Recognition of facial emotions among maltreated children with high rates of post-traumatic stress disorder

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to examine processing of facial emotions in a sample of maltreated children showing high rates of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Maltreatment during childhood has been associated independently with both atypical processing of emotion and the development of PTSD. However, research has provided little evidence indicating how high rates of PTSD might relate to maltreated children's processing of emotions. METHOD: Participants' reaction time and labeling of emotions were measured using a morphed facial emotion identification task. Participants included a diverse sample of maltreated children with and without PTSD and controls ranging in age from 8 to 15 years. Maltreated children had been removed from their homes and placed in state custody following experiences of maltreatment. Diagnoses of PTSD and other disorders were determined through combination of parent, child, and teacher reports. RESULTS: Maltreated children displayed faster reaction times than controls when labeling emotional facial expressions, and this result was most pronounced for fearful faces. Relative to children who were not maltreated, maltreated children both with and without PTSD showed enhanced response times when identifying fearful faces. There was no group difference in labeling of emotions when identifying different facial emotions. CONCLUSIONS: Maltreated children show heightened ability to identify fearful faces, evidenced by faster reaction times relative to controls. This association between maltreatment and atypical processing of emotion is independent of PTSD diagnosis.     

Response‐to‐intervention in high‐risk preschools: Critical issues for implementation

This article summarizes the current knowledge of response‐to‐intervention (RTI) models in preschool settings, with an emphasis on evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of our current research base. Particular attention is given to the unique challenges of high‐risk preschool settings. Presently, sufficient empirical support exists to begin establishing tiered intervention systems and building teacher capacity. Lacking, however, are valid and reliable assessment tools and insufficiently trained personnel to support a data‐based decision‐model within high‐risk preschools. We conclude that organizational development should focus on building teacher capacity, establishing high‐quality classroom instruction, and planning for sustainable programs, with adoption of a full RTI service delivery model serving as a long‐range aspirational goal. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The contemporary librarian: Skills, knowledge and attributes required in a world of emerging technologies

Seventy-six librarians participated in a series of focus groups in support of research exploring the skills, knowledge and attributes required by the contemporary library and information professional in a world of ever changing technology. The project was funded by the Australian Learning and Teaching Council. Text mining data analysis revealed three main thematic clusters (libraries, people, jobs) and one minor thematic cluster (community). Library 2.0 was broadly viewed by participants as being about change whilst librarian 2.0 was perceived by participants as not a new creation but just about good librarian practices. Participants expressed the general belief that personality traits, not just qualifications, were critical to be a successful librarian or information worker in the future.     

Increasing Access to Higher Education Among Low-Income Students: The Washington State Achievers Program

The purpose of this study was to assess how a comprehensive precollege intervention and developmental program among low-income high school students contributed to college enrollment outcomes measured in 2006. Our focus was on the Fifth Cohort of the Washington State Achievers (WSA) Program, which provides financial, academic, and college preparation support to 500 high school students who come from the lowest 35% of Washington state income levels. One important feature of the WSA Program is that it provided funding for complete high school curriculum reform among 16 Washington high schools that have a high prevalence of low-income students. The data set contained three groups of students from these 16 high schools: Funded Achievers who were part of the WSA Program and received funding for college; Nonfunded Achievers who were part of the WSA Program and but did not receive funding for college; and Nonrecipients who were neither part of the WSA Program nor received funding for college. Results from generalized multinomial logistic models found two trends (a) early and continuous financial support for college along with being active in the WSA Program nearly guarantees enrollment in college and increases enrollment in 4-year and highly selective colleges; and (b) even in the absence of financial support for college there are still quantifiable and positive effects on college-going for just participating in the WSA Program and receiving its abundant nonfinancial resources and support. These results persist even with strong controls for selection, background, academic, financial, aspiration, and school-level variables.     

Educational Psychology: Using Insights from Implicit Attitude Measures

Teachers’ and preservice teachers’ attitudes toward students are mental states that may contribute to teachers’ judgments and students’ achievement. However, in the past, educational research has mainly focused on explicit attitudes and has hardly considered the pivotal role of implicit attitudes in predicting behavior. Drawing on the MODE model of how attitudes guide behavior (Fazio 1990; Fazio and Towles-Schwen 1999), this article gives a brief overview of the most common implicit attitude measures. Focusing on two different student groups who experience disadvantages in educational attainment shows that explicit attitudes are mainly positive, while implicit attitudes are negative and more predictive of teacher’ and preservice teachers’ behavior. This article highlights the need for implicit measures in educational research and identifies questions to be addressed by future research.     

Guideline.gov: A Database of Clinical Specialty Guidelines

The National Guidelines Clearinghouse (NGC), also known as Guideline.gov, is a database of resources to assist health care providers with a central depository of guidelines for clinical specialty areas in medicine. The database is provided free of charge and is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The guidelines for treatment are updated regularly, with new guidelines replacing older guidelines every five years. There are hundreds of current guidelines with more added each week. The purpose and goal of NGC is to provide physicians, nurses, and other health care providers, insurance companies, and others in the field of health care with a unified database of the most current, detailed, relevant, and objective clinical practice guidelines.     

Reflections on religious nationalism,conflict and schooling in developing democracies: India and Israel in comparative perspective

This article explores the relationship between the propagation of religious nationalist citizenship discourses in classrooms and inter‐religious conflict in the context of two developing democracies, India and Israel. The author concludes that students schooled in religious nationalist ideology in developing nations are at greater risk of accepting exclusionary citizenship discourses without adequate critical analyses of their implications due to poor nations' tendencies toward teacher‐centred and textbook‐based instruction that neglects the development of critical thinking faculties. The acceptance of these ideologies appears to be correlated with an increase in inter‐religious conflict, social destabilization and the subversion of democracy. The corruption of democratic ideals by religiously motivated citizenship discourses has however been partially offset by the power of the vote and other structures inherent in democracy.     

The influence of organisational identification on employee attitudes and behaviours in multinational higher education institutions

In order to operate effectively and efficiently, most higher education institutions depend on employees performing extra-role behaviours and being committed to staying with the organisation. This study assesses the extent to which organisational identification and employee satisfaction are antecedents of these two important behaviours. Key objectives of the research were to identify possible antecedents of organisational identification and to discover whether the consequences of organisational identification vary among the employees of multinational universities at home and foreign campuses. We developed a model that was tested using structural equation modelling, which assesses the influences of organisational identification on employee satisfaction, extra-role behaviours and turnover intentions. All of the paths in our model were significant, but employee identification, satisfaction and extra-role behaviours were lower at foreign branches than at the home campuses of universities, and turnover intentions were higher. These results suggest that higher education institutions need to implement different human resource strategies at home and foreign branches, with a focus on improving organisational identification at the foreign subsidiaries.     

Using Collaborative Assessment to Examine the Relationship between Self-Reported Beliefs and the Documentable Practices of Preschool Teachers

A team of researchers used a collaborative assessment protocol to compare the self-reported teaching beliefs of a convenience sample of preschool teachers (N = 57) to their documentable practices (i.e., practices that could be observed, recorded, and categorized using a deductive strategy). Data were examined from survey instruments, detailed classroom observations and time-sampling, curriculum materials, and program artifacts. Results indicated that when child-directed choice/play time, emergent literacy and language development activities were emphasized, teachers self-reported beliefs were more strongly aligned with developmentally appropriate practice (DAP) as a philosophy of practice. When consistent routines, organized classrooms, preplanned curriculum, and teacher-directed learning were the dominant behaviors, the teachers were found to report more “traditional” or academic-oriented beliefs.