A Class-Wide Intervention for Improving Homework Performance

Homework completion has an important impact on the overall academic functioning of students. Consultation requests often center on identifying efficient interventions so that teachers may facilitate the homework process and enhance students' academic achievement. This investigation employed a randomized interdependent group contingency and randomized reinforcers to improve homework completion and accuracy of spelling performance in 21 elementary school students. An ABAB reversal design across all students was employed. Results showed this intervention to have a positive impact on both spelling homework completion and accuracy rates. Limitations, future research, and contributions are addressed.     

How Community College Faculty Members May Improve Student Learning Productivity in Their Online Courses

Eleven experienced community college faculty members were interviewed to elicit examples of how they improved student learning productivity in their online courses. The 11 faculty members represented eight different states, nine different fields or disciplines, and all were permanent or full-time faculty members at community colleges in the southern or western states. Based on a thematic analysis of the examples given, improvement in student learning occurred by (a) emphasizing seven approaches to increase student engagement, (b) using six different structuring tactics to focus student attention on learning, (c) using assessment techniques to improve learning, and (d) pursuing a personal passion for online teaching. These findings suggest that faculty can and do find ways to use different tools in different ways to improve student learning productivity in community colleges.     

Audience Studies

NATURAL AUDIENCES: QUALITATIVE RESEARCH OF MEDIA USES AND EFFECTS edited by Thomas R. Lindlof (Norwood, NJ: Ablex, 1987—$37.50)

COMMUNICATION, GENDER, AND SEX ROLES IN DIVERSE INTERACTION CONTEXTS edited by Lea P. Stewart and Stella Ting-Toomey (Norwood, NJ: Ablex, 1987—$35.00)

QUESTIONNAIRES: DESIGN AND USE by Doug R. Berdie, et al. (Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow, 1986—$22.50)

CHILDREN AS CONSUMERS: INSIGHTS AND IMPLICATIONS by James U. McNeal (Lexington, MA: Lexington/Heath, 1987—$24.95)     

An Exploratory Investigation of the Counseling Competencies Scale: A Measure of Counseling Skills,Dispositions, and Behaviors

The authors examined the psychometric properties of the Counseling Competencies Scale (CCS; University of Central Florida Counselor Education Faculty, 2009 ), an instrument designed to assess trainee competencies as measured in their counseling skills, dispositions, and behaviors. There was strong internal consistency for the 4‐factor model for midterm data (.927) and the 5‐factor model for final data (.933). Interrater reliability for the total CCS score was .570, and criterion‐related validity (correlation between the total score on the final CCS and semester grade) yielded a moderate correlation (r= .407, p < .01). Thus, the results provide initial support for using the CCS to assess counseling students’ professional competencies.     

Case study of childhood disintegrative disorder— Heller's syndrome

The case of a 25‐year‐old male with childhood disintegrative disorder (CDD), or Heller's syndrome, is discussed in terms of differential diagnosis, progression of the disorder, and suggestions for home‐ and school‐based interventions. The case documents the progressive deterioration of cognitive and social competencies. Given the paucity of research and information with respect to CDD, further clinical investigation is suggested. © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Large-Scale Patterns of Entertainment Gratifications in Linguistic Content of U.S. Films

We count words in film subtitle files in an attempt to reveal morally relevant patterns of linguistic content. We argue that function words (e.g., pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions) should be positively associated with thought-provoking narrative forms. To test this hypothesis, we associate function words to aggregate measures of film viewership and appraisals. Results suggest that function words are negatively associated with measures of viewership but positively associated with appraisals. As such, our finding is consistent with the idea that function words are more likely to occur in narrative forms that audiences value more than they actually consume. We relate this finding to past research, which has shown the same pattern for hedonic versus meaningful entertainment gratifications. Discussion centers on implications for recent theorizing in this area.     

Violent offenders in a deaf prison population

Previous research suggested an unexplained difference in the patterns of offending behaviors among deaf people when compared to hearing people. This study, conducted in Texas, compares the incidence and types of violent offenses of a deaf prison population in comparison to the hearing prison population. Sixty-four percent of deaf prisoners were incarcerated for violent offenses in comparison to 49% of the overall state prison offender population. This finding is consistent with previous research. The most significant difference between the populations was found in the category of sexual assault, which represented 32.3% of deaf offenders in contrast to 12.3% of hearing state prison inmates overall. Factors potentially impacting violent offending by deaf persons are their vulnerability to child sexual abuse, use of chemicals, educational histories, and development of language and communication skills. Additionally, there is a widespread lack of accessible intervention and treatment services available to deaf sex offenders across the nation.     

Altmetrics of Papers From Scientific Periphery Reflect Global Trends: A Case Study of Publications by Zagreb University School of Medicine

This study aims to investigate the altmetric activity of papers published by the University of Zagreb School of Medicine in internationally visible journals and to identify differences in altmetric activity between the papers published in international and local journals and between those published in English and Croatian. We also investigated changes in altmetric activity over time and the characteristics of papers with the highest Twitter and Mendeley activity.The sample included 390 papers collected from the bibliographic database Scopus. Their altmetric and citation activities were measured at three time points: in July 2014, 2015, and 2016.The findings generally correspond to those observed in the large-scale studies of medical papers. Papers in renowned journals, and papers reporting clinical guidelines and multicentric studies had the most intense altmetric activity. In contrast, papers published in local, Croatian journals showed minimal altmetric activity, especially the papers published in Croatian. These results indicate that the local publishing community has not yet recognised social media as a tool for promoting research and that non-English language publications have minimal chances to receive attention, even in social media.The evaluative potential of altmetric indicators has to be further explored in a broader context.     

When Reforms Travel: The Sequel

In a previous paper, we described the process in which a reform, grown in the soil of one school district (Community District #2 in New York City) was transplanted to new soil, a new context (the San Diego City Schools). In this paper we examine the condition of the reform 6 years later, at the time Anthony Alvarado, the architect of the reform in New York City and its transplant to San Diego, left the San Diego City Schools, and a new phase of reform was underway. From 1998 through 2002, the San Diego City Schools engaged in a dramatic, daring, and possibly unprecedented reform. Their overarching goal was expressed consistently in terms of student learning. To achieve that commendable goal, the District instituted a content-driven, centralized, comprehensive, and fast-paced reform in 1998. We discuss the tensions that were produced when the ambitiousness of a reform outpaced the capacity of educators to carry it out; when the values, norms, and beliefs of teachers and principals col These developments have consequences for our assessment of how reforms travel from one district to another. Reforms that were developed for and proved their effectiveness in elementary settings appear to have limited transferability to middle and high school settings because elementary students’ learning trajectories are different from adolescents and the organizations of high schools are very different from elementary schools. And reforms that privilege the technical dimension of school reform must always be sensitive to the way that interacts with the political and cultural dimensions.