Attendance, schooling quality, and the demand for education of Mexican Americans, African Americans, and non-Hispanic whites

This study examines the influence of the opportunity costs of school attendance, educational quality attributes, and household socioeconomic status on the educational demand of Mexican Americans, African Americans, and non-Hispanic whites using the 1988–1990 surveys of the National Education Longitudinal Study. Implementing a utility-maximizing framework, educational demand assumes the form of schools' average daily attendance rates and student dropout decisions between the 8th and 10th grades. The basic results suggest that a school's attendance rate is sensitive to educational quality and student characteristics. Moreover, the demand for education measured by student attrition inversely relates to unexplained school attendance, and is positively affected by household socioeconomic status. Some policy recommendations based on the results are discussed.     

Nobel Prize in Physics 2006

The discovery of the cosmic microwave background radiation in 1965 was a defining moment in the history of cosmology — the science that deals with the universe as a whole, its origin, evolution and future. This discovery was recognized with Nobel Prizes to Penzias and Wilson in 1978. The Nobel Prize in Physics for 2006 further acknowledged the importance of the study of this background radiation. The precise measurement of the spectrum of this radiation and its variation across the sky have helped our understanding of the evolution of structures in the universe. This article explains these discoveries and their importance. T Padmanabhan is a professor at IUCAA, Pune. He is interested in all aspects of theoretical physics, and especially in those in which gravity plays a role.     

Ideological composition of the classroom: testing the effects of polarization on perceptions of open classroom climate among students in five countries

Abstract

This quantitative study tests the relationship between ideological classroom composition and perceptions of open classroom climate. Using data from the 2016 International Education Association’s International Civic and Citizenship Study, the study uses latent class analysis and multilevel regression modelling across five countries. First, latent class analysis identified students as low or high socioeconomic status. To assess ideological polarization, the gap between support for gender equality and ethnic rights was calculated between groups. Finally, a multilevel regression model measured the relationship between ideological polarization and students’ perception of open classroom climate. Across three countries, results found negative associations between increased polarization and perception of an open classroom climate. Additional testing identified that polarization modified the relationship between student socioeconomic status and perceptions of open classroom climate in Croatia.     

文化的核心

在中国,英语专业的学生通常要学很多门"外国文化"课,学得最多的是英国和美国文化概况.如今,不管是谁,只要对此加以关注,就不应该仅仅认识到文化课所传递信息的重要,更应该能明确列举出开设这些课所要达到的目标.     

A Model of Rater Behavior in Essay Grading Based on Signal Detection Theory

An approach to essay grading based on signal detection theory (SDT) is presented. SDT offers a basis for understanding rater behavior with respect to the scoring of construct responses, in that it provides a theory of psychological processes underlying the raters' behavior. The approach also provides measures of the precision of the raters and the accuracy of classifications. An application of latent class SDT to essay grading is detailed, and similarities to and differences from item response theory (IRT) are noted. The validity and utility of classifications obtained from the SDT model and scores obtained from IRT models are compared. Validity coefficients were found to be about equal in magnitude across SDT and IRT models. Results from a simulation study of a 5-class SDT model with eight raters are also presented.