Easier Said Than Done: Rejoinder on Sijtsma and on Green and Yang

The main points of Sijtsma and Green and Yang in Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice (34, 4) are that reliability, internal consistency, and unidimensionality are distinct and that Cronbach's alpha may be problematic. Neither of these assertions are at odds with Davenport, Davison, Liou, and Love in the same issue. However, many authors in the testing community mention these terms not only together, but sometimes as if they are synonymous. Moreover, Cronbach's coefficient alpha is very popular as an index of reliability. Thus, articles discussing alpha are not only appropriate, but necessary. Our concerns are the same as formed the genesis of prior (2009) articles by these same authors, Sijtsma and Green and Yang. This rejoinder also makes comments about item parcels when tests are multidimensional and about factor analytic approaches to assessing reliability.     

Standardized test outcomes for students engaged in inquiry‐based science curricula in the context of urban reform

Considerable effort has been made over the past decade to address the needs of learners in large urban districts through scaleable reform initiatives. We examine the effects of a multifaceted scaling reform that focuses on supporting standards based science teaching in urban middle schools. The effort was one component of a systemic reform effort in the Detroit Public Schools, and was centered on highly specified and developed project‐based inquiry science units supported by aligned professional development and learning technologies. Two cohorts of 7th and 8th graders that participated in the project units are compared with the remainder of the district population, using results from the high‐stakes state standardized test in science. Both the initial and scaled up cohorts show increases in science content understanding and process skills over their peers, and significantly higher pass rates on the statewide test. The relative gains occur up to a year and a half after participation in the curriculum, and show little attenuation with in the second cohort when scaling occurred and the number of teachers involved increased. The effect of participation in units at different grade levels is independent and cumulative, with higher levels of participation associated with similarly higher achievement scores. Examination of results by gender reveals that the curriculum effort succeeds in reducing the gender gap in achievement experienced by urban African‐American boys. These findings demonstrate that standards‐based, inquiry science curriculum can lead to standardized achievement test gains in historically underserved urban students, when the curriculum is highly specified, developed, and aligned with professional development and administrative support. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 45: 922–939, 2008     

Intervention Provided to Linguistically Diverse Middle School Students with Severe Reading Difficulties

This study investigated the effectiveness of a multicomponent reading intervention implemented with middle school students with severe reading difficulties, all of whom had received remedial and/or special education for several years with minimal response to intervention. Participants were 38 students in grades 6-8 who had severe deficits in word reading, reading fluency, and reading comprehension. Most were Spanish-speaking English language learners (ELLs) with identified disabilities. Nearly all demonstrated severely limited oral vocabularies in English and, for ELLs, in both English and Spanish. Students were randomly assigned to receive the research intervention (n = 20) or typical instruction provided in their school's remedial reading or special education classes (n = 18). Students in the treatment group received daily explicit and systematic small-group intervention for 40 minutes over 13 weeks, consisting of a modified version of a phonics-based remedial program augmented with English as a Second Language practices and instruction in vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension strategies. Results indicated that treatment students did not demonstrate significantly higher outcomes in word recognition, comprehension, or fluency than students who received the school's typical instruction and that neither group demonstrated significant growth over the course of the study. Significant correlations were found between scores on teachers' ratings of students' social skills and problem behaviors and posttest decoding and spelling scores, and between English oral vocabulary scores and scores in word identification and comprehension. The researchers hypothesize that middle school students with the most severe reading difficulties, particularly those who are ELLs and those with limited oral vocabularies, may require intervention of considerably greater intensity than that provided in this study. Further research directly addressing features of effective remediation for these students is needed.     

The pentagonal implicit theory of giftedness revisited: A cross‐validation in Hong Kong

This article addresses the cross‐cultural generalization of the pentagonal implicit theory of giftedness (Sternberg & Zhang, 1995) as well as differential expectations regarding excellence for girls versus boys. First, we used an instrument based on the pentagonal theory with a sample of in‐service and pre‐service teachers at the University of Hong Kong. Second, we administered a questionnaire designed to assess conceptions of “excellence,” one of the attributes for giftedness described in the pentagonal model, to a different sample of in‐service and pre‐service teachers at the same university. We found a good fit of the pentagonal model to the data collected, paralleling results obtained in the U.S. We also found, however, that in Hong Kong, however, unlike in the U.S., participants had higher expectations of excellence for boys than for girls. These outcomes have implications for identification, instruction, and programming for the gifted.     

Filling a curriculum gap in chemistry

In most science courses at secondary level, the teaching methods used are not tailored to present different approaches to meet the individual differences in pupils’ learning styles or motivation. Much in the detailed objectives, and blow‐by‐blow worksheet approach, will appeal to the conscientious pupil but may turn off the more creative and curious pupil.

Mini‐projects (problem solving at the bench) were used as a vehicle to motivate the curious pupils. Correlations of factors such as convergence/divergence, field‐dependence/field‐independence and motivational traits with ‘success’ in mini‐projects are set out in this paper. The evidence indicates that those who do best in practical problem solving of the mini‐project type are the curious, field‐independent and divergent pupils. However, all categories of pupils were stimulated to varying degrees by the projects.     

