CLASS–Infant: An Observational Measure for Assessing Teacher–Infant Interactions in Center-Based Child Care

Research Findings: The growing body of literature demonstrating the importance of quality interactions with caregivers to infant development coupled with the increasing number of infants spending time in classroom settings highlights the need for a measure of interpersonal relationships between infants and caregivers. This article introduces a new measure of quality in infant classrooms based on the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) framework. This measure focuses on teacher–infant interactions with the goal of understanding how these proximal process features can be assessed in this environment. Results from a small pilot study of 30 infant classrooms indicated that the CLASS–Infant demonstrated adequate variability as well as expected convergent and divergent validity with the most commonly used infant child care quality measure. The dimensions of the measure composed a single construct of classroom quality based on teacher–infant interactions. Practice or Policy: Implications of using this measure as an assessment of center-based infant classroom quality and improving professional development are discussed.     

The Post-Nuclear Family and the Depoliticization of Unplanned Pregnancy in Knocked Up,Juno, and Waitress

This essay explores three films from 2007, Knocked Up, Juno, and Waitress, which foreground young women's unplanned pregnancies. These movies depoliticize women's reproduction and motherhood through narratives that rearticulate the meaning of choice. Bypassing the subject of abortion, the women's decisions revolve around their choice of heterosexual partners and investment in romantic relationships. Although they question the viability of the nuclear family for single pregnant women, these films represent new iterations of post-feminism that ultimately restore conservative ideas that valorize pregnancy and motherhood as women's imperatives. We conclude by addressing how these movies present a distorted and short-sighted depiction of the politics of reproductive agency and the challenges that single mothers face.     

From School Counselor to Counselor Educator: A Phenomenological Study

Through a phenomenological study, the experiences of 8 early‐career school counselor educators who entered academia directly from positions as P–12 school counselors were examined. Results revealed that the participants experienced numerous challenges and supports related to their transition. Recommendations for counselor educators, doctoral students, and new faculty are provided.     

Special Education in a 4‐Year Response to Intervention (RtI) Environment: Characteristics of Students with Learning Disability and Grade of Identification

This 4‐year longitudinal research was designed to study special education determinations of students who participated in Tier 2 intervention in a Response to Intervention (RtI) model focused on reading across Grades 1–4. We compared identification rates for learning disabilities (LD) and student characteristics of 381 students the year prior to implementation with 377 students in the RtI environment. Across schools, 38–60 percent of students were English language learners (ELL). Key outcomes by Grade 4 for students with LD who had participated in a model of RtI were relatively greater reading impairment with effect sizes ranging from 0.64 to 0.82, and more equitable representation across ELL and native English speakers than in the cohort prior to RtI implementation. Notably, one‐third of the students identified for special services as LD in these schools were not identified until 4th grade.     

A Snapshot of Industry and Academic Professional Activities,Compensation, and Engagement in Educational Measurement

This paper provides a snapshot of educational measurement professionals—their educational, professional and demographic backgrounds, as well as their workplace settings, job tasks, professional involvement, and compensation practices. Two previous studies have surveyed employers, but this is the first attempt to conduct a comprehensive survey of measurement professionals. Five hundred and forty-two (31.5% response rate) measurement professionals, the vast majority who held a doctorate degree, responded to the survey from January to April 2007. Overall, these individuals were primarily employed in academic settings, research and testing organizations, and educational or governmental agencies. Results were reported across and within work setting, degree, and other demographic and background factors that may influence work, behavior, and compensation in educational measurement and assessment.