Estimated student score gain on the act COMP exam: Valid tool for institutional assessment?

The higher education community needs measures of the value added to student development by the college experience. ACT provides a quick, easy method for estimating the extent of student growth in general education. An institution can test seniors with the ACT College Outcome Measures Project (COMP) exam, then subtract from the senior score anestimated freshman score obtained from a concordance table that is based on the known relationship between freshman ACT Assessment composite score and freshman COMP Total score. Studies using scores for 4,200 seniors and 2,100 freshmen tested during a two-year period at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, indicate that this method is not sufficiently reliable or valid to serve as the basis for making precise judgments about the quality of general education programs.     

Using Library Funds to Support Open Access Publishing through Crowdfunding: Going Beyond Article Processing Charges

Publishers commonly use Article Processing Charges (APCs) to fund open access publications, and some libraries and institutions help local authors pay these costs. However, this strategy is expensive and can usually only address one article at a time. A number of relatively new publishing initiatives rely on a crowdfunding model and allow many libraries to share the cost of open access, often at a fraction of the cost of APCs. This article highlights several alternative publishing projects to help librarians think further about how library funds could be used to support open access.     

Does High School Matter? An Analysis of Three Methods of Predicting First-Year Grades

This research evaluated the usefulness of 3 approaches for predicting college grades: (a) traditional regression models, (b) high-school-effects models, and (c) hierarchical linear models. Results of an analysis of the records of 8,764 freshmen at a major research university revealed that both the high-school-effects model and the hierarchical linear model were more accurate predictors of freshman GPA than was the traditional model, particularly for lower ability students. Counter to expectations, the hierarchical linear model was not more accurate than the high school effects model.     

The Relationship Between Institutional Mission and Students' Involvement and Educational Outcomes

Although institutional characteristics are assumed to influence student learning and intellectual development, this link has not been confirmed empirically. This study examined whether institutional mission, as represented by Carnegie classification, is related to student learning and development. After controlling for student background characteristics, no meaningful differences were found in students' perceptions of the college environment, levels of academic and social involvement, integration of information, or educational outcomes by Carnegie classification.     

The Influence of Number‐sense on Children's Ability to Estimate Measures

This study aimed at clarifying the relative developmental influences of age, number‐sense and context on primary school children's ability to estimate measures. Children (6‐11 years) were first assessed on three aspects of number‐sense (mental computation, understanding of relative number magnitude and understanding of relations between numbers) and were then assessed on their estimation of length and area within each of two task contexts (a ‘story’ frame and a ‘textbook’ frame). While number‐sense was found to improve with age, estimation did not. However, an ability to use and perceive number relations, together with an understanding of the relative magnitudes of larger numbers, were found to influence children's ability to estimate area. Children of all ages were also found to estimate more accurately in the ‘textbook’ context than in the ‘story’ context. These findings are discussed with reference to the notion of estimation as a situated activity     

Comparing the Utility of the 2000 and 2005 Carnegie Classification Systems in Research on Students’ College Experiences and Outcomes

This study compares the explanatory power of the 2000 edition of Carnegie Classification, the 2005 revision of the classification, and selected variables underlying Carnegie’s expanded 2005 classification system using data from the National Survey of Student Engagement’s spring 2004 administration. Results indicate that the 2000 and 2005 classifications generally offer comparable explanatory power for measures of self-reported gains and student engagement, but the new variables from the 2005 system are more strongly related to cognitive outcomes and engagement than were the two categorical groupings. The variables most consistently related to outcomes and engagement are graduate-undergraduate coexistence, residential character of the campus, and arts and sciences share of undergraduate majors. Implications of the findings for research and assessment are discussed.

Critiquing the school community: a qualitative study of children's conceptualizations of their school 1

Schools are traditionally seen as responsible for the educational outcomes of our children. However, schools also play an important role in the development of aspects such as self‐efficacy, participation, competence and self‐determination. As schools are often run as societies rather than communities, they offer little opportunity for these attributes (self‐efficacy, participation, competence and self‐determination) to develop. Forty‐six children aged from nine to 12 years were interviewed to ascertain their conceptualizations of the school community. The children define their school in terms of people, places for activities and interaction, a place for safety, cooperation, influence and functionality. The responses closely align to the adult conceptualizations of sense of community as purported by McMillan and Chavis (1986 McMillan, D.W. and Chavis, D.M. 1986. Sense of community: a definition and theory. Journal of Community Psychology, 14: 6–23. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Implications of this research suggest that children can and should have an integral role in designing a curriculum and systems relevant to the school context if we are at all concerned with their psychological wellness.     

Predictors of Parenting: Family-Wide and Child-Specific Factors

Objective. The goal of the study was to identify determinants of child perceptions of parenting. Design. By using two children per family, the current study predicted siblings’ (106 pairs) perceptions of mothering and fathering at ages 9–13 from children’s perceptions of parenting and parent ratings of child difficulty, parental emotionality, and household organization, when the children were 4–8 years old. Multi-level modeling was used to differentiate between- and within-family variation. Results. Stability in child perceptions was moderate, and this stability was due to family-wide parenting shared by siblings. Conversely, the majority of variance in the 9- to 13-year-olds’ perceptions indicated differential, rather than similar, parental treatment. Maternal anger predicted maternal hostility. In contrast, household chaos predicted paternal hostility. Conclusions. Relationships between individuals in the family are part of a larger system, and children are equally as likely as parents to reap the benefits of services or interventions directed toward enhancing maternal well-being.