THE LINGUISTIC FACTOR IN THE TEST INTELLIGENCE OF WEST AFRICAN CHILDREN

A questionnaire was used to investigate students’ conceptions of an ideal university when they began their university course and again two years later. The results indicated that over a two‐year period the students focused their attention on the academic aspects of university life and progressively de‐emphasized those characteristics which are not central to success on a degree course. This process of focusing or convergence occurred among students in all fields of study. At the same time there was a process of divergence in the educational values of scientists and technologists on the one hand, and arts and social science students on the other. These two groups moved apart during the two‐year period in their conception of an ideal university.     

Statistical Power of Randomization Tests Used with Multiple-Baseline Designs

Statistical power was estimated for 3 randomization tests used with multiple-baseline designs. In 1 test, participants were randomly assigned to baseline conditions; in the 2nd, intervention points were randomly assigned; and in the 3rd, the authors used both forms of random assignment. Power was studied for several series lengths (N = 10, 20, 30), several effect sizes (d = 0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0), and several levels of autocorrelation among the errors (p ₁ = 0, .1, .2, .3, .4, and .5). Power was found to be similar among the 3 tests. Power was low for effect sizes of 0.5 and 1.0 but was often adequate (> .80) for effect sizes of 1.5 and 2.0.     

The Functioning of Single-Case Randomization Tests With and Without Random Assignment

The authors used Monte Carlo methods to examine the Type I error rates for randomization tests applied to single-case data arising from ABAB designs involving random, systematic, or response-guided assignment of interventions. Six randomization tests were examined (permuting blocks of 1, 2, 3, or 5 observations, and randomly selecting intervention triplets so that each phase has at least 3 or 5 observations). When the design included randomization, the Type I error rate was controlled. When the design was systematic or guided by the absolute value of the slope, the tests permuting blocks tended to be liberal with positive autocorrelation, whereas those based on the random selection of intervention triplets tended to be conservative across levels of autocorrelation.     

A Binomial Test of Group Differences With Correlated Outcome Measures

The purpose of this study was to determine whether female subjects demonstrate learned helplessness in their attribution patterns to a greater extent than male subjects when they describe failures they actually have experienced. Subjects were 1,462 ninth- and twelfth-grade students (697 boys, 765 girls) from representative rural, urban, and inner-city high schools in the Midwest. The subjects recalled failure experiences from a wide range of achievement domains: school, sports, aesthetics, family, social, and work. The dependent variables were four failure attributions: lack of ability, lack of effort, lack of luck, and lack of cooperation. Sex and achievement domain differences accounted, respectively, for 2% and 18% of the variance in attribution responses. Both boys and girls recalled a substantial and comparable proportion of school-related failures. The strongest differences between boys and girls was in their choice of salient achievement domains outside of school; girls recalled more family and aesthetics failures and fewer sports failures than boys. Little evidence was obtained supporting the learned helplessness model for adolescent female achievement motivation. There was also considerable variability in the relative importance of the four failure attributions both within and across achievement domains. Internal attributions were most characteristic of school and least characteristic of work failures. Cooperation attributions were endorsed more in the social and family domains than in the other domains.     

Associations Among Professional Development,Teachers’ Use of Naturalistic Language Strategies,and Preschoolers’ Functional Communication

Research Findings: Naturalistic instruction is the intentional use of strategies embedded within typical activities of the environment to create learning opportunities for children. We used multilevel modeling to analyze data from this single-case design study that focused on improving teachers’ use of naturalistic language strategies and children’s communication through professional development with bug-in-ear coaching. Our results showed that professional development was positively associated with children’s communication during and after professional development. During generalization sessions in different types of activities, teachers’ use of the naturalistic language strategies was positively associated with children’s functional communication. We also found that children were more likely to communicate during child-led activities. Practice or Policy: Associations among professional development, teachers’ use of evidence-based strategies, and children’s outcomes have yet to be fully understood. Administrators and professional development providers should support teachers’ use of naturalistic language strategies to create equitable exposure to language-learning opportunities for all children. Moreover, professional development efforts should support teachers’ intentional use of child-led activities to embed language-learning opportunities based on children’s interests. Finally, to strengthen children’s generalization of skills across routines, professional development providers should identify methods to support teachers’ generalized use of strategies within the typical activities of the setting.     

Predictors of adaptive help seeking across ninth‐grade students enrolled in Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate courses

This study explored how adaptive help seeking was related to academic self‐efficacy, perfectionism (maladaptive and adaptive), attitudes toward help seeking (perceived benefits and perceived threats), and teacher emotional support among 311 grade 9 students in Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate classes. Significant bivariate links emerged between adaptive help seeking and all six potential correlates. Regression analyses indicated that teacher emotional support, adaptive perfectionism (high personal standards), and perceived benefits were significant, positive predictors of adaptive help seeking. Gender also was a significant predictor, as boys had lower levels of adaptive help seeking compared with girls. Furthermore, gender moderated the association between perceived benefits and adaptive help‐seeking; perceived benefits were particularly highly associated with boys’ adaptive help seeking from classroom teachers. Strategies for explicating the benefits of adaptive help seeking, promoting adaptive perfectionism, and fostering teacher emotional support are provided, as well as limitations and future directions for research.     

Approaches for Specifying the Level-1 Error Structure When Synthesizing Single-Case Data

Multilevel modeling has been utilized for combining single-case experimental design (SCED) data assuming simple level-1 error structures. The purpose of this study is to compare various multilevel analysis approaches for handling potential complexity in the level-1 error structure within SCED data, including approaches assuming simple and complex error structures (heterogeneous, autocorrelation, and both) and those using fit indices to select between alternative error structures. A Monte Carlo study was conducted to empirically validate the suggested multilevel modeling approaches. Results indicate that each approach leads to fixed effect estimates with little to no bias and that inferences for fixed effects were frequently accurate, particularly when a simple homogeneous level-1 error structure or a first-order autoregressive structure was assumed and the inferences were based on the Kenward-Roger method. Practical implications and recommendations are discussed.     

The effects of preliteracy knowledge,schooling, and summer vacation on literacy acquisition

What causes the literacy gap and can schools compensate for it? The authors investigated 3 drivers of the gap: preliteracy knowledge, schooling, and the summer vacation. Longitudinal literacy data over 5 time points were collected on 126 five-year-olds attending higher or lower socioeconomic status (SES) schools during their first 15 months of school. There were several noteworthy findings: (a) gaps in preliteracy knowledge at school entry favor higher SES schools, (b) preliteracy knowledge predicted later progress over and above SES and gender, (c) during the school year there was a widening of the gap between higher SES schools and lower SES schools in reading and spelling skills, and (d) children attending lower SES schools exhibited losses during summer whereas children attending higher SES schools nearly always gained. Contrary to previous studies, the present results indicated that when there are concentrations of children from higher and lower SES in schools located in the children's respective SES areas, the achievement gap widens.