What is Program Evaluation? Generating Knowledge for Improvement

In this introductory article, we discuss the nature of Program Evaluation, describing the concepts that underlie our formal and informal evaluative efforts. Program Evaluation, like any deliberate inquiry process, is about learning. The process explicates program purposes, activities, and outcomes and generates knowledge about their merit and worth. This knowledge can inform planning and lead to program improvement. We present and discuss various definitions of Program Evaluation, focussing on its purposes and uses. We also provide an overview of the inquiry process, grounding the search for merit and worth in the American Evaluation Association's Guiding Principles for Evaluators. Because program evaluations are typically conducted to inform decision makers, we discuss aspects of professional practise that contribute to the use of an evaluation. This chapter draws heavily on previous work by Sharon Rallis and Gretchen Rossman; see the following references. Rallis, S.F. and Rossman, G.B., “Mixed Methods in Evaluation Contexts: A Pragmatic framework”, in A. Tashakkori and C. Teddlie (eds.),Handbook of Mixed Methods in the Social and Behavioral Sciences (Thousand Oaks: Sage, 2002). Rallis, S.F. and Rossman, G.B., “Communicating Quality and Qualities: The Role of the Evaluator as Critical Friend”, in A.P. Benson, D.M. Hinn and C. Lloyd (eds.),Visions of Quality: How Evaluators Define, Understand, and Represent Program Quality (Oxford: JAI Press, 2001), pp. 107–120. Rallis, S.F. and Rossman, G.B. “Dialogue for Learning: Evaluator as Critical Friend”, in R. Hopson and M.Q. Patton (eds.),How and Why Language Matters in Evaluation, New Directions for Evaluation, 86 (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2000). Rossman, G.B. and Rallis, S.F.,Learning in the Field: An Introduction to Qualitive Research, 2nd edition (Thousand Oaks: Sage, 2003). Rossman, G.B. and Rallis, S.F., “Evaluation as Learning: Critical Inquiry and Use as Action”, in V.J. Caracelli and H. Preskill (eds.),The Expanding Scope of Evaluation Use, New Directions in Evaluation 88 (San Francisco: Jossey Bass, 2000).     

Book reviews

Mir, Mustansir. Verbal Idioms of the Qur'ān. (Michigan Series on the Middle East, no. I). Ann Arbon University of Michigan, 1989. xxi+378 pp., glossary; US$ 21.95 (paperback).

Fiotini, Stanley and Mallia‐Milanes, Victor, eds. Malta. A Case Study in International Cross‐Currents. Proceedings of the First International Colloquium on the History of the Central Mediterranean held at the University of Malta, 13–17 December 1989. Msida: Malta University Publications, 1991. xxii+300pp. 17 plates, 8 text figures. M£5.

Bellamy, James A. ed. Studies in Near Eastern Culture and History in Memory of Ernest T. Abdel‐Massih. (Michigan Series on the Middle East, no. 2). Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan, 1990. x+225pp.

Dajani‐Shakeel, Hadia and Messier, Ronald A. eds. The Jihād and its Times, dedicated to Andrew Stefan Ehrenkreutz. Ann Arbor: Center for Near Eastern and North African Studies, The University of Michigan, 1991. iii+135pp.

Minorités religieuses dans l'Espagne médiévale. (Nos. 63–64 of Revue du Monde Musulman et de la Méditerranée). Aix‐en‐Provence: Édisud, 1992. FF 160.

Burckhardt, Titus. Fez, City of Islam. Translated by William Stoddart. Cambridge: Islamic Texts Society, 1992. 175pp. 58pl.

Jayyusi, Salma Kh., ed. The Legacy of Muslim Spain. Leiden: Brill, 1992. (Handbuch der Orientalistik, Erste Abteilung, The Near and Middle East, zwolfter Band), xix+1098 pp. 6 maps; 27 pages of colour and black and white illustrations. Hfl. 450.

Stetkevych, Jaroslav. The Zephyrs of Najd: The Poetics of Nostalgia in the Classical Arabic Nasib. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993. xii+326pp.

Corbin, Henry. History of Islamic Philosophy. London: Kegan Paul International/Islamic Publications for The Institute of Ismaili Studies, 1993. xvii+445pp. £55.

Burrell, David B., C.S.C. Freedom and Creation in Three Traditions. Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press, 1993. xi, 225 pp. Cloth $29.95; paper $13.95.

Köprülü, Mehmed Fuad. Islam in Anatolia after the Turkish Invasion. Translated and edited by Gary Leiser. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1993. xviii, 141pp.

Stetkevych, Suzanne Pinckney. The Mute Immortals Speak: Pre‐Islamic Poetry and the Poetics of Ritual (Myth and Poetics. Gen. ed. Gregory Nagy). Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1993. xvi, 334pp.; appendix of Arabic texts.

L'Expulsió dels Moriscos. Conseqüències en el món islàmic i el món cristià. Sant Caries de la Ràpita 5–9 de desembre de 1990. Barcelona: Generalitat de Catalunya, Departament de Cultura, 1994. 418pp.

Agius, Dionisius A. and Hitchcock, Richard, eds. The Arab Influence in Medieval Europe (Folia Scholastica Mediterranean Reading: Ithaca Press, 1994. 167pp. £30.

Davidson, Olga M. Poet and Hero in the Persian Book of Kings (Myth and Poetics. Gen. ed. Gregory Nagy). Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1994. xi, 197pp.