Examining the Performance of the Modified ADF Goodness-of-fit Test Statistic in Structural Equation Models

The asymptotically distribution-free (ADF) test statistic depends on very mild distributional assumptions and is theoretically superior to many other so-called robust tests available in structural equation modeling. The ADF test, however, often leads to model overrejection even at modest sample sizes. To overcome its poor small-sample performance, a family of robust test statistics obtained by modifying the ADF statistics was recently proposed. This study investigates by simulation the performance of the new modified test statistics. The results revealed that although a few of the test statistics adequately controlled Type I error rates in each of the examined conditions, most performed quite poorly. This result underscores the importance of choosing a modified test statistic that performs well for specific examined conditions. A parametric bootstrap method is proposed for identifying such a best-performing modified test statistic. Through further simulation it is shown that the proposed bootstrap approach performs well.     

Theater for the 21st Century and Beyond: The New Digital Stagecraft

The Virtual Theatricality Lab uses media innovations such as digital video, stereoscopic 3D projection, motion capture, and real time virtual reality navigation. These resources nurture the daring creative visions of theater artists who will embrace the multidimensional technological performance arena of the 21st century and beyond.     

Student Engagement at a Large Suburban Community College: Gender and Race Differences

Previous research shows that there are individual differences in academic achievement associated with gender and race. Research also suggests that student engagement is an important determinant of student outcomes/achievement. The present study explored student engagement at an extra-large community college. It specifically investigated possible individual differences in student engagement and explored how it maps on to student achievement. As predicted, the results indicate that there are gender and race differences in student engagement—females show greater engagement than males, and African-American students show greater engagement than students of other races. The results are discussed in the context of student achievement as indicated by students’ self-reported GPAs.     

Peer Coaching of At-Risk Students in a Remedial Mathematics Course

Remedial mathematics at the college level has evidenced strikingly low retention and passing rates. It has been shown that at least 25% of the variation in student performance is explained by students’ affective variables such as attitudes, study skills, and mathematics anxiety. This study endeavored to address affective variables by: (a) incorporating the teaching of study skills into an elementary algebra course; and (b) identifying at-risk students and assigning these students “coaches,” who functioned both as tutors and counselors, providing regular personalized assistance. The results showed that the attrition rate was significantly lower in the treatment groups, and the overall passing rate for coached students was significantly higher.     

Evaluation of Validity and Reliability for Hierarchical Scales Using Latent Variable Modeling

A latent variable modeling method is outlined, which accomplishes estimation of criterion validity and reliability for a multicomponent measuring instrument with hierarchical structure. The approach provides point and interval estimates for the scale criterion validity and reliability coefficients, and can also be used for testing composite or simple hypotheses about these coefficients. The proposed method is illustrated with a numerical example.     

Rapid Naming Components and Their Relationship With Phonological Awareness,Orthographic Knowledge,Speed of Processing,and Different Reading Outcomes

This study examines (a) how rapid automatized naming (RAN) speed components—articulation time and pause time—predict reading accuracy and reading fluency in Grades 2 and 3, and (b) how RAN components are related to measures of phonological awareness, orthographic knowledge, and speed of processing. Forty-eight children were administered RAN tasks in Grades 1, 2, and 3. Results indicated that pause time was highly correlated with both reading accuracy and reading fluency measures and shared more of its predictive variance with orthographic knowledge than with phonological awareness or speed of processing. In contrast, articulation time was only weakly correlated with the reading measures and was rather independent from any processing skill at any point of measurement.     

Do Poor Readers Feel Angry,Sad, and Unpopular?

We investigated whether being poorly skilled in reading contributes to children's reported feelings of anger, distractibility, anxiety, sadness, loneliness, and social isolation. Data were analyzed from a longitudinal subsample of children (N?=?3,308) participating in the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study–Kindergarten Cohort. Multilevel logistic regression analyses indicated that poor readers in third grade were about twice as likely to consider themselves as angry, distractible, sad, lonely, and unpopular in fifth grade as those who had not been poor readers in third grade. Being poorly skilled in mathematics increased children's risk of feeling sad or lonely but not of feeling angry, distractible, or unpopular. The results provide additional empirical evidence that reading failure contributes to generalized socioemotional maladjustment in young children.     

Time to rethink the role of the library in educating doctors: driving information literacy in the clinical environment

Question:

Can information literacy (IL) be embedded into the curriculum and clinical environment to facilitate patient care and lifelong learning?

Setting:

The Australian School of Advanced Medicine (ASAM) provides competence-based programs incorporating patient-centred care and lifelong learning. ASAM librarians use outcomes-based educational theory to embed and assess IL into ASAM''s educational and clinical environments.

Methods:

A competence-based IL program was developed where learning outcomes were linked to current patients and assessed with checklists. Weekly case presentations included clinicians'' literature search strategies, results, and conclusions. Librarians provided support to clinicians'' literature searches and assessed their presentations using a checklist.

Main Results:

Outcome data showed clinicians'' searching skills improved over time; however, advanced MEDLINE searching remained challenging for some. Recommendations are provided.

Conclusion:

IL learning that takes place in context using measurable outcomes is more meaningful, is enduring, and likely contributes to patient care. Competence-based assessment drives learning in this environment.