Choices for studying choice: Assessing charter school effectiveness using two quasi-experimental methods

Two quasi-experimental methods – fixed effects (FE) and virtual control records (VCR) – were used to measure charter schooling in 14 states and two districts. The new VCR method uses all available observable charter student characteristics and prior performance to create a composite comparison record. A head-to-head comparison of the FE and VCR methods used the same charter students to test the FE control (e.g., the charter student's own traditional public school experience) and the VCR for equivalence. The comparison produced highly similar estimates; charter coefficients were identical in sign and significance and of the same general magnitudes. In an analysis of the sampling fractions included in each method using all available tested charter students, the VCR method was found to produce more generalizable results. In the policy analysis, charter school quality was found to be demographically and geographically uneven with only 19 percent of charter schools outperforming their local markets.     

Information literacy and flexible delivery: Creating a conceptual framework and model

Despite the growing recognition of the importance of information literacy education, there are few working models for curriculum integration within the Australian higher education sector. Librarians, in conjunction with faculty at Central Queensland University, developed a framework that assist in the planning and evaluation of information literacy programs.     

Vital pathways for hospital librarians: present and future roles

Objectives:

The research objectives were to (1) describe the current and future roles of hospital librarians and the challenges they face and (2) find evidence supporting the hypothesis that librarians are essential to hospitals in achieving the organizations'' mission-critical goals.

Method:

The authors used results from a previous research study that identified the five organizational mission-critical goals important to hospital administrators and then searched the literature and solicited examples from hospital librarians to describe the librarian''s role in helping hospitals achieve these goals.

Results:

The literature supports the hypothesis that hospital librarians play important roles in the success of the hospital. Librarians support quality clinical care, efficient and effective hospital operations, continuing education for staff, research and innovation, and patient, family, and community health information needs.

Conclusion:

Hospital librarians fulfill many mission-critical roles in today''s hospital, providing the right information at the right time in a variety of ways to enhance hospital and medical staff effectiveness, optimize patient care, improve patient outcomes, and increase patient and family satisfaction with the hospital and its services. Because hospital librarians and their services provide an excellent return on investment for the hospital and help the hospital keep its competitive edge, hospital staff should have access to the services of a professional librarian.

Highlights

• A review of the literature supports the hypothesis that services of the professional librarian result in:
  • enhanced staff effectiveness,
  • optimized patient care,
  • improved patient outcomes, and
  • increased patient and family satisfaction with the hospital and its services.

Implications

• Because hospital librarians and their services provide an excellent return on investment for the hospital and help the hospital keep its competitive edge, hospital staff should have access to the services of a professional librarian.

     

Uniqueness Matters: Author-Supplied Keywords and LCSH in the Library Catalog

This study concerns the overlap between author-supplied keywords and Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) in Electronic Thesis and Dissertation (ETD) bibliographic records in the library catalog. The article provides a discussion on uniqueness, matching, and complementariness based on a replication of Strader's methodology and rubric from a 2009 article. Findings support most of Strader's conclusions, including the complementary nature of keywords and controlled vocabularies. Both keywords and LCSH provide unique terms that enhance access. Researchers also broke new ground regarding partial matching, particularly within LCSH. The fact that uniqueness matters has implications for the continued use of LCSH, for LCSH maintenance, and for further research.     

The International Standard Text Code: Call to Action, or Distraction?

Book publishers now have more products to keep track of than ever before: books, eBooks, apps, online products, and the list goes on. Traditionally publishers have used the ISBN to track products in the supply chain. But with as many as 24 ISBNs now associated with a bestselling title, the publishing industry looks to a new identifier, the International Standard Text Code (ISTC), to keep ISBNs in check. In a sea of data, will the ISTC help keep publishers afloat, or weigh them down?     

Teaching Subtraction and Multiplication with Regrouping Using the Concrete‐Representational‐Abstract Sequence and Strategic Instruction Model

Based on Common Core Standards (2010), mathematics interventions should emphasize conceptual understanding of numbers and operations as well as fluency. For students at risk for failure, the concrete‐representational‐abstract (CRA) sequence and the Strategic Instruction Model (SIM) have been shown effective in teaching computation with an emphasis on conceptual understanding. No studies have investigated the effects of CRA and SIM for teaching multiplication with regrouping. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to replicate and extend the literature, teaching subtraction and multiplication with regrouping using CRA and SIM. Three students receiving tier three mathematics interventions participated. A multiple‐probe across behaviors design was used to show a functional relation. All of the students demonstrated increases in fluency across all regrouping tasks.     

Stability in Mother-Child Interactions from Infancy through Adolescence

OBJECTIVE: The current study examines homotypic stability in mother-child interactions, applying similar rating scales of mother-child interactions at 1 and 4.5 years, and heterotypic stability from 1 to 13 years and 4.5 to 13 years, using conceptually similar but not identical rating scales at age 13. DESIGN: We coded videotaped mother-child interactions in 202 families when children were 1, 4.5, and 13 years of age during age-appropriate and developmentally salient structured tasks for relationship quality. RESULTS: Multiple regression analyses controlled for the effects of child birth order and gender as well as maternal age and education. Maternal and dyadic, but not child, mother-child interaction qualities at 1 year significantly predicted similar or equivalent constructs at 4.5 and 13 years. Heterotypic stability from 1 to 13 years was partially or fully mediated by the same constructs at 4.5 years. CONCLUSIONS: Maternal behaviors showed a pattern of homotypic and heterotypic stability, whereas dyadic behaviors were somewhat less stable. Child behaviors showed evidence of both homotypic and heterotypic instability.