ADULT STUDENTS IN HIGHER EDUCATION: MYTHS AND REALITIES

Although there has been significant growth of adult students in higher education, few strategies have been designed to enhancing faculty and staff beliefs and knowledge regarding adult undergraduate students. This article presents CASHE (Characteristics of Adult Students in Higher Education), an instrumentation strategy for self examination of personally held beliefs and knowledge regarding adult learners. Preliminary research on the use of this instrumentation among community college and university personnel is discussed. Findings suggest differing perceptions between these two collegiate settings, as well as between student personnel staff and instructional faculty.     

A Second Chance in Second Grade: The Independent and Cumulative Impact of First- and Second-Grade Reading Instruction and Students' Letter-Word Reading Skill Growth

This study examines the relation of language arts instruction to students' letter-word reading skill growth from the beginning of 1st grade to the end of 2nd grade using cross-classified random effects models. Amounts of teacher-managed, code-focused instruction in 1st and 2nd grade each uniquely predicted students' letter-word reading skill growth; plus, there were child-by-instruction interactions. Students with weaker fall 1st grade letter-word reading scores demonstrated stronger letter-word reading at the end of 2nd grade when they spent more time in 1st-and 2nd-grade teacher-managed, code-focused instruction. Students with stronger initial reading skills demonstrated higher 2nd-grade reading scores when they spent less time in 1st grade but more time in 2nd-grade teacher-managed, code-focused instruction. Students who participated in optimally effective 1st-grade and 2nd-grade classroom instruction demonstrated greater letter-word reading growth from the beginning of 1st grade to the end of 2nd grade than did students who participated in less effective instruction in either 1st or 2nd grade, or both. Still, for children who entered 1st grade with weaker reading skills, results indicate that effective 2nd-grade instruction might offer a 2nd chance to achieve grade appropriate reading skills.     

PASSION,POLITICS, AND COLLABORATION: CHANGING EARLY CHILDHOOD TEACHER PREPARATION AND CERTIFICATION

This narrative chronicles the development of a state mandated seamless early care and education career development system designed to improve the quality of preparation of Early Childhood professionals and services supporting young children. Issues of articulation between two‐year and four‐year institutions, statewide standardized core community college coursework, and accountability based on state testing for teacher certification are discussed. Finally, state‐wide teacher preparation changes and university responses to those mandates are included.     

Teachers,Families, and Communities Supporting English Language Learners in Inclusive Pre-Kindergartens: An Evaluation of a Professional Development Model

The purpose of the Teachers, Families, and Communities Supporting English Language Learners (TFC) project was to implement and evaluate a sustainable model of high-quality professional development focused on improving inclusive pre-kindergarten services for English Language Learners (ELL) and their families. The professional development program consisted of three interactive training sessions and on-site classroom coaching visits. The project evaluation consisted of an assessment of the professional development program (i.e., the training sessions and coaching) and teachers' self-assessments of their beliefs and practices. Results indicate that the professional development program supported pre-kindergarten teachers in their efforts to be responsive to ELL children in their classrooms and with their families. Results also indicate that pre-kindergarten teachers are in need of continued support as they work with linguistically and culturally diverse children and their families. Implications for future professional development focused on English Language Learners are discussed.     

Post-Knowledge of Results Delay: Effects of Interpolated Activity on Learning and Performance

Abstract

The present experiment investigated the effects of interpolated processing activity (IPA) during the post knowledge of results (KR) interval. The study attempted to correct some of the problems inherent in previous research by using a ballistic timing criterion task and assessing the effects of interpolated processing activity (IPA) on both acquisition and No KR transfer trials. To insure that the efficacy of the IPA manipulation, a paced task was used and performance was assessed. Two levels of post-KR delay (5 and 10 s) were factorially combined with two levels of IPA (IPA or No IPA) to yield four experimental groups. Each subject completed 30 KR acquisition trials and 20 No KR transfer trials. Interresponse interval was held constant. In contrast to many previous studies, IPA interfered with the subjects' ability to learn and perform the criterion movement time of 150 ms. Both the memory trace and the perceptual trace were similarly affected. The detrimental effects of IPA on absolute error and objective-subjective error differences found during acquisition persisted during KR withdrawal.     

Spin Imparted to a Tennis Ball during Impact with Conventionally and Diagonally Strung Rackets

Abstract

This study compared the amount of spin imparted to a tennis ball during impact with conventionally and diagonally strung tennis rackets. Balls were projected at the rackets at an angle of approximately 45°. The head of each racket was oriented vertically and clamped to eliminate any influence that deformations of the frame would have on the forces transmitted to the ball during impact. Ten multiple-image photographs (five using a relatively slow ball velocity and five using a relatively fast ball velocity) were taken of a ball approaching, striking, and leaving the rackets.

For similar pre-impact conditions, it was found that the angular impulse of the contact force applied to the ball (and hence the amount of spin) was almost identical for the two string configurations. Possible explanations of this finding are discussed.     

Race and gender influences on adjustment in early adolescence: investigation of an integrative model

This research investigated an integrative model of race- and gender-related influences on adjustment during early adolescence using a sample of 350 Black and White youth. In the proposed model, prejudice/discrimination events, as well as race and gender daily hassles, contribute to a general stress context. The stress context, in turn, influences levels of emotional and behavioral problems in adjustment, with these associations mediated (in part) by intervening effects on self-esteem. Racial and gender identity similarly have positive effects on adjustment via their intermediary linkages with self-esteem. Structural equation modeling analyses provided support for all of these aspects of the model. Findings also revealed theoretically predicted differences in model parameters across race by gender subgroups. These include a direct effect of prejudice/discrimination events on emotional problems specific to Black youth and an effect of gender identity on self-esteem specific to girls. Black girls appeared to be most vulnerable to exhibiting significant adjustment difficulties as a result of the processes under investigation.