EXISTING STATUS OF BUILDING COMMUNITIES’ RECOMMENDATIONS: A DEAN AND DIVISION CHAIRPERSON COMPARISON

The purpose of this study was to assess the existing status of Building Communities’ recommendations. The recommendations were transformed and written as goal statements. Fifty‐nine deans and 98 division chairpersons were asked whether these goals had been implemented. Fifty‐three deans and 84 chairpeople returned usable questionnaires.

Chi‐square tests of independence (p < .05) were used to compare deans’ and chairpersons’ responses on existing goal status. Deans and chairpeople agree on the existing status of 32 of the 38 goal statements and share the same beliefs on the existing status of a vast majority of the goal statements.

Significant differences were identified, however, between deans and chairpeople regarding the existing status of (1) outreaching to disadvantaged students, (2) outreach‐ing to different adult populations, (3) renewing faculty, (4) ensuring that full‐time faculty teach the majority of credit‐bearing courses, (5) using computer technology to integrate educational and administrative applications, and (6) placing ill‐prepared students in developmental education programs. Deans were more likely than chairpeople to view the six goals that lacked agreement as having been implemented.     

Results From the Quality Early Childhood Training Program

High-quality child care is related to children's positive developmental outcomes. One way to increase quality of care is to provide training to child care providers. This study used assessment-based training to determine if overall quality of care in center-based preschools could be enhanced. Participants were recruited from six center-based child care programs serving preschool-age children and included program administrators, teachers, teacher aides, and enrolled children. Program administrators (N?=?6) were assessed with the Program Administration Scale (Talan & Bloom, 2004), classrooms (N?=?14) with the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale Revised (ECERS-R; Harms, Clifford, & Cryer, 2005) and the Early Language and Literacy Classroom Observation—Research Edition (ELLCO; Smith & Dickinson, 2002), teachers (N?=?24) with the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS; Pianta, La Paro, & Hamre, 2007), and children (N?=?135) with an author-created measurement designed to assess typical skills across five child domains. Assessments were administered at two time points and individualized targeted training was provided in between. Results demonstrated that after 7 months of intervention, the largest effect sizes were seen at the program administration and classroom levels and that smaller effect sizes were found at the teacher and child levels.     

The significance of humanistic rhetoric in British public address

This study sought to answer the following questions: (1) What specific verbal and nonverbal behaviors are associated with the initiation of communicative interactions; and (2) Do these verbal and nonverbal behaviors vary according to the degree of acquaintanceship of the participants in the greeting situation.     

Sex Differences in Neonatal Stress Reactivity

The question of whether a sexually dimorphic stress reaction exists prior to extensive socialization was addressed by examining sex differences in physiological and behavioral stress reactivity, in healthy, term neonates, after a mildly stressful behavioral assessment procedure. The Neonatal Behavior Assessment Scale (NBAS; Brazelton, 1973) was administered to 18 male and 18 female neonates. Heart rate (HR), salivary cortisol, and behavioral states were assessed before and after the exam. Sex differences included higher cortisol response in males and a greater change in HR and higher NBAS motor performance cluster score in females. Salivary cortisol, HR change, NBAS cluster scores, and behavioral states after NBAS provided 100% discrimination between male and female infants. These findings suggest that there are neonatal sex differences in behavioral and physiological stress reactivity prior to socialization.