Content Validation of the Community College Student Success Program Inventory

This study reports on the content validation of the Community College Student Success Program Inventory (CCSSPI), a structured interview protocol for program personnel, designed to serve as a tool for researchers and practitioners alike to account for critical features of various types of student success programs in detailed and comparable ways across multiple sites. In all, 20 subject matter experts (SMEs) rated the relevancy and clarity of each item to ascertain essential program features. Content validity index (CVI) and scale-level index scores (S-CVI) were calculated. Results showed high to moderately high validity for items related to course goals, logistics, skills-focused curricular items, and academic and student services. Other contingent facets—collaborative and contextualized learning, co-curricular and community activities, ancillary instruction, and instructor role—were rated as less valid, depending on program goals. The instrument is recommended for use in multisite qualitative or mixed-methods research and institutional improvement.     

The effect of CD-ROM MEDLINE on online end-user and mediated searching: a follow-up study

Indiana University School of Medicine Library (IUSML) has traditionally been a high volume searching institution. The dramatic effect of CD-ROM on online end-user searching and the negligible effect on mediated searching was reported in an earlier study. This follow-up study reveals that the proportion of mediated searching has been drastically reduced from 94% in 1986/87 to 39% as of November 1989. Mediated searches are declining in absolute numbers as well. End-user searching, by contrast, has increased by 54% percent over the previous year. A related trend is the increased use of CD-ROM by the librarian as an alternative to mediated online searching. These trends are expected to continue as IUSML expands its CD-ROM operation to include other databases. As mediated searching declines, the librarian's role will increasingly include end-user training.     

Differences in technique between sprinters and distance runners at equal and maximal speeds

In the finishing kick of a distance race, maximizing speed becomes the focus even if economy may be sacrificed. If distance runners knew how to alter their technique to become more sprint-like, this process could be more successful. In this study, we compared the differences in technique between sprinters and distance runners while running at equal and maximal speeds. Athletes consisted of 10 Division I distance runners, 10 Division I sprinters, and 10 healthy non-runners. They performed two tests, each consisting of a 60-m run on the track: Test 1 at a set pace of 5.81 m/s, while Test 2 was maximal speed. Video was collected at 180 Hz. Significant differences (P < 0.05) between the sprint and distance groups at maximal speeds were found in the following areas: speed, minimum hip angle, knee extension at toe-off, stride length, contact time, and recovery knee at touchdown. In Test 1, sprinters and distance runners displayed many of the same significant differences. The control group was similar to the distance group in both trials. As distance runners attempt to sprint, the desired adjustments do not necessarily occur. Distance runners may benefit from biomechanical interventions to improve running speed near the end of a race.     

Testing Alternative Hypotheses Regarding the Association Between Behavioral Inhibition and Language Development in Toddlerhood

Studies have reported an inverse association between language development and behavioral inhibition or shyness across childhood, but the direction of this association remains unclear. This study tested alternative hypotheses regarding this association in a large sample of toddlers. Data on behavioral inhibition and expressive and receptive language abilities were collected from 816 twins at ages 14, 20, and 24 months. Growth and regression models were fit to the data to assess the longitudinal associations between behavioral inhibition and language development from 14 to 24 months. Overall, there were significant associations between behavioral inhibition and expressive language, and minimal associations with receptive language, indicating that the association is better explained by reticence to respond rather than deficient language development.     

The Effects of Two Mindset Interventions on Low-Income Students’ Academic and Psychological Outcomes

Abstract

This study examined two widely available light-touch, writing-based mindset interventions: one that targeted students’ purpose for learning and one that aimed to increase students’ growth mindset. In order to examine the potential mechanisms underlying previously reported effects of mindset interventions, we analyzed these interventions’ effects on low-income, ethnic minority adolescents’ academic outcomes, task persistence, task-relevant anxiety, critical motivation, and sense of belonging. Results indicated that the purpose for learning intervention had a small negative impact on students’ self-reported grades the following year, and null results for the other outcomes. The growth mindset intervention was administered one year following the purpose for learning intervention and we found no evidence of treatment impacts on any outcomes. Analyses of treatment impact moderation suggested that certain student characteristics, such as student gender and race could play a role, but most of these tests also presented null results. The primarily null results of both interventions suggest that further study is needed to determine the effectiveness of one-time, self-administered mindset interventions across a variety of contexts and student populations.