Structural models of antisocial behavior and during‐treatment performance for probationers in a substance abuse treatment program

Prior research has linked substance abuse and antisocial behavior. This study uses structural models to examine developmental stages of antisocial behavior and their relation to during‐treatment performance of probationers in a 4‐month inpatient program. Separate childhood and adulthood antisocial functioning components were identified, and each predicted during‐treatment psychological functioning and program perceptions. Specifically, adulthood hostility predicted psychological functioning, and adulthood risk‐taking predicted program perceptions; the effect of childhood antisocial behavior was completely mediated by adulthood functioning.     

Boys’ Underachievement: issues,challenges and possible ways forward

This article considers the issue of boys’ perceived lack of achievement at 16 and the context within which this issue has developed. In addition to conducting a review of relevant literature concerned with boys’ achievement, case study research was carried out in three comprehensive schools in the Midlands, taking the form of interviews with one senior member of staff from each school with a specific responsibility for boys’ achievement. The purpose of the interviews was to consider how different schools perceived the issue of boys’ underachievement and to examine the strategies employed by each to combat it. The discussion of the research indicates some significant factors affecting the ways in which boys identify themselves as being ‘male’ and which may influence their behaviour and attitudes towards school and towards their peers. The authors attempt to place the issue of boys’ underachievement into a wider social context and consider other factors which may have a bearing on the issue. The authors then attempt to relate the experiences of these three schools, and their other research, to the national picture and suggest ways in which teachers nationally may take steps to address the issue of boys’ underachievement within their own schools.     

Managing Time in a Software Factory: Temporal and Spatial Organization of IS Development Activities

This article reports an ethnographic study that investigates the ways in which time was experienced and managed in an information systems (IS) development project. The study is based on 6 months of intensive overt participant observation of the development of Executive Information Systems in a large multinational company. Drawing on time geography, this article discusses a social perspective of time and social dynamics of time management in IS development project teams and outlines its implications for formal approaches to time management.     

Affective and motivational factors of learning in online mathematics courses

We investigated what factors would be related to students' achievement in mathematics courses offered at a virtual high school. This was an attempt to understand why some succeed and some do not as well as to suggest what should be done to help with student success. Seventy‐two students responded to a self‐report survey on motivation (ie, self‐efficacy, intrinsic value), mathematics achievement emotions (ie, anxiety, anger, shame, hopelessness, boredom, enjoyment, pride), and cognitive processes (ie, cognitive strategy use, self‐regulation). A three‐step hierarchical multivariate regression was employed to examine which of the factors predict student achievement. Results showed that motivation accounted for approximately 13% of the variance in student achievement and self‐efficacy was the significant individual predictor of student achievement. However, when achievement emotions were added to the analysis, self‐efficacy failed to predict student achievement and emotions accounted for 37% of the variance in student achievement. Cognitive strategy use and self‐regulation did not explain any additional variance in the final scores. Findings are discussed and implications for future research and development are also suggested.     

Strategic pay reform: A student outcomes-based evaluation of Denver's ProComp teacher pay initiative

Denver Public Schools utilizes one of the nation's highest profile alternative teacher compensation systems, and a key element of Denver's Professional Compensation System for Teachers (ProComp) is pay for performance. This study analyzes the student achievement implications of ProComp utilizing matched student- and teacher-level data from 2003 to 2010. We find that student achievement increased during the years ProComp was implemented, but that these gains were observed for students taught by teachers enrolled in ProComp's alternative compensation system as well as non-participating teachers. While the findings are not consistent across grades and subjects, there is some evidence that teachers voluntarily opting into ProComp are more effective than those who do not volunteer. Finally, some ProComp bonuses were well targeted towards value-added measures of teacher effectiveness while others were not.     

Engagement in Academic Work: The Role of Learning Goals, Future Consequences, Pleasing Others, and Perceived Ability

Engagement in academic work was viewed from a multiple goals perspective. Two studies were conducted in which high school math students completed an instrument measuring five goals students might have for doing academic work (learning goals, performance goals, obtaining future consequences, pleasing the teacher, and pleasing the family), perceived math ability, self-regulatory activities, strategies (deep or shallow) used when studying for math, and the amount of effort and persistence expended on the class. Factor analysis indicated that the five goals scales and the perceived ability scale represented unique factors. The correlations among the variables revealed theoretically consistent interrelationships. Multiple regression analyses indicated that various goals (e.g., learning goals, obtaining future consequences, and pleasing the teacher), perceived ability, and some interactions accounted for significant amounts of variance in the task engagement measures (self-regulation, strategy use, effort, and persistence) and achievement. Results are discussed in relation to current theory and their practical implications.     

The effect of neighborhood racial composition on black and white attitudes

The impact of the racial composition of neighborhoods, rather than race per se, is examined in this study. The sample includes 1027 families with children attending 5 of the 11 former school districts in New Castle County, Delaware. Questionnaires were sent to these families in the spring of 1978, prior to school desegregation, and again in the spring of 1979, at the end of the first year of desegregation. Scales were developed to measure attitudinal variables for both parents and students. These included racial attitudes, attitudes toward school desegregation, and attitudes about education. Results show that attitudes both before and after desegregation varied according to the neighborhood racial composition. Thus it is important in future studies of racial attitudes to examine neighborhood racial characteristics as well as the race of the individual.This research has been supported by a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation, Division of Social Sciences.