Celebrating the achievements of sex and relationship peer educators: the development of an assessment process

Young people engaged as peer educators are increasingly important in sex and relationship education (SRE) programmes in a variety of settings and are particularly valued in the APAUSE programme (Rees et al., 1997 Rees JB Mellanby AR Tripp JH (1997) Peer‐led education in the classroom (APAUSE), a collaborative intervention between education, health and young people in: J. Coleman & D. Roker (Eds) Teenage sexuality: risk, health and education (London, Harwood Academic) 137 164  [Google Scholar]). The increase in popularity of peer education raises a need to value the inputs of young people and to give formal recognition to peers. An assessment process focusing on aspects of performance including communication, teamwork and relationships skills has been developed to assess volunteer peer educators on the APAUSE programme that aims to reconcile the typical tension in assessment of showing public recognition of competence and the ability to motivate learners. This paper reports initial findings from a pilot of this assessment process in 28 schools, involving 484 peer educators across England. Initial data suggest this has been extremely well received by teachers and peers. Experience of the process provides teachers with a method of feedback, which, by sharing the language of assessment with peers, enables the young people to be clearer about their tasks, making them more effective as peers and better able to articulate their experiences. These data are used to describe the contributions that an assessment process, focused on assessing performance in authentic situations, can make to SRE.     

Prenatal Maternal Stress and Child IQ

The evidence for negative influences of maternal stress during pregnancy on child cognition remains inconclusive. This study tested the association between maternal prenatal stress and child intelligence in 4,251 mother–child dyads from a multiethnic population-based cohort in the Netherlands. A latent factor of prenatal stress was constructed, and child IQ was tested at age 6 years. In Dutch and Caribbean participants, prenatal stress was not associated with child IQ after adjustment for maternal IQ and socioeconomic status. In other ethnicities no association was found; only in the Moroccan/Turkish group a small negative association between prenatal stress and child IQ was observed. These results suggest that prenatal stress does not predict child IQ, except in children from less acculturated minority groups.     

Is experience the best teacher? A multilevel analysis of teacher characteristics and student achievement in low performing schools

The study investigated several teacher characteristics, with a focus on two measures of teaching experience, and their association with second grade student achievement gains in low performing, high poverty schools in a Mid-Atlantic state. Value-added models using three-level hierarchical linear modeling were used to analyze the data from 1,544 students, 154 teachers, and 53 schools. Results indicated that traditional teacher qualification characteristics such as licensing status and educational attainment were not statistically significant in producing student achievement gains. Total years of teaching experience was also not a significant predictor but a more specific measure, years of teaching experience at a particular grade level, was significantly associated with increased student reading achievement. We caution researchers and policymakers when interpreting results from studies that have used only a general measure of teacher experience as effects are possibly underestimated. Policy implications are discussed.

Effects of Multimedia Instruction on Teaching Functional Discrimination Skills to Students with Moderate/Severe Intellectual Disabilities

The present study used a multiple probe across subjects design to evaluate the effectiveness of a multimedia computer-based instructional program in establishing match-to-sample skills, as well as to evaluate the subsequent generalisation of those skills to the natural setting. Specifically, the program used photographs depicting target stimuli (i.e., cereal boxes as they appear on grocery store shelves) in an attempt to increase the likelihood that selection of specified cereal boxes would generalise to the grocery stores in the community. In vivo probes were conducted to evaluate any generalisation of the discriminations. Results indicated that the mean and median durations to find target cereals decreased concomitant with an increase in the number of cereals found. The results are discussed in relationship to using computer-based instruction to increase the degree to which learners' skills generalise to community settings.     

Pathways to equity in mathematics education: how life experiences impact researcher positionality

This study examined the life histories of a group of emerging scholars in the field of mathematics education who identify themselves as having a particular interest in and concern for issues of equity and diversity. Experiences of being the "other," "bearing witness" to "othering experiences," and "orienting experiences" in relation to issues of equity proved to be prominent themes in participants' life histories. These experiences were then linked to the positionality that these scholars now have in relation to their research in mathematics education.     

Private room as a test accommodation

The effects of a private vs. group test setting were examined on a reading comprehension test for a sample of typical college students. Participants took Forms G and H of the Nelson Denny Reading Comprehension Test in both private and group (classroom) settings. Contrary to expectations, performance was slightly better in the group setting. Performance was also better during the second session, regardless of setting. There was no setting by session interaction. The correlation between scores in the two settings was quite high, indicating that both settings produced similar results. The findings suggest that a private room does not produce a performance advantage for typical students, thus meeting one of the criteria of a valid test accommodation.     

Prospective teacher learning: recognizing evidence of conceptual understanding

This study examined prospective teachers’ (PSTs) ability to recognize evidence of children’s conceptual understanding of mathematics in three content areas before and after an instructional intervention designed to support this ability. It also investigates the role PSTs’ content knowledge plays in their ability to recognize children’s mathematical understanding. Results of content knowledge assessments administered at the beginning of the study revealed that content knowledge did seem to support PSTs’ analyses of children’s understanding when the child’s response demonstrated understanding or demonstrated a misconception. Content knowledge did not seem to support PSTs’ analyses of children’s procedural responses, as many PSTs with good content knowledge initially characterized procedural solutions as evidence of conceptual understanding. Similarly, content knowledge did not seem to support PSTs’ analyses of children’s responses with features commonly associated with understanding but not evidence of understanding. After the instructional intervention consisting of three multifaceted lessons in which PSTs examined many examples of student thinking, they showed improved ability to analyze responses with conceptual features and no evidence of conceptual understanding and responses demonstrating procedural knowledge. Results suggest that content knowledge is not sufficient for supporting PSTs’ analysis of children’s thinking, and that building activities such as the intervention into content courses may help develop this ability. Implications for teacher education programs and future research are considered.     

Unexpected Pathways: Criminal Justice Career Options in the Private Sector

Career guide books and scholarly articles alike focus on courts, corrections, and law enforcement careers for criminal justice students. While those careers are noteworthy and popular among students, there are numerous professions available to criminal justice students in the private sector. This study outlines possible career choices outside of the criminal justice system as well as potential organizations for employment. Employment options are located in the fields of investigation, security, legal assistance, intelligence analysis, research and academia, and others with defense contractors, consulting firms, intelligence agencies, and Fortune 500 companies among additional private corporations.