Variations in Reading Achievement Across 14 Southern African School Systems: Which Factors Matter?

In this study the authors employed a multilevel analysis procedure in order to examine the pupil and school levels factors that contributed to variation in reading achievement among Grade 6 primary school pupils in 14 southern African school systems (Botswana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zanzibar). The data for this study were collected in 2002 as part of a major project known as the Southern and Eastern Africa Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality (SACMEQ) that sought to examine the quality of education offered in primary schools in these countries. The most important factors affecting variation in pupil achievement across most of these school systems were grade repetition, pupil socioeconomic background, speaking the language of instruction at home, and Pupil age. South Africa, Uganda and Namibia were among the school systems with the largest between-school variation while Seychelles and Mauritius had the largest within-school variation. Low social equity in reading achievement was evident in Mauritius, Seychelles and Tanzania. Policy implications of the findings are discussed.     

Behavioral synchronization and affiliation: Dogs exhibit human-like skills

Behavioral synchronization is evolutionary adaptive, fostering social cohesion. In humans, affiliation between partners is associated with a high level of behavioral synchronization; people show increased affiliation towards people who synchronize with them. Surprisingly, until recently, little was known about these phenomena at an interspecific level, which is, however, essential to better understand the respective roles of evolution and ontogeny. After presenting why dog–human dyads are a relevant biological model to study this field of social cognition, we review the recent findings about dog–human behavioral synchronization. We summarize recently published findings on behavioral synchronization and affiliation between dogs and humans. We also review results showing that genetic selection modulates behavioral synchronization propensity in dogs, emphasizing the role of genetic selection on dog’s social behaviors towards humans. Finally, we discuss the possible evolutionary influences and proximate mechanisms of this phenomenon. We conclude that, as in humans, behavioral synchronization acts as a social glue between dogs and humans. After dogs’ ability to use human-directional cues or to produce referential cues towards humans, we evidenced a new human-like social process in the dog, at the interspecfic level with humans.     

‘What about the community impact?’: The Corpus Christi ‘hook’

This case study draws on theory in the following areas (1) public financing of sport facilities and in particular, the method of bonds and the impact on and involvement of local taxpayers, (2) community impact of minor league sport teams, and (3) leveraging of sport teams and facilities. This case is centered on Justin Drew, the president of the Corpus Christi Hooks, who must work with city officials to ensure that his minor league baseball team does not lose local support. The city of Corpus Christi helped finance the Hooks’ stadium a few years prior, and now with new members on City Council, tough economic times, and a history of folded professional sports teams in the city, Drew must be proactive in seeing that the Hooks do not meet a similar fate.The case presents a common challenge confronted by communities that host professional sport teams. In many cases, cities must provide some level of public financing for sport facilities in order to attract or retain a team. To gain public support, various promises are made about the potential for the team to transform the community. However, once public funding is secured and a team and facility is in place, it is unclear who has the responsibility for delivering on these promises. The situation presented in this case is not unique. In fact, similar claims are made about the impact of a sports team, regardless of the size of the host community or the type of team. This case gives students the opportunity to measure impact and also think critically about how to leverage a sports team to create value for the community. Although the characters in the case are fictitious the case draws upon actual facts and data from public records regarding Corpus Christi and their minor league baseball team, the Hooks; thus, providing students with a realistic dilemma to consider. The case is intended for use in Sport Finance/Economics and Sport Policy courses, but could also be adapted for other courses such as Sport Marketing, Sport Communication, Facilities and Event Management or even Research Methods.     

Students’ formative assessment perceptions,feedback use and mathematics performance in secondary schools in Tanzania

This study investigates the impact of secondary school students’ perceptions of mathematics teachers’ formative assessment practices and feedback delivery on their feedback use, and mathematics performance. The sample consisted of 2767 Form 3 (Grade 11) students from 48 secondary schools in Tanzania. Surveys and focus group discussions were used to measure students’ perceptions of formative assessment, feedback delivery, and feedback use. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) of survey data showed that students’ perceptions of the quality of teacher feedback delivery and perceived scaffolding positively predicted students’ feedback use whereas perceived monitoring negatively predicted feedback use. In turn, students’ feedback use positively predicted their mathematics performance to a small extent. Content analysis of focus group discussions illustrated that most students valued their mathematics teacher’s assessment practices. The findings imply that in Sub-Saharan African educational systems the quality of teacher feedback delivery and promotion of student feedback use can improve students’ mathematics performance.     

