VALIDATION OF THE SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL HEALTH SURVEY FOR FIVE SOCIOCULTURAL GROUPS: MULTIGROUP INVARIANCE AND LATENT MEAN ANALYSES

Social‐emotional health influences youth developmental trajectories and there is growing interest among educators to measure the social‐emotional health of the students they serve. This study replicated the psychometric characteristics of the Social Emotional Health Survey (SEHS) with a diverse sample of high school students (Grades 9–12; N = 14,171), and determined whether the factor structure was invariant across sociocultural and gender groups. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) tested the fit of the previously known factor structure, and then structural equation modeling was used to test invariance across sociocultural and gender groups through multigroup CFAs. Results supported the SEHS measurement model, with full invariance of the SEHS higher‐order structure for all five sociocultural groups. There were no moderate effect size or higher group differences on the overall index for sociocultural or gender groups, which lends support to the eventual development of common norms and universal interpretation guidelines.     

The determinants of progress to the doctoral degree

The time doctoral students expect to take to complete their degree is investigated in a model which stresses the effects of economic factors. The model also accounts for the interdependency among such variables as employment hours, study hours, household income, and part-time study. We find that field of study, amount of borrowing, household income, and study hours have direct effects on expected time to degree. Indirect effects also occur from employment hours and the amount of fellowship, scholarship, or grant aid. When the sample is separated into foreign and U.S. students, we find that U.S. students underestimate their time to degree. Also, household incomes are higher for U.S. students and increase the time to degree, while the opposite is true for foreign students. Teaching assistantships increase the time to degree for foreign students while research assistantships reduce it.     

Psychosocial Factors That Predict the College Adjustment of First-Year Undergraduate Students: Implications for College Counselors

The authors describe psychosocial factors that predicted college adjustment of 1st-year undergraduate students on the basis of studies conducted in 2 universities of differing size, focus, and geographic location. Academic self-confidence, positive attitudes toward the university, and faculty and peer support significantly predicted more successful adjustment to college.     

But good strategy instructors are constructivists!

The general nature of constructivist educators' views of teaching are overviewed first, followed by analysis of good strategy instruction in constructivist terms. That good strategy instruction is scaffolded teaching is particularly emphasized. Scaffolded teacher-student interactions necessitate that students experience unique instruction that stimulates a great deal of student construction of to-be-acquired competencies. The only important difference between good strategy teaching and teaching recommended by constructivist educators is in the explicitness of instruction, with relatively greater teacher input about what is to be learned during good strategy instruction.     

Assessing Marital Conflict from the Child''s Perspective: The Children''s Perception of Interparental Conflict Scale

Guided by Grych and Fincham's theoretical framework for investigating the relation between interparental conflict and child adjustment, a questionnaire was developed to assess children's views of several aspects of marital conflict. The Children's Perception of Interparental Conflict Scale (CPIC) was initially examined in a sample of 222 9-12-year-old children, and results were cross-validated in a second sample of 144 similarly aged children. 3 factor analytically derived subscales (Conflict Properties, Threat, Self-Blame) demonstrated acceptable levels of internal consistency and test-retest reliability. The validity of the Conflict Properties scale was supported by significant relations with parent reports of conflict and indices of child adjustment; the Threat and Self-Blame scales correlated with children's responses to specific conflict vignettes. The CPIC thus appears to be a promising instrument for assessing perceived marital conflict, and several issues regarding its interpretation are discussed.     

TAKING ACCOUNT OF STUDENTS’ EMPLOYMENT EXPERIENCE IN A COURSE OF INITIAL TEACHER EDUCATION

This study focuses on an industrial, commercial and community experience programme within a full time, one year postgraduate teacher training course. Acknowledging the heterogeneous experiences brought to this course by the students, an attempt was made to detect links between the students’ prior experience and their experience of the industrial, commercial and community programme. The students completed questionnaires before and after a placement and the findings are described. These findings contribute to an evaluation of the programme and suggest a number of important questions for those responsible for designing teacher education courses.     

‘I Knew Jean-Paul Sartre’: Philosophy of education as comedy

Abstract

Ludwig Wittgenstein suggests that ‘A serious and good philosophical work could be written consisting entirely of jokes’. The idea for this dialogue comes from a conversation that Michael Peters and Morwenna Griffiths had at the Philosophy of Education of Great Britain annual meeting at the University of Oxford, 2011. It was sparked by an account of an assessment of a piece of work where one of the external examiners unexpectedly exclaimed ‘I knew Jean-Paul Sartre’, trying to trump the discussion. This conversation is a dialogue about comedy and humor as a basis for philosophy, education and pedagogy that provides an introduction to recent works and a context for ongoing research. The concluding section provides further reflection on some of the main themes, drawing attention to the significance of humor in dialogues within philosophy and education, and suggesting that it has a particular role in resisting managerialism at all levels of educational institutions.     

A Critical Challenge: The Engagement and Assessment of Contingent,Part-Time Adjunct Faculty Professors in United States Community Colleges

In 2011, according to a National Center for Education Statistics report, part-time instructional staff in all higher education institutions exceeded full-time faculty members for the first time, accounting for 50% of all instructional staff (National Center for Education Statistics [NCES], 2012 National Center for Education Statistics . ( 2012 ). IPEDS, Digest of education statistics, Winter 2011–12, human resources component, fall staff section: Table 286 [data file]. Retrieved from http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d12/tables/dt12_286.asp  [Google Scholar]). The same report indicates part-time faculty in community colleges exceeds 70% of instructional staff. Perhaps more alarming are the numbers of contingent instructional staff—faculty without long-term employment commitments. According to this measure, nearly 70% of faculty members in all areas of higher education have little-to-no job stability (American Association of University Professors [AAUP], 2013 American Association of University Professors (AAUP) . ( 2013 ). Background facts on contingent faculty. Retrieved from http://www.aaup.org/issues/contingency/background-facts  [Google Scholar]; Schuster & Finklestein, 2006 Schuster , J. H. , & Finklestein , M. J. ( 2006 ). The American faculty: The restructuring of academic work and careers . Baltimore , MD : The Johns Hopkins University Press . [Google Scholar]). However, limited research exists on the working experiences of this major subpopulation of United States professors.

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the experiences of part-time contingent community college faculty regarding the assessment processes their institutions implemented. Through interviews, researchers gathered data identifying what 20 part-time contingent faculty professors reported regarding teaching conditions and institutional assessment procedures. Participant interviews revealed two major themes centered on a lack of institutional engagement and meaningful assessment policies or procedures.