Personal strengths and perceived teacher support as predictors of Singapore students’ academic risk status

Abstract

This study explored the relative salience of students’ personal strengths and teacher support in predicting academic risk status. The participants were Secondary One (S1, Grade Seven) students from Singapore who scored below the cohort’s mean score in a national test administered at the end of primary education, and were identified as low risk (n = 309) or high risk (n = 396), based on their S1 achievement score in the English Language subject. Logistic regression analysis was conducted with academic risk status as criterion variable and the following potential predictors: students’ background variables (i.e. socio-economic status, cognitive ability and initial achievement), personal strengths, teacher–student relatedness, and teacher autonomy and competence support. After controlling for the effects of the students’ background variables, teacher trust emerged as the strongest (negative) and most stable predictor of high-risk status; teacher alienation and teacher–student communication were found as significant positive predictors of students’ placement in the high-risk group.     

Self-reported disciplinary practices among women in the child welfare system: association with domestic violence victimization

OBJECTIVE: To examine the association between physical domestic violence victimization (both recent and more than a year in past measured by self-report) and self-reported disciplinary practices among female parents/caregivers in a national sample of families referred to child welfare. METHODS: Cross-sectional survey of more than 3,000 female caregivers in the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-being (NSCAW) study, a nationally representative sample of children and their families referred to child welfare agencies for investigation of abuse and neglect. Women reported physical domestic violence victimization and their disciplinary practices for their child on different versions of the Conflict Tactics Scales. RESULTS: Four hundred and forty-three women reported prior year domestic violence, 1,161 reported domestic violence but not in the past 12 months, and 2,025 reported no domestic violence exposure. Any prior domestic violence exposure was associated with higher rates of self-reported psychological aggression, physical aggression and neglectful disciplinary behaviors as compared to those with no domestic violence victimization in bivariate comparisons. After controlling for child behavior, demographic factors, and maternal characteristics, those with remote and recent domestic violence victimization employed more self-reported psychological aggression, while only caregivers with recent DV reported more physical aggression or neglectful behaviors. CONCLUSIONS: In a national child welfare sample, self-reported aggressive and neglectful parenting behaviors were common. In this sample, domestic violence victimization is associated with more self-reported aggressive and neglectful disciplinary behaviors among female caregivers. The mechanism for these associations is not clear. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Rates of aggressive and neglectful disciplinary practices are especially high among female parents/caregivers exposed to domestic violence. Child welfare agencies should plan routine and structured assessments for domestic violence among parents/caregivers and implement parenting interventions to reduce harmful disciplinary practices for those families identified.     

Differences in taste-potentiated odor aversions with O+/OT+ versus OT+/O+ conditioning: Implications for configural associations

The present research demonstrates a conditioning order effect difference: Odor-aversion conditioning is stronger following OT+/O+ conditioning than following O+/OT+ conditioning with specific odor (O) and taste (T) cues. When a weak odor cue was used in Experiments 1A and 1B, OT+/O+ conditioning produced significantly stronger odor aversions than did either O+/OT+ or O+/O+ conditioning, which did not differ. The same design was used in Experiment 2 with a strong odor, but the order effect difference was not replicated, suggesting that the order effect difference is specific to conditions that produce taste-potentiated odor aversions. The interpretation that O+/OT+ conditioning is weaker because of the absence of a taste-odor within-compound association was not supported in Experiments 3 and 4. Notably, using stimuli that supported potentiation in earlier experiments, in Experiment 4, we found evidence of a taste-odor within-compound association in the absence of potentiation. These results confirm that previous theories of potentiation (within-compound association model, sensory-and-gate channeling model) are not sufficient to produce potentiation. Instead, these results are interpreted in terms of taste-odor configural associations.     

Implementation of Bug-in-Ear Coaching by Community-Based Professional Development Providers

Research Findings: Bug-in-ear coaching implemented under highly controlled situations has a promising research base. Yet few researchers have examined its effects when implemented within less controlled environments using authentic professional development conditions. The purpose of this study was to examine the implementation and effects of bug-in-ear coaching when staff from a community organization served as community coaches for early childhood educators. We found that community coaches implemented bug-in-ear methods, but additional supports may be necessary to increase the intensity and quality of feedback provided. Effects of the intervention were observed for 1 of the 6 targeted outcomes for educators. However, effects did not translate to children’s communication outcomes. Practice or Policy: Bug-in-ear coaching is 1 method of providing early childhood educators with performance-based feedback. One benefit is that while community coaches observe educators live, they provide feedback that educators can immediately use to improve practice. However, bug-in-ear coaching poses challenges with respect to reviewing goals and reflecting on one’s performance. Community coaches and educators should systematically plan for reflection so that educators can create new implementation goals to improve their practice. Changing educator practice is a complex endeavor, but bug-in-ear coaching is a promising tool for doing so in a supportive manner.     

