Evaluation of a Coaching Programme for Cooperating

SUMMARY In this study, the implementation effects of a programme for the training of coaching skills with Dutch primary school teachers acting as cooperating or supervising teachers for teachers-in-training are described. Coaching is a form of in-class support intended to provide teachers-in-training with feedback on their functioning and thereby stimulate self-reflection and self-analysis to improve instructional effectiveness. Based on the pre- and post-training ratings of coaching conferences with the teachers-in-training, a significant treatment effect was found for the coaching skills concerned with the development of autonomy (empowerment), feedback     

An Emic,Mixed-Methods Approach to Defining and Measuring Positive Parenting Among Low-Income Black Families

Research Findings: This within-group exploratory sequential mixed-methods investigation sought to identify how ethnically diverse, urban-residing, low-income Black families conceptualize positive parenting. During the item development phase 119 primary caregivers from Head Start programs participated in focus groups and interviews. These qualitative data were content analyzed using a 3-stage iterative process that resulted in the development of a final set of 72 items for a paper-and-pencil measure. In the measure validation phase of the study initial construct validity of the 72-item measure was assessed with an independent sample of 665 respondents. Common factor analyses revealed 5 dimensions of positive parenting on the Black Parenting Strengths in Context scale that related in expected ways with other parent self-report measures. Practice or Policy: Black Parenting Strengths in Context dimensions provide initial support for a more nuanced operationalization of positive parenting than currently exists in any single scale for use with this group and hold promise for better honoring the culture- and context-specific parenting goals and practices that low-income Black parents subjectively view as important for producing healthy developmental outcomes for their children.     

Card Sorting in an Online Environment: Key to Involving Online-Only Student Population in Usability Testing of an Academic Library Web Site?

ABSTRACT

Based on in-person, task-based usability testing and interviews, the authors' library Web site was recently overhauled in order to improve user experience. This led to the authors' interest in additional usability testing methods and test environments that would most closely fit their library's goals and situation. The appeal of card sorting methods became evident: learning more than users' points of confusion interacting with the site, but learning users' preferences for grouping pages or concepts and naming various library links. The appeal of the online venue for card sorting was first that testing could incorporate input from a larger base of users than in-person testing alone, and, additionally, that testing could include the university's online-only student population.     

Evaluating DETECT Classification Accuracy and Consistency When Data Display Complex Structure

DETECT, the acronym for Dimensionality Evaluation To Enumerate Contributing Traits, is an innovative and relatively new nonparametric dimensionality assessment procedure used to identify mutually exclusive, dimensionally homogeneous clusters of items using a genetic algorithm ( Zhang & Stout, 1999 ). Because the clusters of items are mutually exclusive, this procedure is most useful when the data display approximate simple structure. In many testing situations, however, data display a complex multidimensional structure. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate DETECT item classification accuracy and consistency when the data display different degrees of complex structure using both simulated and real data. Three variables were manipulated in the simulation study: The percentage of items displaying complex structure (10%, 30%, and 50%), the correlation between dimensions (.00, .30, .60, .75, and .90), and the sample size (500, 1,000, and 1,500). The results from the simulation study reveal that DETECT can accurately and consistently cluster items according to their true underlying dimension when as many as 30% of the items display complex structure, if the correlation between dimensions is less than or equal to .75 and the sample size is at least 1,000 examinees. If 50% of the items display complex structure, then the correlation between dimensions should be less than or equal to .60 and the sample size be, at least, 1,000 examinees. When the correlation between dimensions is .90, DETECT does not work well with any complex dimensional structure or sample size. Implications for practice and directions for future research are discussed.     

