Promoting Positive Youth Development Through School‐Based Social and Emotional Learning Interventions: A Meta‐Analysis of Follow‐Up Effects

This meta‐analysis reviewed 82 school‐based, universal social and emotional learning (SEL) interventions involving 97,406 kindergarten to high school students (M_age = 11.09 years; mean percent low socioeconomic status = 41.1; mean percent students of color = 45.9). Thirty‐eight interventions took place outside the United States. Follow‐up outcomes (collected 6 months to 18 years postintervention) demonstrate SEL's enhancement of positive youth development. Participants fared significantly better than controls in social‐emotional skills, attitudes, and indicators of well‐being. Benefits were similar regardless of students’ race, socioeconomic background, or school location. Postintervention social‐emotional skill development was the strongest predictor of well‐being at follow‐up. Infrequently assessed but notable outcomes (e.g., graduation and safe sexual behaviors) illustrate SEL's improvement of critical aspects of students’ developmental trajectories.     

Comparing teacher salaries: Insights from the U.S. census

Teachers are more likely to be found in rural communities and low-wage metropolitan areas than are college-educated workers in other occupations. This analysis explores the extent to which the geographic distribution of teachers explains the relatively low average wage found in other studies. The analysis suggests that excluding geographic indicators from the analysis downwardly biases estimates of relative teacher wages. One important implication of these findings is that researchers should pay attention to geographic wage variations when making earnings comparisons between teaching and other occupations.     

The teaching–research nexus and the importance of context: a comparative study of England and Sweden

The teaching–research nexus has been studied by many researchers, mainly looking at pedagogic links and direct benefits arising from the interaction of both activities. The paper takes a comparative approach, looking at the relationship between teaching and research in four universities from two different countries. This paper argues that contextual factors are vital in shaping the nature of the relationship and also identifies differences between disciplines in how these contextual factors may be understood. In particular, the contrasting structural and political contexts provided by two different national settings are seen to have a crucial role in shaping institutional activity.     

The influence of reading unit size on the development of Stroop interference in early word decoding

The purpose of the experiments was to determine the automatic use of large or small word reading units in young readers in the absence of word decoding strategies. Picture-word Stroop interference was examined from four types of conflicting labels: (a) words containing both highly predictable grapheme–phoneme correspondence (GPC) units and highly consistent rime units (henceforth, Hi-GPC + Hi-Rime); (b) words with highly predictable GPC units and less consistent rime units (Hi-GPC + Lo-Rime); (c) words with low predictability GPC units and highly consistent rime units (Low GPC + High Rime); (d) nonwords that contained both highly predictable GPC and highly consistent rime units. Naming time for pictures containing these labels was compared against that for pictures with random letter strings or no labels. In Experiment 1, Stroop interference was examined in first, second, and third grade children to determine whether there was developmental change in the presence of rime or GPC interference. In Experiment 2, Stroop interference was examined as a function of relative reading skill in first grade children. In Experiment 3, Stroop interference in adults was compared to the use of rime or GPC pronunciation strategies for nonword reading. In all experiments, Stroop interference in picture naming was longer for pictures with highly predictable GPC unit labels than less predictable GPC unit labels. However, in Experiment 3, even though adults showed interference from predictable GPC units in the Stroop task, they always preferred rime pronunciation for ambiguous nonwords in the nonword reading task. It is argued that the current experiments provide evidence for a flexible units model. The results of this study were presented at the Cognitive Development Society meeting, November 2001, Virginia Beach, VA, and the American Educational Research Association meeting, April 2004, San Diego, California.     

Secondary school physics teachers' conceptions of scientific evidence: An exploratory case study

This article describes an exploratory case study of secondary school physics teachers' conceptions of scientific evidence. The nature of teachers' conceptions of evidence was derived from an analysis of data collected from 1 preservice and 2 in‐service teachers. Each teacher responded to a series of research prompts in multiple interviews and handwritten tasks. In these research prompts, the teachers thought aloud while designing experiments and critically evaluating student‐collected data as presented in hypothetical classroom scenarios. Spoken and written data were recorded. The data set was coded and analyzed using standard qualitative analysis techniques. Data from this study suggest that, while contemplating the reliability and validity of hypothetical student‐generated scientific evidence, the teachers frequently intertwined conceptions of evidence with subject matter concepts centrally relevant to the hypothetical investigation. Data also indicate that the relationship between subject matter knowledge and conceptions of evidence was more pronounced for some conceptions of evidence than for others. Results suggest that a fuller study is warranted. Suggestions for future research include exploring such relationships in other physics content areas as well as other scientific disciplines. Implications for science teacher education suggest that science and science methods courses should encourage preservice teachers to engage in original scientific research, as well as participate in peer review and critique. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 40: 721–736, 2003     

Latent Variable Modeling and Adaptive Testing for Experimental Cognitive Psychopathology Research

The adaptation of experimental cognitive tasks into measures that can be used to quantify neurocognitive outcomes in translational studies and clinical trials has become a key component of the strategy to address psychiatric and neurological disorders. Unfortunately, while most experimental cognitive tests have strong theoretical bases, they can have poor psychometric properties, leaving them vulnerable to measurement challenges that undermine their use in applied settings. Item response theory–based computerized adaptive testing has been proposed as a solution but has been limited in experimental and translational research due to its large sample requirements. We present a generalized latent variable model that, when combined with strong parametric assumptions based on mathematical cognitive models, permits the use of adaptive testing without large samples or the need to precalibrate item parameters. The approach is demonstrated using data from a common measure of working memory—the N-back task—collected across a diverse sample of participants. After evaluating dimensionality and model fit, we conducted a simulation study to compare adaptive versus nonadaptive testing. Computerized adaptive testing either made the task 36% more efficient or score estimates 23% more precise, when compared to nonadaptive testing. This proof-of-concept study demonstrates that latent variable modeling and adaptive testing can be used in experimental cognitive testing even with relatively small samples. Adaptive testing has the potential to improve the impact and replicability of findings from translational studies and clinical trials that use experimental cognitive tasks as outcome measures.     

Effect of acquisition rates on off‐task behavior of kindergarten students while learning sight words

Assessing a student's acquisition rates (ARs) is a reliable way to determine how many new words should be taught in one lesson without reducing retention. Exceeding a student's AR can result in frustration and problem behaviors. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of AR on the off‐task behavior of kindergarten students while participating in a commonly used sight‐word instruction video. Participants included 39 kindergarten students whose ARs were assessed before showing the sight‐word video. Behavior was measured as on‐ and off‐task using momentary time‐sampling with 10‐s intervals. Results indicated that students' time off task increased after exceeding their ARs, with a noticeable immediate increase. The implications and limitations of these results are discussed.