Ethnic identity maintenance within the Latino-American church: a structuration perspective

The Latino ethnic/immigrant church plays a significant role in maintaining the ethnic identity of its congregants. Through the perspective of structuration theory, this qualitative analysis investigates how the activities of the church impact its members and how an individual might contribute to the cultural structure of the Latino church (i.e., duality of structure). Interviews of 25 pastors from Spanish-speaking congregations in both urban and rural settings in Oregon resulted in several themes including the initial planting of the church, the denominational structure, the emergence of a new multi-ethnic cultural identity, generational differences, and the influence of Spanish.     

Telecommunications and Effective Distance Learning Telecourse Design

Effective distance learning course design focuses on meeting the lifestyle and learning-style needs of a non-traditional student. Fulfilling these needs is accomplished by making provision for human interaction that fosters classroom rapport, builds class membership behaviors and identification with the university. Equal attention is given to matching high-tech equipment capabilities to instructional purpose, instructor personality, student learning style, and preferred interaction style. Continuing evaluation of telecourse programs is vital for assuring telecourse program quality focusing on student learning satisfaction and cost effectiveness. Findings indicate important implications for the design of distance education courses and programs. An effectively designed distance learning telecourse provides for student academic support services. Effective tele-courses also provide the means for instructor/learner, learner/learner, and learner/content interactivity.     

Appropriating scientific practices and discourses with future elementary teachers

We describe a physics course designed to engage preservice elementary teachers in the practices and discourses of science through activities they would later use with children. Formerly successful science students encountered considerable barriers in giving up prior conceptions of science as an enterprise practiced alone, with quick and certain answers that were obvious to everyone, and external authority as the preferred grounds for knowing. Other students, who deemed themselves unsuccessful in previous science learning, came to the course with a value for personal understanding—something they had not accomplished in earlier science courses. We describe how both sets of students made progress in inventing and testing models, working with empirical data, critically evaluating and using authoritative sources, and talking and thinking within a community of validators. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 36: 755–776, 1999     

The effects of developmental placement and early retention on children's later scores on standardized tests

The relationship between early school retention as a result of preschool and kindergarten developmental testing and children's later academic achievement was examined. Two hundred twenty-three children were coded as Traditional, Overplaced, or “Buy a Year,” depending on their scores on the Gesell Screening Test and their subsequent school placement. Their performances on the full Gesell Developmental Test, 3rd grade New York State PEP Tests in reading and math, and the Stanford Achievement Test (SAT) were compared. Those children who scored as immature on the Gesell Screening Test and who were retained a year according to the Gesell Developmental Placement Program had the lowest scores on all measures, even though they were almost a year older than the other two groups of children at the time of the PEP and SAT testing.     

The impact of COVID-19 on reference services: a national survey of academic health sciences librarians

Objectives:The aim of this study was to gain a better understanding of the scope and adaptive nature of reference services provided by academic health sciences librarians over a one-year period (between March 2020 and March 2021) during the COVID-19 pandemic.Methods:In March 2021, academic health sciences librarians in the United States were invited to participate in an anonymous online survey about their experiences providing reference services during the COVID-19 pandemic. The online survey was developed, pretested, and distributed to various listservs.Results:A total of 205 academic health sciences librarians and other information professionals with health sciences liaison responsibilities in the US (N=205) responded to the online survey. The scope of reference services provided during the COVID-19 pandemic included email-based reference services (97%), virtual reference (89%), telephone (80%), text-based (33%), and in-person (31%). The most common types of COVID-related reference questions included COVID-19 treatments (53%), safety precautions (46%), vaccines (41%), and prevalence (38%). Additionally, the identification of challenging reference questions and examples of misinformation were provided by respondents.Conclusions:The results of the survey characterize the evolving nature and scope of academic health sciences reference work during the COVID-19 pandemic. Librarians reported an increase in reference questions during the pandemic and are answering them in creative ways despite barriers (e.g., limited time and reduction in resources). There is an opportunity for librarians to continue to address COVID-related misinformation. Overall, these findings provide useful insight for library practitioners and administrators planning reference services during public health crises.     

The effects of pre-first-grade programs on student reading and mathematics achievement

Pre-first programs and grade retentions have been ways that school personnel have attempted to address the problem of school failure. However, the benefits of these practices on student achievement have not been consistently supported in the research literature. This study investigated both the short- and long-term effects of pre-first programs on students' academic achievement in reading and mathematics, using three comparison groups. No significant differences were found in six of the eight analyses conducted, indicating few, if any, positive effects from the pre-first program. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.