Early Histories of School‐Aged Children With Attention‐Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder

In a prospective study of developmental outcomes in relation to early‐life otitis media, behavioral, cognitive, and language measures were administered to a large, diverse sample of children at 2, 3, 4, 6, and 9–11 years of age (N = 741). At 9–11 years of age, 9% of the children were categorized as having attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) based on parent report. Compared to the non‐ADHD group, the ADHD group had higher (i.e., less favorable) scores on parent and teacher versions of the Child Behavior Checklist at all ages. Children in the ADHD group also had lower scores on cognitive and receptive language measures in preschool. The findings support the concept that ADHD is a cognitive as well as a behavioral disorder.     

The association between mathematical word problems and reading comprehension

This study aimed to investigate the interplay between mathematical word problem skills and reading comprehension. The participants were 225 children aged 9–10 (Grade 4). The children’s text comprehension and mathematical word problem‐solving performance was tested. Technical reading skills were investigated in order to categorise participants as good or poor readers. The results showed that performance on maths word problems was strongly related to performance in reading comprehension. Fluent technical reading abilities increased the aforementioned skills. However, even after controlling for the level of technical reading involved, performance in maths word problems was still related to reading comprehension, suggesting that both of these skills require overall reasoning abilities. There were no gender differences in maths word problem‐solving performance, but the girls were better in technical reading and in reading comprehension. Parental levels of education positively predicted children’s maths word problem‐solving performance and reading comprehension skills.     

Perceived rates of return to higher education: Further evidence from Cyprus

The paper provides new estimates of the perceived rates of return to higher education in Cyprus and compares them to previous estimates for the year 1994 in the same country. Both the elaborate and the short-cut methods are used in the estimation of rates of return. The estimated rates are entered as independent variables in logistic regression analysis in order to study the effect of economic considerations on the decision of secondary school students to pursue higher education. The findings show an increase in the perceived rate of return for both higher education and labour market entrants. In agreement with human capital theory, the mean rate of return to higher education expected by higher education candidates is considerably higher than that expected by labour market entrants. In two logistic regression models, the perceived rate of return to higher education, as estimated by both the elaborate and the short-cut methods, has a significant effect on the students’ intention to pursue higher studies.     

A questionnaire for listening to students’ voices in the assessment of teaching quality in a classical medical school

The purpose of this study was to develop a teaching quality assessment questionnaire and assess its reliability by using it with a sample of first‐year medical students. Principal components analysis with varimax orthogonal rotation resulted in the development of a 12‐item, two‐component tool, adequate for use in lectures and small‐group sessions. The two components were named ‘curriculum’ and ‘relationship’. The Cronbach coefficient alpha values indicated high reliability and internal consistency. According to the results obtained this teaching quality scale is a reliable measure and may be useful in identifying themes in disciplines and among teachers that may benefit from some professional development. Amongst its advantages is that it can be used with an optical reading tool.     

Exploring teachers’ value orientations in literature and history secondary classrooms

This study explores teachers’ observable value orientations in literature and history classrooms, wishing to investigate how teachers infuse their values into instructional settings through their conceptions of the taught subject, the process of making meaning, and their involvement in the process of value communication.Through consideration of observation, interview and additional data, the common features underlying teachers’ value orientations are identified. One may conclude that although participants avoid the clear involvement in value communication, they search for a balance in defending the humanistic tradition and enacting a more critical and multi-perspective development of students’ sense about values. The taught subject seems to affect the displayed value orientations.     

The Female Stranger in a Male School

A questionnaire was issued to 18 girls undertaking their Year 12 studies at an Australian private Catholic boys’ day school of 700 students. The questionnaire encompassed several factors in regard to gender issues and differentiation in education — subject choices, career ambitions, interaction between the sexes, female friendships, perception of gender differentiation and stereotyping in teaching styles and school structures. The girls were also asked to consider various feminist principles in relation to personal future goals. The theoretical framework within which the study was conducted was Schutz's notion of the “stranger” attempting to interpret and accommodate to the “cultural patterns” of the “approached group”; of the “thinking‐as usual” of the “foreign group” confronting that of the “approached group” and its “unquestioned and unquestionable reality”. The results indicate the girls’ high level of awareness of gender differentiation amongst peers, teachers and in‐school structures; criticism of and unwillingness to accept the new “cultural pattern”; and a modelling of their future lives along liberal feminist principles.     

School failure and cultural mismatch: Another view

Recently, the school failure of minority students has been explained in terms of incompatibilities in the ways that language is used at home and in school. This theory has stimulated numerous studies. The research shows in detail how teachers and minority students often misinterpret each other due to different assumptions about the appropriate ways of using language in the classroom. This paper reviews the literature dealing with home-school disjunctures in language use, and examines the theory critically. It argues that the approach to school failure prevalent throughout the research in this area is seriously flawed. By narrowing the focus of analysis to home-school connections, this line of investigation diverts attention away from existing social inequalities that sustain the widespread academic failure of minority students. Attention is given to the relationship between school and society—a missing link in much of the sociolinguistic literature. The paper further argues that culturally sensitive solutions to the school problems of minority students that ignore the political link between school and society are doomed to failure.     

Stereotyping Hispanics: The differential effect of research method,label, and degree of contact

One hundred Anglo university students were asked to rate a number of ethnic/national groups (American, Chicano, Mexican American, Hispanic, Puerto Rican, Japanese, and German) on a Semantic Differential and to openly produce traits they identified with each group. As expected, the freely produced traits differed from those obtained in another study which used the Katz and Braly technique with students from the same university. Furthermore, differential evaluations were found for Chicanos and Mexican Americans in which the latter group was perceived more positively in the Evaluative Dimension, but not in terms of Potency or Activity. Also, as expected, having a member of the group as a friend produced the highest correlations with a positive perception of the group as a whole.     

The continuous nature of timing reprogramming in an interceptive task

The time course of movement timing reprogramming was examined in a task requiring temporal coincidence of the conclusion of a forehand drive with the arrival of a moving luminous target at the end of an electronic trackway. The moving target departed from one end of the trackway at a constant velocity of 2 m (.) s(-1), and for a part of the trials its velocity was increased to 3 m (.) s(-1). Target velocity was modified at different moments during stimulus displacement, producing times-to-arrival after velocity increment (TAVIs) from 100 to 600 ms. The effect of specific practice on movement reprogramming was also examined. The results showed early adjustments to the action (TAVIs = 100 - 200 ms) that seemed to be stereotyped, while feedback-based corrections were implemented only at TAVIs of 300 ms or longer. Temporal accuracy was progressively increased as longer TAVIs were provided up to 600 ms. Skill training led to an overall increment of temporal accuracy, but no effect of specific practice was found. The results indicate that timing reprogramming in interceptive actions is a continuous process limited mainly by intrinsic factors: latency to initiate more effective adjustments to the action, and rate-of-movement timing reprogramming.