Home Literacy Environment and the beginning of reading and spelling

Reading and writing are necessary prerequisites for a successful school career. Therefore it is important to identify precursor variables which predict these abilities early in order to identify children possibly at risk of developing reading or spelling difficulties. Relevant precursors include letter knowledge, phonological awareness (PA), vocabulary, and cognitive abilities. Moreover, also social aspects such as the socioeconomic status of the family (SES), the migration background and the “Home Literacy Environment” (HLE) are of importance. So far, only a few studies are available which analyse the early development of different possible explanatory factors simultaneously in the years before and after school enrolment. In particular, the relative impact of HLE on early and later linguistic competencies in a German context remains unclear. Thus, in our longitudinal study, covering the period from kindergarten to Grade 1, we focused on the role HLE plays in the development of language competencies of 921 German children, compared to the impact of several other important variables.     

Valuing the Gilbert Model

Leaders such as Thomas Gilbert, Geary Rummier, and Edward Deming have argued that the greatest leverage for solving performance problems lies with solutions targeted at system or environmental factors (those under the control of management) versus individual performer factors. A 12‐item research instrument titled Achieving Productive Performance (APP) was developed based on the six variables that make up Gilbert's human performance model. MBA candidates whoworkfull‐time primarily in middle management positions were asked to make value judgments on strategies for producing productive performance (where value for the performance exceeds the costs), Results support the concept of leverage espoused by Gilbert, Rummier, and Deming. Implications for workplace learning and performance professionals are discussed.     

The Use of Additional Information in Problem-Oriented Learning Environments

Self-directed learning with authentic and complex problems (problem-oriented learning) requires that learners observe their own learning and use additional information when it is appropriate (e.g. hypertextual information in computer-supported learning environments). Research results indicate that learners in problem-oriented learning environments often have difficulties using additional information adequately, and that they should be supported. Two studies with a computer-supported problem-oriented learning environment in the domain of medicine analysed the effects of strategy instruction on the use of additional information and the quality of the problem representation. In Study 1, an expert model was used for strategy instruction. Two groups were compared: one group with strategy modelling and one group without. Strategy modelling influenced the frequency of looked-up hypertextual information, but did not influence the quality of learners' problem representations. This could be explained by difficulties in applying the general hypertext information to the problem. In Study 2, the additional information was presented in a more contextualised way as graphical representation of the case and its relevant concepts. Again, two groups were compared: one with a strategy instruction text and one without. Strategy instruction texts supported an adequate use of this graphical information by learners and had an effect on the quality of their problem representations. These findings are discussed with respect to the design of additional help systems in problem-oriented learning environments. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The dyadic nature of bullying and victimization: testing a dual-perspective theory

For this study, information on Who Bullies Who was collected from 54 school classes with 918 children (M age = 11) and 13,606 dyadic relations. Bullying and victimization were viewed separately from the point of view of the bully and the victim. The two perspectives were highly complementary. The probability of a bully-victim relationship was higher if the bully was more dominant than the victim, and if the victim was more vulnerable than the bully and more rejected by the class. In a bully-victim dyad, boys were more often the bullies. There was no finding of sex effect for victimization. Liking reduced and disliking increased the probability of a bully-victim relationship.     

Incubator firm failure or graduation?: The role of university linkages

One of the theoretically important factors for incubator firm performance is the strength of their linkages to the research university sponsoring the technology incubator. Herein, we focus on two types of university linkages to the sponsoring institution: a license obtained from the university and a link to university faculty, while controlling for incubator firm linkages to non-sponsoring research universities, among other factors. We propose that a university link to the sponsoring institution reduces the probability of new venture failure and, at the same time, retards timely graduation. Further, we suggest that these effects are more pronounced the stronger the university link. Due to the difficulty of obtaining fine-grained longitudinal data, the incubation literature is characterized by a dearth of studies focusing on incubator firm differential performance. We attempt to take a first step towards closing this gap by testing these hypotheses through following 79 start-up firms incubated in the Advanced Technology Development Center at the Georgia Institute of Technology over the 6-year period between 1998 and 2003. We find broad support for the hypotheses advanced.     

Sources of academic and self-regulatory efficacy beliefs of entering middle school students

The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of Bandura’s (1997) hypothesized sources of self-efficacy on the academic and self-regulatory efficacy beliefs of entering middle school students (N = 263) and to explore whether these sources differ as a function of gender, reading ability, and race/ethnicity. For the full sample, mastery experience, vicarious experience, social persuasions, and physiological state independently predicted academic and self-regulatory self-efficacy, with mastery experience proving the strongest predictor. Mastery experience and social persuasions predicted girls’ academic and self-regulatory self-efficacy, whereas mastery and vicarious experiences predicted these self-beliefs for boys. African American students’ mastery experiences and social persuasions predicted their academic self-efficacy. Mastery experience did not predict the self-efficacy beliefs of low-achieving students. Findings support and refine the theoretical tenets of Bandura’s social cognitive theory.