Application of Latent Trait Models to Identifying Substantively Interesting Raters

Historically, research focusing on rater characteristics and rating contexts that enable the assignment of accurate ratings and research focusing on statistical indicators of accurate ratings has been conducted by separate communities of researchers. This study demonstrates how existing latent trait modeling procedures can identify groups of raters who may be of substantive interest to those studying the experiential, cognitive, and contextual aspects of ratings. We employ two data sources in our demonstration—simulated data and data from a large‐scale state‐wide writing assessment. We apply latent trait models to these data to identify examples of rater leniency, centrality, inaccuracy, and differential dimensionality; and we investigate the association between rater training procedures and the manifestation of rater effects in the real data.     

Positive Shyness in the Brain: Frontal Electroencephalogram Alpha Asymmetry and Delta–Beta Correlation in Children

Positive shyness is thought to be an approach-dominant form of shyness, whereas non-positive shyness is thought to be an avoidance-dominant form of shyness. This study examined electrocortical and behavioral correlates of motivation and emotion in relation to these shy subtypes in 67 children (M_age = 10.41 years, SD = 3.23). Using resting state electroencephalography, findings revealed that positive shy and low shy children had greater relative left frontal alpha asymmetry compared to non-positive shy children, and positive shy children had a higher frontal delta–beta correlation compared to other groups. Non-positive shy children scored highest on parent-reported school avoidance. These findings converge with previous work reporting distinct correlates in positive and non-positive shyness, extending this to two brain measures of motivation and emotion.     

How Important Is Private Higher Education in Europe? A Regional Analysis in Global Context1

The importance of private higher education (PHE) is increasingly clear globally. But does Europe fit the global generalisation? This question can be assessed with reference to two major considerations: the size of PHE and the degree of private-public difference. The growth of PHE in Europe has been delayed and limited compared to that in most of the world, though still significant. For the 27-member European Union, the PHE share is best put at 12%, with a modestly higher share for Europe more broadly defined. Europe's PHE share is thus less than half that of the global share. The regional share is considerably higher in Eastern than in Western Europe. In terms of distinctiveness, European PHE differs from public higher education in important respects that reflect world patterns. Inter-sectoral differences are decisive in finance. Though less quantifiable, they appear fundamental albeit blurred in some but not all aspects of governance and activities. Blurring in activities, governance, and even finance occurs through changes within both sectors, especially through partial privatisation within the public sector. Still, Europe's private sector is far from simply isomorphic to the public sector. Considering together size and distinctiveness, a reasonable assessment is that PHE has moderate and increased importance in Europe.     

Decomposition as a Complex-Skill Acquisition Strategy in Management Education: A Case Study in Business Forecasting

Graduate business education has been criticized for utilizing simplistic teaching strategies that compromise the presentation of real-world complex skills in the classroom. In this article, we propose that complex management functions can be effectively taught using decomposition strategies. We demonstrate the usefulness of this strategy in the domain of business forecasting by comparing the forecast accuracy of students instructed in decomposition ( RBF - Instructed ) with that of students not exposed to such instruction ( Uninstructed ), as well as with an expert system called Rule-Based Forecasting (RBF). RBF-Instructed students demonstrated significant improvements over Uninstructed students and were at least as accurate as the RBF system. Our findings suggest that academics engaged in teaching complex domains can benefit from building their teaching environment on a decomposition framework. We further suggest strategies for measuring the effectiveness and endurance of classroom knowledge thus imparted. Implications for academia and practice are discussed and a research framework is proposed.     

A look at creativity in public and private schools

This research study investigated the perspectives of teachers on student creativity. A group of 15 teachers from public schools and 24 teachers from private schools completed an Early Childhood Creativity Rating Scale (ECCRS) on four of their students. A total of 156 students were rated on this ECCRS. The major question asked in this study was: How do teacher perspectives of student creativity differ in public and private schools, between kindergarten and grade 3, and are these perspectives influenced by teacher characteristics. Results found that private school teachers rated their students higher on creativity, third grade students were rated lowest on creativity, and teachers who perceived themselves as most creative also rated their students as most creative.     

‘You have to understand words … but not read them’: young children becoming readers in a digital age

Given that many young children now enter their early years in education as competent and frequent users of digital technology, this paper examines how this experience influences children's perceptions of reading. Drawing from research conducted with 12 young children (aged 3–6) this paper reports on the ways in which these children were interacting with screen texts and using them to develop strategies to make sense of a whole variety of symbolic representations, including print. It is argued that the medium of computer technology in particular was seen to encourage young children to develop both understandings about texts and the skills needed to read them. This included specific aspects of print awareness as well as a general confidence in handling print. However, this confidence appeared to diminish as the children encountered ‘schooled’ approaches to print literacy. It is therefore concluded that schools need to find ways in which to capitalise on the use of multimedia in order to promote confidence and skills in young readers today.     

Australian Secondary Students’ Views About Global Warming: Beliefs About Actions, and Willingness to Act

A 44-item questionnaire was constructed to determine secondary students’ views about how useful various specific actions might be at reducing global warming, their willingness to undertake the various actions, and the extent to which these two might be linked. Responses (n = 500) were obtained from students in years 7 to 10 in three schools in NSW, Australia. For some pro-environmental actions, the degree to which students professed a willingness to act was greater than might be expected from the extent to which they believed the action to be useful. Such actions are those that involve minimal inconvenience such as switching off un-used electrical appliances, or those that are becoming well embedded in social practice, such as recycling. For other pro-environmental actions, the degree to which students were willing to act seemed less than might be expected, given the extent to which they believed the action to be useful. Actions concerning personal transport, such as buying smaller cars or using public rather than private transport, and obtaining more electricity from nuclear power stations, fell into this category. Here, there are disincentives to acting in a pro-environmental manner relating to personal inconvenience, or concern about nuclear power. The data were also explored to determine the strength of the relationships, for each action, between students’ professed willingness to act and their belief that an action would be effective. This suggested a measure of the potential effectiveness of education about that action. For some actions, this relationship was weak; in such cases, altering belief about the usefulness of the action might not be expected to produce major changes in behaviour. Issues concerning public transport were of this type; clearly, for issues such as these, other approaches and/or inducements may be needed to persuade people to adopt pro-environmental behaviour patterns. For other actions the relationship was stronger, so that in these areas environmental education could well be effective, especially if a large proportion of the population are not already willing to undertake that action.