Editorial

In this article the authors explore a language and literacy community mapping project carried out by public school teachers in southern California. They chronicle the knowledge produced by teachers about the depth and diversity of language and literacy resources present in the neighborhoods surrounding their various urban school sites.     

Double Blind: Supervising women as creative practice-led researchers

Abstract

Many women creative practice-led researchers appear inhibited by a number of factors directly connected to their gender. This article discusses these factors, including the culture of visual arts professional practice, the circumstances surrounding women postgraduate students and unproductive self-theories about intelligence and creativity. A number of feminist strategies are discussed as potential interventions that may assist women creative practice-led researchers and their supervisors to reap more personal and professional rewards from their postgraduate research.     

Dimensionality of the Piers-Harris children's self-concept scale for miniority gifted children

The relationship between children's self-concepts and their academic achievement has been well established. More recently, the multidimensionality of the self-concept and the relationship of specific self-concept dimensions to achievement have been investigated. However, the multidimensionality of the self-concept among minority gifted children has not been studied. The present study examined the multidimensional structure of the Piers-Harris Self-Concept Scale among 438 predominantly Black gifted children. Six clearly defined orthogonal factors emerged. However, the structure of these factors differed from those reported by Piers and Harris.     

The concurrent validity of the peabody individual achievement test and woodcock reading mastery tests among students with mild learning problems

Previous research has revealed moderate to high validity coefficients between the Peabody Individual Achievement Test and the Woodcock Reading Mastery Tests. However, the same research has indicated rather consistently that the latter instrument provides significantly lower means than do several screening tests currently being used in the field. This investigation replicated and extended previous research by comparing the two instruments across three grade clusters in order to determine whether the lower Woodcock scores are equally robust for each level. As in prior research, validity coefficients were moderate to high in magnitude. However, the differences between the means of two instruments were found to decrease in size from earlier to later grades. That is, seven of the eight significantly different means were found to occur in grades 1 through 4. Only one significant difference was found for grades 5 through 8. Discussion sought to explain the results in terms of the representativeness of the Woodcock norms and the novel method that Woodcock used to estimate sample means and standard deviations.     

Exploring the underlying factor structure of the home literacy environment (HLE) in the English and Spanish versions of the Familia Inventory: A cautionary tale

Few research-based measures of the family literacy environment are commercially available, especially in Spanish. One exception is the Familia Inventory (Taylor, 1995). The present study investigated the 10 subscales of this instrument and the factor structure they imply, using data from a low-socioeconomic (SES), largely Hispanic population. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to test the structure of the instrument as well as whether it is invariant across English and Spanish language versions. The scale was administered to 232 parents of preschoolers. Results of the CFA revealed that the a priori dimensions of the Familia Inventory were not supported for this sample. Follow-up analyses suggested poor fit both within and between subscales. The scale fit poorly within both English and Spanish, precluding testing of invariance across language. Supplemental analyses using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) on a subset of the items that had adequate variance suggested that a four-factor solution accounting for 53% of the variance best represented the English data and that a two-factor solution accounting for 43% of the variance best represented the Spanish data. Implications are discussed.     

Contributions of phonological processing skills to reading skills in Arabic speaking children

This cross-sectional study investigated contributions of phonological awareness (Elision and blending), rapid naming (object, color, letter, and digit), and phonological memory (nonword repetition and Digit Span) to basic decoding and fluency skills in Arabic. Participants were 237 Arabic speaking children from Grades K-3. Dependent measures included word decoding, oral passage reading fluency, nonword reading fluency, and retell fluency. Within-grade analyses indicated that phonological awareness accounted for more variance than rapid naming regardless of the nature of the outcome measure and grade. Rapid naming’s capacity to predict variance, while less than that of phonological awareness, tended to rise steadily and was highest in Grade 3. Phonological memory, as measured by this study’s tasks, showed almost no relationship to reading performance. The findings are discussed with respect to changing the requirements of Arabic reading in Grades K-3 and suggestions are made for future research.     

Statistical analyses in the journal of broadcasting, 1970‐76

McChesney, R. W. (1993). Telecommunications, mass media, and democracy: The battle for the control of U.S. broadcasting, 1928‐1935. New York: Oxford University Press. 393 pages.     

Modalities of Infant–Mother Interaction in Japanese,Japanese American Immigrant,and European American Dyads

Cultural variation in relations and moment‐to‐moment contingencies of infant–mother person‐oriented and object‐oriented interactions were compared in 118 Japanese, Japanese American immigrant, and European American dyads with 5.5‐month‐olds. Infant and mother person‐oriented behaviors were related in all cultural groups, but infant and mother object‐oriented behaviors were related only among European Americans. Infant and mother behaviors within each modality were mutually contingent in all groups. Culture moderated lead–lag relations: Japanese infants were more likely than their mothers to respond in object‐oriented interactions; European American mothers were more likely than their infants to respond in person‐oriented interactions. Japanese American dyads behaved like European American dyads. Interactions, infant effects, and parent socialization findings are set in cultural and accultural models of infant–mother transactions.     

The integrated student: Fostering holistic development to advance learning

Advocates of educating the whole student have argued for years that emotional, social, and cognitive development are equally important aspects to consider in creating effective learning environments. Honors students—the cognitively accomplished—need integrated learning as much as anyone.