What a Scientist Looks Like: How Community Colleges Can Utilize and Enhance Science Identity Development as a Means to Improve Success for Women of Color

ABSTRACT

This article explores the application of science identity development theory for women of color interested in the science disciplines; and it advocates for taking an intersectional approach to understanding how women of color form science identities. The article also challenges community college administrators and scholars to focus on redefining science identity development theory within the community college setting as a means to enhance success for women of color pursuing academic work in scientific disciplines.     

Investigating the validity of two widely used quantitative text tools

In recent years, readability formulas have gained new prominence as a basis for selecting texts for learning and assessment. Variables that quantitative tools count (e.g., word frequency, sentence length) provide valid measures of text complexity insofar as they accurately predict representative and high-quality criteria. The longstanding consensus of text researchers has been that such criteria will measure readers’ comprehension of sample texts. This study used Bormuth’s (1969) rigorously developed criterion measure to investigate two of today’s most widely used quantitative text tools—the Lexile Framework and the Flesch–Kincaid Grade-Level formula. Correlations between the two tools’ complexity scores and Bormuth’s measured difficulties of criterion passages were only moderately high in light of the literature and new high stakes uses for such tools. These correlations declined a small amount when passages from the University grade band of use were removed. The ability of these tools to predict measured text difficulties within any single grade band below University was low. Analyses showed that word complexity made a larger contribution relative to sentence complexity when each tool’s predictors were regressed on the Bormuth criterion rather than their original criteria. When the criterion was texts’ grade band of use instead of mean cloze scores, neither tool classified texts well and errors disproportionally placed texts from higher grade bands into lower ones. Results suggest these two text tools may lack adequate validity for their current uses in educational settings.     

Children's literacy environments and early word recognition subskills

First-grade children completed a battery of tasks that included standardized measures of word recognition and spelling, measures of phonological and orthographic processing skill, and a short indicator of exposure to print via home literacy experiences. Phonological and orthographic processing skill were separable components of variance in word recognition. Orthographic processing ability accounted for variance in word recognition ability even after the variance in three phonological processing measures had been partialed. Additionally, variance in orthographic processing ability not explained by phonological abilities was reliably linked to differences in print exposure. The print exposure measure was not, however, linked to the measures of phonological processing. This finding was unexpected but it is consistent with some previous research. The theoretical implications of this result are discussed.     

Breaking It Down: A Brief Exploration of Institutional Repository Submission Agreements

Institutional repositories typically have a submission agreement that is meant to protect the institution hosting the repository and inform submitters of their rights and responsibilities. This article examines how various libraries have created submission agreements, enquires as to issues surrounding them, and identifies commonalities and unique statements. The authors deployed a survey to institutional repository administrators listed in OpenDOAR in the United States. Approximately 7% of the 304 potential institutional repository managers responded. Library administrators, institutional repositories managers/architects, and legal counsel were the most likely to have input into the creation of the submission agreement; scholarly communications librarians were involved only 20% of the time. Although submission agreements averaged 282 words arranged in 9 sentences, their reading complexity requires a university degree. Commonalities include characterizing the agreement as a non-exclusive license, indicating the submitter's responsibility for obtaining permissions for any content that they did not produce, and confirming the right of the submitter to enter into the agreement. Submission agreements are generally complex and do not accommodate the common practice of mediated submission. Sharing submission agreements publicly may lead to simplified and standardized language and reduce barriers to submitters.     

Praxis Exiled: Herbert Marcuse and the One Dimensional University

Leading Frankfurt School theorist, Herbert Marcuse, possessed an intricate relationship with higher education. As a professor, Marcuse participated in the 1960s student movements, believing that college students had potential as revolutionary subjects. Additionally, Marcuse advocated for a college education empowered by a form of praxis that extended education outside the university into realms of critical thought and action. However, the more pessimistic facet of his theory, best represented in the canonical One Dimensional Man, now seems to be the dominant ideology in the contemporary college experience. With the rise of the corporate university, knowledge is commodified and praxis is supplanted by rampant consumerism. Once a haven for critical theory, the college experience has been overtaken by capitalism, substantially limiting the revolutionary potential for college students in favour of an institutionalised, one dimensional university.     

ISTE standards in teacher education: A collection of practical examples

Abstract

The innovative integration of technology into teacher education is at a premium. Institutions, large and small, are searching for examples of appropriate, effective, and replicable programs on which to base programmatic decisions. This article provides such a guide. The authors represent four of the first six International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Distinguished Achievement award‐winning programs. This article provides examples of how four highly innovative programs meet the ISTE National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers (NETS?T) for technology integration into the teacher education programs. It provides a collection of practical examples of ways in which teacher education programs can use the NETS'T as a guide for enhancing teacher education curricula on campus and in P‐12 classrooms where teacher education candidates work.