Organizing collective action amid the ripple effects of change: narratives of crisis,disaster, and opportunity

This study examines how narrative is used by remote stakeholders to cope with organizational change. Specifically, I focus on the public narratives of community leaders because these narratives often function as a rhetorical resource to attract businesses, receive grants, and retain local residents. Public stories announcing, explaining, and managing the ripple effects of organizational change warrant deeper analysis in order to refine our ability to respond to these effects at a community level. This in-depth case study analysis of one community's efforts to respond to the loss of its largest employer suggests that naming a change event as a crisis, disaster, or opportunity positions actors differently within narratives, creating powerful implications for social action. Specifically, crisis narratives call for punishment of the causal agent and legislation of responsibility; disaster narratives call for assistance to affected communities and legislation of support; and opportunity narratives create an unclear policy mandate and demand transformational leadership to mobilize action.     

A statewide study of the public attitudes toward child abuse

A statewide survey of adults revealed that they are well informed about some aspects of child abuse. They had a generally good intuitive understanding of the characteristics of abused children and child abusers, but a majority seemed to have a "deviance" perspective on child abuse. They considered abusers as abnormal and intractable. While three-quarters of the respondents were aware that they are obligated to report cases of child abuse to the authorities, one-fifth knew someone who had abused a child, but only a third of these actually reported the case.     

Patterns in the Initial Teaching Assignments of Secondary English Teachers: Implications for Teacher Agency and Retention

This study examined the teaching assignments of English teachers in 13 Mid-Atlantic high schools across five states. Data on the experience levels of 175 English teachers teaching 246 classes and surveys from 85 teacher participants were collected. Findings reveal that major agency-thwarting challenges face new English teachers: They typically are assigned to teach the students who need the most assistance, do not have their own classrooms and believe that teacher tracking occurs in their schools. Results suggest that in order to increase teacher agency, retention, and student learning, we must shift the working conditions, rhetoric, and culture around new teachers.     

Does Early Mathematics Intervention Change the Processes Underlying Children's Learning?

Early educational intervention effects typically fade in the years following treatment, and few studies have investigated why achievement impacts diminish over time. The current study tested the effects of a preschool mathematics intervention on two aspects of children's mathematical development. We tested for separate effects of the intervention on “state” (occasion-specific) and “trait” (relatively stable) variability in mathematics achievement. Results indicated that, although the treatment had a large impact on state mathematics, the treatment had no effect on trait mathematics, or the aspect of mathematics achievement that influences stable individual differences in mathematics achievement over time. Results did suggest, however, that the intervention could affect the underlying processes in children's mathematical development by inducing more transfer of knowledge immediately following the intervention for students in the treated group.     

A confirmatory study of rating scale category effectiveness for the Coaching Efficacy Scale

This study extended validity evidence for measures of coaching efficacy derived from the Coaching Efficacy Scale (CES) by testing the rating scale categorizations suggested in previous research. Previous research provided evidence for the effectiveness of a four-category (4-CAT) structure for high school and collegiate sports coaches; it also suggested that a five-category (5-CAT) structure may be effective for youth sports coaches, because they may be more likely to endorse categories on the lower end of the scale. Coaches of youth sports (N = 492) responded to the CES items with a 5-CAT structure. Across rating scale category effectiveness guidelines, 32 of 34 evidences (94%) provided support for this structure. Data were condensed to a 4-CAT structure by collapsing responses in Category 1 (CAT-1) and Category 2 (CAT-2). Across rating scale category effectiveness guidelines, 25 of 26 evidences (96%) provided support for this structure. Findings provided confirmatory, cross-validation evidence for both the 5-CAT and 4-CAT structures. For empirical, theoretical, and practical reasons, the authors concluded that the 4-CAT structure was preferable to the 5-CAT when CES items are used to measure coaching efficacy. This conclusion is based on the findings of this confirmatory study and the more exploratory findings of Myers, Wolfe, and Feltz (2005).