Vocabulary does not complicate the simple view of reading

Gough and Tunmer’s (1986) simple view of reading (SVR) proposed that reading comprehension (RC) is a function of language comprehension (LC) and word recognition/decoding. Braze et al. (2007) presented data suggesting an extension of the SVR in which knowledge of vocabulary (V) affected RC over and above the effects of LC. Tunmer and Chapman (2012) found a similar independent contribution of V to RC when the data were analyzed by hierarchical regression. However, additional analysis by factor analysis and structural equation modeling indicated that the effect of V on RC was, in fact, completely captured by LC itself and there was no need to posit a separate direct effect of V on RC. In the present study, we present new data from young adults with sub-optimal reading skill (N = 286). Latent variable and regression analyses support Gough and Tunmer’s original proposal and the conclusions of Tunmer and Chapman that V can be considered a component of LC and not an independent contributor to RC.     

Development of the process conception of function

Our goal in this paper is to make two points. First, college students, even those who have taken a fair number of mathematics courses, do not have much of an understanding of the function concept; and second, an epistemological theory we have been developing points to an instructional treatment, using computers, that results in substantial improvements for many students. They seem to develop a process conception of function and are able to use it to do mathematics. After an introductory section we outline, in Section 2, our theoretical epistemology in general and indicate how it applies to the function concept in particular. In Sections 3, 4, and 5 we provide specific details on this study and describe the development of the function concept that appeared to take place in the students that we are considering. In Section 6 we interpret the results and draw some conclusions.     

Teaching Quality Across School Settings

Districts are increasingly making personnel decisions based on teachers’ impact on student-achievement gains and classroom observations. In some schools, however, a teacher’s practices and their students’ achievement may reflect not just individual but collaborative efforts. In other settings, teachers’ instruction benefits less from the insights and support of their colleagues. This article analyzes multiple measures of teacher and teaching quality for 24 language arts teachers in New York City who teach in different types of school environments. Teachers in different value-added quartiles were observed and scored using two protocols, PLATO and CLASS. Schools were categorized as more and less functional using Department of Education environment grades. To compare the practices of higher and lower value-added teachers in more and less functional schools, we conduct MANOVAs of observation scores and use qualitative coding of field notes. We find value-added measures and observation protocols provide confirmatory information in less functional schools but provide contradictory information about teacher quality in more functional schools. Implications for teacher education, policy, and future research are discussed.     

Teaching Trump: Student Recommendations to Ensure Safe Discussions in a Time of Polarized Political Divide

ABSTRACT

This article includes findings from a mixed method survey at a large, public midwestern university following the election of Donald J. Trump as the president of the United States. It examines student perceptions about effective engagement in political discourse within social work classes. Survey questions urged students to suggest how instructors might facilitate this dialogue fairly in the classroom given the passionate emotions and differing viewpoints surrounding the election, while acknowledging and educating about values espoused by the profession. Findings from this study illustrate the challenges that students face in having these conversations and outline their recommendations to social work educators for facilitating safe, sensitive, and inclusive classroom discussion about politics.     

Indigenous graduate research students in Australia: a critical review of the research

Over the last decade, there has been a steady increase in the number of Indigenous graduate research students in Australia, yet research and pedagogy has not kept pace with changes underway in the sector. From an extensive search of literature published between 2000 and 2017, 15 papers (representing 10 research projects conducted by seven teams or authors) were identified that addressed Indigenous graduate research student experience. Overall, the literature tends to focus on identifying barriers to completion, noting in particular the impact of financial difficulties, social isolation and racism. A research degree is a key site for the assertion and legitimation of Indigenous knowledges, and it is here that Indigenous students are navigating tensions between legitimated disciplinary practices of the centre and the peripheral status of Indigenous knowledges. We, therefore, adopt Herbert's ‘centre–periphery’ model to interpret the research, arguing that this framework explains the focus on barriers, the neglect of pedagogy centred on academic excellence and student strengths, and research relationships between students and Indigenous communities. Our review identifies the need for a systematic research agenda specifically focused on Indigenous student success at the graduate research level, and looking internationally in order to assess the performance and strategies of Australian higher education providers in comparison to international institutions meeting the aims of First Nations research communities. This approach, we suggest, should move beyond an analysis of the nature of enablers and barriers to focus on Indigenous Higher Degree by Research success.     

