Using texting to nudge urban public school students to and through college

Abstract

This study investigates how a network of New York City public schools use texting to increase enrollment and persistence in college. Text messages include tips and reminders to fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid as well as college tips. Our multiple regression results suggest that although when the texting began did not appear to matter, the texting program increased enrollment and persistence in college. In addition, response rates were positively associated with enrollment and persistence. Finally, we find that the content of the messages themselves as well as individual characteristics affected response rates.     

A portrait of academic life:

The process of constructing A Portrait of Academic Life web resource has included careful evidence gathering and analysis of student performance necessary to assess learning and give useful feedback to increase the students’ ability to use information effectively in education. The students, too, develop self-assessment and reflective skills as they create online research portfolios. The online resources model new technologyenhanced strategies for teaching and learning that support standards-based teacher education programs in higher institutions. Other artifacts contained in A Portrait of Academic Life include digital video vignettes of students actively completing course assignments and reflecting on the learning process, and instructor reflections on teaching strategies to improve learning outcomes. As a culminating course activity, students showcase their online research portfolios at a gallery walk. The students were tremendously excited to present the wealth of information they have so carefully collected using the powerful technology tools available for their use in the teacher education program at Towson University. The innovation and originality presented in the form of student online research portfolios offered fresh perspectives to the honored guests. Likewise, it will enormously help students and faculty to see examples of the process of transforming traditional research papers into rich, informative online research portfolios.     

INTERNAL FACTOR STRUCTURE AND CONVERGENT VALIDITY EVIDENCE: THE SELF‐REPORT VERSION OF SELF‐REGULATION STRATEGY INVENTORY

Using a sample of 348 middle school students, we gathered evidence regarding the internal consistency of scores, as well as the internal factor structure and convergent validity evidence for inferences from a self‐report questionnaire called the Self‐Regulation Strategy Inventory–Self Report. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed that the fit indexes for a hierarchical model (composite, three factors) and a single‐level, three‐factor model were highly similar but mixed. Respecification of the hierarchical model based on conceptual overlap of items led to substantial improvement in the overall fit of the model, as indicated by the root mean square error of approximation, chi‐square/df, and the comparative fit index. Correlational analyses also provided strong convergent validity evidence, as the three subscales exhibited statistically significant relations with four motivation beliefs (i.e., self‐efficacy, perceived instrumentality, task interest, perceived responsibility) and two distinct markers of regulation‐related behaviors (i.e., teacher ratings, office discipline referrals).     

Photography and Oral History as a Means of Chronicling the Homeless in Miami: The StreetWays Project

This article describes the use of Photography and Oral History research methods as part of a collaborative research project on homelessness in Miami. Issues involving the use of documentary photography and oral history as a means of creating greater social awareness in the general public are explored, as well as broader issues of Social Justice.     

A voice in the wilderness: Meetings as ritual in a cross-cultural context

Drawing on a wider ethnographic study of cross-cultural interaction in a Papua New Guinean tertiary institution, this paper examines the interactions occurring in staff meetings. While the cross-cultural context is important, there are patterns here that are illuminating for all who have participated in meetings in any context. Meetings are framed as ritual: stereotypic, quasi dramatic, repetitive behaviors that persevere and are valued regardless of what is actually achieved. Having access to prestigious forms of knowledge, along with the prerogative to determine which knowledge and discourse types may be legitimately drawn upon in the meeting frame, allows those with power to determine the rules. Perhaps more importantly, it allows them to treat these rules, once normalized, in a more flexible way than less knowledgeable participants. Those who have communication competence, as defined within this frame, not only exercise influence but determine others' ability to do so. Non-participants collude with this in their silence. Collusion sustains existing perceptions of power, knowledge, and competence. If there is a genuine desire for more equitable decision making in meetings, participants might begin by probing the rituals of their meetings.