Profile analysis of the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children,Second Edition,with African American and Caucasian preschool children

This study used profile analysis to investigate the interpretability of the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children, Second Edition (KABC‐II), in terms of the Cattell‐Horn‐Carroll (CHC) theory among ethnically diverse preschool children. Forty‐nine African American and 49 Caucasian preschool children from a Midwestern city were included in the study and were matched for age, sex, and level of parental education. The profile analysis examining CHC broad abilities showed that the African American and Caucasian preschool children had similar patterns of highs and lows and performed at the same level with no significant difference between the two groups in their overall mean IQ. Profile analysis of the KABC‐II subtests found that although the African American and Caucasian groups performed overall at a similar level, they did not show the same pattern of highs and lows in subtest performance. Specifically, Caucasian preschoolers scored significantly higher than their African American counterparts on the Expressive Vocabulary subtest. Overall, the two groups displayed remarkably similar performance on the KABC‐II. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

A Phenomenological Investigation of Creative Teaching in Counselor Education

The authors conducted a phenomenological investigation of creative teaching with 10 counselor educators. The resulting 4 themes suggest creative teaching (a) is shaped by past experiences, (b) promotes student engagement, (c) is not formulary, and (d) requires risk taking. Implications for creative teaching strategies and training are provided. Limitations and implications for future research on creative pedagogy are discussed.     

Early prediction of individual growth in reading

Seventy four boys with reading disabilities and amatched control group of normal readers were followedduring their compulsory schooling (to grade 9). Worddecoding performance was assessed with the Wordchainstest on three occasions. For each student a lineargrowth function was estimated. The slope parameter wasused as the dependent variable in a multipleregression analysis with a large number of explanatoryfactors from grades 2 and 3 including phonologicalskills, reading and spelling, non-verbal intelligence,motor skills, eye movements, teacher ratings of schoolbehaviour and parents' education. The proportion ofvariance in growth explained for the reading disabledboys amounted to 25%, the most powerful predictorsbeing early reading performance and non-verbalintelligence. More surprisingly, neither teacherratings nor family background gave useful predictiveinformation. For the control group none of theindependent variables explained the variance of growthin reading.     

Implementing community-based comprehensive sexuality education with high-risk youth in a conservative environment: lessons learned

Although comprehensive sexuality education programmes have the potential to improve the sexual health and well-being of young people, many socially conservative rural states in the USA have laws and policies restricting school-based comprehensive sexuality education and supporting abstinence-only education. This paper describes the process of building a community-university partnership to implement a community-based comprehensive sexuality education peer education programme for high-risk young people and presents preliminary findings from a longitudinal evaluation. Through purposive recruitment, the sample included 386 young people (mean age) who were more diverse than the local community. Important university-community partnership components included (1) establishing local connections and legitimacy, (2) adapting and tailoring programmes to meet community context, (3) sustainability planning, and (4) flexibility, persistence, and patience. Building community trust and capitalising on the mutual benefits of community-university partnerships are effective methods of building community sexuality education programming in a conservative environment. Tailoring evidence-based approaches to comprehensive sexuality education in a politically restrictive environment shows promise in improving the sexual and reproductive health of young people.