Teachers’ content knowledge about oral language: measure development and evidence of initial validity

Reading and Writing - Efforts to improve classroom language practices and children’s language learning, as a means of supporting reading comprehension, may depend on teachers’ knowledge...     

Do course evaluations truly reflect student learning? Evidence from an objectively graded post-test

It is difficult to assess the extent to which course evaluations reflect how much students truly learn from a course because valid measures of learning are rarely available. This paper makes use of a unique setting in which students take a common, high-stakes post-test which is centrally graded and serves as the basis for capturing actual student learning. We match these student-specific measures of learning to student-specific course evaluation scores from electronic records and a rich set of student-level covariates, including a pre-test score and other measures of skills prior to entering the course. While small in magnitude, we find a robust positive, and statistically significant, association between our measure of student learning and course evaluations.     

The use of a dynamic screening of phonological awareness to predict risk for reading disabilities in kindergarten children

This study examined the usefulness and predictive validity of a dynamic screening of phonological awareness in two samples of kindergarten children. In one sample (n = 90), the predictive validity of the dynamic assessment was compared to a static version of the same screening measure. In the second sample (n = 96), the dynamic screening measure was compared to a commonly used screening tool, Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills Initial Sound Fluency. Results showed that the dynamic screening measure uniquely predicted end-of-year reading achievement and outcomes in both samples. These results provide preliminary support for the usefulness of a dynamic screening measure of phonological awareness for kindergarten students.     

Telling their stories: A study of librarians' use of narrative in instruction

Narratives are the heuristics the brain uses to make sense of the world. When they are embraced in teaching, they make the process more efficient, engaging and enjoyable for both students and instructors. While the insights of psychologists, neuroscientists and education researchers into the cognitive and affective mechanisms of meaning-making are not new, capitalizing on these insights in order to engage and instruct is part of a recent trend of evidence-based educational practices. This study is unique in that it uses a phenomenological methodology and semi-structured interviews with 19 academic librarians who teach in Canadian higher education institutions to determine what narrative tools or approaches they use, and to what extent these practices may enrich both their outcomes and their teaching praxis. The authors document the variety of ways in which librarians use narrative techniques instinctively, categorizing these teaching narratives into concepts with more granular themes. A purposeful use and reuse of these narrative techniques, the authors hope, will help inform librarian teaching and reflective practice.     

Improving teacher preparation and selection: lessons from the Pennsylvania experience

This paper examines Pennsylvania's teacher preparation and selection processes over the last decade. Teacher test scores are examined across colleges of education, and extreme differences in teacher test scores are found. Also, extreme variations are evident among districts' employed teachers. A unique survey of district employment practices reveals that, on average, 40% of a district's teachers previously attended there as students. An exploratory econometric model indicates that the higher the unemployment rate in a district, the more likely it will hire its former students to teach, and that the greater the fraction of former students now in the district's teacher force, the lower is student achievement. The paper concludes with a discussion of conventional and unconventional strategies to improve the quality of teachers actually hired by school boards.     

Wearing,speaking and shouting about sexism: developing arts-based interventions into sexism in the academy

This paper examines a project that developed humorous, irreverent and subversive arts-based interventions into sexism in the academy. Two workshops were run with women currently working in teacher education in Australian universities. The researchers worked with the participants collaboratively and in line with feminist practices and methodologies to develop interventions that were performed at a large multidisciplinary educational research conference. The paper outlines the origins of the project, the feminist scholarship that inspired it, the methodological framework as well as a discussion about three of the interventions and demonstrates that sexism both (re)produces structural disadvantage for women in higher education as well as being characterised by a set of micro practices that shape the everyday experiences of women in the academy. Although this research is set within an Australian context, the paper acknowledges that sexism is systemic within higher education across contexts.     

Metabolic and performance responses of male runners wearing 3 types of footwear: Nike Vaporfly 4%, Saucony Endorphin racing flats,and their own shoes

Purpose:We compared running economy(RE) and 3-km time-trial(TT) variables of runners wearing Nike Vaporfly 4%(VP4),Saucony Endorphin lightweight racing flats(FLAT),and their habitual running(OWN) footwear.Methods:Eighteen male recreational runners(age=33.5± 11.9 year(mean± SD),peak oxygen uptake(VO_{2 peak})=55.8± 4.4 mL/kg·min)attended 4 sessions approximately 7 days apart.The first session consisted of a VO_{2 peak} test to inform subsequent RE speeds set at 60%,70%,and 80% of ...     

‘We spend more time with the children than they do …’: education,care and the work of foreign domestic workers in Hong Kong

Despite the ongoing global financial crisis, there is an increasing deployment of migrant workers across the globe, and in Hong Kong the foreign domestic worker occupies a ubiquitous presence in the lives of many families. Seven domestic workers from Indonesia, the Philippines, and Thailand were interviewed to gain insight into their role in providing education and care for children in Hong Kong. This exploratory study focuses on the educational and care aspects of the work of foreign domestic workers. It considers the nature of their work and their relationship with the mother of the family. Findings reveal the difficulties of maintaining coordinated education and care of children in a culture where the dynamics of the unequal power relations are clearly demarcated. We raise new possibilities for interdisciplinary work to re-theorise the ways in which foreign domestic workers act as educators of young children and we call for new methodologies to enable their potential.