Making education world-class: “ThinkGlobalOhio”

For over two decades the State of Ohio has been reforming its education system. This article focuses on the 2006 reform initiatives: a newly elected governor pledged to review and revise its 2002 kindergarten to twelfth grad (K-12) academic content standards and benchmark them to international ??best-in-class?? measures, given Ohio??s need to develop human talent for new industries to replace disappearing jobs in manufacturing. Rather than look at only one other country or state in the US, Ohio compared its standards to those of eight countries and one province; based on this analysis, it rewrote its standards. Ohio has formally adopted the U.S. Common Core Standards and joined the national Partnership for 21st Century Skills, using those learning frameworks to pass legislative amendments for new academic standards and model curriculum. US federal funding from both ??No Child Left Behind?? and ??Race to the Top?? ($400 million) confirms and validates the state??s efforts to build a world-class education system that will make Ohio??s students more competitive in a global economy that demands innovation and a highly skilled workforce.     

A Comparative Citation Analysis of Web of Science,Scopus, and Google Scholar

This article presents the results of a comparative study of Web of Science (WoS), Scopus, and Google Scholar (GS) for a set of 15 business and economics journals. Citations from the three sources were analyzed to determine whether one source is better than another, or whether a new database such as Scopus, or a free database such as GS could replace WoS. The authors concluded that scholars might want to use alternative tools collectively to get a more complete picture of the scholarly impact of an article.     

“Actually, I May be Clever Enough to do it”. Using Identity as a Lens to Investigate Students’ Trajectories Towards Science and University

We have followed a group of students in the potential pipeline for science through their last years of upper secondary school and in the context of a university mentorship program. The student group is defined by their choice of Mathematics at A-level which is mandatory for admission to tertiary STEM education in Denmark. Rich data (repeated interviews, questionnaires (pre-and post-) and observations) from 14 target students have been collected. Using Late Modern identity theory as a lens, we have analysed students’ identity narratives in order to establish their trajectories in relation to university in general, and towards science studies and science careers in particular. We find that the diversity of students’ educational identity narratives can be characterized and their trajectories understood in terms of a Four Factor Framework comprising: general identity process orientations (reflecting, committing, exploring), personal values, subject self-concepts and subject interests. In various ways these constructs interact and set the range and direction of the students’ searches for future education and careers. Our longitudinal study suggests that they have enough permanence to enable us to hypothesize more or less secured paths of individual students to tertiary science (or other areas of academia).     

Exploring young children’s self-efficacy beliefs related to mathematical and nonmathematical tasks performed in kindergarten: abused and neglected children and their peers

This article reports on young children’s self-efficacy beliefs and their corresponding performance of mathematical and nonmathematical tasks typically encountered in kindergarten. Participants included 132 kindergarten children aged 5–6 years old. Among the participants, 69 children were identified by the social welfare department as being abused and/or neglected. Individual interviews were conducted where children were asked to assess their self-efficacy regarding sorting tasks, mathematics tasks, and reciting the alphabet. Children were then requested to perform each of the tasks. Results revealed that no significant differences were found between the abused and neglected children and their peers regarding their self-efficacy beliefs and performances for any of the tasks. For some of the tasks, children were able to correctly assess their performance, while for other tasks, children overestimated their performance. Possible reasons for these outcomes are discussed.     

Morphological awareness in Spanish-speaking English language learners: within and cross-language effects on word reading

This study investigated within and cross-language effects of morphological awareness on word reading among Spanish-speaking children who were English Language Learners. Participants were 97 Spanish-speaking children in grade 4 and grade 7. Morphological awareness in Spanish and in English was evaluated with two measures of derivational morphology. The results showed that Spanish morphological awareness contributed unique variance to Spanish word reading after controlling for other reading related variables. English morphological awareness also explained unique variance in English word reading. Cross-linguistic transfer of morphological awareness was observed from Spanish to English, but not from English to Spanish. These results suggest that morphological awareness is important for word reading in Spanish, a shallow orthography with a complex morphological system. They also suggest that morphological awareness developed in children’s L1 is associated with word reading in English, their L2.     

Mapping the social side of pre-service teachers: connecting closeness,trust, and efficacy with performance

This exploratory study foregrounds the important, but often understudied social side of pre-service teacher development and its relation to teaching performance in one university-based teacher preparation program in the US. We examine the extent to which pre-service elementary teachers’ social relationships and perceptions of peer trust and efficacy are associated with performance on a high stakes mathematics teaching assessment. Findings suggest that social and emotional support through close social ties, peer trust, and self-efficacy are significantly and positively associated with pre-service teachers’ teaching performance. Our work further contributes to the development and discourse about teacher education in university-based teacher preparation programs.     

PTSD symptom cluster profiles of youth who have experienced sexual or physical abuse

The research examined whether youth (6–17 years old) who were referred for treatment due to sexual, physical, or both types of abuse presented with distinct profiles of PTSD DSM-IV-TR symptom clusters. When examining data for the 749 youth participants, five PTSD symptom cluster profiles were identified with each profile representing approximately 20% of the youth. The five profiles were also differentiated with respect to being referred for physical or sexual abuse, age, parental ratings of internalizing symptoms, and self-reported depression. The youth referred for treatment in the aftermath of child sexual, physical, or both sexual and physical abuse presented with different profiles of PTSD symptom clusters thereby suggesting a need for individualized tailoring of evidenced-based treatments. Two cognitive behavioral approaches, designed for traumatized children and either their nonoffending or offending parents, were described for treating youth with the distinct PTSD profiles.