Genes, environment, and dyslexia the 2005 Norman Geschwind memorial lecture

This article presents an overview of some methods and results from our continuing studies of genetic and environmental influences on dyslexia, and on individual differences across the normal range that have been conducted over the past 25 years in the Colorado Learning Disabilities Research Center (CLDRC) and in related projects. CLDRC investigators compare the similarities of identical twin pairs who share all their genes and fraternal twins who share half their segregating genes to assess the balance of genetic, shared family environment, and nonshared environment influences on dyslexia and on individual differences across the normal range. We have learned that among the children we have studied in Colorado, group deficits in reading (dyslexia) and individual differences in reading across the normal range are primarily due to genetic influences, and these genetic influences are often shared with some of the same genetic influences on deficits and individual differences in language and ADHD. We have also learned from our molecular-genetic linkage studies that there are regions on several chromosomes likely to contain genes that influence dyslexia. Several specific genes within these regions have been tentatively identified through molecular-genetic association analyses, but much more research is needed to understand the pathways among specific genes, regions of noncoding DNA that regulate the activity of those genes, the brain, and dyslexia. I conclude with a discussion of our research on individual differences in early reading development, on the role of early learning constraints in dyslexia, and on how genetic influences are expressed through their interaction and correlation with the environment.     

Effectiveness of Spanish intervention for first-grade English language learners at risk for reading difficulties

The effectiveness of an explicit, systematic reading intervention for first-grade students whose home language was Spanish and who were at risk for reading difficulties was examined. Participants were 69 students in 20 classrooms in 7 schools from 3 districts who initially did not pass the screening in Spanish and were randomly assigned within schools to a treatment or comparison group; after 7 months, 64 students remained in the study. The intervention matched the language of instruction of their core reading program (Spanish). Treatment groups of 3 to 5 students met daily for 50 min and were provided systematic and explicit instruction in oral language and reading by trained bilingual intervention teachers. Comparison students received the school's standard intervention for struggling readers. Observations during core reading instruction provided information about the reading instruction and language use of the teachers. There were no differences between the treatment and comparison groups in either Spanish or English on any measures at pretest, but there were significant posttest differences in favor of the treatment group for the following outcomes in Spanish: Letter-Sound Identification (d = 0.72), Phonological Awareness composite (d = 0.73), Woodcock Language Proficiency Battery-Revised Oral Language composite (d = 0.35), Word Attack (d = 0.85), Passage Comprehension (d = 0.55), and two measures of reading fluency (d = 0.58-0.75).     

Deviant Peer Factors During Early Adolescence: Cause or Consequence of Physical Aggression?

This study investigated reciprocal relations between adolescents' physical aggression and their perceptions of peers' deviant behaviors and attitudes. Analyses were conducted on four waves of data from 2,290 adolescents (ages 10–16) from three urban middle schools. Autoregression models revealed reciprocal relations between peer factors (i.e., friends' problem behavior, peer pressure for fighting, friends' support for fighting) and adolescents' reporting of their aggressive behavior. Bidirectional relations were also found between peer pressure for fighting and adolescents' frequency of physical aggression based on teacher ratings. Findings were consistent across sex, grade, and time. Findings suggest that multiple dimensions of peers' behaviors uniquely play a role in the development of adolescents' aggression and have important implications for interventions to reduce problem behaviors.     

The Role of Childhood Executive Function in Explaining Income Disparities in Long-Term Academic Achievement

This study utilized data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (N = 14,860) to examine whether early-life family income (age 0–5) predicted long-term academic achievement (age 16–18) and to investigate the role of executive function (EF) assessed multiple times across age 7–11 in explaining this association. Task-based EF was a significant mediator between early-life family income and later academic achievement in every model. This mediating pathway persisted when adjusting for a comprehensive panel of covariates including verbal IQ, sex, family income at ages 8 and 18, and early-life temperament. Additionally, teacher-rated and parent-rated EF mediated in some models. Overall, these findings suggest that childhood EF may play an important role in perpetuating income-based educational disparities.     

A Typology of State Financial Aid Grant Programs Using Latent Class Analysis

Research in Higher Education - State financial aid grant programs are commonly categorized as either need-based, merit-based, or both, but their initial eligibility requirements include many more...     

Spatializing a global education phenomenon: private tutoring and mobility theory in Cambodia

ABSTRACT

Along with the dramatic expansion of private tutoring around the world, a significant body of literature has been produced to understand this phenomenon. While many studies consider the issue of geographic location, the spatial dimension tends not to be a central focus of private tutoring studies. In contrast, the present essay applies mobility theory to research from Cambodia, where private tutoring is essential to student success. It does so in order to place private tutoring provision into a broader perspective that includes but moves beyond the economic dimensions of supply and demand and the sociological dimensions of economic, cultural, and social capital to include consideration of how private tutoring provision is constrained by a multidimensional spatial field of possibilities and how private tutoring participation is enabled by one’s position and abilities in relation to that field. The paper argues for increased attention to ‘spatial capital’ in studies of private tutoring and education generally.     

The role of scaling up research in designing for and evaluating robustness

One of the great strengths of Jim Kaput’s research program was his relentless drive towards scaling up his innovative approach to teaching the mathematics of change and variation. The SimCalc mission, “democratizing access to the mathematics of change,” was enacted by deliberate efforts to reach an increasing number of teachers and students each year. Further, Kaput asked: What can we learn from research at the next level of scale (e.g., beyond a few classrooms at a time) that we cannot learn from other sources? In this article, we develop an argument that scaling up research can contribute important new knowledge by focusing researchers’ attention on the robustness of an innovation when used by varied students, teachers, classrooms, schools, and regions. The concept of robustness requires additional discipline both in the design process and in the conduct of valid research. By examining a progression of three studies in the Scaling Up SimCalc program, we articulate how scaling up research can contribute to designing for and evaluating robustness.     

Teachers’ perceptions of assessments of their mathematical knowledge in a professional development course

The purpose of the project reported in this article was to evaluate how assessing teachers’ mathematical knowledge within a professional development course impacted from the teachers’ perspective their learning and their experience with the course. The professional development course consisted of a 2-week summer institute and the content focus was geometry. We had decided to assess the mathematical learning of the teachers during this professional development course for various accountability reasons, but were concerned about possible negative by-products of this decision on the teachers and their participation. Thus, we worked to design assessment in ways that we hoped would minimize negative impacts and maintain a supportive learning environment. In addition, we undertook this evaluation to examine the impacts of the assessment, which included homework, quizzes, various projects, and an examination for program evaluation. Seventeen grade 5–9 teachers enrolled in the course participated in the study by completing written reflections and by describing their experiences in interviews. We learned that while our original intent was “to do no harm,” the teachers reported that their learning was enhanced by the assessment. The article concludes by describing the various properties of the assessments that the teachers identified as contributing to their learning of the geometry content, many of which align with current recommendations for assessing and evaluating grade K-16 mathematics students.

Amerikanische „Elitehochschulen“

The system of higher education in the USA comprises the undergraduate programs of the colleges and the graduate programs in research universities. This distinction has no equivalent in Germany. The idea of elite education is connected exclusively with the colleges. Its meaning and functions are demonstrated with an analysis of the criteria which are used for the ranking of higher education institutions. The ranking of the colleges is addressed to the students and is based on indicators, which give expression above all to the educational priorities of the students and the alumni. The ranking of the graduate programs focuses on specific academic programs and is addressed to the members of the various academic fields and to their prospective students. A few rankings cover whole educational institutions and serve to inform the higher educational management. We use these data to identity the specifics of outstanding research universities and their role in American higher education.