The Struggle to Pass Algebra: Online vs. Face-to-Face Credit Recovery for At-Risk Urban Students

Students who fail algebra are significantly less likely to graduate on time, and algebra failure rates are consistently high in urban districts. Identifying effective credit recovery strategies is critical for getting students back on track. Online courses are now widely used for credit recovery, yet there is no rigorous evidence about the relative efficacy of online versus face-to-face credit recovery courses. To address this gap, this study randomly assigned 1,224 ninth graders who failed algebra in 17 Chicago public high schools to take an online or face-to-face algebra credit recovery course. Compared to students in face-to-face credit recovery, students in online credit recovery reported that the course was more difficult, were less likely to recover credit, and scored lower on an algebra posttest. There were no statistically significant differences by condition on any outcomes measured during the second year of high school (standardized mathematics test and algebra subtest scores, likelihood of passing subsequent math classes, cumulative math credits, or on-track rates). The benefits and challenges of online learning for credit recovery are discussed in light of the findings to date.     

Teacher Professional Development and Student Reading Achievement: A Meta-Analytic Review of the Effects

Abstract

Research-based instruction is necessary to support students’ reading development, and professional development (PD) is a critical avenue to ensuring high-quality instructional practices. To date, there has been no comprehensive review focused on the effects of teacher PD on student reading achievement. As such, the purpose of the present meta-analysis was to examine the impact of teacher PD on reading outcomes for students in kindergarten through 8th grade. A secondary aim was to determine whether study, program, or participant characteristics were potential moderators of these effects. A comprehensive search of published and unpublished research between 1975 and 2017 resulted in 28 studies that met prescribed criteria. Results indicate that teacher PD has a moderate and significant, positive average effect on reading achievement. However, moderator analyses did not explain the variance in the effects of PD on student outcomes. Primarily, studies represented typically-developing students in the elementary grades, with only three studies including middle school students and four studies including reading outcomes of students with or at-risk for reading disabilities. Recommendations for improved study designs that allow for more in-depth investigation of the characteristics of effective PD and mechanisms of change in student outcomes are discussed.     

An Exploratory Comparative Case Study of Employee Engagement in Christian Higher Education

Numerous studies have identified a positive correlation between employee engagement and overall organizational performance. However, research on employee engagement specifically within higher education is limited, and even less attention has been focused on engagement within the context of Christian higher education. An exploratory comparative case study research design was used to explore two faith-based universities that are atypical examples of excellence as measured by the Best Christian Workplace Institute (BCWI) “Employee Engagement and Organizational Culture” survey. Analysis of data gathered from 53 interviews with employees and document analysis led to the identification of institutional characteristics that fostered employee engagement at two universities that consistently exhibited high rankings of employee self-reported engagement based on the BCWI survey results. Despite substantial differences between the two institutions, commonalities were identified in many of the characteristics that fostered employee engagement on the two campuses. The findings revealed that the shared themes of mission, community, empowered human resource departments, and a sense of positive momentum all contributed to the atypically high employee engagement levels that resulted in a positive and empowering organizational culture.     

Democracy-Appealing Partisanship: A Situated Ideal of Citizenship

This study develops a context-grounded ideal about how citizens ought to communicate in legislative hearings about contentious issues. We begin with an overview of the dominant model of good citizen discourse, democratic deliberation, and argue why it is an inappropriate norm for public hearings in state legislative bodies. After overviewing grounded practical theory (GPT), the meta-theoretical approach used, and providing background on the demands of public meetings, we describe the public hearing that is the focal data. That hearing was the 18-hour, 2009 Hawaii hearing on a bill that proposed to recognize committed relationships of same-sex couples through civil unions. The analysis of citizen testimony evidences a discourse strategy, democracy-appealing partisanship, which speakers on both sides of the issue used to manage the challenges they confronted in speaking out. This strategy involved advocating strongly for one viewpoint as an appeal to either majority rule or minority rights and/or either freedom of religion or separation of church and state were made. In concluding, we describe the problem to which this strategy is responsive, justify the norm of democracy-appealing partisanship, and offer implications for future studies using GPT.     

