Genetic and environmental influences on rapid naming and reading ability: A twin study

The present study assesses the genetic and environmental etiologies of reading, rapid naming (RN), and their covariation by fitting multivariate structural equation models to data from 587 twin pairs in which at least one member of the pair exhibited reading difficulties (low-range) and from 360 control (normal-range) twin pairs who were tested in the Colorado Learning Disabilities Research Center. Results from a bivariate phenotypic analysis with two hypothesized latent factors, READ and RN, indicated that the correlation between reading and rapid naming performance for the low-range sample was significantly higher than that of the normal-range sample. When this model was partitioned to include estimates of genetic, shared environmental, and nonshared environmental influences, resulting heritability estimates did not differ significantly for the low-range and normal-range samples for either READ or RN. However, similar to the phenotypic correlation, the genetic correlation between the READ and RN latent factors could not be equated for the two groups. Thus, the etiology of the relationship between reading performance and rapid naming may differ for children with reading difficulties and normally-achieving readers. Moreover, these results support previous findings that the best predictors of reading skills may differ for samples of children with normal reading levels and those with reading difficulties.     

“Montrose” child life protection unit: A treatment and assessment model in child abuse intervention

In New South Wales, Australia, the Department of Youth and Community Services is empowered by statute to deal with cases of child abuse and neglect. Its child protection services include the Montrose Child Life Protection Unit which is designed to support and complement the work of both the Intake Service, Field Service and most importantly the work of child protective facilities in the community. The service has intake crisis counselling and call out resources; maintains a central register; provides a facility for crisis residential care for children and families, diagnostic assessment, and a day programme. The emphasis in service delivery in New South Wales in the area of child protection is on multidisciplinary intervention. The Department of Youth and Community Services is involved in promoting interagency cooperation and co-ordination. Over and above a philosophy that underlies service delivery is the Montrose Unit's involvement in sensitising the community to the difficult and often demanding role of parenting. Montrose represents an attempt to create an environment where parenting myths can be examined from a reality base and strategies implemented for reeducation.     

Do digital natives differ by computer self-efficacy and experience? An empirical study

This study serves to validate a Chinese translation of the Digital Native Assessment Scale (C-DNAS) and assess if significant differences exist between a sample of students and teachers from a culture different than the one used in the development of the DNAS. Participants were 402 university students from one province in Mainland China. Results of the confirmatory factor analysis revealed that the C-DNAS possessed a stable factorial structure and was a valid measure among Chinese-speaking participants in Mainland China. Tests of measurement invariance revealed score equivalence among the students for each of the four factors of the C-DNAS: grew up with technology; comfortable with multitasking; reliant on graphics for communication; and thrive on instant gratifications and rewards, by computer self-efficacy and experience. Finally, tests of latent mean differences revealed significant differences in each of the four factors by computer experience but not by computer self-efficacy. Implications for research are discussed.     

Inter-Parietal White Matter Development Predicts Numerical Performance in Young Children

In an effort to understand the role of interhemispheric transfer in numerical development, we investigated the relationship between children's developing knowledge of numbers and the integrity of their white matter connections between the cerebral hemispheres (the corpus callosum). We used diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) tractography analyses to test the link between the development of the corpus callosum and performance on symbolic and non-symbolic numerical judgment tasks. We were especially interested in the interhemispheric connections of parietal cortex in 6-year-old children, because regions of parietal cortex have been implicated in the development of numerical skills by several prior studies. Our results revealed significant structural differences between children and adults in the fibers of the corpus callosum connecting the left and right parietal lobes. Importantly, these structural differences were predictive of individual differences among children in performance on numerical judgment tasks: children with poor numerical performance relative to their peers exhibited reduced white matter coherence in the fibers passing through the isthmus of the corpus callosum, which connects the parietal hemispheres.     

Science diaries: a brief writing intervention to improve motivation to learn science

This study investigated the hypothesis that prompting students to self-assess their interest and understanding of science concepts and activities would increase their motivation in science classes. Students were randomly assigned to an experimental condition that wrote self-assessments of their competence and interest in science lessons or a control condition that wrote summaries of those same lessons. Writing activities were 10?min long and were given approximately once a week for eighteen weeks. Student motivation was assessed via self-report surveys for achievement goals and interest in science before and after the intervention. Students in the experimental condition showed higher endorsement of mastery goals and reported greater situational interest in science topics after the intervention compared to students who summarised the lessons. Increases in situational interest predicted higher individual interest in the domain. Results indicate an instructional practice requiring just 3?hours out of a semester of instruction was sufficient to achieve these effects on motivation in science classes.     

Response-cost punishment with pigeons: Further evidence of response suppression via token loss

Four pigeons responded on a two-component multiple token-reinforcement schedule, in which tokens were produced according to a random-interval 30-sec schedule and exchanged according to a variable-ratio 4 schedule in both components. To assess the effects of contingent token loss, tokens were removed after every second response (i.e., fixed-ratio 2 loss) in one of the components. Response rates were selectively lower in the loss components relative to baseline (no-loss) conditions, as well as to the within-condition no-loss components. Response rates were decreased to a greater degree in the presence of tokens than in their absence. To control for the effects of changes in the density of token and food reinforcement, two parts consisted of additional conditions where food density and token loss were yoked to those in a previous loss condition. In the yoked-food condition, tokens were produced as usual in both components, but the overall density of food reinforcement in one of the components was yoked to that obtained during a previous token-loss condition. In the yoked token-loss condition, tokens were removed during one component of the multiple schedule at a rate that approximately matched the obtained rate of loss from a previous token-loss condition. Response rates in these yoked components were less affected than those in comparable loss components, despite similar densities of token, exchange, and food reinforcement. On the whole, the results support the conclusion that contingent token loss serves as an effective punisher with pigeons.     

Teacher Evaluation, Leadership and Learning Organizations

This article presents the argument that meaningful teacher evaluation in schools can be an important catalyst for organizational learning and school improvement when it is linked to broader conceptions of leadership in schools. A state-of-the-art teacher evaluation, assessment and professional growth system is described and the manner in which this system is linked to leadership density, organizational learning, and school improvement is detailed. Findings from two contrasting case studies of schools implementing this new system are presented and implications of the findings for linking teacher evaluation systems, newer conceptions of school leadership, and school improvement are described.