Differential Item Functioning on the SAT-M Braille Edition

This study attempted to pinpoint the causes of differential item difficulty for blind students taking the braille edition of the Scholastic Aptitude Test's Mathematical section (SAT-M). The study method involved reviewing the literature to identify factors that might cause differential item functioning for these examinees, forming item categories based on these factors, identifying categories that functioned differentially, and assessing the functioning o f the items comprising deviant categories to determine if the differential effect was pervasive. Results showed an association between selected item categories and differential functioning, particularly for items that included figures in the stimulus, items for which spatial estimation was helpful in eliminating at least two of the options, and items that presented figures that were small or medium in size. The precise meaning of this association was unclear, however, because some items from the suspected categories functioned normally, factors other than the hypothesized ones might have caused the observed aberrant item behavior, and the differential difficulty might reflect real population differences in relevant content knowledge     

Intellectual interest mediates gene × socioeconomic status interaction on adolescent academic achievement

Recent studies have demonstrated that genetic influences on cognitive ability and academic achievement are larger for children raised in higher socioeconomic status (SES) homes. However, little work has been done to document the psychosocial processes that underlie this Gene × Environment interaction. One process may involve the conversion of intellectual interest into academic achievement. Analyses of data from 777 pairs of 17-year-old twins indicated that Gene × SES effects on achievement scores can be accounted for by stronger influences of genes for intellectual interest on achievement at higher levels of SES. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that higher SES affords greater opportunity for children to seek out and benefit from learning experiences that are congruent with their genetically influenced intellectual interests.     

Early identification of special educational needs and the definition of 'at risk': The Early Years Transition and Special Educational Needs (EYTSEN) Project

Education in the early years is a key element in the Government's current strategy. Recently, the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) funded a major study of Effective Provision of Pre-School Education (EPPE). The Early Years Transition and Special Educational Needs (EYTSEN) Project developed from the EPPE research and was also funded by the DfES. The authors of this article, Brenda Taggart, Pam Sammons, Rebecca Smees, Kathy Sylva, Edward Melhuish, Iram Siraj-Blatchford, Karen Elliott and Ingrid Lunt, all worked on the EYTSEN Project, based at the Institute of Education, University of London. In this article, they provide a summary of the findings from the EYTSEN Project, reviewing the impact of pre-school provision on children said to be 'at risk' of developing special educational needs. They suggest that pre-school experience has a positive impact on cognitive attainment and social or behavioural development and that integrated centres (where education and care are fully combined) and nursery schools have the most positive influence among the different f o rms of pre-school provision. This paper also discusses the identification of special educational needs; quality in pre-school centres; parents' perspectives; and future developments. The article closes with a call for improved training for practitioners working in early years settings.     

Adoption and adaptation in the use of transaction processing systems: The case of OCLC software

Library networks have developed transaction processing software as automation tools for technical and public services, based on generic library models. Transaction processing systems are shown to be a flexible type of design, allowing users to introduce modifications which aid their individual objectives: 92% of user institutions reported they made local modifications to standard OCLC practices and procedures. These findings are discussed in terms of network models for decision making in software use; methodology of software user studies; and diffusion of innovation processes in post-implementation stages of transaction processing software.     

Automated scoring in context: Rapid assessment for placed students

This study investigated the use of automated essay scoring (AES) to identify at-risk students enrolled in a first-year university writing course. An application of AES, the Criterion^® Online Writing Evaluation Service was evaluated through a methodology focusing on construct modelling, response processes, disaggregation, extrapolation, generalization, and consequence. Based on the results of our two-year study with students (N = 1,482) at a public technological research university in the United States, we found that Criterion offered a defined writing construct congruent with established models, achieved acceptance among students and instructors, showed no statistically significant differences between ethnicity groups of sufficient sample size, correlated at acceptable levels with other writing measures, performed in a stable fashion, and enabled instructors to identify at-risk students to increase their course success.     

Untangling citation networks

The pattern of citation links between articles permits a placement in a space of points representing these articles. Using the rule that articles are placed at the centroid of the articles to which they are linked, pictures can be drawn revealing key papers and their descendants. This simple rule for placing papers by their citation pattern may also be used to scale other citation-based data. The example used in this paper is the placement of overlapping groups of articles linked by shared articles.