Self-Determination and Cultural Empowerment: Reader Histories Reveal Learning and Adaptation Strategies

This article explores the issues of cultural transmission and discontinuity, as well as the implications of culturally based assumptions and attitudes and their potential influence in schools. Through interviews based upon questions specifically related to literacy and literacy acquisition conducted with five seventh-grade students and one eighth-grade student who were perceived to have achieved various levels of success or failure in school-related tasks, insights about student learning and adaptation strategies are revealed which may have pedagogical implications for educators. Arguments are made that adjustments in culturally based assumptions and attitudes by members of the community and the school may influence the academic success or failure of our children.     

Constructing a Universal Scale of High School Course Difficulty

This study examined the usefulness of applying the Rasch rating scale model (Andrich, 1978) to high school grade data. ACT Assessment test scores (English, Mathematics, Reading, and Science Reasoning) were used as "common items" to adjust for different grading standards in individual high school courses both within and across schools. This scaling approach yielded an ACT Assessment-adjusted high school grade point average (AA-HSGPA) on a common scale across high schools and cohorts within a large public university. AA-HSGPA was a better predictor of first-year college grade point average (CGPA) than the regular high school grade point average. The best model for predicting CGPA included both the ACT composite score and AA-HSGPA.     

Good + Bad = ? Developmental Differences in Balancing Gains and Losses in Value-Based Decisions From Memory

Value-based decisions often involve comparisons between benefits and costs that must be retrieved from memory. To investigate the development of value-based decisions, 9- to 10-year olds (N = 30), 11- to 12-year olds (N = 30), and young adults (N = 30) first learned to associate gain and loss magnitudes with symbols. In a subsequent decision task, participants rapidly evaluated objects that consisted of combinations of these symbols. All age groups achieved high decision performance and were sensitive to gain–loss magnitudes, suggesting that required core cognitive abilities are developed early. A cognitive-modeling analysis of performance revealed that children were less efficient in object evaluation (drift rate) and had longer nondecision times than adults. Developmental differences, which emerged particularly for objects of high positive net value, were linked to mnemonic and numerical abilities.     

The Economic Advantages of Knowledge Support Systems

This article presents both the short-arid long-term economic considerations that should drive the implementation of knowledge support systems. These systems utilize emerging computer and information technologies to provide employees with training, reference, and expert advice on desk-top computer terminals. Specifically, those considerations that apply to training and performance managers are discussed. In reviewing the short- and long-term aspects of performance in economic terms, these managers will be better equipped to propose and justify knowledge support system technology. This article also addresses how managers can cope with short-term requirements for cutbacks and cost control. Instead of going into a defensive position during times of cost control, managers can propose new knowledge support system technology that will help the corporation move forward with cost controls and prepare for the future requirements of increasing the performance of people. Finally, a knowledge support system that fits the short- and long-term economic requirements of corporations is presented. This knowledge support system integrates the features of computer-based training, hypertext reference systems, and expert systems into one platform.     

Research Findings from the Tennessee Value-Added Assessment System (TVAAS) Database: Implications for Educational Evaluation and Research

The Tennessee Value-Added Assessment System determines the effectiveness of school systems, schools, and teachers based on student academic growth over time. An integral part of TVAAS is a massive, longitudinally merged database linking students and student outcomes to the schools and systems in which they are enrolled and to the teachers to whom they are assigned as they transition from grade to grade. Research conducted utilizing data from the TVAAS database has shown that race, socioeconomic level, class size, and classroom heterogeneity are poor predictors of student academic growth. Rather, the effectiveness of the teacher is the major determinant of student academic progress. Teacher effects on student achievement have been found to be both additive and cumulative with little evidence that subsequent effective teachers can offset the effects of ineffective ones. For these reasons, a component linking teacher effectiveness to student outcomes is a necessary part of any effective educational evaluation system.     

Peak Power Assessment of Isokinetic Knee Flexor and Extensor Tests – Pitfalls of a Dynamometer-based Assessment

ABSTRACT

Many sports demand high forces at high movement speeds. Joint power combines these two measures and is frequently analyzed by isokinetic tests. However, various concepts of assessing joint power lead to conflicting results. The aim was to examine different methods to calculate peak power during isokinetic knee tests of sixty-one healthy male participants (20 y, 182 cm, 76 kg). Unilateral movements of the eccentrically working hamstrings and the concentrically working quadriceps at 150°/s were captured by high-speed cameras. Peak power derived from isokinetic data was significantly higher (p < 0.01, d > 1.54) compared to the camera-based kinematic procedures. To achieve best accuracy, peak power should be derived from the camera-based joint angular velocity and the measured moment at time of peak power during the dynamometer’s isokinetic range of motion. A meaningful assessment of isokinetic joint power should incorporate a camera-based kinematic analysis to account for potential measuring inaccuracies owing to anatomical features, axis misalignment, and tissue deformation.