“It's in Your Heart”: How the California Mini-Corps Program and Hispanic Serving Institutions are Transforming Migrant Student Education

ABSTRACT

This paper provides a deep dive case study of the California Mini-Corps Program within the context of an Hispanic Serving Institution.     

Leveraging the Social Aspect of Educational Games

With games captivating the minds of many children in the United States, educators may be interested in trying to introduce games into their classrooms. This article offers educators insights into how to understand and incorporate games that are inherently social, promoting effective discourse in their classrooms. Although educational games and more generally educational technology are largely seen as being designed for individuals, tools exist that are designed for group play that can spark both peer-group and intergenerational play and discussion. Games that promote conversation and cooperation allow children to develop social skills, build community, and practice various modes of mentorship. Knowing about both the history and the research concerning how social games can be used helps educators critically analyze the effective use of games in the classroom and augment students learning of difficult concepts.     

International Approaches to Whole-of-School Physical Activity Promotion

Increasing physical activity opportunities in schools has emerged as a global priority among school-aged youth. As a result, many countries have designed and implemented whole-of-school physical activity initiatives that seek to increase physical activity opportunities that are available to school-aged children before, during, and after school. Considering the comprehensive school physical activity program conceptual framework, this article includes a discussion of the initiatives from four countries: Finland (Finnish Schools on the Move), Ireland (Active School Flag), Poland (PE with Class), and the United States (Let’s Move Active Schools). Background information, implementation strategies, best practices, development opportunities, and relevant research from each country will be presented. Exploring different perspectives sheds some light on the international landscape relative to whole-of-school physical activity promotion and provides direction for future and continued research and practice.     

SCHOOL ANXIETY INVENTORY: RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY EVIDENCE IN A SAMPLE OF SLOVENIAN ADOLESCENTS

The purpose of this study was to examine the reliability and validity of the School Anxiety Inventory (SAI) using a sample of 646 Slovenian adolescents (48% boys), ranging in age from 12 to 19 years. Single confirmatory factor analyses replicated the correlated four‐factor structure of scores on the SAI for anxiety‐provoking school situations (Anxiety about School Failure and Punishment, Anxiety about Aggression, Anxiety about Social Evaluation, and Anxiety about Academic Evaluation), and the three‐factor structure of the anxiety response systems (Physiological Anxiety, Cognitive Anxiety, and Behavioral Anxiety). Equality of factor structures was compared using multigroup confirmatory factor analyses. Measurement invariance for the four‐ and three‐factor models was obtained across gender and school‐level samples. The scores of the instrument showed high internal reliability and adequate test–retest reliability. The concurrent validity of the SAI scores was also examined through its relationship with the Social Anxiety Scale for Adolescents (SASA) scores and the Questionnaire about Interpersonal Difficulties for Adolescents (QIDA) scores. Correlations of the SAI scores with scores on the SASA and the QIDA were of low to moderate effect sizes.     

The Effect of Differential Motivation on IRT Linking

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether simulated differential motivation between the stakes for operational tests and anchor items produces an invalid linking result if the Rasch model is used to link the operational tests. This was done for an external anchor design and a variation of a pretest design. The study also investigated whether a constrained mixture Rasch model could identify latent classes in such a way that one latent class represented high‐stakes responding while the other represented low‐stakes responding. The results indicated that for an external anchor design, the Rasch linking result was only biased when the motivation level differed between the subpopulations to which the anchor items were administered. However, the mixture Rasch model did not identify the classes representing low‐stakes and high‐stakes responding. When a pretest design was used to link the operational tests by means of a Rasch model, the linking result was found to be biased in each condition. Bias increased as percentage of students showing low‐stakes responding to the anchor items increased. The mixture Rasch model only identified the classes representing low‐stakes and high‐stakes responding under a limited number of conditions.