Profile of abused and neglected American Indian children in the Southwest

From both knowledge gained working in Indian communities and a major data collection program, this article examines child abuse and neglect among the Indian tribes in a southwestern state. The period of study covers 1982 through 1985. The study sample consists of 53 children targeted by the local Indian Health Service Hospital Child Protection Team as being abused and/or neglected. In addition, information on the parents, grandparents and, in a number of cases, great-grandparents are examined. The study is a secondary data analysis of clinic and hospital records and interviews with local community health care providers and tribal officials. The results indicate that alcohol abuse was present in 85% of the neglect cases and in 63% of the abuse cases. In addition, child abuse and neglect occurred simultaneously in 65% of the sample. Child abuse and neglect are found to be part of a larger phenomenon of multiproblem families which raises the issue of intergenerational perpetuation of these problems. The results underscore the importance of interagency cooperation in surveillance, treatment, and prevention, as well as more careful and thorough documentation of record maintenance.     

Developing Children's Understanding of Fractions: An Intervention Study

Fractions constitute a stumbling block in mathematics education. To improve children's understanding of fractions, we designed an intervention based on learning‐by‐doing activities, which focused on the representation of the magnitude of fractions. Participants were 292 Grade 4 and 5 children. Half of the classes received experimental instruction, while the other half pursued their usual lessons. For 10 weeks, they played five different games using cards representing fractions (e.g., Memory and Blackjack). Wooden disks helped them represent and manipulate fractions while playing games. Our results showed an improvement in the conceptual understanding of fractions. The findings confirmed that the usual practice in teaching fractions is largely based on procedural knowledge and provides only minimal opportunities for children to conceptualize the meaning and magnitude of fractional notations. Furthermore, our results demonstrate that a short intervention inducing children to manipulate, compare, and evaluate fractions improves their ability to associate fractional notations with numerical magnitude.     

Hierarchical Mentoring: A Transformative Strategy for Improving Diversity and Retention in Undergraduate STEM Disciplines

In the United States, less than half of the students who enter into science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) undergraduate curricula as freshmen will actually graduate with a STEM degree. There is even greater disparity in the national STEM graduation rates of students from underrepresented groups with approximately three-fourths of minority students leaving STEM disciplines at the undergraduate level. A host of programs have been designed and implemented to model best practices in retaining students in STEM disciplines. The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Professors Program at Louisiana State University, under leadership of HHMI Professor Isiah M. Warner, represents one of these programs and reports on a mentoring model that addresses the key factors that impact STEM student attrition at the undergraduate level. By integrating mentoring and strategic academic interventions into a structured research program, an innovative model has been developed to guide STEM undergraduate majors in adopting the metacognitive strategies that allow them to excel in their programs of study, as they learn to appreciate and understand science more completely. Comparisons of the persistence of participants and nonparticipants in STEM curricular, at the host university and with other national universities and colleges, show the impact of the model’s salient features on improving STEM retention through graduation for all students, particularly those from underrepresented groups.     

Evaluating web usability

Web usability focuses on design elements and processes that make web pages easy to use. A website for college students was evaluated for underutilization. One‐on‐one testing, focus groups, web analytics, peer university review and marketing focus group and demographic data were utilized to conduct usability evaluation. The results indicated that an organization's mission, policies, user capabilities, and competitive environment all affect usability. The recommended interventions included interface redesign and update.     

Interview with Jake Berry,Editor of Outré, Artifact Collective Texts,Anomaly, The Experioddicist,and Currently 9th St. Laboratories

Alan May interviews the visionary poet Jake Berry, editor of Outré, Artifact Collective Texts, Anomaly, The Experioddicist, and currently 9th St. Laboratories. In the early 1990s, Berry saw the important role the Internet could play in the world of poetry, long before many well-known and award-winning poets began publishing poetry in blogs and e-zines. In this interview, May and Berry discuss the early days of e-mail and Internet literary publishing, and the art of poetry itself as it survives and thrives in the online era.