The Patterns of Religious Struggle Among Undergraduates Attending Evangelical Institutions

Of the 900 religiously affiliated colleges and universities in the United States, a sizable portion (approximately 118) are members of the Council for Christian Colleges &; Universities (CCCU). As members of the CCCU, these institutions have a shared commitment to the academic and spiritual development of their students. However, relatively few studies have included data sets with multi-institutional types and longitudinal data. The purpose of this two-part study was to examine the patterns and predictors of religious struggle among traditional undergraduate students attending evangelical institutions compared to those at three other types of institutions. This article addresses the following question: How does the level of religious struggle change between the freshmen and junior years among college students attending evangelical institutions? A quantitative design using the 2004 and 2007 College Student Beliefs and Values Survey (CSBV)—which was last administered in 2007—with responses from 14,527 students attending evangelical, Catholic, other religious, and nonsectarian institutions was employed. Results indicate that significant differences in the levels and patterns of religious struggle exist between evangelical institutions and other types of institutions. Longitudinal measures revealed that students from evangelical institutions experience higher levels of religious struggle compared to their peers at other types of institutions at the end of their junior year. This article is the first in a two-part series and focuses on the patterns of religious struggle among students attending evangelical institutions.     

Perceptions of the relevance of mathematics and science: Further analysis of an Australian longitudinal study

The media portray girls' achievement in mathematics and science as equal to or better than male performance. This paper reports on a longitudinal study based on Years 7–12. One of the disturbing features of these data is the extremely poor perceptions that students, both male and female, have of performance in mathematics and science in the earlier years of high school. These data suggest the need to examine students' changing perceptions in the transition years from primary school to high school. Despite there having been substantial improvement in girls' perceptions of how they have performed in mathematics and science, proportionately fewer females elect to undertake studies at the higher levels of mathematics, physics and chemistry. The data suggest that year 9 is crucial. The perspective that girls have unequivocally arrived has been challenged.     

An Ecological Momentary Assessment of Burnout,Rejuvenation Strategies,Job Satisfaction,and Quitting Intentions in Childcare Teachers

Guided by affective events theory, the purpose of this study was to examine the temporal aspects of childcare teacher burnout, particularly as to how feelings of exhaustion throughout the day relate to perceptions of end-of-day job satisfaction and quitting intentions. A secondary purpose of the study was to explore the frequency and type of rejuvenation strategies childcare teachers use to relieve perceived stress throughout the day. Ecological momentary assessment procedures were employed for 1 week to assess exhaustion levels (3 times/day), frequencies and types of rejuvenation strategies (3 times/day), and end-of-day job satisfaction perceptions and quitting intentions (1 time/day) among 50 childcare teachers. Results indicated that childcare teachers’ quitting intentions were positively predicted by emotional exhaustion (β?=?0.52) and negatively predicted by overall job satisfaction (β?=??0.28). Short (≤15 min), infrequently used (one to two times/day) physical or cognitive health reprieve strategies were reported by 86?% of teachers as the most effective for reducing daily stress. Findings suggest that daily accounts of burnout and quitting intentions have both exhaustive and restorative properties.     

The nature of peer sexual health communication among college students enrolled in a human sexuality course

Most young people go to their friends for information on sexuality-related topics, thus it is important to understand the context of these communications so that we may gather insight into sexual values and the underlying emotions and styles of communication. We conducted qualitative weekly surveys regarding discussion of sexual health topics among peers with students enrolled in an undergraduate human sexuality course. A four-stage inductive analysis process was utilized to examine a total number of 824 survey submissions from 102 college students who agreed to participate. Seven relevant common themes emerged: safer sex, sexually transmitted infections, pregnancy, feelings about sex, sexual acts, peer support, and peer communication norms. Some perspectives varied between males and females. Life events create opportunities for peers to discuss sexual health with each other. The connection between life events and peer sexual health communication has numerous implications for both research and education.     

A test of the conservation model for autoshaped leverpressing and polydipsia in the rat

This study examined a conservation model (Allison & Mack, 1982) that predicts a linear relation between the weighted sum of two responses, autoshaped leverpressing and polydipsia, and the amount of food delivered on a variable-time schedule. Fifteen rats were assigned randomly to one of three groups. The rats in Group 1 were maintained at 80% of their free-feeding body weights. Those in Group 2 began at 100% but were allowed to lose weight during the experiment. The rats in Group 3 also began at 100% of their free-feeding weights and were maintained at this level. Each group was exposed to five conditions that delivered less food than that consumed during baseline and to one condition that delivered more food. The results did not support the conservation model. Contrary to the model, the decreasing linear relation between the individual responses, or the weighted sum of the responses, and the amount of food delivered was not found for all rats, and some rats responded more when an excessive amount of food was presented than during baseline.     

Burrowing and becoming: teaching writing in uncertain times

What happens when teachers perceive a growing rift between their pedagogical practice and their students’ lived experiences? How do teachers respond to the uncertainty that such a “relevance gap” can create? In a climate in which literacy research is often pressed to address the achievement gap and to contribute to a sense of certainty, this study explored the relevance gap experienced by teachers in their teaching of writing and the ways that teaching with uncertainty contributed to their practice. Situated in theories of curriculum as currere, local knowledge of practice, and pedagogy as assemblage, the article focuses on the theory and practice of four educators who teach writing in very different and diverse contexts. The rhizo-textual analysis of the data inspired a process of making assemblages to explore context, positionality, and power in teachers’ identities as writers and teachers of writing. Two such assemblages are described, one exploring struggle and the other possibility. In the struggles and uncertainties they experienced, each teacher found new possibilities in different places: in the land, in slam poetry, in story, and in film. Our mappings and analyses suggest that teachers can create new pedagogies of becoming for them and their students by burrowing into uncertainty, process, and social critique.