Neuropsychological screening with school-age children: Rationale and conceptualization

School psychologists have become increasingly interested in neuropsychological assessment of children with learning and behavioral problems. In large part, this interest can be traced to the recognition that many learning disorders found in school-age children are directly attributable to neurological factors. Recently endorsed definitions of learning disabilities presume that the disability is due to central nervous system dysfunction. To identify those children who should receive a comprehensive neuropsychological evaluation, an effective and flexible approach to neuropsychological screening is needed. This article provides a rationale and conceptual framework necessary for the development of neuropsychological screening procedures with school-age children.     

Profiles of middle school science teachers: Accounting for cognitive and motivational characteristics

Teachers play a critical role in successfully implementing science education reforms in the United States to provide high-quality science learning opportunities to all students. However, the differentiated ways in which teachers make decisions about their science teaching are not well understood. This study takes a person-centered approach by applying latent profile analysis to examine how cognitive (pedagogical content knowledge) and motivational (instructional goal orientations, self-efficacy beliefs, and reform values) characteristics combine to form science teacher profiles in middle school. Predictors of profile membership (bachelor's degree, school %FRL) and both teacher (science instructional practices) and student (science achievement, engagement, and self-efficacy) outcomes related to the teacher profiles were also examined. Five science teacher profiles were identified (severely discouraged but reform oriented, discouraged but reform oriented, conventional, confident and mastery oriented, and confident with multiple goal approaches) that represented unique configurations of cognitive and motivation characteristics. Additionally, findings showed that the teacher profiles were significantly related to three dimensions of science instructional practice including communication, discourse, and reasoning. Finally, the teacher profiles were significantly related to student science achievement and motivational outcomes. Implications for differentiated approaches to teacher professional learning and supports for science instruction are discussed.     

Behaviour Problems in the Siblings of Children With Down Syndrome: associations with family responsibilities and parental stress

Forty‐five families with a child with Down syndrome and 88 comparison families provided information about their children's behaviour problems and their involvement in household tasks. In addition, parental stress was measured using the Parenting domain of the Parenting Stress Index (Abidin, 1990). There were no differences between the siblings of a child with Down syndrome and comparison children on mothers’ or fathers’ reports of problem behaviour. Siblings of a child with Down syndrome also did not differ in their contribution to family tasks, however, for the brothers of a child with Down syndrome there were significant negative correlations between household tasks and behaviour problems on fathers’ report. Parents of a child with Down syndrome reported more stress than comparison parents and stress was related to reports of problem behaviour for some parent groups.     

Inferring Longitudinal Relationships Between Variables: Model Selection Between the Latent Change Score and Autoregressive Cross-Lagged Factor Models

This research focuses on the problem of model selection between the latent change score (LCS) model and the autoregressive cross-lagged (ARCL) model when the goal is to infer the longitudinal relationship between variables. We conducted a large-scale simulation study to (a) investigate the conditions under which these models return statistically (and substantively) different results concerning the presence of bivariate longitudinal relationships, and (b) ascertain the relative performance of an array of model selection procedures when such different results arise. The simulation results show that the primary sources of differences in parameter estimates across models are model parameters related to the slope factor scores in the LCS model (specifically, the correlation between the intercept factor and the slope factor scores) as well as the size of the data (specifically, the number of time points and sample size). Among several model selection procedures, correct selection rates were higher when using model fit indexes (i.e., comparative fit index, root mean square error of approximation) than when using a likelihood ratio test or any of several information criteria (i.e., Akaike’s information criterion, Bayesian information criterion, consistent AIC, and sample-size-adjusted BIC).     

When numbers count: The erasure of females’ equity status in higher education?

In recent years the pendulum has certainly swung towards women in higher education participation, but variations in the way these statistics have been calculated account for some of this swing. More importantly, women still receive less vocational and economic benefit than males from this increased participation. Despite over twenty years of gender equity policies and strategies in education, women still lag behind men on important indicators. Until women gain a greater share of higher degrees, labour force participation and earnings from income, their levels of participation in higher education should be maintained in order to preserve the gains that women have made and to ensure that they continue to improve their position relative to men. Far from removing women’s equity status, their equity status should be reconfirmed and efforts to break down sex-differentiated participation in education and the work force should be renewed.     

The postdigital challenge of redefining academic publishing from the margins

ABSTRACT

This paper explores relationships between knowledge production and academic publication and shows that the current political economy of mainstream academic publishing has resulted from a complex interplay between large academic publishers, academics, and hacker-activists. The process of publishing is a form of ‘social production’ that takes place across the economy, politics and culture, all of which are in turn accommodating both old and new technology in our postdigital age. Technologies such as software cannot be separated from human labour, academic centres cannot be looked at in isolation from their margins, and the necessity of transdisciplinary approaches does not imply the disappearance of traditional disciplines. In the postdigital age, the concept of the margins has not disappeared, but it has become somewhat marginal in its own right. We need to develop a new language of describing what we mean by ‘marginal voices’ in the social relations between knowledge production and academic publication. Universities require new strategies for cohabitation of, and collaboration between, various socio-technological actors, and new postdigital politics and practice of knowledge production and academic publishing.     

Enabling and aligning assessment for learning: some research and policy lessons from Queensland

Drawing on the Queensland School Reform Longitudinal Study (QSRLS), this paper documents the assessment practices of about 250 Queensland primary and secondary classrooms and the extent to which they align with those pedagogical practices described as ‘productive pedagogies’ in the research. In considering the extent of this alignment, the paper outlines in some detail the concept of ‘productive assessment’, which also developed out of the research. The QSRLS demonstrated the necessity of aligning pedagogies and assessment practices with curriculum purposes to enhance student learning and contribute to socially just outcomes. A lack of visible alignment in the assessment practices of teachers in the study is demonstrated and discussed. When considered in conjunction with the low intellectual demands of the pedagogies observed, there are serious social justice implications to be drawn from the research. The paper also shows the significance of systemic assessment policies in relation to teacher assessment practices. The paper conceptualizes ‘productive assessment’ in relation to broader sociological considerations of assessment practices. Some possible explanations for the findings are proffered and some brief recommendations about a way forward in relation to teacher professional development around assessment literacy are suggested.     

On the Attainability of Bounds on the Standard Deviation

This article considers prototype data sets that attain lower and upper bounds on the standard deviation in terms of the range.