The Strong African American Families Program: translating research into prevention programming

A randomized prevention trial contrasted families who took part in the Strong African American Families Program (SAAF), a preventive intervention for rural African American mothers and their 11-year-olds, with control families. SAAF is based on a contextual model positing that regulated, communicative parenting causes changes in factors protecting youths from early alcohol use and sexual activity. Parenting variables included involvement-vigilance, racial socialization, communication about sex, and clear expectations for alcohol use. Youth protective factors included negative attitudes about early alcohol use and sexual activity, negative images of drinking youths, resistance efficacy, a goal-directed future orientation, and acceptance of parental influence. Intervention-induced changes in parenting mediated the effect of intervention group influences on changes in protective factors over a 7-month period.     

Modification of a mother's verbal abuse

In this study an abusive parent was instructed in techniques of behavior modification. It was hypothesized that the parent-child interactions would improve as the mother, Mrs. X, began modifying her daughter Jan's behavior.An A-B - A-B reversal design was implemented. Baseline data was collected to determine the frequency with which Jan interrupted Mrs. X. During the treatment phase, Mrs. X was to ignore Jan's interruptions and positively reinforce Jan when she spoke to Mrs. X without interrupting. However, Mrs. X did not apply the treatment consistently and the frequency of Jan's interruptions did not change significantly. Thus a return to baseline and reimplementation of the treatment was not necessary.In order to ascertain whether the parent-child interactions chanqed, two thirty-minute tapes of the baseline sessions were made and two thirty-minute tapes of the treatment sessions were made. The tapes were transcribed and assessed according to the Kasprin-Burrelli, Egolf, and Shames Parent-Child Interaction Scale (Kasprin-Burrelli, et al., 1972).The quality of the parent-child interactions, as measured by the Kasprin-Burrelli, et al., Parent-Child Interaction Scale, improved throughout the study. Thus, it is impossible to state that the treatment was responsible for the improvement. It is hypothesized that the presence of the examiner resulted in the improvement. Mrs. X is a college-educated woman and appears to need adult stimulation. When Mrs. X's need for adult stimulation was met, then her interactions with Jan improved. Thus, although Mrs. X did not modify Jan's interruption behavior, her interactions with Jan did improve throughout the experiment.     

A look at student cheating in college science classes

To gain an appreciation of the collusion rate of college students in science classes, over three hundred undergraduates from western Pennsylvania were sampled for their attitudes toward different forms of cheating. The science students were sampled from several different divisions within the university. The survey used in the study was developed by Baird (1980) and holds a reliability coefficient of 89%. The results of the survey indicate that eighty three percent of the respondents had cheated in science sometime in their lives. The vast majority (86%) of the pupils had shared homework answers with classmates and most (81%) had told little lies to teachers or administrators to avoid getting in trouble. Fewer, but still the majority (75%), of the students admitted to have copied phrases directly out of glossaries, encyclopedias, journals or reference books turning it in as their own work. Most students (80%) had also used crib notes or written science terms on their shoes, wrists or other parts of their body to get by minor quizzes at times in their biology course. Over three quarters of the students admitted to cheating on large exams and major projects. When the results of the study are compared to students surveyed with the same instrument a decade ago, it is revealed that the cheating among students is growing. Alarmingly, when the results of the 1993 study were compared to the one in 1980, it was discovered that student collusion had increased in all of the categories in the questionnaire.     

Assessing and Predicting Small-Group Literacy Instruction in Early Childhood Classrooms

Research Findings: The present study assessed the extent to which early childhood educators utilized small-group literacy instruction and explored factors potentially associated with the use of this evidence-based practice. The classroom activities of 83 early childhood educators were observed in the fall and spring, and videos were coded to calculate time spent in small-group literacy instruction. Educators completed questionnaires indicating classroom adult:child ratios, literacy beliefs, and feelings of self-efficacy. Classroom Assessment Scoring System scores for classroom organization and instructional support measured the quality of classroom management and instructional interactions, respectively. On average, educators provided 11.4 min (SD = 10.6) of small-group literacy instruction a day. It is notable that many educators provided little or no small-group literacy instruction. Negative binomial regression analyses indicated that educators with better classroom management, higher quality instructional interactions, and lower adult:child ratios were more likely to use small-group literacy instruction. Educators’ beliefs and feelings of self-efficacy were not associated with the use of small-group literacy instruction. Practice or Policy: Educators may be better able to provide small-group literacy instruction in contexts affording low adult:child ratios and high levels of classroom management and instructional support, all of which are malleable factors that can be changed via policy or professional development.     

The Decline and Elimination of PETE: Implications for Doctoral Education

ABSTRACT

In this article, we will explore the current landscape of teacher education programs in general, and specifically, physical education teacher education (PETE) from the national level down to the local level. Furthermore, we will explore the impact that the elimination of undergraduate PETE programs can have on PETE doctoral programs, including the teaching, research, and engagement of their faculty. We present ideas for preparing doctoral students for their future higher education roles that may or may not include the preparation of future physical educators.     

The Impact of Prior Counseling on Predictors of College Counseling Center Use

Path analyses revealed that one's tendency to conceal distressing information, social support, psychological distress, and attitudes toward seeking help predicted intended use of counseling services for college students who had and had not previously been in counseling. Prospective analyses revealed that attitudes toward seeking help predicted actual use of the campus counseling center. These findings have implications for campus outreach programs and in‐session work with clients.     

Gender and use of instructional technologies: A study of university faculty

Instructional technologies have the potential to help highereducation faculty address increasing demands on their time and energy. Thisstudy investigated technology use by faculty at medium-sized, publicuniversity in the midwestern United States. Because a number of studies haveshown gender differences in technology use, survey data were analyzed alonggender lines. Results showed that males rated their knowledge and experiencewith some innovative technologies higher than did females. For frequency ofuse, no significant differences were found, with the exception of video,where females indicated slightly more frequent use. Both rated technologiesas important to instruction. For factors influencing technology use, femalesrated time to learn a technology, increased student learning, ease of use,training, and available information in discipline as more important than didmales. Such incentives as release time, merit pay, contribution to promotionand tenure, monetary rewards, and recognition by the university were ratedmore important by women, as were the barriers of lack of time and lack ofcontribution to professional advancement. These findings suggest that genderdifferences in technology use by university faculty may exist and need to beaddressed.