An Evaluation of the Linearity of Curriculum‐Based Measurement of Oral Reading (CBM‐R) Progress Monitoring Data: Idiographic Considerations

Educators use curriculum‐based measurement of oral reading (CBM‐R) to measure student response to instruction. Current decision‐making frameworks assume students demonstrate linear growth across a school year. However, growth appears nonlinear for at least a subgroup of students. We assessed the degree to which grade two (n = 800) and grade three (n = 800) students receiving intensive interventions experienced discontinuous growth. We also explored when discontinuous growth tended to occur, and whether students improved or regressed afterward. Results indicate linear patterns were adequate for most students (80 percent). Students who showed discontinuous growth early tended to improve afterward. Conversely, students who showed discontinuous growth later tended to plateau. Findings suggest multilevel models may obscure variability in growth patterns. Practice and research implications are discussed.     

Greater Mindfulness is Associated With Better Academic Achievement in Middle School

Despite increasing interest in improving academic outcomes for students by enhancing mindfulness, there is a paucity of evidence that greater mindfulness is associated with success in school. We measured mindfulness with the short‐form Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS) in over 2,000 urban students in Grades 5–8. The MAAS had good internal consistency and scale homogeneity. Greater mindfulness correlated significantly with better academic achievement as measured by grade point average and standardized tests of mathematics and literacy, greater improvement in academic performance from the prior school year, better attendance, and fewer suspensions. The relation between mindfulness and academic achievement was similar across demographic characteristics. These findings support the reliability of the MAAS as a measure of mindfulness among youth and provide initial evidence of an association between mindfulness and academic achievement. This association strengthens the rationale to explore whether mindfulness‐based interventions can enhance academic outcomes by leveraging the malleability of mindfulness.     

冬奥会奖牌得主有哪些“后路”

第二十一届冬季奥林匹克运动会在今年年初就落下了帷幕,但是这届盛会还是给全世界人民留下了深刻的印象,尤其是冰雪赛场上运动员们的精彩表现更是让观众惊叹不已。透过这些或舒展优美、或惊险刺激的表演,让我们走进历届冬奥会奖牌获得者的生活,了解他们在日常生活中不为人知的一面。虽然有些奖牌获得者已经选择退出他们为之奋斗的体育事业,但退役后的他们依然在各个领域继续发光发热,呈现不一样的精彩。     

Groupitizing reflects conceptual developments in math cognition and inequities in math achievement from childhood through adolescence

Understanding the cognitive processes central to mathematical development is crucial to addressing systemic inequities in math achievement. We investigate the “Groupitizing” ability in 1209 third to eighth graders (mean age at first timepoint = 10.48, 586 girls, 39.16% Asian, 28.88% Hispanic/Latino, 18.51% White), a process that captures the ability to use grouping cues to access the exact value of a set. Groupitizing improves each year from late childhood to early adolescence (d = 3.29), is a central predictor of math achievement (beta weight = .30), is linked to conceptual processes in mathematics (minimum d = 0.69), and helps explain the dynamic between the ongoing development of non-symbolic number concepts, systemic educational inequities in school associated with SES, and mathematics achievement (minimum beta weight = .11) in ways that explicit symbolic measures may miss.     

The effects of frequency of encouragement on performance during maximal exercise testing

The aim of this study was to determine the effects of frequency of verbal encouragement during maximal exercise testing. Twenty-eight participants (12 males, 16 females) aged 20.9 - 1.5 years (mean - s ) performed a maximal exercise test ( V O 2max ) on a treadmill without any verbal encouragement. The participants were matched according to their pre-test V O 2max and placed into either a control group or one of three experimental groups. They performed a second exercise test (post-test) 1 week later. During the second test, the control group received no verbal encouragement; the 20 s (20E), 60 s (60E) and 180 s (180E) encouragement groups received verbal encouragement every 20, 60 and 180 s, respectively, beginning with stage 3 of the exercise test. Relative V O 2max , exercise time, blood lactate concentration, respiratory exchange ratio (RER) and ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) were not significantly different from the first test to the second test for the control group without verbal encouragement and the 180E group that received infrequent encouragement. Post-test values were significantly higher than pre-test values for the 20E and 60E groups. The post-test values of the 20E group were significantly higher than their pre-test values for relative V O 2max ( P ? 0.001), exercise time ( P ? 0.0001), blood lactate concentr . ation ( P ? 0.05), RER ( P ? 0.01) and RPE ( P ? 0.0001); this was also the case for the 60E group for relative V O 2max ( P ? 0.01), blood lactate concentration ( P ? 0.05), RER ( P ? 0.05) and RPE ( P ? 0.05). The results suggest that frequent verbal encouragement (every 20 s and 60 s in the present study) leads to significantly greater maximum effort in a treadmill test than when no encouragement is given or when the encouragement is infrequent (i.e. every 180 s).