Language and reading impairments are associated with increased prevalence of non-right-handedness

Handedness has been studied for association with language-related disorders because of its link with language hemispheric dominance. No clear pattern has emerged, possibly because of small samples, publication bias, and heterogeneous criteria across studies. Non-right-handedness (NRH) frequency was assessed in N = 2503 cases with reading and/or language impairment and N = 4316 sex-matched controls identified from 10 distinct cohorts (age range 6–19 years old; European ethnicity) using a priori set criteria. A meta-analysis (N_cases = 1994) showed elevated NRH % in individuals with language/reading impairment compared with controls (OR = 1.21, CI = 1.06–1.39, p = .01). The association between reading/language impairments and NRH could result from shared pathways underlying brain lateralization, handedness, and cognitive functions.     

The Roots of Stereotype Threat: When Automatic Associations Disrupt Girls' Math Performance

Although stereotype awareness is a prerequisite for stereotype threat effects (Steele & Aronson, 1995), research showed girls' deficit under stereotype threat before the emergence of math–gender stereotype awareness, and in the absence of stereotype endorsement. In a study including 240 six‐year‐old children, this paradox was addressed by testing whether automatic associations trigger stereotype threat in young girls. Whereas no indicators were found that children endorsed the math–gender stereotype, girls, but not boys, showed automatic associations consistent with the stereotype. Moreover, results showed that girls' automatic associations varied as a function of a manipulation regarding the stereotype content. Importantly, girls' math performance decreased in a stereotype‐consistent, relative to a stereotype‐inconsistent, condition and automatic associations mediated the relation between stereotype threat and performance.     

Scaling up comprehensive sexuality education in Nigeria: from national policy to nationwide application

Nigeria is one of few countries that reports having translated national policies on school-based comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) into near-nationwide implementation. We analysed data using the World Health Organization-ExpandNet framework, which provides a systematic structure for planning and managing the scaling up of health innovations. We examined how Nigeria's nationwide programme was designed and executed. Since 2002, Nigeria has developed a well thought through strategy to scale up CSE. Crucial attributes that facilitated the scaling up included technical consensus about the innovation and clarity about its components, dissection of a complex intervention into manageable components for implementation by organisations with complementary expertise, strong political leadership and championship in concert with advocacy and technical support from non-governmental organisations, proactive and energetic involvement of community stakeholders, effective programme management, and improvements to the information management system to ensure on-track implementation and mid-course corrections to keep stakeholders, including funders, informed and engaged. Challenges included programmatic values, competing priorities for available human resources and a lack of predictable funding for sustaining a rapid scale-up effort. Despite some weaknesses, implementation has largely proceeded according to plan. The lessons learned from Nigeria's experience can and should be used in other settings to achieve wide-scale coverage.     

Socio-cultural variation in reading comprehension development among fifth graders in Peru

In this study, the socio-cultural variation in reading comprehension development was examined in 331 fifth graders from schools in Lima, Peru. Reading comprehension was measured using an adaptation of the PIRLS Reading Literacy test. The fifth graders?? reading comprehension results, measured over the course of fifth grade, were related to the development of word decoding, vocabulary, and motivation for reading. Children??s development in these domains was related to their gender, intellectual maturity, home literacy climate, and socio-economic status. Structural Equation Modelling showed that the development of reading comprehension was influenced by the children??s ability to decode words, their vocabulary, and reading motivation. Furthermore, gender and intellectual maturity as well as children??s home literacy climate and socio-economic status appeared to substantially predict reading comprehension development, directly or indirectly. More than half of the variance in reading comprehension by the end of the fifth grade could be explained based on these predictor variables.     

Do sophisticated epistemic beliefs predict meaningful learning? Findings from a structural equation model of undergraduate biology learning

This study investigated the relationships among college students’ epistemic beliefs in biology (EBB), conceptions of learning biology (COLB), and strategies of learning biology (SLB). EBB includes four dimensions, namely ‘multiple-source,’ ‘uncertainty,’ ‘development,’ and ‘justification.’ COLB is further divided into ‘constructivist’ and ‘reproductive’ conceptions, while SLB represents deep strategies and surface learning strategies. Questionnaire responses were gathered from 303 college students. The results of the confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling showed acceptable model fits. Mediation testing further revealed two paths with complete mediation. In sum, students’ epistemic beliefs of ‘uncertainty’ and ‘justification’ in biology were statistically significant in explaining the constructivist and reproductive COLB, respectively; and ‘uncertainty’ was statistically significant in explaining the deep SLB as well. The results of mediation testing further revealed that ‘uncertainty’ predicted surface strategies through the mediation of ‘reproductive’ conceptions; and the relationship between ‘justification’ and deep strategies was mediated by ‘constructivist’ COLB. This study provides evidence for the essential roles some epistemic beliefs play in predicting students’ learning.     

What drives teacher engagement: a study of different age cohorts

Despite the growing body of research on work engagement, little is known about what drives work engagement among different age cohorts. This study aims to investigate whether engagement varies across age cohorts and examine the job resources that foster teacher engagement. A questionnaire was distributed to 537 teachers who were employed in elementary, lower and upper secondary school. Findings show that work engagement did indeed vary across the diverse age group and is influenced by different resources. In line with previous studies, data revealed that the engagement of younger teachers is driven by the opportunity for development and interaction with colleagues, while older employees appreciate the opportunity to see their competencies acknowledged. What is most noteworthy is the opportunity to design practices and to provide every age group with the appropriate set of motivators.     

Centering the Educational and Social Significance of HBCUs: A Focus on the Educational Journeys and Thoughts of African American Scholars

In this article we provide a brief history of historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) as a part of the sociopolitical context framing this special issue. The aim of this issue is to situate HBCUs as centers of leadership, change, and influence as well as repositories of Black education and the Black American experience through their legacy of intellectual, cultural, and communal engagement. We argue that the lived experiences of HBCU graduates provide a deeper understanding of their positionalities in the landscape of U.S. American higher education outcomes.     

Feeling Brown in the Academy: Decolonizing Mentoring Through a Disidentification Muxerista Approach

According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, “Hispanics” comprise only 4% of the full-time faculty in U.S. universities, although Latin@s comprise 16.4% of the U.S. population. Given the under-representation of Latin@ faculty, efforts to support and retain them are paramount. Recently a small body of literature has surfaced explicitly centering the practices of peer mentoring among Latin@s. Through collaborative auto-ethnography and counter-storytelling, using a framework of disidentification, muxerista mentoring, and community cultural wealth, we add to this literature by discussing our experience of engaging in non-hierarchical Latina peer mentoring at a predominantly White university. The main themes include: merging emotional needs with professional growth, forging learning and research partnerships, Browning teaching spaces and transforming institutional practices.     

Use of an orton-gillingham approach to teach a foreign language to dyslexic/learning-disabled students: Explicit teaching of phonology in a second language

Recent research findings suggest that students who have difficulty learning a second language have weaknesses in oral and written native-language skills which affect their performance in the foreign-language classroom. These weaknesses involve understanding the phonological, syntactic, and semantic codes of language. Evidence suggests that dyslexic/learning-disabled and other “at risk” students who struggle in the second language classroom exhibit particular difficulty with the phonological and syntactic codes of the language. The Orton-Gillingham method, a multisensory, structured language approach which adheres to the direct and explicit teaching of phonology, is presented as an alternative to the “natural” communication approaches recently developed by foreign-language educators to teach a second language. A method for adapting this approach for teaching Spanish is described.