Different Disciplines Require Different Motivations for Student Success

This article reports an investigation of undergraduate motivation to learn. A Likert-type rating scale measure of motivation incorporated the general motivational dimensions identified by previous investigators, as well as a systematic theoretical framework that is more novel, and attempts to acknowledge the role of discipline-specific factors in motivation to learn. The motivation questionnaire was evaluated by measuring its success in explaining the academic achievement of biology, history, computing, planning, anthropology, geology, food science and nutrition, and education students (n = 380) in standard university assessments. The findings reveal that student performance is better explained by within- than across-discipline indexes of motivation, probably because some types of motivation lead to success in some disciplines but failure in others. Furthermore, items based on the theoretical framework developed to underpin the questionnaire (which distinguishes outcome from process incentives) were also found to explain more variation in student performance than general motivation items. Some practical implications of the findings are considered.     

Academic socialization,parental educational expectations,and academic self‐efficacy among Latino adolescents

This study examined the direct association between parental educational expectations and adolescents’ academic self‐efficacy, as well as the moderating influence of parental academic socialization messages. Participants were 148 Latino parent–adolescent dyads with the majority of Mexican origin (80.4%). Most of the parent participants were mothers (85.8%). Adolescents were 13 (46%) or 14 (54%) years of age, and 53% identified as female. Adolescents reported their academic self‐efficacy and perceptions of their parents’ educational expectations; parents reported on their academic socialization messages of shame/pressure and effort regarding academics. The results suggest that, after accounting for parents’ level of education and immigrant status, parental educational expectations were positively associated with adolescent academic self‐efficacy. This association was stronger among adolescents whose parents reported transmitting fewer messages of shame/pressure and academic effort. These results point to the importance of nuances in the content and type of academic socialization messages within Latino families.     

Developmental links of very early phonological and language skills to second grade reading outcomes: strong to accuracy but only minor to fluency

The authors examined second grade reading accuracy and fluency and their associations via letter knowledge to phonological and language predictors assessed at 3.5, 4.5, and 5.5 years in children in the Jyv?skyl? Longitudinal Study of Dyslexia. Structural equation modeling showed that a developmentally highly stable factor (early phonological and language processing [EPLP]) behind key dyslexia predictors (i.e., phonological awareness, short-term memory, rapid naming, vocabulary, and pseudoword repetition) could already be identified at 3.5 years. EPLP was significantly associated with reading and spelling accuracy and by age with letter knowledge. However, EPLP had only a minor link with reading fluency, which was additionally explained by early letter knowledge. The results show that reading accuracy is well predicted by early phonological and language skills. Variation in fluent reading skills is not well explained by early skills, suggesting factors other than phonological core skills. Future research is suggested to explore the factors behind the development of fast and accurate decoding skills.     

The management of quality in the University of Ulster

The setting of standards for teaching is identified as central to any system of quality assurance for teaching and learning. The paper describes a number of initiatives which have been taken at the University of Ulster to identify and develop quality in teaching. They include a project to identify teaching skills through consultation with expert teachers; the use of quality circles of staff and students to specify standards for teaching; the use of student feedback on teaching; the introduction of a distinguished teaching award; the assessment of teaching competence when staff are selected; the introduction of a unit-based in-service teacher training course; and the encouragement of self and peer evaluation using an appraisal schedule. Quality assurance for support services is considered and finally the University's initiatives are related to total quality management and BS 5750.     

Record Values and Surviving Glacial Moraines

Estimating the number of glacial advances from surviving glacial debris can, amazingly enough, be cast as a records problem for which there is a substantial statistical literature. As a result, instructors may illustrate method of moments and maximum‐likelihood estimation techniques with an interesting problem in the physical sciences.     

Communicating data to schools

The article explores the communication of data to schools by researchers and evaluators. The stance is taken that the research process is one in which the participants are involved in a mutually supportive enterprise in which the relationship should be viewed as co-operation between professional colleagues, i.e., a relationship in which perceived status is minimised but one in which different knowledge and expertise exists on both sides. It is argued that the obtaining of data at school sites requires the researcher to provide data to their sources. Careful consideration needs to be given by researchers to the process and methods of communication of data to school communities. Issues addressed include audience, terminology, prose and other forms of presentation. A case is made for the researcher to become involved in dialogue to enhance the “meaning-making” of practitioners and themselves. The article concludes with a set of guidelines for researchers.     

Assessment of Teacher Reactions to a Standards-Based Teacher Evaluation System: A Pilot Study*

This article reports on teachers' reactions to a pilot implementation of a new standards-based teacher evaluation system in a medium-sized Midwestern school district. The system, based on the Framework for Teaching (Danielson, 1996), was intended to serve as the foundation for a new knowledge and skill pay plan for teachers. Teacher reactions were measured using both interview and survey methods. Teachers' overall favorableness toward the system, as measured by the survey, was correlated with acceptance of the teaching standards, perception of the evaluation process as fair and the evaluator as capable and objective, and perception that the evaluation system had a positive impact on their teaching. In interviews, teachers perceived both positive and negative aspects of the system, and for many these more or less balanced each other. While most teachers accepted the evaluation standards and the need for an evaluation system, many also perceived that the system added too much to teachers' workloads and did not provide enough feedback. Based on these results several changes were made in the evaluation system prior to full implementation. The results are discussed with reference to previous research and the Personnel Evaluation Standards.     

Bullying and the Unique Socioemotional Needs of Gifted and Talented Early Adolescents: Veteran Teacher Perspectives and Practices

Much is written at the elementary school level concerning bullying and the socioemotional needs of gifted and talented (GT) students; however, in the last 10 years, little qualitative research exists concerning the early adolescent GT age group. In the social environment of classroom life, early and current research indicates that many of these students experience neurotic perfectionism, overexciteabilities (OEs), developmental asynchrony, and bullying. The formation of autonomous classes (GT-only classes) has afforded some hope concerning the amelioration of such problems; nevertheless, in this study, detailed evidence of classroom bullying in the form of social ostracism and teasing has been found with this GT age group. If left unchecked, psychological autopsies have shown these students suffering emotional difficulties and even committing suicide as a result of school and classroom torment. With such potential for classroom bullying problems, few studies address what veteran teachers of early adolescent GT students do to keep students psychologically safe. Within the social milieu of classroom life, and in comparison to research standards, this study explores three efficacious teacher perspectives and practices.