Parent training research: An analysis of the empirical literature 1975–1985

This project was designed to provide a retrospective analysis of the parent training literature during the last decade. Eighteen journals with behavioral psychology, clinical/counseling psychology, school psychology, and special education emphases were selected for review. Data related to the number of articles published in each journal, year of article publication, referral problem, and contributing institution were collected. Results indicate that behavioral journals published the most empirically based parent training articles (66%), followed by clinical/counseling psychology (26%), special education (6%), and school psychology (3%) journals. Parents with noncompliant, handicapped, or abused/neglected children comprised the majority (58%) of research participants. Suggestions for involving school psychologists in parent training research and broadening the focus of parent training to include preventive, as well as remedial, efforts are presented.     

Within‐High‐School Versus Across‐High‐School Scaling of Admissions Assessments: Implications for Validity and Diversity Effects

Previous research has established that SAT scores and high school grade point average (HSGPA) differ in their predictive power and in the size of mean differences across racial/ethnic groups. However, the SAT is scaled nationally across all test takers while HSGPA is scaled locally within a school. In this study, the researchers propose that this difference in how SAT scores and HSGPA are scaled partially explains differences in validity and subgroup differences. Using a large data set consisting of 170,390 students each of whom matriculated at one of 114 separate colleges, the researchers find that awarding SAT scores by ranking SAT within a high school generally results in substantial reduction in the size of subgroup mean differences for this predictor. However, validity for predicting first‐year GPA is also reduced by a small amount. Conversely, placing HSGPA onto a nationally normed metric through the use of multiple regression procedures results in a moderate increase in the size of subgroup mean differences, while also producing a small increase in validity. Taken together, these findings suggest that differences in predictor scaling can partially explain differences in the size of subgroup mean differences between HSGPA and SAT scores and have implications for predictive power.     

少强的疑问

"Can you understand how I feel, why I feel it... can you I understand my torture, my pain...?" Shao Qiang asked, looking intensely, almost imploringly, into Ming Yi Lin's eyes. He needed her to comfort him, to understand him, to see through and beyond the many apparent fault lines of his char-acter, a character that people, the society judged without any sympathy or knowledge. Society has its own rules, standards     

US inflation with trace and simultaneous fear conditioning

Two experiments with rat subjects in a conditioned punishment paradigm are reported. These experiments attempted to determine if the events entering into association with the CS following conditioning with informative (forward) and noninformative (simultaneous) CSs were comparable. In Experiment 1, exposure to intense shock alone following trace (ISI = 10 sec) conditioning with moderate shock enhanced the suppressive effects of a 2-sec CS. A similar manipulation following explicitly unpaired CS-US presentations (ISI = 2 min) had no effect. These data were taken as evidence that the CS and US were associated during trace conditioning. Experiment 2 showed that exposure to intense shock following simultaneous conditioning also enhanced suppression to the CS. These results suggested that simultaneous and forward conditioning procedures yield similar forms of associative learning.     

Social skills interventions across school settings: Case study reviews of students with mild disabilities

This study investigates the efficacy of a social skills training program with seven mildly handicapped students across three school settings: regular classroom, special education resource room, and recess. It was found that social skills training generated improvement on both pre-post measures and behavior ratings. Improvements were maintained 2 weeks after treatment was discontinued for seven students. All students' performance generalized from resource room to regular classroom settings; only four students' performance generalized to the recess setting.     

The interdependence of language and translational math skills among bilingual hispanic engineering students

The performance of 43 Hispanic engineering and science majors on a task that consists of reading a sentence describing a mathematical relationship between two variables, and then writing an equation describing the relationship, is investigated in both English and Spanish. Results are compared with grade point average and with language proficiency. Comparison of the bilingual group to a monolingual group consisting of 52 engineering and science students shows that performance, as measured by either the mathematical translation task or grade point average, is more strongly correlated with language proficiency for the bilingual group. Clinical interviews conducted with samples from each group reveal large differences in the interpretation of the mathematical task between Hispanics and monolinguals. Suggestions are made for the improvement of the technical education of Hispanics.     

Teachers’ Work,Curriculum and the New Right

This paper examines New Right arguments on educational provision, including the establishing of a voucher scheme and the introduction of elements of a free market’ into public sector education. The paper examines the right‐wing allegation that educationalists have ‘captured’ the school curriculum and the argument on the need for ‘consumer capture’ of education. It discusses the New Right tactic of privatisation by stealth, and the argument that gradualism provides the most effective means of securing educational reform. The paper discusses arguments put forward by the Right on the idea of a General Teaching Council (GTC) and argument on the need for the development of a teacher labour market freed from national salary scales. It goes on to examine Mary Warnock ‘s proposals for a GTC and her views of teacher education. The paper examines the likely effects of the implementation of right‐wing education policy, concluding that the 1988 Education Reform Act will prepare the ground for the privatisation of education and the development of a teacher labour market of the kind proposed by the New Right.