Validating Automated Measures of Text Complexity

Automated text complexity measurement tools (also called readability metrics) have been proposed as a way to help teachers, textbook publishers, and assessment developers select texts that are closely aligned with the new, more demanding text complexity expectations specified in the Common Core State Standards. This article examines a critical element of the validity arguments presented in support of proposed metrics: the claim that criterion text complexity scores developed from students’ responses to reading comprehension test items are reflective of the difficulties actually experienced by students while reading. Evidence that fails to support this assertion is examined, and implications relative to the goal of obtaining valid, unbiased evidence about the measurement properties of proposed readability metrics are discussed.     

Writing for Social Scientists: How to Start and Finish Tour Thesis,Book, or Article.

Underlined by the belief that teachers' critical awareness of their actions is a vital issue in education, this study examines the insights that evolved from a long-term collaboration among seven doctoral students. To prepare for our comprehensive examinations, we collaborated as a study group for one and one-half years. Adopting the dual roles of listener-researcher and narrator-participant, we engaged in dialogue and narrative to convey to each other the meaning of our collaborative experiences. From grounded theory analysis, four elements of collaboration emerged: logistics, social dynamics, empowerment, and change. In order to convey the meaning of our experiences, we create a multiplicity of meanings based on our diverse and lived personal narratives. Finally, our collaborative process challenges academic administrations to examine how well their current policies encourage personal autonomy and cooperative learning approaches for students involved in preparing for their comprehensive examinations.     

TEACHING GERONTOLOGY VIA DISTANCE EDUCATION: VARIETY IS THE KEY TO SUCCESS

Teaching gerontology via distance education is growing in popularity. Yet, many challenges are encountered by those teaching gerontology at a distance; some technological and others pedagogical in nature. Successful strategies for structuring and teaching televised gerontology courses are presented in this paper. Strategies focus on types of teacher preparation, use of pedagogical tools, development and maintenance of rapport with students at remote sites, and ways to improve teaching of distance education classes in gerontology. It is argued that workload and compensation for instructors teaching distance education need to be addressed by administration in order to develop high quality distance education programs.     

Student teacher portfolios: A portrait of the beginning teacher

Abstract

This article describes a student teacher portfolio for use as an interviewing tool. A review of the research on hiring practices indicated that prospective employers reviewed the following competencies of teacher candidates: planning skills, classroom management philosophy, reflective abilities, knowledge of appropriate assessment methods, and the initiative to do more than is expected. Therefore, the recommended sections of the student teacher portfolio are Self‐Assessment; Philosophy of Classroom Management; Planning, Implementation, and Assessment Skills; and Special Projects and Activities. Because prospective employers indicated that they would devote limited time to reading a portfolio, student teachers are instructed to make all sections only six to eight pages long. Professionally arranged appendixes can then be used to provide the employer with specific evidence for claims made in the main body of the portfolio.     

INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH EDUCATION IN COMMUNICATION AND SOCIAL INTERACTION AMONG HEALTHY OLDER ADULTS

An innovative gerontology education program was developed to advance research on aging that is interdisciplinary and promotes the translation of knowledge from lab to life. The program focuses on communication and social interaction in healthy aging. It brings together faculty mentors, graduate students, and post-doctoral fellows from six different postsecondary institutions in Canada. The program unifies basic laboratory research in hearing, vision, and cognition with applied research in audiology, biomedical engineering, optometry, psychology, speech-language pathology, human factors, and social work. The design, implementation, and evaluation of the first year of the program are described and future directions are suggested.     

Teacher–child relationship quality: The roles of child temperament and teacher–child interactions

Young children's relationships with teachers predict social and academic success. This study examines contributions of child temperament (shyness, effortful control) and gender to teacher–child relationship quality both directly and indirectly through the frequency of teacher–child interactions in the classroom. Using an NICHD SECCYD sample of 819 first grade children, four findings emerged: (a) children's shyness, effortful control, and gender contributed directly to teacher–child conflict and closeness; (b) children's shyness contributed to the frequency of child-initiated teacher–child interactions, and children's effortful control contributed to the frequency of teacher-initiated teacher–child interactions; (c) shyness related to teacher–child closeness indirectly through the frequency of child-initiated teacher–child interactions; (d) the frequency of child- and teacher-initiated interactions contributed to each other. Results inform practitioners and researchers of characteristics that put children at risk for failure to form positive relationships with teachers.     

Grading ePortfolios: Tracing Two Approaches,Their Advantages,and Their Disadvantages

How does one grade an electronic portfolio? This question is one I have thought about, have enacted, and have written about, primarily in reference to ePortfolios used in writing classrooms (Yancey, McElroy, & Powers, 2013 Yancey, K. B., McElroy, S., & Powers, E. (2013). Composing, networks, and electronic portfolios: Notes toward a theory of assessing ePortfolios. In D. DeVoss & H. McKee (Eds.), Digital writing assessment and evaluation. Computers and composition. Logan, UT: Digital Press/Utah State University Press. [Google Scholar]). But what happens when the content and developmental levels are changed, in this case from an undergraduate first-year writing class to another required class, this one offered at the graduate level, Digital Revolution and Convergence Culture? Is using a scoring guide, the preferred approach in writing classes, the best approach in this new context? Or, following Moss, Girard, and Haniford (2006 Moss, P., Girard, B., & Haniford, L. (2006). Validity in educational assessment. Review of research in education 30, 109–162.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), could one use outcomes to “stage a conversation” around a student's ePortfolio; if so, what might a staged conversation look like? Or what might happen if instead of using outcomes as a framework, students themselves set the terms for that conversation? Here, I consider these options, attending especially to the importance of making good judgments and of fostering learning.     

Substance Abuse Policies in Long-Term Care Facilities: A Survey with Implications for Education of Long-Term Care Providers

The aging of the Baby Boom presents long-term care with many new challenges. Among these are the historically high levels of drug use by this cohort. This study surveyed administrators of licensed skilled nursing facilities in the Commonwealth of Kentucky regarding their perception of current drug use by residents, facility policies and procedures currently in place regarding illicit drug use, and their attitudes toward use of illicit drugs by residents. The results of interviews with 40 administrators or their designees revealed that they have experienced little problem with use or abuse of illegal drugs by residents. Fewer than one-third of the facilities had formal policies in place regarding illegal drug use. Only 10% had any experience with requests for medical marijuana, but almost one in five had a policy on the matter and nearly one-third stated they would support medical marijuana use by some of their residents if the matter arose. These authors recommend the following: (a) that the issue of illicit drug use needs to be addressed now before the situation becomes critical, (b) that administrators and staff need to be educated about recreational drug use and appropriate responses to drug abuse, (c) that screening instruments for drug abuse in this population should be developed and implemented, and (d) that policies regarding medical marijuana need to be adopted by all such facilities.