Consequences of Test Score Use as Validity Evidence: Roles and Responsibilities

This article has three goals. The first goal is to clarify the role that the consequences of test score use play in validity judgments by reviewing the role that modern writers on validity have ascribed for consequences in supporting validity judgments. The second goal is to summarize current views on who is responsible for collecting evidence of test score use consequences by attempting to separate the responsibilities of the test developer and the test user. The last goal is to offer a framework that attempts to prescribe the conditions under which the responsibility for collecting evidence of consequences falls to the test developer or to the test user.     

Pedagogy and performativity: Rendering laboratory lives in the documentary "Naturally obsessed: the making of a scientist"

A recently released documentary on life in a protein crystallography laboratory offers an exemplary opportunity to examine how a popular account of scientific training models narrowly defined norms of masculinity and mentorship and simultaneously sets these as the tacit conditions for success in science. Rather than treating this documentary as a good or bad representation of what life in the lab is actually like, this analysis draws attention to how the scientists featured in the film perform for the camera and how the filmmakers splice together the action to animate an engaging story. This essay shows how this popular and widely circulating documentary frames science as a game to be won and stages scientific success on an agonistic playing field. Those who can "make it" are those who are tough enough and those who are willing and able to get entangled in the taunting, jesting, and jostling relationships that appear to be required for mentorship in this lab. The essay argues that this documentary tethers this model of success in science to restrictive norms of masculinity and in so doing promotes a pedagogical culture that fosters competition, rivalry, and ritualized shame. Feminist theories of performativity are engaged to consider the iterative processes through which narrowly circumscribed masculinities and styles of pedagogy are sedimented and naturalized. This essay aims to spur renewed attention to the care historians and anthropologists might take to examine the often hidden tropes that are lurking inside the stories about science that we find so salient.     

RESEARCH SECTION: Provision in further education colleges for 14‐ to 16‐year‐olds with social,emotional and behavioural difficulties

Previous research set out to identify and examine practice and provision for young people exhibiting behaviour problems who may have been placed in colleges of further education for a variety of reasons. In this paper, Natasha Macnab, John Visser and Harry Daniels explore some of the implications faced by college staff and examine some of the key themes that emerged from this previous study. The first of these themes concerns ‘college culture’, which is seen as being ‘adult orientated’ and therefore more likely to appeal to young people who are tired of school. Indeed, college staff suspect at times that schools are using the transition to college as an alternative to exclusion for some young people. This form of ‘managed transfer’ raises real issues in colleges, especially when some members of college staff do not yet appreciate the ‘appeal of teaching young people with social, emotional and behavioural difficulties (SEBD)’, regarding them as ‘disaffected’ and ‘switched off’ from education. The authors of this article note the need for ‘skilled and committed adults’ to build relationships with these young people in order to promote their social inclusion. They argue that this work will require professional development for staff but will have real benefits for the young people concerned.     

The influence of test‐based accountability policies on early elementary teachers: School climate,environmental stress,and teacher stress

This study examined the potential influence of test‐based accountability policies on school environment and teacher stress among early elementary teachers. Structural equation modeling of data from 541 kindergarten through second grade teachers across three states found that use of student performance on high‐stakes tests to evaluate teachers indirectly was related to teachers’ professional investment via test stress in the environment. Although students in kindergarten through second grade do not take high‐stakes assessments, early elementary teachers reported high levels of stress associated with test‐based accountability policies. This study provides data across multiple states that test‐based accountability policies may have negative influences on school environment and teacher stress among early elementary teachers. Implications for practice and research are discussed.     

It may not be that difficult the second time around: the effects of rereading on the comprehension and metacomprehension of negated text

The present research explored the awareness that readers have of the difficulty of negative text and aimed to determine whether rereading could impact comprehension and metacomprehension. Participants read passages that sometimes contained negative words such as ‘no’ and ‘not’, rated their comprehension, and answered a comprehension question about the passage. Half of the passages were read twice and rated again before the participant was prompted to answer a comprehension question. Results showed that passages that were read twice were rated as easier to understand, and questions that corresponded with those passages were answered with higher accuracy as well. However, these improvements were not exclusive to negated passages. And, while participants were aware that the negative passages were harder to comprehend, this understanding did not aid in heightened comprehension of the negative text. Rereading was demonstrated to be a helpful strategy overall but was not sufficient to specifically help with negation.     

