Motivation for return to study as a predictor of completion of degree amongst female mature students with children

The motivation for return to study, as measured by the Continuing Education Women Questionnaire (modified), of 117 mature age female graduates with children was compared with that of 118 former mature age female students with children who had discontinued a degree program before graduation. Motivation was found to relate to a number of predictors, including previous education, age, marital status, family life cycle stage, satisfaction with previous employment and family support for return to study. Interrupters as a group were found to be similar in motivation to graduates. However, certain subgroups of interrupters scored higher on those aspects of motivation which stressed study as a way to ameliorate or escape from unpleasant or difficult life circumstances. These same difficult circumstances in turn made graduation more unlikely and led to discontinuance. The conclusion is drawn that life circumstances may be a more parsimonious predictor of attrition in this population than motivation.     

Responsiveness-to-Intervention and School-Wide Positive Behavior Supports: Integration of Multi-Tiered System Approaches

Scientific reasoning of elementary age students with mild mental retardation was investigated using structured interviews during tasks involving properties of air and electricity. Discourse analysis was employed to describe preconceptions students with mild mental retardation reported about the natural world and how those preconceptions might be influenced by empirical evidence. Students in this investi- gation expressed prior understandings of air and electricity, but these understand- ings were incomplete and often at variance with generally accepted scientific fact. When faced with empirical evidence, students provided some responses that appeared to be more accommodating of this evidence. Characteristics such as outerdirectedness may have interacted with student responding. Implications for further research and practice are discussed.     

LEARNER EXPECTATIONS AND THE PROCESSING OF INFORMATIVE FEEDBACK BY YOUNG AND ELDERLY ADULTS

Inasmuch as learner expectations may influence specific techniques utilized in the processing and retention of information, a comparison was made between older youth and a sample of retired elderly relative to response confidence in a multiple‐choice task situation. Confidence levels relative to types of responses and retention over two delay periods are discussed. Analysis indicated that both age groups utilized feedback effectively over the two retention conditions and that both age groups expressed similar levels of confidence for this specific task.     

REPORT OF COMMISSION ON GRADED WORSHIP∗

Participation in the arts is a form of practical reason and as such has the potential to form and transform the faith of individuals. The findings from Katherine M. Douglass's 2011 study on the role of the arts in the faith lives of young adults provides examples of the transformative potential of the arts as they foster expression, connection, and opening.     

A proactive balanced scorecard

This paper describes a methodology for the development of a proactive balanced scorecard (PBSCM). The balanced scorecard is one of the most popular approaches developed in the field of performance measurement. However, in spite of its reputation, there are issues that require further research. The present research addresses the problems of the balanced scorecard by utilizing the soft computing characteristics of fuzzy cognitive maps (FCMs). By using FCMs, the proposed methodology generates a dynamic network of interconnected key performance indicators (KPIs), simulates each KPI with imprecise relationships and quantifies the impact of each KPI to other KPIs in order to adjust targets of performance.     

Continuing Education: a Challenge and a Commitment∗

A variety of important life consequences for literacy are widely assumed in the contemporary discourse on adult literacy with little, if any empirical research to support them. As a result, they have been variously labelled as ‘myths’ (Coombs 1985), ‘doubtful promises’ (Hinzen 1983), proclamations of ‘faith’ (Winchester 1990) and ‘claims in search of reality’ (Wagner 1992). Part of the problem here is that the effects of literacy are often identified without first defining what literacy is. Naturally, if literacy is ambiguously or broadly defined, virtually any consequence can be attributed to it. Thus, the first task of any researcher, educator or policymaker involved with issues of adult literacy is to make his or her definitions of literacy and the scope of each definition's applicationsexplicit. Within the field of adult literacy education, Lytle and Wolfe (1989) provide a useful conceptual categorization for literacy in terms of four metaphors: literacy as skills, tasks, practices and critical reflection. This paper extends Lytle and Wolfe's framework to identify what consequences are attributed to literacy within each of the four metaphors, focusing on adults in the developing world.