Latina/o Student Perceptions of Post-Baccalaureate Education: Identifying Challenges to Increased Participation

The percentage of Latinas/os decreases at each stage in the educational pipeline and is especially proportionally low at the post-baccalaureate level. This study investigates the complexities of the quest to increase post-baccalaureate participation for Latina/o students. We present data on post-baccalaureate education by utilizing 2 comprehensive survey instruments distributed at 3 California State University campuses (Hispanic-Serving Institutions), 1 for current Latina/o students and alumni and the other for faculty and administrators. Findings indicate that students evaluate the value of post-baccalaureate studies based on sometimes problematic undergraduate experiences, cost, and perceived opportunity.     

In search of a happy medium in instructional technology research: Issues concerning external validity,media replications,and learner control

Due in part to the diverse characteristics and training of its researchers, the field of instructional technology is currently plagued by much uncertainty regarding meaningful research questions and accepted paradigms for investigating them. Major areas in which these uncertainties are manifested concern the degree of emphasis to be placed on basic versus developmental research and considerations involving the separation of media from methods in research designs. To help researchers achieve a “happier medium” in balancing instructional technology goals with the performance of well-designed and scientifically sound studies, greater attention to three concerns is advocated: the external validity of studies to increase the relevance of findings to applied technologies; usage of media replications to test the generalizability of findings obtained with individual media and to demonstrate delivery applications; and learner control as a potentially effective and practical means of adapting validated instructional strategies to individuals. Each of these issues is discussed in relation to research conducted by the authors and to suggested designs for future studies. The authors would like to thank Robert D. Tennyson for his helpful suggestions regarding an earlier draft.     

Applying Motivational Interviewing to School-Based Consultation: A Commentary on “Has Consultation Achieved Its Primary Prevention Potential?,” an article by Joseph E. Zins

Despite a decade of advances since Zins' 1995 article on prevention, much work lies ahead to make prevention everyday consultation activities for school psychologists. To foster prevention efforts, this commentary discusses how motivational interviewing in school-based consultation (a) might peak consultees' initial interest in change, and (b) address barriers to successfully implementing and maintaining change plans.     

To Boxplot or Not to Boxplot?

The lower quartile is the median of all of the values to the left of the median of the whole set of data; the upper quartile is the median of all of the values to the right of the median of the whole set of data.     

Childhood abuse and neglect in body dysmorphic disorder

OBJECTIVE: No published studies have examined childhood abuse and neglect in body dysmorphic disorder (BDD). This study examined the prevalence and clinical correlates of abuse and neglect in individuals with this disorder. METHODS: Seventy-five subjects (69.3% female, mean age=35.4+/-12.0) with DSM-IV BDD completed the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire and were interviewed with other reliable and valid measures. RESULTS: Of these subjects, 78.7% reported a history of childhood maltreatment: emotional neglect (68.0%), emotional abuse (56.0%), physical abuse (34.7%), physical neglect (33.3%), and sexual abuse (28.0%). Forty percent of subjects reported severe maltreatment. Among females (n=52), severity of reported abuse and neglect were .32-.57 standard deviation units higher than norms for a health maintenance organization (HMO) sample of women. Severity of sexual abuse was the only type of maltreatment significantly associated with current BDD severity (r=.23, p=.047). However, severity of sexual abuse did not predict current BDD severity in a simultaneous multiple regression analysis with age and current treatment status. There were other significant associations with childhood maltreatment: history of attempted suicide was related to emotional (p=.004), physical (p=.014), and sexual abuse (p=.038). Childhood emotional abuse was associated with a lifetime substance use disorder (r=.26, p=.02), and physical abuse was negatively associated with a lifetime mood disorder (r=-.37, p=.001). CONCLUSIONS: A high proportion of individuals with BDD reported childhood abuse and neglect. Certain types of abuse and neglect appear modestly associated with BDD symptom severity and with gender, suicidality, and certain disorders.     

The Dependability of NSSE Scalelets for College- and Department-level Assessment*

College and university administrators, as well as faculty members, are more likely to take responsibility for student learning if they believe that the assessment data represent their students and suggest specific actions for improvement. This study examined whether it is feasible to develop scalelets (i.e., focused measures, usually consisting of four or five items) that provide dependable metrics for assessing student learning at the college or department level. A generalizability analysis of 12 scalelets from the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) indicated that the scalelets provided dependable measures of educational effectiveness with 25–50 respondents. *SAIR 2004 Best Paper. Presented at the annual meeting of the Association for Institutional Research, Sandiego, CA, March 2005.     

Curriculum reform in Turkish teacher education: Attitudes of teacher educators towards change in an EU candidate nation

Educational development is one way through which Turkey enhances progress towards its social goals and prepares itself for European Union membership. A major effort to upgrade the Turkish educational system was made through a multi-phased comprehensive reform of the sector introduced during the 1990s. One part of this reform, perhaps most crucial to the long-term effectiveness of other developments in education, was a transformation of the approach to teacher education. This paper utilizes recently conducted research to assess the nature and extent of that reform as well as identifying the factors which enhanced its effectiveness.     

Engaging employers in assessment

The authors describe a pilot project in which formative feedback from industry professionals creates a genuine learning experience for students.