Predicting elementary science learning using national assessment data

This study made use of data collected during 1981—1982 from a random sample of 1960 nine-year-old students from 124 elementary schools involved in a national assessment of educational progress in science sponsored by the National Science Foundation. This data base was used in secondary analyses which probed the validity of a model of educational productivity involving a set of nine aptitudinal, instructional, and environmental variables which require optimization to increase student learning. When controlled for other factors, ability, motivation, class environment, home environment, amount of television viewing (negative direction), gender, and race were all found to be significantly related to achievement. For an attitude outcome, the factors linked with attitudinal attainment were ability, motivation, class environment, and race. Overall the findings supported the model of educational productivity and suggested that elementary science students' achievement and attitude are influenced jointly by a number of factors rather than one or two dominant ones. Also the study attests to the potential value of science education researchers performing secondary analyses on the high-quality random data bases generated as part of this national assessment.     

Author Correction: Digital Citizenship: you Can’t Go Home Again

The original version of this article unfortunately contained a mistake. Figure 3 on the published version of the article was wrong. The correct Fig. 3 is now presented below.     

Estimation of Classification Consistency When the Probability of a Correct Response Varies

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect that large, within-examinee item difficulty variability had on estimates of the proportion of consistent classification of examinees into mastery categories over two test administrations. The classification consistency estimate was based on a single test administration from an estimation procedure suggested by Subkoviak (1976). Analyses of simulated data revealed that the use of a single estimate for an examinee's probability of a correct response, even when that probability varied greatly within a test for an examinee, did not affect the estimation of the proportion of consistent classifications.     

A world-class university in China? The case of Tsinghua

Higher education, an integral part of China’s nation-building project, is a critical element in China’s strategic policy initiative of building national strength through science and education. One way to achieve this goal is to develop a higher education system of international stature. Perhaps more than any other country, through national programs such as 211 and 985, China has been explicit in selecting its best universities for intensive investment, with the expressed aim of making them world-class within coming decades, and contributing more to overall R&D and scientific development. Analysing how these top-tier universities in China are reaching for the gold standard, and using Tsinghua University as an example, this article examines the role of higher education in China’s rise and how Chinese universities are responding to the drive for innovation, against a background of globalisation and internationalisation. It analyses the experience of Tsinghua, a Chinese flagship university, sometimes dubbed ‘China’s MIT’, through an in-depth case study in an international context, seeking to answer the question of how far Tinsghua embodies the qualities of a world-class university.     

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES IN DEFINING AND ASSESSING TEACHER DISPOSITIONS

Teacher preparation programs are required by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) to assess the knowledge, skills, and dispositions of teacher candidates. Dispositions and the personal values that support them are defined differently by NCATE and other experts in the fields of education and business. In order to better understand dispositions the researchers examined the relationships between the personal values and dispositions of teacher candidates and successful teachers. Using the Rokeach Value Scale, results showed significant relationships between values and dispositions for teacher candidates and successful teachers.     

TRAINING IN SUPPORT OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN ELDERCARE CAMPAIGN: REPLICATION OF AN AMERICAN INDIAN HOME‐CARE TRAINING PROGRAM

In 1991, the federal Administration on Aging initiated the National Eldercare Campaign to broaden the base of commitment and societal involvement to assist today's vulnerable elderly. With Administration on Aging funding, the project described in this study sought to enhance services to American Indian elders by training individuals as home‐care workers. The project replicated a previously developed American Indian paraprofessional home‐care worker curriculum at Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College in Cloquet, Minnesota. This program, which is transferable to Indian and non‐Indian communities, addressed three contemporary aging issues. First, it addressed the need to incorporate diversity and minority aging knowledge into the curriculum of postsecondary education. Second, it provided more accessible and better quality community‐based in‐home care to meet the needs of frail elderly. Third, this training program confronted the pervasive lack of employment opportunities in many American Indian and other minority communities.