Testing Inequality Constrained Hypotheses in SEM Models

Researchers often have expectations that can be expressed in the form of inequality constraints among the parameters of a structural equation model. It is currently not possible to test these so-called informative hypotheses in structural equation modeling software. We offer a solution to this problem using Mplus. The hypotheses are evaluated using plug-in p values with a calibrated alpha level. The method is introduced and its utility is illustrated by means of an example.     

General Growth Mixture Analysis of Adolescents' Developmental Trajectories of Anxiety: The Impact of Untested Invariance Assumptions on Substantive Interpretations

Substantively, this study investigates potential heterogeneity in the developmental trajectories of anxiety in adolescence. Methodologically, this study demonstrates the usefulness of general growth mixture analysis (GGMA) in addressing these issues and illustrates the impact of untested invariance assumptions on substantive interpretations. This study relied on data from the Montreal Adolescent Depression Development Project (MADDP), a 4-year follow-up of more than 1,000 adolescents who completed the Beck Anxiety Inventory each year. GGMA models relying on different invariance assumptions were empirically compared. Each of these models converged on a 5-class solution, but yielded different substantive results. The model with class-varying variance–covariance matrices was retained as providing a better fit to the data. These results showed that although elevated levels of anxiety might fluctuate over time, they clearly do not represent a transient phenomenon. This model was then validated in relation to multiple predictors (mostly related to school violence) and outcomes (grade-point average, school dropout, depression, loneliness, and drug-related problems).     

Disentangling Shape from Level Effects in Person-Centered Analyses: An Illustration Based on University Teachers’ Multidimensional Profiles of Effectiveness

This study compares alternative ways of disentangling the effects of level (the tendency for a person to be high, medium, or low across all factors) and shape (the tendency for a person to have a distinct pattern of factors on which they are high, medium, or low) in profile analyses. This issue is particularly relevant to performance appraisals where it is often useful to identify specific strengths and weaknesses over and above a person global performance, but also to person-centered analyses more generally where the observation of qualitative (shape) differences between profiles is often used as justification for the added value of profiles. Substantively, this study illustrates these issues in the identification of profiles of teachers based on multidimensional students’ ratings of their effectiveness, using an archival data set of 31,951 class-average ratings based on the Students’ Evaluations of Educational Quality (SEEQ) instrument collected over a 13-year period. The results show the superiority of a factor mixture operationalization of teaching effectiveness in which a global effectiveness factor was used to control for unnecessary level effects in the profiles.     

Interactive Read-Alouds—An Avenue for Enhancing Children’s Language for Thinking and Understanding: A Review of Recent Research

Enhancing young children’s early literacy achievement is a top priority in many countries. There is a considerable body of research demonstrating young children’s language development as a critical factor in reading and later academic success. Implementation of high quality literacy instruction has the potential to improve literacy outcomes for all children, especially those “at risk”. However, a significant challenge has been to implement instruction that will support children’s language for thinking and understanding, rather than narrowly focused instruction on easily quantified code-related skills. This article reviews some of the recent research on the value of interactive read-alouds as an avenue for enhancing early literacy learning for preschoolers. Although there is abundant evidence supporting the practice, there are a number of aspects that interact in dynamic ways to affect the efficacy of read-alouds. They include pedagogical knowledge, book selection, the quality of interactions around books, and developing vocabulary and inferential language skills. The way books are shared may open or close learning opportunities and possibilities to use language for an increasingly wider range of purposes. Skillful teachers can play a significant role in building, refining and extending literacy knowledge, skills and dispositions.     

The Impact of an Early Literacy Initiative on the Long Term Academic Success of Diverse Students

The primary goal of the Words Work (WW) early literacy initiative was to prepare diverse students to become successful learners in school. Four groups of students were followed over 6 years: students from traditional Head Start (HS) centers, students from augmented HS centers (WW students), students eligible for HS but not enrolled (waitlist or WL), and a random sample of non-Head Start students (NHS). Students received school readiness instruction at approximately 4 years of age, and their performance on standardized tests was followed from 1st grade through 5th grade. WW students significantly outscored HS, WL, and NHS students of similar backgrounds in reading and outscored WL and NHS students in mathematics on 2nd-grade standardized assessments. In addition, WW students were able to maintain their lead through 5th grade in both reading and mathematics. Based on these results, WW is an effective HS enhancement for minimizing the achievement gap often observed between students who may be at risk for academic difficulty and students who are at low risk.     

TECHNOLOGY IN HIGHER EDUCATION: EXPLORING DISTANCE LEARNING FROM A CONSTRUCT/VIST PERSPECTIVE

The purpose of this study was to explore the extent to which distance learning (distance learning vs. traditional) may influence undergraduate education majors’ emerging constructivist perspective. Elementary education majors at 2 universities (N = 102) volunteered to complete questionnaires. The 3 independent variables were traditional vs. distance learning, whether or not ever enrolled in distance learning, and instructor difference. The 3 dependent variables were concerned with what the instructor provided; what the instructor demonstrated; and what students believed they learned. A Multiple Analysis of Variance (Manova) compared the 3 independent variables across the 3 dependent variables and indicated that students in traditional classrooms rated what the instructor provided, what the instructor demonstrated, and what students believed they learned significantly greater than students in distance learning classrooms. An interpretation suggests that distance learning technology may hold potential for facilitating undergraduate education majors’ emerging constructivist perspective.     

The Preschool Instructional Context and Child–Teacher Relationships

Research Findings: The purpose of this article is to examine how dimensions of the preschool instructional context predict child–teacher relationship quality. A total of 118 low-income, predominantly Latino/a children and their teachers participated in this study. Children were observed in their 1st preschool classroom. Measures of instructional context included the classroom instructional climate and teacher instructional strategies with individual children. Measures of child–teacher relationships included both observed and teacher-perceived child–teacher relationship quality. Our findings suggest that aspects of classroom instructional context do influence child–teacher relationships. Children are more likely to have secure, positive relationships with teachers who are more skilled at setting up appropriate classroom environments and giving children high-quality feedback to stretch their emerging knowledge and skills. Practice or Policy: These data provide preliminary support for the notion that high-quality early education can and should develop children's academic skills in a context that is deeply rooted in positive and supportive social interactions.     

Reading to Children and Listening to Children Read: Mother–Child Interactions as a Function of Principal Reader

Research Findings: Although storybook reading has received considerable research attention, listening to children read has been the source of much less inquiry. In this study, 40 mother–child dyads were videotaped during adult-to-child and child-to-adult reading. Relations between book-related themes (e.g., types of talk), maternal evaluative feedback (e.g., praise, criticism), maternal miscue feedback (e.g., graphophonemic clues, terminal feedback), and child engagement (e.g., laughter, questions) were analyzed. The results suggest that the development of literacy appreciation and literacy skill can occur during the same storybook-reading session. Specifically, when mothers read to their children, communication about the illustrations was associated with increased child engagement, yet a positive correlation was also observed between text-related productions and child engagement. When children read to their mothers, text-related productions were featured more prominently. After children made reading errors (miscues), graphophonemic and terminal feedback were the 2 most frequent responses by mothers. In addition, graphophonemic cues were positively associated with child engagement. Practice or Policy: In sum, the results demonstrate that adult-to-child and child-to-adult reading serve the goals of both literacy acquisition training and literacy appreciation; furthermore, orienting children toward the text during either session did not hamper child engagement.