Preferences for Various Learning Environments: Teachers' and Parents' Perceptions

In the last ten years, a number of innovations, mainly inspired by constructivist notions of learning, have been introduced at various levels of the Dutch educational system. However, constructivist learning environments are rarely implemented. Teachers tend to stick to expository and structured learning environments. This consistent finding requires research in order to gain insight into teachers' preferences for learning environments and to determine the factors that support and impede the realization of these learning environments. Regarding the influence of social backgrounds on student learning, is it also important to take stock of parental views on learning environments.This study is focused on teachers' preferences for learning environments, their reported teaching behavior, and how these match with parents' preferences. Three parallel questionnaires were developed for teachers (n = 285), students (n = 951), and parents (n = 636) to measure preferences and behavior at different levels of education, for three types of learning environments: direct instruction; discovery learning; and authentic pedagogy. The results show that teachers often prefer direct instruction, and seldom promote discovery learning. While teachers sometimes realize authentic pedagogy, constructive learning tasks are seldom used. Teachers' reported practice and parents' preferences for their children appear to correspond reasonably.Results of multiple regression analyses show that the use of the three types of learning environments yield different predictors. For the use of discovery learning and authentic pedagogy, confidence in students' regulative skills is an important predictor. In predicting the use of direct instruction, the teacher's own conception of learning turns out to be an important predictor.     

The Nature of Responsibility: Children's Understanding of "Your Job"

The present study starts from the argument that research on responsibility will benefit from defining it in terms of some specific principles. The 3 principles considered deal with the sharing or distribution of work. They are ( a ) direct-cause responsibility (e.g., people should fix problems they have created), ( b ) self-regulation (e.g., you should not expect to be reminded), and ( c ) continuing responsibility (e.g., a job remains "yours" even when someone else agrees to do it). These principles were embedded in vignettes and a sorting task, all related to household work, with children of 8, 11, or 14 years of age commenting on the fairness of various work arrangements. The results show differential developmental paths for the 3 principles rather than a unitary sense of responsibility. The redefinition emerges as providing both a way to generate new research on responsibility and a link to studies of distributive norms dealing with rewards or rights.     

Measuring Parental Meta-Emotion: Psychometric Properties of the Emotion-Related Parenting Styles Self-Test

Parental meta-emotion, assessed through interviews, involves parents' philosophy about emotions and has been found to be related to parenting behaviors and children's emotional and social competence (e.g., Gottman, Katz, & Hooven, 1996; Katz & Windecker-Nelson, 2004). The Emotion-Related Parenting Styles Self-Test is a true-false (ERPSST-T/F) self-report version of the meta-emotion interview introduced in a parenting guidebook (Gottman, 1997). Although this test is user-friendly, its psychometric properties have not been evaluated. In the first study, 100 parents (89 mothers, 11 fathers) completed the ERPSST-T/F and evidence was found for the internal consistency and test-retest reliability of the measure (Lee, Hakim-Larson, & Voelker, 2000). In the second study, 31 parents (21 mothers, 10 fathers) completed a Likert-type scale version of the ERPSST (ERPSST-Likert) and the internal consistency of the scales was improved. In addition, the scales were found to correlate in expected directions with other measures of parenting attitudes regarding children's emotional expressions, even after controlling for parent gender and social desirability. These findings provide some preliminary evidence for the reliability and validity of the ERPSST-Likert and provide support for further development of the instrument.     

Psychometric Properties of the Parenting Stress Index in a Sample of Low-Income African-American Mothers of Infants and Toddlers

Examined the psychometric properties of the Parenting Stress Index (PSI) in 191 low-income, urban African-American mothers of infants and toddlers recruited from a primary health care facility. The subscales of the PSI had acceptable levels of internal consistency and stability over six months. Concurrent validity, examined through self-report and observational measures, revealed high convergence with mothers reporting consistent levels of stress across measures. Factor analysis suggested a 3-factor solution including parent, child, and parent-child interaction factors. In comparison with the nonnative sample, mothers reported elevated levels of stress on three of the seven parent subscales and all of the child subscales. These findings support the consistency of the psychometric properties of the PSI across samples that vary in ethnicity and socioeconomic status.