ¤ re enfance, particulie ¤ rement connexe a ¤ l'interaction de l'enseignant et l'enfant, continuait aussi a ¤ montrer des associations durables avec la performance des enfants. Le me´lange socio-e´conomique du dernier centre d'e´ducation de la premie ¤ re enfance fre´quente´ par les enfants avait aussi un rapport avec leurs niveaux de compe´tence 5 anne´es plus tard. La evidencia del proyecto longitudinal llamado "Nin ¨ os Competentes" aqui´ presentada demuestra la contribucio´n continua de la educacio´n de la nin ¨ ez temprana a las capacidades que tienen los nin ¨ os a los 10 an ¨ os. En la muestra de Nueva Zelanda, los nin ¨ os teni´an puntos medios ma´s altos si teni´an tres o ma´s an ¨ os de educacio´n preescolar en general. La calidad del u´ltimo centro preescolar al cual han asistido, particularmente la calidad relacionada a la interaccio´n de la maestra y el nin ¨ o, tambie´n continuo´ a demostrar asociaciones duraderas relacionadas al desempen ¨ o de los nin ¨ os. La mezcla socioecono´mica del u´ltimo centro preescolar frecuentados por los nin ¨ os tambie´n tuvo efecto sobre sus niveles de capacidad 5 an ¨ os ma´s tarde.     

School policies on bullying and cyberbullying: perspectives across three Australian states

Background: Despite decades of research, bullying in all its forms is still a significant problem within schools in Australia, as it is internationally. Anti-bullying policies and guidelines are thought to be one strategy as part of a whole school approach to reduce bullying. However, although Australian schools are required to have these policies, their effectiveness is not clear. As policies and guidelines about bullying and cyberbullying are developed within education departments, this paper explores the perspectives of those who are involved in their construction. Purpose: This study examined the perspectives of professionals involved in policy construction, across three different Australian states. The aim was to determine how their relative jurisdictions define bullying and cyberbullying, the processes for developing policy, the bullying prevention and intervention recommendations given to schools and the content considered essential in current policies. Sample: Eleven key stakeholders from three Australian states with similar education systems were invited to participate. The sample selection criteria included professionals with experience and training in education, cyber-safety and the responsibility to contribute to or make decisions which inform policy in this area for schools in their state. Design and methods: Participants were interviewed about the definitions of bullying they used in their state policy frameworks; the extent to which cyberbullying was included; and the content they considered essential for schools to include in anti-bullying policies. Data were collected through in-depth, semi-structured interviews and analysed thematically. Findings: Seven themes were identified in the data: (1) Definition of bullying and cyberbullying; (2) Existence of a policy template; (3) Policy location; (4) Adding cyberbullying; (5) Distinguishing between bullying and cyberbullying; (6) Effective policy; and (7) Policy as a prevention or intervention tool. The results were similar both across state boundaries and also across different disciplines. Conclusion: Analysis of the data suggested that, across the themes, there was some lack of information about bullying and cyberbullying. This limitation could affect the subsequent development, dissemination and sustainability of school anti-bullying policies, which have implications for the translation of research to inform better student outcomes.     

Beyond the Total Score: A Preliminary Investigation into the Types of Phonological Awareness Errors Made by First Graders

Current phonological awareness assessment procedures consider only the total score a child achieves. Such an approach may result in children who achieve the same total score receiving the same instruction even though the configuration of their errors represent fundamental knowledge differences. The purpose of this study was to develop a tool for phonological awareness error classification and explore the types of errors made by 215 grade one children from low socioeconomic backgrounds on a phonological awareness test. Twenty-one distinct errors were identified and classified into eight categories. The most frequently occurring error category was Additions followed by Segmentations, Substitutions, Insertions, Repetitions, Omissions, Reversals, and Multiple Errors. Examination of a subsample of study participants who were classified as high and low reading performers revealed differences in the both the degree and type of errors exhibited. Low reading performers exhibited significantly more Insertion, Omission, Segmentation, and Substitution errors. Knowledge of child errors has the potential to enhance understanding and interpretation of child test performance and subsequent instructional recommendations.     

Bringing Science to Life Through Community-Based Watershed Education

Four elements of successful student-scientist partnerships (SSPs) have been identified through experience in a wide variety of educational settings. SSPs should: use an inquiry-based approach to education; be built around authentic, community-based investigations; let students be scientists; and allow scientists to be educators. Each element is discussed and illuminated with examples from case studies of watershed education programs that are based on an interdisciplinary, action-oriented watershed education model developed by the Global Rivers Environmental Education Network (GREEN).     

Retracted publications in pharmacy systematic reviews

Objective:Systematic reviews and other evidence syntheses, the pinnacle of the evidence pyramid, embody comprehensiveness and rigor; however, retracted data are being incorporated into these publications. This study examines the use of retracted publications in the field of pharmacy, describes characteristics of retracted publications cited by systematic reviews, and discusses factors associated with citation likelihood.Methods:Using data from Retraction Watch, we identified retracted publications in the pharmacy field. We identified all articles citing these retracted publications in Web of Science and Scopus and limited results to systematic reviews. We classified the retraction reason, determined whether the citation occurred before or after retraction, and analyzed factors associated with the likelihood of systematic reviews citing a retracted publication.Results:Of 1,396 retracted publications, 283 were cited 1,096 times in systematic reviews. Most (65.0%) (712/1096) citations occurred before retraction. Citations were most often to items retracted due to data falsification or manipulation (39.2%), followed by items retracted due to ethical misconduct including plagiarism (30.4%), or concerns about or errors in data or methods (26.2%). Compared to those not cited in systematic reviews, cited items were significantly more likely to be retracted due to data falsification and manipulation, were published in high impact factor journals, and had longer delays between publication and retraction.Conclusions:Further analysis of systematic reviews citing retracted publications is needed to determine the impact of flawed data. Librarians understand the nuances involved and can advocate for greater transparency around the retraction process and increase awareness of challenges posed by retractions.