News Diversity and Minority Audiences

The rapid growth of Hispanics in the United States, the parallel growth of Spanish-language media, and the difficulties that this population continues to experience in terms of important socio-demographic indicators such as education, immigration, healthcare, and criminal justice, requires research that investigates the ways in which Spanish-language news outlets are delivering the information needed by this group in terms of providing a public service and contributing to democratic notions of the press. Democratic theories of the press posit that in order for a democracy to function properly, all groups should be provided with news coverage that reflects the voices, concerns, and interests of their communities. However, it has often proved difficult for news industries undergoing rapid growth and increasing corporate concentration to serve audiences with diverse news and information needs. In order to examine the extent to which Spanish-language news outlets are providing a diverse range of news and topics relevant to their audiences, researchers used software that gathers Real Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds to archive, organize, and analyze over 10,000 news stories posted to 28 Spanish-language news websites during October 2012. The results show some diversity in the range of topics covered, but the widespread duplication of content across platforms owned by a small handful of media conglomerates found in the results raises important questions about the impact of increasing news homogenization in the digital age and the potential implications for minority audiences.     

Virtual Communities: Bowling Alone,Online Together

First Lesson in Speech Improvement. By Birmingham &; Krapp, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1922.

Expression in Speech and Writing. By Lamborn, E. A., Greening. The Oxford Press. 1922. Pp. 120.

Classical rhetoric

Quintilian's Institutes of Oratory. Translated by H. E. Butler. Vols. III and IV. Loeb Classical Library. New York, Putnam's, 1922.

A Study in Greek Rhetoric. The Stylistic Infuence of the Second Sophistic On the Panegyrical Sermons of St. John Chrysostom. By Thomas E. Ameringer.‐ Catholic University of America, Washington, 1921.     

Psychometric properties of the Add Health School Connectedness Scale for 18 sociocultural groups

The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health's School Connectedness Scale (SCS) has been widely used in psychological, public health, and education research, but has undergone limited psychometric analysis. This study used the responses of 500,800 junior and senior high school students who completed the biennial California Healthy Kids Survey, which includes the SCS. The results supported the use of the SCS as a unidimensional measure and showed that it has acceptable reliability (α = .82 to .88) and concurrent validity (r = .44 to .55) across 18 sociocultural groups. A series of multiple group analyses confirmed configural, metric, and scalar equivalence across groups. The SCS shows promise as measurement instrument for school psychologists; however, further research is needed to examine its underlying latent school connectedness construct. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Analogical Reasoning in the Classroom: Insights From Cognitive Science

Applying knowledge from one context to another is a notoriously difficult problem, both for children and adults, but lies at the heart of educational endeavors. Analogical reasoning is a cognitive underpinning of the ability to notice and draw similarities across contexts. Reasoning by analogy is especially challenging for students, who must transfer in the context‐rich and often high‐pressure settings of classrooms. In this brief article, we explore how best to facilitate children's analogical reasoning, with the aim of providing practical suggestions for classroom instruction. We first discuss what is known about the development and neurological underpinnings of analogical reasoning, and then review research directly relevant to supporting analogical reasoning in classroom contexts. We conclude with concrete suggestions for educators that may foster their students' spontaneous analogical reasoning and thereby enhance scholastic achievement.     

The Effects of Selection Strategies for Bivariate Loglinear Smoothing Models on NEAT Equating Functions

In this study, eight statistical strategies were evaluated for selecting the parameterizations of loglinear models for smoothing the bivariate test score distributions used in nonequivalent groups with anchor test (NEAT) equating. Four of the strategies were based on significance tests of chi-square statistics (Likelihood Ratio, Pearson, Freeman-Tukey, and Cressie-Read) and four additional strategies were based on different evaluations of the Likelihood Ratio Chi-Square statistic (Akaike Information Criterion, Bayesian Information Criterion, Consistent Akaike Information Criterion, and an index traced to Goodman). The focus was the implications of the selection strategies' selection tendencies for the accuracy of chained and poststratification equating functions. The results differentiated the strategies in terms of their tendencies to select models with particular bivariate parameterizations and the implications of these tendencies for equating bias and variability .     

Acculturation, well-being and classroom behaviour among white British and British Asian primary-school children in the south–east of England: Validating a child-friendly measure of acculturation attitudes

Using a sample of white British and British Asian primary-school children (N = 386, aged 5–11 years), we measured acculturation attitudes (own and perceived outgroup), correlated constructs (ingroup and outgroup affect and identification) and relevant outcomes (self-esteem, classroom demeanour) in a structured interview to validate a customised, child-friendly measure of acculturation attitudes based on Berry's framework. Scale items measuring desire for culture maintenance and intergroup contact loaded onto the predicted factors, were internally reliable and showed concurrent validity with affect and identification. The predictive utility of measures was demonstrated in associations between children's acculturation attitudes (or perceived discrepancies with those of the outgroup) and outcomes such as self-esteem and teacher ratings of emotional symptoms.     

Decoding and sight-word naming: Are they independent components of word recognition skill?

Word recognition skill is the foundation of the reading process. Word recognition could be accomplished by two major strategies: phonological decoding and sight-word reading, the latter being a marker for proficient reading. There is, however, a controversy regarding the relationship between decoding and sight-word reading, whether the two are independent or the latter is built on the foundations of the former. A related controversy about instructional strategy could be whether to use whole-word method to improve word recognition skills, or to first build decoding skills and then introduce sight words. Five goals were set up to address these issues: (a) developing a criterion that can be used easily by classroom teachers to assess sight-word reading ability, (b) examining this relationship between decoding and sight-word reading, (c) identifying the mechanism that can explain the relationship, (d) examining factors that facilitate sight-word reading, and (e) discussing potential instructional implications of these findings. In order to accomplish these goals, naming time and word-naming accuracy of three groups of subjects (elementary school children, children identified as having reading disability, and college students) were studied by using a variety of verbal materials. The over-all conclusions are that the difference in naming time of letters and words can be used as a metric for assessing sight-word reading skill. Sight-word reading appears to be intimately related to decoding. Sight-word reading is accomplished by parallel processing of constituent letters of words and is influenced also by the semantic nature of words. It is conjectured that sight-word reading instruction is likely to be successful if decoding skills are firmly established first.     

Effects of 72-h of exercise abstinence on affect and body dissatisfaction in healthy female regular exercisers

In this study, we compared the effects of a 72-h exercise abstinence period and normal exercise on the affect and body dissatisfaction of 58 healthy women (mean age 26.1 years, s = 8.2) who exercised at least four times per week, and explored the relationship between the changes in affect and body dissatisfaction. Participants completed the UWIST-MACL and Body Dissatisfaction Scale to assess affect and body image, and were randomized to an abstinence or control group. Affect and body image for both groups were re-assessed following the 72-h abstinence period. Compared with the control group, the abstinence group had a significant decrease in hedonic tone and energetic arousal, and a significant increase in tense arousal and body dissatisfaction from pre-intervention to post-intervention. There were no significant relationships between the changes in body dissatisfaction and the components of affect. A 72-h exercise abstinence period resulted in increased affect disturbance and body dissatisfaction in regularly active women.