The Bologna Process: The Impact of Higher Education Reform on the Structure and Organisation of Doctoral Programmes in Germany

This paper aims to outline the main higher education reforms in Germany, including the implementation of the Bologna Process. It takes as its focus the doctoral phase, conceptualised by “Bologna” as the third cycle of study but held by many to be the first phase of independent scientific research. In the context of increasing internationalisation of higher education and the European Commission's forecast that 700,000 more researchers will be needed (European Commission, 2003 European Commission. 2003. “Researchers in the European Research Area: One Profession, Multiple Careers” COM(2003) 436 final of the 18.07.2003 [Google Scholar]), it is vital to get the reform of the system right. The paper considers the effects of the German Higher Education Framework Act and regional laws as well as those of the Bologna Process on Germany's ability to recruit and train national and international doctoral candidates in the natural sciences.     

Adolescent caregiving success as a predictor of social functioning from ages 13 to 33

Adolescent success providing satisfying support in response to a close friend's call in a caregiving task was examined as a potentially fundamental developmental competence likely to predict future social functioning, adult caregiving security, and physical health. Adolescents (86 males, 98 females; 58% White, 29% African American, 8% mixed race/ethnicity, 5% other) were followed from ages 13 to 33 (1998–2021) using multiple methods and reporters. Early caregiving success was found to predict greater self- and partner-reported caregiving security, lower negativity in adult relationships, and higher adult vagal tone. Results are interpreted as advancing our understanding beyond simply recognizing that adolescent friendships have long-term import, to now identifying specific capacities within friendships that are linked to longer-term outcomes.     

Peer victimization and empathy for victims of bullying: A test of bidirectional associations in childhood and adolescence

Anti-bullying interventions often assume that knowing how it feels to be bullied increases empathy for victims. However, longitudinal research on actual experiences of bullying and empathy is lacking. This study investigated whether within-person changes in victimization predicted changes in empathy over 1 year using random-intercept cross-lagged panel models. Self- and peer-reported victimization, and cognitive and affective empathy for victims were measured in a sample of 15,713 Finnish youth (M_age = 13.23, SD_age = 2.01, 51.6% female; 92.5% had Finnish-speaking parents; data was collected in 2007–2009 when information about participants’ race/ethnicity was not available due to ethical guidelines for the protection of personal information). Results indicated small, positive longitudinal associations from victimization to cognitive empathy. Implications for empathy-raising interventions are discussed.     

Contextualizing privacy with wearable data in higher education

This conceptual study uses dynamic systems theory (DST) and phenomenology as lenses to examine data privacy implications surrounding wearable devices that incorporate stakeholder, contextual and technical factors. Wearable devices can impact people's behaviour and sense of self, and DST and phenomenology provide complementary approaches for emphasizing the subjective experiences of individuals that occur with the use of wearable data. Privacy is approached through phenomenology as an individual's lived bodily experience and DST emphasizes the self-regulation and feedback loops of individuals and their uses of wearable data. The data collection, analysis and communication of wearable data to support learning systems alongside privacy implications for each are examined. The IoT, cloud computing, metadata and algorithms are discussed as they relate to wearable data, pointing out privacy risks and strategies to minimize harm.

Practitioner notes

What is already known about this topic

• Data privacy is a complex topic and is approached through different perspectives, influencing the degree of an individual's data autonomy.
• Wearable technology is increasing in the consumer market and offers great potential to learning environments.

What this paper adds

• Extends extant literature on dynamic systems theory and phenomenology, contributing these perspectives to educational research in the context of student data privacy and wearable technologies.
• Provides a framework to understand the complex and contingent ways that privacy can be understood in the collection, analysis, and communication of wearable data to support learning.

Implications for practice and/or policy

• Higher education faculty and educational policymakers should consider various interactions in systems and among systems of how wearable data collection may be analysed, communicated and stored, potentially exposing students to privacy harms.
• Multiple actors in learning systems must engage in continuous and evolving feedback loops around data security, consent, ownership and control to determine who has access to student data, how it is used and for what purposes.
• The EU's General Data Protection and Regulation offers one of the most comprehensive frameworks for higher education institutions and faculty around the world to follow for protecting student data privacy.