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.     

JOB SATISFACTION OF COMMUNITY COLLEGE FACULTY

Community college faculty (_n = 390) completed the Job Satisfaction Inventory. Areas of greatest satisfaction included relationships with supervisors and colleagues as well as satisfaction with the actual task of teaching. Faculty were least satisfied with opportunities for professional development, time allocation, and somewhat less satisfied with the preparation and motivation of their students. Differences between men and women faculty are noted.     

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.