Investigating English reading comprehension growth in adolescent language minority learners: some insights from the simple view

The development of reading skills in language minority (LM) learners, particularly during the middle school years, remains unclear despite the increasing need for educators to serve this rapidly growing population. In this study, the English reading comprehension growth of middle school LM learners was investigated using a longitudinal design and the simple view of reading as a theoretical framework. Students were assessed at four time points between fifth and seventh grades on standardized measures of listening comprehension, word reading, and reading comprehension. Individual growth modeling revealed that both listening comprehension and word reading assessed in fifth grade predicted the elevation of students’ developmental trajectories in reading comprehension. However, neither skill predicted students’ growth in reading comprehension, and there was no significant variation across children in growth rates, indicating that students in seventh grade remained on a trajectory established in fifth grade. The implications of the slowing rate of reading comprehension development during the middle school years are discussed.     

Teaching cause-effect text structure through social studies content to at-risk second graders

This study evaluated the effectiveness of a comprehension program integrated with social studies instruction designed for at-risk second graders. The program included instruction in cause-effect text structure, emphasizing clue words, generic questions, graphic organizers, and the close analysis of specially constructed cause-effect target paragraphs. This program was compared (a) to a content-only program that focused only on social studies and did not include text structure instruction and (b) to a no-instruction control. Fifteen classroom teachers, randomly assigned to treatment, provided the instruction. The program improved the comprehension of instructional cause-effect texts, and there were transfer effects on some comprehension measures. The performance of the 2 instructed groups did not differ on any of the content measures, indicating that such integrated instruction can be accomplished without a loss in the amount of content acquired. This study supports our previous findings on the effectiveness of explicit instruction at the primary-grade level.     

Understanding the Role of Neuroscience in Brain Based Products: A Guide for Educators and Consumers

The term brain based is often used to describe learning theories, principles, and products. Although there have been calls urging educators to be cautious in interpreting and using such material, consumers may find it challenging to understand the role of the brain and to discriminate among brain based products to determine which would be suitable for specific educational goals. We offer a framework for differentiating the multiple meanings of the brain based label and guidelines for educators and consumers to use when evaluating educational products labeled as brain based. The guidelines include: identifying educational goals and target student populations, aligning goals and product purposes, reviewing product merits, identifying benefits and limitations of the product, and characterizing the product's impact on behavioral performance.     

A dynamic model of the breast during exercise

The aim of this paper is to develop a method to determine the material characteristics of bras that could limit breast motion during exercise. A single participant ran on a treadmill at 10 km h⁻¹ wearing either a sports bra, an everyday bra or no bra. The relative motion between the suprasternal notch and the breast was recorded using a passive marker system at 200 Hz and was modelled as forced damped-harmonic motion with a linear spring and damper, with the driving force provided by the suprasternal notch. The spring and damper values were found by matching the model to the experimental data. It was found that both the damping and stiffness values increased with the use of an everyday bra, and increased further still with the use of a sports bra. The stiffness parameter, however, was shown to be the most important criterion for minimisation of the breast motion. The model predicted that an increase in breast mass from 100 to 700 g (a 32A-cup to a 32F-cup) increased the vertical motion of the unsupported breast by around 70% when running and 30% when walking. This was reduced with an everyday bra and further reduced with the high stiffness sports bra. Although predictions were sensible, the model requires further verification with a cohort of participants.     

Using Necessary Information to Identify Item Dependence in Passage-Based Reading Comprehension Tests

Applications of traditional unidimensional item response theory models to passage-based reading comprehension assessment data have been criticized based on potential violations of local independence. However, simple rules for determining dependency, such as including all items associated with a particular passage, may overestimate the dependency that actually exists among the items. The current study proposed a more refined method based on cognitive principles and substantive theories to determine those items that pose a threat. Specifically, the use of common necessary information from text was examined as a contributor of local dependence. Cognitively similar item pairs, those with connected necessary information, had higher local dependence values than item pairs with no connected necessary information. Results suggest that focusing on necessary information may be useful to some extent for understanding and managing item dependence for passage-based reading comprehension tests.