Different Assessments,Common Practice? Mathematics testing and teaching in the USA and England and Wales

Recently, the state has used testing more extensively to influence instructional practice. But how much do assessments actually influence practice? To explore this issue, we observed middle-grade mathematics teachers in England and Wales with their highly aligned curriculum and assessment system and two US states with performance-based assessment systems promoting more thoughtful instruction. Maryland's tests had higher stakes attached to them than Maine's. Our observations suggest that testing policies can influence the content taught and promote certain kinds of teaching to the test but that basic instructional practices, like the kind of explanation teachers offer to students and the intellectual challenge of the work, are more difficult to influence. We suggest three hypotheses for the apparent stability in underlying teaching practice. First, some testing policies do not challenge those practices. Second, assessments that do challenge current practice may not be accompanied by adequate professional development to help teachers change practice. Finally, teachers' knowledge and beliefs about teaching mathematics are so deeply embedded that they are difficult to influence.     

Child extrafamilial sexual abuse: predicting parent and child functioning

Objective: This study evaluated the emotional and behavioral adjustment of parents and children within 3 months and 1 year after the discovery of child extrafamilial sexual abuse.Method: Ninety-two case parents (63 mothers, 29 fathers) and 56 children were compared to a nonclinical comparison group of 136 parents (74 mothers, 62 fathers) and 75 children. Parent adjustment was assessed using self-report measures while child functioning was assessed using a combination of child-, parent- and teacher-report measures.Results: Mothers, fathers and sexually abused children experienced clinically significant effects both initially and at 12 months post-disclosure. Children’s perceptions of self-blame and guilt for the abuse and the extent of traumatization predicted their self-reported symtomatology at 3 months and 1 year post-disclosure. Child age and gender also significantly contributed to the prediction of many of the child outcome measures. No abuse-related variable was related to any child self-report measure. Mothers’ satisfaction in the parenting role, perceived support and intrusive symptoms predicted their initial emotional functioning. Avoidant symptoms, child’s internalizing behavior and mothers’ initial emotional functioning were significant predictors of longer-term emotional functioning.Conclusions: Results emphasize the need to address children’s abuse-related attributions and underscore the need to expand our focus beyond the child victims to the traumatized families.     

Psychological Allostatic Load: the Cost of Persistence in STEM Disciplines

Research in Science Education - The purpose of this study is to explore the impact of persistence within STEM learning environments as a function of cumulative stress and latent trauma. The...