Impact of the Friendly Schools whole-school intervention on transition to secondary school and adolescent bullying behaviour

Peer bullying increases in times of school transition, influenced by changing peer and friendship groups, new schooling environments and greater stress. Covert forms of bullying, including cyberbullying, become more common in secondary school and cause considerable distress and long-term harm. The period of transition to secondary school is therefore a critical window for intervening to manage and prevent bullying. A three-year cluster randomised control trial was conducted to develop, implement and evaluate the Friendly Schools Project intervention which aimed to reduce bullying and aggression among more than 3,000 students who had recently transitioned to secondary school. Intervention schools were provided with individualised training and resources to support students’ transition and reduce bullying using a multi-level comprehensive intervention addressing classroom curriculum, school policies and procedures, the social and physical environment, pastoral care approaches and school-home-community links. Although the observed effect sizes were small, the intervention had a consistently significant positive effect across a range of outcomes, including bullying perpetration, victimisation, depression, anxiety, stress, feelings of loneliness and perceptions of school safety at the end of the students’ first year in secondary school. However, none of these differences were sustained into the students’ second year of secondary school. These findings demonstrate the immediate value of whole-school interventions to reduce bullying behaviour and associated harms among students who have recently transitioned to secondary school, as well as the need to provide strategies that continue to support students as they progress through school, to sustain these effects.     

A comparison of interlibrary loan requests received by the National Library of Medicine: 1959 and 1984

In 1962, an analysis of interlibrary loan requests for serials filled by NLM in 1959 was published. In the twenty-five years following 1959, important changes occurred in the biomedical library community, which had a significant impact on interlibrary loan activities, including the development of MEDLARS and online searching, the Regional Medical Library (RML) network, and union listing for serials. To describe NLM's current interlibrary loan request traffic for serials and to identify any significant changes in traffic between 1959 and 1984, a comparative analysis of 1984 serial loan requests was performed, primarily by manipulation of automated request records. The changes in request traffic strongly suggest that the efforts to strengthen regional document delivery through the RML program have been successful and that NLM's collection is now used primarily as a last resort.     

Taking Stock of Two Decades of Attachment Transmission Gap: Broadening the Assessment of Maternal Behavior

This report aimed to investigate the capacity of maternal behaviors tailored to children's attachment and exploration systems to jointly explain the well‐known mother–child transmission of attachment. Four home visits were conducted between ages 7 months and 2 years with 130 mother–child dyads to assess maternal attachment state of mind, sensitivity, autonomy support, and mother–child attachment security. Results showed that together, maternal sensitivity and autonomy support fully accounted for the relation between maternal and child attachment, that they each accounted for a unique portion of this relation, and that the magnitude of these mediated pathways was equivalent. These results suggest that the attachment transmission gap can be narrowed by the use of a theory‐driven multidimensional approach to maternal behavior.     

Legitimating status: perceptions of meritocracy and inequality among undergraduates at an elite British university

Given the frequent critiques of elite universities for admitting low numbers of state school graduates and, more recently, British Afro‐Caribbean students, how do students attending those universities make meaning of the admissions process? Through an analysis of 46 one‐on‐one in‐depth interviews with undergraduates attending Oxford University, we show that students believe in the fairness of the admissions process, while lamenting the lack of opportunities for educational advancement faced by some disadvantaged youth in British society. Despite their understanding that many British youth do not have access to educational experiences that make Oxbridge an attainable goal, most students do not support changes to make access more equitable across class or racial/ethnic lines. This perspective, which legitimates the status students gain through matriculation at an elite university, supports the maintenance of unequal access to an Oxford education despite the advantages that education is known to confer to graduates. The findings demonstrate elites acknowledging the disadvantages of particular groups in society without acknowledging their own advantages in the same system. They do so by recognizing two elements of merit: (1) intelligence, which most students assumed led to their own admission; and (2) cultivation of that intelligence, which requires elite secondary schools and which most students see as disadvantaging particular groups in society. In the paper we highlight differences in meaning‐making between graduates of grammar, comprehensive and private schools.