Field dependence-independence as a factor in the academic and career evolution of women majors in the broad-gauge discipline of home economics

The relationships between the field-dependence-independence level (GEFT score) of university home economics majors and their area of concentration, academic ability and performance, and career choices were investigated. The sample was 143 undergraduate and 53 graduate women university students. A significant difference in GEFT was found when students were grouped according to the five areas of concentration or by the analytical-interpersonal nature of their chosen career positions. Significant correlations were found between GEFT and all ACT scores, undergraduate and graduate GPA, and graduate student career commitment. There was no significant relationship for GEFT with any GRE score, undergraduate career commitment, or ease of career choice. Little evidence of a differential effect of GEFT on achievement in analytical or social content courses was found.     

Predicting growth of nonword reading and letter‐sound knowledge following rime‐ and phoneme‐based teaching

The present study sought to extend a recent study by Savage, Carless and Stuart , by looking at the pre‐test phonological skills that predicted improvements in letter‐sound knowledge and nonword reading. Results showed overall that phoneme manipulation predicted improvements in nonword reading and letter‐sound knowledge even when pre‐test scores on the respective dependent variables were controlled. Pre‐test letter‐sound knowledge was an independent predictor of nonsense word reading. Overall, onset‐rime manipulation did not add to the prediction of outcome. Onset‐rime manipulation predicted decoding improvements in a subgroup where children were exposed to both rime and phoneme‐based teaching.     

The phantom national? Assembling national teaching standards in Australia’s federal system

In this paper, we use the development of the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (APST) as an illustrative case to examine how national schooling reforms are assembled in Australia’s federal system. Drawing upon an emerging body of research on ‘policy assemblage’ within the fields of policy sociology, anthropology and critical geography, we focus on interactions between three dominant ‘component parts’ in the development of the APST: the Australian federal government; New South Wales state government agencies; and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. While policies like the APST claim to be national in form and scope, our analysis suggests ‘the national’ is much more disjunctive and nebulous, constituted by a heterogeneous and emergent assemblage of policy ideas, practices, actors and organisations, which often reflect transnational traits and impulses. We thus see national reforms such as the APST as having a phantom-like nature, which poses challenges for researchers seeking to understand the making of national policies in federal systems.     

School psychology and issues of sexual orientation: Attitudes,beliefs, and knowledge

The purpose of this study was to investigate school psychologists' attitudes toward lesbians and gay males. Aspects of school psychologists' knowledge, beliefs, current practices, and levels of preparedness related to issues of sexual orientation were also explored. A sample of 288 school psychologists (215 females and 73 males, mean age = 44 years) who were members of NASP participated in this study. Participants completed research packets containing a hypothetical case analogue vignette and three questionnaires querying their attitudes, beliefs, and knowledge about issues of sexual orientation. The results indicated school psychologists endorse relatively positive attitudes toward lesbians and gay males, report low‐to‐moderate levels of knowledge about lesbian and gay male issues, are willing to address lesbian and gay male issues on the job, are generally aware of how such issues impact schools, and are inadequately prepared to deal with lesbian and gay male issues. These findings are discussed in relation to their impact on the field and the implications for graduate training. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 41: 201–210, 2004.     

Introduction

This paper conceptualises think tanks and edu-businesses in relation to education policy work in the Australian polity. It situates the enhanced influence of both in relation to the restructured state, which has lost some key capacities in relation to the generation of research and ideas for policy. This restructuring has been strongly influenced by the techniques of new public management, the auditing of education through national and international testing and new forms of network governance, which have opened up spaces for the increased influence of think tanks and edu-businesses across the policy cycle in education. We see here the workings of a ‘polycentric state’. The paper also considers changing concepts of ‘evidence’, ‘expertise’ and ‘influence’ in respect of the involvement of think tanks and edu-businesses in circulating policy ideas and affecting policy development in Australian education. This introduction to this special issue of The Australian Educational Researcher serves as a provocation to further research on this new policy scenario.     

Working Memory and Reading Difficulties: What We Know and What We Don’t Know About the Relationship

This paper examines the role of Working Memory (WM) in developmental reading problems, considering: 1) The operationalization of WM; 2) The unique contribution of WM to reading; 3) Domain-general or -specific explanations of decoding and reading comprehension deficits; and 4) The capacity of WM constructs to distinguish between reading disabilities and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). It is concluded that: 1) Significant problems operationalizing working memory measures remain; 2) No clear unique role for WM is evident in longitudinal studies of reading acquisition; 3) Existing evidence concerning the domain-specificity or generality of WM problems is hard to interpret given problems in identification and sampling of poor readers and operationalization of WM constructs; 4) Further work is required to specify the nature of WM problems in samples of poor readers, as distinct from other co-occurring problems such as ADHD. Additional research is suggested to address these issues more fully.     

The Impact of Motivational Reading Instruction on the Reading Achievement and Motivation of Students: a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Educational Psychology Review - This systematic review and meta-analysis explores the impact of motivational reading interventions on the reading achievement and reading motivation of school-age...     

Quasi-power functionals for potential fields from the Graph- Theoretic Field Model

Quasi-power functionals have been traditionally derived through the Method of Weighted Residuals (MWR) and used as the starting formulation for the finite element method. In this paper, we derive similar but more complete functionals for potential fields through a novel approach. We first form discrete quasi-power functions by applying Tellegen's theorem to the Graph-Theoretic Field Model (GTFM) and then obtain the continuous model quasi-power functionals by applying a limiting process to the discrete counterpart. The procedure herein is in marked contrast to the MWR whereby quasi-power functionals are derived by applying mathematical operations to the partial differential system. The procedure can be used with fields with anisotropy, non-linearities and coupled processes, although the example fields used within are linear and isotropic. This paper is a sequel to similar derivations for Green's identities and variational formulations.     

A Developmental Model of Reading Acquisition Based upon Early Scaffolding Errors and Subsequent Vowel Inferences

This paper investigates the processes that predict reading acquisition. Associations between (a) scaffolding errors (e.g., “torn” misread as “town” or “tarn”), other reading errors, and later reading and (b) vowel and rime inferences and later reading were explored. To assess both of these issues, 50 6‐year‐old children were shown a number of CVC words, and word reading errors were noted. Children were then taught families of riming words that could serve as a basis for rime or vowel analogies (e.g., “bark”, “mark”, “dark” → “park” or “harm”) before attempting to read the CVCs a second time. Children’s reading ability was measured at age 6 and two years later at age 8. The results showed that, among word reading error groups, only scaffolding errors at age 6 were unique predictors of reading at age 8, after reading, vocabulary, and phonological awareness were controlled. Vowel but not rime inferences predicted reading at age 8. The results are used to inform a model of the role of phoneme awareness and grapheme use in early reading development wherein vowel inference‐use helps to specify precise representations of CVC words from preliminary scaffolding errors.