Math fluency is etiologically distinct from untimed math performance, decoding fluency, and untimed reading performance: evidence from a twin study

The authors examined whether math fluency was independent from untimed math and from reading using 314 pairs of school-aged twins drawn from the Western Reserve Reading and Math Projects. Twins were assessed through a 90-min home visit at approximately age 10 and were reassessed in their homes approximately 1 year later. Results suggested that the shared environment and genetics influenced the covariance among math fluency, untimed math measures, and reading measures. However, roughly two thirds of the variance in math fluency was independent from untimed math measures and reading, including reading fluency. The majority of this independent variance was the result of genetic factors that were longitudinally stable across two measurement occasions. These results suggest that math fluency, although related to other math measures, may also be a genetically distinct dimension of mathematics performance.     

The role of motor experience in understanding action function: the case of the precision grasp

Recent evidence suggests adults and infants selectively attend to features of action, such as how a hand contacts an object. The current research investigated whether this bias stems from infants' processing of the functional consequences of grasps: understanding that different grasps afford different future actions. A habituation paradigm assessed 10-month-old infants' (N = 62) understanding of the functional consequences of precision and whole-hand grasps in others' actions, and infants' own precision grasping abilities were also assessed. The results indicate infants understood the functional consequences of another's grasp only if they could perform precision grasps themselves. These results highlight a previously unknown aspect of early action understanding, and deepen our understanding of the relation between motor experience and cognition.     

Quantile Regression in the Study of Developmental Sciences

Linear regression analysis is one of the most common techniques applied in developmental research, but only allows for an estimate of the average relations between the predictor(s) and the outcome. This study describes quantile regression, which provides estimates of the relations between the predictor(s) and outcome, but across multiple points of the outcome's distribution. Using data from the High School and Beyond and U.S. Sustained Effects Study databases, quantile regression is demonstrated and contrasted with linear regression when considering models with: (a) one continuous predictor, (b) one dichotomous predictor, (c) a continuous and a dichotomous predictor, and (d) a longitudinal application. Results from each example exhibited the differential inferences which may be drawn using linear or quantile regression.     

Relations among home literacy environment,child characteristics and print knowledge for preschool children with language impairment

To contribute to the modest body of work examining the home literacy environment (HLE) and emergent literacy outcomes for children with disabilities, this study addressed two aims: (a) to determine the unique contributions of the HLE on print knowledge of preschool children with language impairment and (b) to identify whether specific child characteristics (oral language ability, print interest) moderated these relations. The sample consisted of 119 preschool children with language impairment. HLE was conceptualised as frequency of storybook reading and literacy teaching during book reading. Frequency of storybook reading was a unique predictor of print knowledge, which is consistent with research on children with typical language. Literacy teaching did not predict print knowledge, which diverges from research on children with typical language. No interactions between the HLE and child characteristics were significant, but language ability and print interest play a role in understanding individual differences in literacy development.     

Researching Race Within Educational Psychology Contexts

In this article, we question why race as a sociohistorical construct has not traditionally been investigated in educational psychology research. To do so, we provide a historical discussion of the significance of race as well as present current dilemmas in the exploration of race, including an examination of the incidence and prevalence of race-related constructs in top educational psychology journals. As a means of expanding educational psychology's use of race as a sociohistorical construct, we introduce the concepts of race-focused and race-reimaged constructs. We end the article with suggestions for how we can begin exploring race as a sociohistorical construct in the field of educational psychology, including the need to challenge traditional paradigms and embrace culturally relevant methodologies.     

An ecological analysis of infant neglect by adolescent mothers

To inform efforts to prevent child neglect, we investigated a wide range of risk factors that have been largely unexamined in relation to infant neglect, the most commonly occurring form of child maltreatment. Using an ecological model of child neglect, we assessed the influence of characteristics at the level of the child, the mother, the family, and broader childrearing contexts on adolescent mothers’ likelihood of being a perpetrator in a substantiated case of neglect against their firstborn infants (n = 383, M = 12 months). Several factors were associated with infant neglect by young mothers: median block income, low infant birth weight, maternal smoking, maternal childhood history of neglect and of positive care, intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetrated by either the mother or her partner, and maternal use of mental health services. In multivariate models, income, a maternal childhood history of positive care, IPV by either a mother or her partner, and mental health service usage made significant contributions to the odds that a mother neglected her infant. Our findings suggest that these factors have particular salience to policymakers’ and practitioners’ efforts to identify high risk families and to intervene during the earliest months of life to prevent child neglect.     

Are Student Protests in Arab States Caused by Economic and Political Grievances? Empirical Evidence from the 2006–07 Arab Barometer

We investigate the nature of protests by students (age 18 and older) in Algeria, Jordan, Morocco, and Yemen by using subsamples of students from nationally representative and acclaimed public opinion data (the 2006–07 Arab Barometer). We find between 22.1% (Jordan) and 54.7% (Yemen) participated in either the signing of petitions, or marching in street protests, or both between the years 2003–07. To explain student protest participation, we draw from the political economy literature to test four grievance-based hypotheses that link protest to student perceptions on the performance of the economy, personal family socioeconomic status, political exclusion, and preference for democracy. Ordered probit regression analyses indicate that students protest for different reasons in the four countries. We find statistical evidence that student protests are associated with grievances about the economy (Algeria and Morocco) and lack of democracy (Algeria only). Joint hypothesis tests reveal that the four grievances jointly matter in Algeria, Morocco, and Yemen but not Jordan.     

Enhancing student learning of research methods through the use of undergraduate teaching assistants

By using a quasi-experimental design, in this study, we test the effect of undergraduate teaching assistants on student learning. Data were collected from 170 students enrolled in four sections of a quantitative research methods course, two sections without undergraduate teaching assistants and two sections with undergraduate teaching assistants, over two semesters. Results indicate that having undergraduate teaching assistants in the classroom can result in higher student performance. Students in the sections with undergraduate teaching assistants earned higher grades, were more likely to pass the course with a C or higher and performed better on half of the student learning outcomes than students in the sections without an undergraduate teaching assistant. Based on the overwhelmingly positive results on student learning, we would recommend the active use of undergraduate teaching assistants in the classroom, but especially for courses that students find challenging.     

Component processes in reading: shared and unique variance in serial and isolated naming speed

Reading ability is comprised of several component processes. In particular, the connection between the visual and verbal systems has been demonstrated to play an important role in the reading process. The present study provides a review of the existing literature on the visual verbal connection as measured by two tasks, rapid serial naming and isolated (or discrete-trial) naming speed, as they relate to reading ability. For each identified study, a secondary data analysis was conducted using the provided correlations between serial naming, isolated naming, and reading. The same analysis was repeated for average population-level correlations among these constructs using meta-analytic weighting techniques. Results suggested that isolated naming acts as a suppressor variable in the relation of serial naming with reading, indicating that there exists at least one cognitive component of the serial naming task that is predictive of reading but is not shared with isolated naming speed. The effect has several implications for understanding the underlying cognitive components reading ability, which are discussed.