Racialised Schooling, 'Ethnic Success' and Asian-Australian Students

Based on discussions with Asian-Australian young women at a mixed-sex, Australia State high school, this article argues that the pro-school conformity of Asian-Australian young women sets them in a problematic and precarious relationship to the material and symbolic and processes of racialisation. The first part of the article identifies the limitations of research into the pro-school/anti-school orientations of minority students, arguing that most accounts are based on theories of culture, acculturation, class and gender, and class and race that neglect an analysis of race and sex. I then argue that practices of racialisation and sexualisation actually sustain pro-school culture and Asian female group associations. While these formations are effective in securing Asian female educational success, they are also problematic because they limit the educational possibilities and employment opportunities of Asian young women in Australia.     

Predicting international students’ academic success... may not always be enough: Assessing Turkey’s Foreign Study Scholarship Program

In 1993, Turkey’s Higher Education Council (YOK) launched a program to sponsor thousands of students for graduate study abroad, in the hopes of building up a base of highly qualified, foreign educated faculty for 24 newly established universities nationwide. With an incoming new YOK administration in 1995, dramatic changes were made in the program’s selection procedures. One of the key elements of these changes was the inclusion of a high foreign language proficiency requirement, which served both to meet certain ideological goals of the new administration as well as presuming to reduce the high degree of student failure abroad. In addition to assessing the overall success of the scholarship program in light of the changes made, this study provides another look at the connection between language proficiency and academic success, with both qualitative and quantitative data collected from 23 ‘YOK scholars’. Although finding a positive relation between language proficiency and academic success, the study suggests that rather than having solved the scholarship program’s problems by imposing high language proficiency requirements, the new YOK administration actually reduced even further the program’s ability to successfully supply faculty to the new universities. Recommendations are made for the Turkish and similar foreign study programs.     

Educating students with FASD: linking policy,research and practice

Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD ) is a prevalent neurodevelopmental disability with significant implications for learning and behaviour. International research suggests that the prevalence of FASD in school‐aged children is 2.3–6.3%. In this paper, we address the questions: (1) what is FASD ; (2) what is the prevalence of FASD in schools; (3) what is the impact of FASD ; and (4) why develop special FASD education strategies and programmes? We summarise the 18‐year history of W innipeg S chool D ivision's development of its FASD P rogramme of services, describe the specialised FASD classrooms and then present the results from a consensus‐generating workshop comprised of 36 FASD education professionals, with over 209 years of collective FASD education programme experience, who were asked to identify and reach consensus on best strategies and lessons learned in FASD education programmes. We then suggest that effectively educating children with FASD is critical to get right if positive educational outcomes are to be realised.     

Citing as a sourcing practice: students’ citing self-selected online sources in their essays (Las citas como práctica del uso de las fuentes: las citas de fuentes en línea seleccionados por los estudiantes en sus trabajos)

ABSTRACT

This study examined upper secondary school students’ citations of self-selected online sources in their essays. Students (n = 140) conducted online inquiry about either effects of social media on people’s quality of life (SM) or allowance of genetic manipulation of organisms (GMO). Students, working either individually or in pairs, explored online sources with the help of a graphic organizer, after which they composed their essays. To capture the quality of citations identified in the essays, they were evaluated in terms of accuracy and richness of source features. Further, regression analysis was used to examine the effect of topic, grade level and work mode on the number and quality of citations. Results showed that students seldom cited sources in their essays, and when they did, citations were mostly accurate but less often rich in source features. When writing about SM, students most frequently cited media sources, while sources with ideological, political or religious motives were frequently cited in GMO essays. Students’ grades and work modes predicted the number of citations and number of accurate citations.