Assessing Reading Comprehension: The Effects of Text-Based Interest,Gender, and Ability

Previous research has established that interest in a text is related to better comprehension and recall, but the impact of interest on comprehension in testing situations has not been widely investigated. This study used Hierarchical Linear Models (HLM) to examine the relationship between students' interest in reading passages and their performance on reading comprehension test items over those passages. The study involved 19,735 students in Grades 4 through 8. Stimuli consisted of 98 different reading passages. A small but significant relationship between interest and test performance was found, which was stronger for girls and for students of higher ability levels. A second HLM analysis was employed to explore whether certain passage characteristics were associated with higher or lower interest. The implications for test construction are discussed.     

Creating a flexible fund structure to meet the needs and goals of the library and its users

This paper describes the Texas A&M University (TAMU) Libraries' new and innovative approach to monograph collection development using a re-engineered internal funding structure and a process that reflects the needs and goals of the library and its users. The paper discusses the goals of the new fund structure, the experience of implementing it, and the results after one year in use.     

On Coping with the Stresses of Teaching

Stress is a concept which is much talked about but little understood. We are exposed to it every day of our lives and our response to it often determines the quality of our life and health. Hans Selye (1976), the acknowledged father of stress research, defines stress as the nonspecific response of the body to any demand and a stressor as an agent which produces stress at any time. The stressor may be a demánd for physical activity or an environmental exposure to potential toxins such as heat or noise. It may be an emotional difficulty that produces distorted perceptions of ordinary circumstances or the psychological impact of such significant events as the death of a loved one. Social stressors may arise out of an individual's work, family roles or interpersonal relationships with others.     

Individual differences in negative group work experiences in collaborative student learning

This paper reports the development of the Negative Group Work Experiences questionnaire (NGWE), an assessment tool for measuring negative experiences of group work. Study 1 involved two samples of undergraduate psychology students (second‐year sample n = 425; first‐year sample n = 443), who completed research modules incorporating substantial elements of assessed group work. Participants completed a 39‐item inventory designed to measure their negative experiences of group work as part of their general module evaluation. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis of the second‐year sample indicated four interpretable and reliable factors: lack of group commitment, group fractionation, task disorganisation, and storming. Confirmatory factor analysis of the first‐year data set confirmed and cross‐validated the factor structure of the second‐year sample. Study 2 (n > 254) confirmed the criterion validity of the NGWE. The NGWE is proposed as a useful tool for evaluating group processes, especially in large group teaching which involves collaborative group work.     

Micro productive failure and the acquisition of algebraic procedural knowledge

Instructional Science - Productive failure has shown positive effects on conceptual and transfer measures, but no clear effects on procedural measures. It is therefore an open question whether, and...     

The Influences of School and Home Factors on the Career Development of Secondary School Students

This study examined the level of career maturity of 324 secondary school students and the impact of career guidance and parental involvement on the career development of these students. The results showed that students who had been exposed to some form of career guidance in school scored higher on the Career Attitude Scale. Those who had received home support in the form of parental involvement in career planning and availability of career role models also showed a higher level of career maturity in terms of career planfulness and work orientation. Although career attitude was found to mature with age, there was no significant sex differences in the career development of these students. Such findings highlighted the importance of career guidance in school and home support in enhancing the career maturity of our students.     

Relaxation and guided imagery as an intervention for children with asthma: A replication

Asthma is a pervasive inflammatory disorder of the bronchial airways that causes the normal functioning of the airways to become overreactive. This disorder affects approximately 8 million children in schools per year and accounts for a significant amount of absences. Researchers have speculated that pharmacological interventions are alone insufficient or overaggressive in treating asthma, and numerous studies have demonstrated a connection between emotions and asthma. It has therefore been suggested that psychological interventions may be appropriate for this population. One such intervention, relaxation and guided imagery (RGI), that incorporates mental representations as well as the senses in a process of relaxing all the parts of the body has been shown to be effective with children with asthma. The current study served as a replication and extension of this previous research. The purpose of the investigation was to examine the effectiveness of RGI with an elementary school sample as well as determine the overall improvement in happiness, anxiety, and quality of life of the participants. Results demonstrated that RGI significantly improved the lung functioning of 3 out of 4 participants in the study. Furthermore, overall happiness improved for 1 participant in the study, state anxiety decreased for 2 of the 4 participants, and trait anxiety decreased for all 4 participants. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 42: 707–720, 2005.     

The Decentralisation Of Education In Kerala State,India: Rhetoric And Reality

The decentralisation of educational administration has been widely advocated as a strategy to promote local participation in education. However, the fact that this advocacy has a long history raises the question why decentralisation has not been achieved in more educational systems. The answers to this question are many and complex. Among them are difficulties with the implementation of reforms. The present study examines some of these difficulties in Kerala State, India. It determines that although Kerala has a strong reputation for political participation, the rhetoric of decentralisation in the educational sector has not matched the reality there. The lessons to be learned in this context have wide implications for the theory and practice of decentralisation in education.