Assessing the effects of school‐wide Second Step implementation in a predominately English language learner,low SES,Latino sample

Because school violence is widespread, social and emotional competence must be targeted. Second Step is a social and emotional violence‐prevention curriculum that teaches prosocial skills and reduces aggressive behavior. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of Second Step implementation on students (N = 403) in preschool through fourth grade who were predominately Latino, English language learners, and from families with low socioeconomic status. The data of 165 out of the 403 students were included in the present study. Analyses consisted of paired‐samples t‐tests to identify changes in social and emotional knowledge and behavioral and emotional risk. Results showed that there was a significant increase in both social and emotional knowledge and behavioral and emotional risk following the implementation of Second Step. These results are discussed with regard to previous and future research, limitations, and implications for school practice.     

合作策略在初中生物学教学中的应用

本文结合案例说明教师在初中生物学教学过程中,如何选取适用的合作策略,保证合作活动有序地展开以及学习任务的高效完成.     

共同的语言,相隔千里

有时候,我在RSS浏览器里,总能读到一系列博客文章,看似不相关,却提出了一种新的观点。不管称它们是偶然发现、群体意识或是机缘巧合,这些文章提出的观点却是我在RSS看新闻时最棒的收获之一。     

Winning the battle and losing the war: Examining the relation between grade retention and dropping out of high school

The aim of this investigation is to provide a comprehensive review of dropout research that examines grade retention within both associative and predictive models. A systematic review of seventeen studies examining dropping out of high school prior to graduation demonstrates that grade retention is one of the most powerful predictors of dropout status. The discussion addresses the discrepancies among the perspectives of many educational professionals regarding the effectiveness of grade retention and deleterious long‐term correlates. The transactional model of development is presented, which emphasizes developmental trajectories over time, in order to facilitate the interpretation of the association between grade retention and school withdrawal. Educational professionals, teachers, researchers, parents, and policymakers considering the efficacy of grade retention are encouraged to consider the implications of these findings. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The Bathroom Boogeyman

In 2015, Houston, Texas voters defeated a bill that would have expanded civil rights to previously unprotected groups, including transgender people. Using a critical framing analysis, this paper investigates how the city’s daily newspaper, the Houston Chronicle, covered the debate over the bill. As such, this study found that the newspaper used almost exclusively elite sources, provided almost no in-depth context, and employed four frames—Equality, Bathroom Boogeyman, Bureaucratic Process, and Religious Freedom—in its Houston Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO) coverage. Together, these elements aligned to form a daunting challenge to an effort to protect one of society’s most vulnerable groups: the transgender community.     

An analysis of associations between residential and school mobility and educational outcomes in South African urban children: The Birth to Twenty cohort

Using data from Birth to Twenty, a cohort of South African urban children, the current paper investigates the relationships between residential and school mobility and a set of educational outcomes. The findings provide some evidence of a positive association between changes in residence and numeracy and literacy scores, and school mobility was found to be associated with grade repetition, however, no relationship was observed between changes in school and competency in numeracy and literacy. The South African study provides a counter example to trends observed in higher-income countries, while highlighting that associations are likely to be context specific.     

Hong Kong parents and their children’s music training: measurement properties of the Parental Involvement in Music Training Questionnaire

Many Hong Kong-Chinese parents are active in their support for their children’s music training. To better understand this support, the Parental Involvement in Music Training Questionnaire (PIMTQ) is designed to measure the variability in parental involvement in their children’s music training. This study begins by exploring the factor structure of the PIMTQ and then establishes its measurement properties using Rasch modelling. Two hundred and ninety-five Hong Kong-Chinese parents completed a Chinese version of the 42-item instrument with principal components analysis of the responses showing seven factors. However, Rasch modelling showed that two of the five factors (Family Music Background and Family Music Interest) are unable to reliably predict variability in parent responses. We conclude, however, that the remaining five factors (Parental Support Toward Music Training, Parental Expectations, Home Music Environment, Music Programme Support and Attitude Toward Music) of the PIMTQ can be used as subscales to measure the involvement of Hong Kong-Chinese parents in their children’s music training.     

Maximizing Performance Feedback Effectiveness through Videotape Replay and a Self-Controlled Learning Environment

This study was designed to examine whether participants who could control the schedule of performance feedback (KP) would learn differentially from those who received a rigid feedback schedule while learning a complex task. Participants (N = 48) were randomly assigned to self-controlled KP (SELF), summary KP (SUMMARY), yoked control (YOKE), or knowledge of results only (KR) conditions. Data collection consisted of an acquisition phase and a 4-day retention phase during which right-handed participants performed a left-handed ball throw. Overall, throwing form improved across trial blocks during acquisition, with the SUMMARY, SELF, and YOKE groups showing more improvement than the KR group. During retention, the SELF group retained a higher level of throwing form and accuracy in comparison to the other groups. Results suggest that when given the opportunity to control the feedback environment, learners require relatively less feedback to acquire skills and retain those skills at a level equivalent to or surpassing those who are given more feedback but receive it passively.