White children's empathy-related responding and prosocial behavior toward White and Black children

Relations among White (non-Latinx) children's empathy-related responding, prosocial behaviors, and racial attitudes toward White and Black peers were examined. In 2017, 190 (54% boys) White 5- to 9-year-old children (M = 7.09 years, SD = 0.94) watched a series of videos that depicted social rejection of either a White or Black child. Empathy-related responses, prosocial behaviors, and racial attitudes were measured using multiple methods. Results showed that younger children showed less facial concern toward Black than White peers and greater increases with age in concern and prosocial behaviors (sharing a desirable prize) for Black, compared to White, targets. Children's facial anger increased with age for White but not Black targets. The findings can extend our understanding children's anti-racism development.     

Online work tools: A look at 20 academic libraries technical services Web pages

The 21st century technical services librarian has access to a plethora of electronic and online work tools from which to choose to complete daily tasks. An assessment of the Western Kentucky University Libraries (WKUL) 19 benchmark institutions shows a great disparity of online work tools made available through university libraries technical services departmental Web sites. Four areas (technical services, cataloging, serials, and acquisitions) are discussed. Outcomes indicate that (1) few of these institutions list online work tools and (2) of those that do, there is very little overlap. This paper investigates this phenomenon of inconsistent technical services online work tools.     

Examining teachers’ perceptions of K‐11 students’ 21st century skills and student performance

This study examined the relationship of teachers’ ratings of students’ 21st century skills (i.e., persistence, curiosity, externalizing and internalizing affect, and cognition) via the Human Behavior Rating Scale: Brief (HBRS: Brief; Eaves & Woods‐Groves, 2011) with student performance. Midwestern K‐11 teachers (n = 96) rated students (n = 1,689) via the HBRS: Brief and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ; Goodman, 1997). Students’ academic (i.e., standardized tests) and behavioral (i.e., office discipline referrals [ODRs] and absences) performance was compared with HBRS: Brief ratings. Hierarchical linear modeling revealed that teachers’ ratings of students’ 21st century skills were related to the following: (a) Persistence with SDQ conduct problems, academic performance, and absences; (b) curiosity with SDQ emotional symptoms; (c) externalizing affect with SDQ conduct problems, academic performance, and ODRs; (d) internalizing affect with SDQ emotional symptoms and academic performance, and (e) cognition with academics.     

A Constructivist Perspective for Integrating Spirituality Into Counselor Training

Significant efforts have been made in recent years to integrate training in spirituality and religion into counselor training programs. This article highlights issues that may be encountered by some trainees and suggests that constructivist teaching principles be used to mitigate these concerns. The authors present recommendations and activities in the context of the Association for Spiritual, Ethical, and Religious Values in Counseling (2009) Spiritual Competencies.     

A Study of How Classroom Dialogue Facilitates the Development of Geometric Spatial Concepts Related to Understanding the Cause of Moon Phases

Using data derived from interviews of small groups of secondary school science teachers, this paper offers insights into how they came to enter school teaching. Together with other data drawn from parallel interviews with another small group of secondary school history teachers in the same schools, conducted initially for comparative purposes, the paper suggests that, in both cases, the decision to teach is the outcome of a number of unpredictable and contingent factors, rather than a response to a sense of vocation or any initial long‐term commitment to the profession. The implications of these findings for theoretical approaches to understanding career choice and for teacher recruitment are briefly explored.     

Implications of Parcel-Allocation Variability for Comparing Fit of Item-Solutions and Parcel-Solutions

This article relates a still-popular motivation for using parceling to an unrecognized cost. The still-popular motivation is improvement in fit with respect to the item-solution. The cost is uncertainty in fit due to the selection of one out of many possible item-to-parcel allocations. A theoretical framework establishes the reason for this relationship: The same mechanisms that cause larger item- versus parcel-solution differences in the minimized discrepancy function also cause larger allocation to allocation variability in the parcel-solution's minimized discrepancy function. Study 1 illustrates that these shared causal mechanisms lead to a strong positive association between average item–parcel differences in minimized discrepancy function values and parcel-allocation variability in those values. Study 2 extends these results from discrepancy function values to fit indexes, showing that the association remains positive, but varies in magnitude depending on what quantities other than the discrepancy function are involved in computing the fit index. The important implication for practice is that when item–parcel fit differences are large enough to alter conclusions about model adequacy, parcel-allocation variability tends to be large enough for parcel-solution model adequacy to depend on the particular allocation chosen.