An Analysis of the Southern California Perceptual Motor Tests

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the Southern California Perceptual Motor Tests (SCPMT) since (1) the validity of the tests has been questioned and (2) the tests are widely used in the development of Individualized Education Programs for children with special motoric needs. The subjects were 386 children characterized as having learning and/or perceptual problems; they were evaluated by occupational therapists in Ohio and Tennessee. A factor analysis was made based on the subjects' performances on the 42 individual items. The results indicated that the test items generally have good discriminative ability. However, the distribution of items of some of the individual tests across more than one factor suggests that, at least in children with learning disorders, the tests are sampling a wider number of constructs than was intended in their design.     

Help-Seeking Experiences and Attitudes among African American, Asian American, and European American College Students

The study examined African American, Asian American, and European American college students’ previous direct and indirect experiences of seeking professional psychological services and related attitudes. Survey data were collected from 254 European American, 182 African American and 82 Asian American college students. Results revealed that fewer African American and Asian American college students had sought professional psychological services, knew someone who had sought psychological services, and knew a close person who was diagnosed with a psychological disorder, relative to European American students. Furthermore, African American and Asian American participants showed less favorable attitudes on a variety of help-seeking attitudes, compared to the European American group.     

Library Services for the Poor: Implications for Library Education

This article deals with the historical role of public libraries in the United States especially relating to the poor; the commitment on the part of libraries to serve the underserved growing out of the turmoil of the sixties and the War on Poverty, and the effect of changing inner‐city populations on the future role of libraries.     

Educational Technology and College Librarianship

ABSTRACT

The fields of educational technology and librarianship interact in many significant areas: information literacy, distance learning, the design and management of instructional materials, etc. Given the congruence of concerns between the two disciplines, it is illustrative to relate the historical development of the definition of educational technology to librarianship. This article surveys briefly the development of the definition of educational technology and the relationship of college librarianship to these developments. Finally, the study places an explanation of librarianship within the 2008 definition of educational technology promulgated by the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) and concludes that college librarianship is the study and ethical practice of facilitating learning and improving performance by creating, using, and managing appropriate technological processes and resources of many formats.     

Relation between freshman-year experience and perceived importance of four major educational goals

This study assesses the relationship between the freshman-year experience and the importance students attach to the educational goals of gaining a liberal education, developing career knowledge and skills, enhancing personal knowledge, and improving interpersonal skills. After controlling for students' precollege traits and the importance attached to the above goals prior to entering college, reliable relationships were identified between (1) gaining a liberal education and student-faculty contacts to discuss intellectual and course-related matters and to socialize informally, and students' perceived progress in academic and intellectual development; (2) developing career knowledge and skills and student-faculty contacts to get advice for potential careers; and (3) improving interpersonal skills and peer interactions.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the annual conference of the American Education Research Association, New York, March 1982.     

A Tale of Two Groups: Differences Between Minority Students and Non-Minority Students in their Predispositions to and Engagement with Diverse Peers at a Predominantly White Institution

Using a revised version of the Transition to College Model (Locks et al. 2008, Rev High Educ 31(3), 257–285), this study examined the extent to which minority students and non-minority students differ in their predispositions to engage in campus-based diversity activities as well as in their engagement with ethnically diverse college peers at a predominantly White college. Findings indicate that engagement with diverse peers is a learned behavior; one that was shaped long before a student stepped into college. The importance of past interactions with diverse peers extends beyond freshman year predispositions to engage; students who interacted with diverse students prior to college were also more prone to report engagement with diverse peers at the end of their sophomore year. Notably, freshmen minority students were more predisposed to engage diverse peers next to their White peers; these ethnic-based differences, however, dissipated by the end of the sophomore year of college.