Thinking critically about learning analytics,student outcomes,and equity of attainment

Abstract

This is the introduction to the special edition on learning analytics.     

From the (Academic) middle to the top: an evaluation of the AVID/TOPS college access program

Abstract

Despite overall increases in college-going, college enrollment rates remain inequitable. Many programs attempt to address these persistent racial/ethnic and social class disparities in college attendance by intervening in the high school curriculum. Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) is among the longest standing and prevalent of these college access programs. In this paper, we present findings from a multi-year evaluation and cost analysis of the AVID/TOPS program – an enhanced AVID model – in place in Madison Metropolitan School District (Wisconsin). Taken together, the evaluation’s findings characterize AVID/TOPS as a promising program model that is associated with an increased likelihood for college readiness and matriculation, particularly for student groups underrepresented in higher education. We also report on the resources and costs required to implement the program, and show that the program’s benefits appear to exceed its costs.     

Changing attitudes and emotions toward coyotes with experiential education

ABSTRACT

An experiential education program was designed to target risk perceptions and preventative measures that make people feel comfortable in human-coyote interactions. The research was conducted in a Canadian national park where a coyote caused a human fatality in 2009. Based on previous research, we explored the effects of an experience-based coyote education program on people's (a) attitudes toward, (b) fear of, (c) likelihood of, and (d) control over coming into contact with coyotes. A pre-post-test experiment (n = 150; 96% completion rate) was conducted. The experiential education approach to wildlife safety and coexistence communication had a significant positive effect on people's attitudes, significantly decreased their sense of fear toward coyotes, significantly decreased their sense of likelihood, and increased their sense of control in human-coyote interactions.     

Shopping for Shoes: Teaching Students to Apply and Interpret Mathematics in the Real World

This article reports the findings of classroom research exploring the potential of posing challenging mathematical problems situated in real-world financial contexts to activate mathematical knowledge, skills and reasoning. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2012 mathematical literacy assessment framework (OECD, 2013) provided theoretical framing for the study, which examined the use of a “financial dilemma” titled Shopping for shoes in a Year 5/6 composite class in a suburban Australian primary school. The social and mathematical dimensions of the task, together with a particular lesson structure, successfully engaged 10 to 12-year-old students in exploring mathematics through a financial problem-solving experience. The findings reveal that students’ notions of friendship and fairness guided the way they formulated the problem and employed mathematics. Strategies intended to encourage students to interpret the alignment and reasonableness of their social and mathematical thinking against the problem context were critical to the lesson.     

Metacognitive strategy use of eighth-grade students with and without learning disabilities during mathematical problem solving: a think-aloud analysis

The purpose of the study was to investigate the metacognitive abilities of students with LD as they engage in math problem solving and to determine processing differences between these students and their low- and average-achieving peers (n = 73). Students thought out loud as they solved three math problems of increasing difficulty. Protocols were coded and analyzed to determine frequency of cognitive verbalizations and productive and nonproductive metacognitive verbalizations. Results indicated different patterns of metacognitive activity for ability groups when type of metacognitive verbalization and problem difficulty were considered. Implications for instruction are discussed.     

An Expert Derived Feedforward Histology Module Improves Pattern Recognition Efficiency in Novice Students

Histology is a visually oriented, foundational anatomical sciences subject in professional health curricula that has seen a dramatic reduction in educational contact hours and an increase in content migration to a digital platform. While the digital migration of histology laboratories has transformed histology education, few studies have shown the impact of this change on visual literacy development, a critical competency in histology. The objective of this study was to assess whether providing a video clip of an expert’s gaze while completing leukocyte identification tasks would increase the efficiency and performance of novices completing similar identification tasks. In a randomized study, one group of novices (n = 9) was provided with training materials that included expert eye gaze, while the other group (n = 12) was provided training materials with identical content, but without the expert eye gaze. Eye movement parameters including fixation rate and total scan path distance, and performance measures including time-to-task-completion and accuracy, were collected during an identification task assessment. Compared to the control group, the average fixation duration was 13.2% higher (P < 0.02) and scan path distance was 35.0% shorter in the experimental group (P = 0.14). Analysis of task performance measures revealed no significant difference between the groups. These preliminary results suggest a more efficient search performed by the experimental group, indicating the potential efficacy of training using an expert’s gaze to enhance visual literacy development. With further investigation, such feedforward enhanced training methods could be utilized for histology and other visually oriented subjects.     

Barbara Jordan and the ongoing struggle for voting rights

ABSTRACT

This essay examines the voting rights advocacy of Congress member Barbara C. Jordan. Drawing on some of Jordan’s lesser known speeches, including an address commemorating the 75th anniversary of the nineteenth amendment and congressional testimony on the Voting Rights Act of 1975, I highlight how Jordan rhetorically refigured dominant understandings of the meaning of the vote based on gender, race, and ethnicity. Although she was certain to commemorate past suffrage successes, Jordan also contested and nuanced these notions, reminding her audiences that the quest for equitable voting rights was a long, ongoing, coalitional struggle.     

Examining Secondary Special Education Teachers’ Literacy Instructional Practices

This study presents findings from a survey of secondary special education teachers who teach reading. Respondents were 577 special education teachers from a large Midwestern state who completed an online or mail survey. Results based on quantitative and qualitative analyses indicate predominant foci of secondary special education teachers’ reading instructional practices were teaching vocabulary and comprehension, engaging in ongoing formative assessment, and incorporating technology into instruction. Major themes included the widespread use of commercial reading programs and a bifurcation of instructional roles. These findings are discussed in relation to the national discourse on adolescent literacy and current schooling initiatives including the Common Core State Standards and Multi-tiered Systems of Support.