Family rearing antecedents of pubertal timing

Two general evolutionary hypotheses were tested on 756 White children (397 girls) studied longitudinally: (1) rearing experiences would predict pubertal timing; and (2) children would prove differentially susceptible to rearing. Analysis of pubertal measurements, including some based on repeated physical assessments, showed that mothering and fathering, earlier and later in childhood, predicted pubertal development, but only for girls, with negative parenting appearing most influential; maternal harsh control predicted earlier menarche. Rearing effects varied by infant negative emotionality, proving stronger (and opposite) for girls who in infancy were lower rather than higher in negativity. Maternal menarche, controlled in all analyses, was a stronger predictor than rearing. Findings are discussed in terms of theory development, genetic and nutritional influences, and sample restrictions.     

Lead in petrol

There is strong evidence that petrol-derived lead accumulates in the blood. That high doses of lead are very toxic has long been known, but the physical and mental effects of exposure to very low concentrations over a long period are still controversial. All governments are under strong pressure to restrict the permissible level of lead in petrol, but this poses problems for engine designers and entails penalties in oil conservation.     

On not becoming ‘a mere empirical existence’: exploring ‘who’ and ‘what’ narratives in pre-service English teachers’ writing

Standards-based reforms of education favour narrow forms of teacher professional learning tied to generic standards and pre-determined, measurable outcomes. In high-stakes accountability-driven environments, in schools and initial teacher education programs, educators are rarely encouraged to inquire into their work and professional identities through narrative writing. This article describes and analyses an assessment task in a pre-service teacher education course wherein students explore dialogic forms of critical autobiographical writing as part of an ongoing process of examining and clarifying their views and values about English teaching. Drawing on Cavarero, we argue that the writing these preservice teachers do provides a space for them to negotiate ‘what’ and ‘who’ narratives as they journey to become English teachers. Their writing productively grapples with generic ‘what’ stories such as what standards documents attempt to tell about English teaching, and the ‘unrepeatable uniqueness’ of ‘who’ stories developed out of their individual cultural, educational and linguistic difference.     

Preparing Biology Graduate Teaching Assistants for Their Roles as Instructors: An Assessment of Institutional Approaches

The inconsistency of professional development (PD) in teaching for graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) is a widespread problem in higher education. Although GTAs serve an important role in retention of undergraduate science majors and in promotion of scientific literacy in nonmajors, they often lack preparation and ongoing support for teaching. Given the recent national focus on instructional quality in introductory courses, our goal was to use an online survey to identify current practices of teaching PD for biology GTAs and compare these results with the last national survey on this topic. In responses from 71 participant institutions, 96% reported some mandatory teaching preparation for biology GTAs; however, 52% of these programs required 10 or fewer hours per year. Respondents wanted to change their programs to include more pedagogical information and teaching observations with feedback to their GTAs. Programmatic self-ratings of satisfaction with GTA PD were positively correlated with the number of topics discussed during PD. Although more schools are requiring GTA PD for teaching compared with the last national survey, the lack of program breadth at many schools warrants a national conversation with regard to recent calls for improving undergraduate instruction.     

Intersectionality and Student Outcomes: Sharpening the Struggle against Racism,Sexism, Classism,Ableism, Heterosexism,Nationalism, and Linguistic,Religious, and Geographical Discrimination in Teaching and Learning

In this article the authors consider NAME's focus on intersectionality as a tool for theorizing, researching, and employing in pre-K through college practice at preservice and inservice levels. A review of research using three or more identity axes to investigate student outcomes is included. The authors also discuss the benefits of analyzing educational questions intersectionally, noting cautions.     

A contingency management day program for adolescents excluded from public school

This contingency management adolescent school program integrated vocational training with academic instruction. The students, who were unserved by public education because of emotional handicaps, were afforded an individual treatment program by the staff of the day program. They demonstrated significant gains in educational skills and exhibited an exceedingly low dropout rate, inasmuch as 95% either continued in the program beyond their first year or reentered public school.     

Auditory Processing of Amplitude Envelope Rise Time in Adults Diagnosed With Developmental Dyslexia

Studies of basic (nonspeech) auditory processing in adults thought to have developmental dyslexia have yielded a variety of data. Yet there has been little consensus regarding the explanatory value of auditory processing in accounting for reading difficulties. Recently, however, a number of studies of basic auditory processing in children with developmental dyslexia have suggested that a reduced ability to discriminate the rate of change in amplitude envelope onsets (rise time) may be linked to phonological processing difficulties and thereby to reading difficulties. Here, we select a range of different rise-time tasks used with children, and give them to adults with developmental dyslexia, along with 2 other auditory tasks (intensity discrimination and temporal order judgment). Deficits in both rise-time perception and temporal order judgment were found to predict literacy attainment in adults with developmental dyslexia, but the data were suggestive of different causal pathways.     

Models of Emotion Skills and Social Competence in the Head Start Classroom

Research Findings: Fostering the social competence of at-risk preschoolers would be facilitated by knowing which of children's emotion skills are most salient to social outcomes. We examined the emotion skills and social competence of 44 children enrolled in a Head Start program. Emotion skills were examined in terms of children's emotional lability and emotion regulation, whereas social competence was measured in terms of three aspects of preschoolers' social relationships: social skills, student–teacher relationships, and peer likeability. Although emotion regulation emerged as an important predictor for social skills and positive relationships with teachers, emotional lability was a significant predictor of student–teacher conflict and peer likeability. In fact, emotional lability mediated the relation between student–teacher conflict and peer likeability. Practice or Policy: The findings are discussed in terms of the complex associations between children's emotion skills and early social relationships.     

Supports for children with disabilities in regular education classrooms: an account of different perspectives in Flanders

This paper presents the experiences and interpretations of children, parents, teachers and support persons concerning the implementation of supports in regular school environments in Flanders, Belgium. The data were gathered through observations, interviews and focus group meetings. Those multiple perspectives provide insights into the complexity of implementing supports in a regular education context. The conclusions offer some possibilities for debate and alternative ways of thinking about supports that facilitate inclusive school communities by tapping into resources such as the children, the environment, creativity and courage to leave the beaten path.