PERSONALITY FACTORS FOR SUCCESSFUL HIGH‐RISK STUDENTS

The purpose of this study was to identify those factors related to academic success in high‐risk students so that college educators could more precisely develop remedial programs to heighten the probability of academic success for high‐risk populations.

Demographic, academic, and personality variables were analyzed for groups of successful and unsuccessful high‐risk students in order to determine which were significant predictors of academic success.

An analysis of the data revealed that a greater proportion of the students in the successful group were married and female. The successful group's reading score at the time of admission was significantly higher than the unsuccessful group's. The majority of the successful group had enrolled in college to acquire job related skills; the unsuccessful group had enrolled to receive transfer credits toward a baccalaureate degree.

The personality analysis indicated that the successful group scored significantly higher on self‐esteem, assertiveness, and internal locus of control. Their learning style was characterized by their desire for detailed instruction, their preference for working with inanimate objects, and reading was their preferred modality for learning. The unsuccessful group scored lower on self‐esteem and higher on control by chance. The learning style inventory revealed that they did not like detailed instruction, they preferred working with people, and listening was their preferred mode of learning. Their grade expectancy was extremely unrealistic; they predicted higher grades for themselves than did the successful group.

The authors suggest strategies for utilizing these findings in the development of remedial programs for high‐risk students.     

Tipping point for teachers? Changing working conditions and continuing learning in a ‘knowledge economy’

The basic argument of this paper is that, in the wake of austerity measures against public education accumulating since the early 1980s, professional teachers at all levels may have been losing control of their jobs and faced decreasing opportunities for continuing their own learning. Empirical evidence is drawn mainly from a unique time series of Canadian national surveys which provide data on the working conditions and continuing learning practices of both teachers and the entire labour force in Canada between 1982 and 2016. The main findings are that there have been major reductions in teachers’ participation in organisational decision-making, sharply declining recent incidence of participation in both continuing further education and job-related informal learning, as well as a strong association between decreasing job control and declining continuing learning trends. The major implication is that teachers’ work and learning may be reaching a tipping point after which established forms of effective teaching may no longer be sustainable. Further studies to confirm these findings and assess their potentially very serious implications are urgently needed.     

A study of the light sensitivity of birch bark

Birch bark is commonly found in indigenous collections in Canadian museums. It is empirically known that light can cause the cambium side of birch bark to change colour. The purpose of this research is to better assess the light sensitivities of various colours of birch barks, and the manner, degree, and rate of colour change during light exposure. Six barks with different colours were used: beige, yellow, orange, orange-brown, red, and brown. Samples were exposed to daylight through a north-facing window (window), LED light from an enclosed chamber (LED), and the Newport-Oriel microfade tester (MFT). Window and MFT samples received a total light dose of approximately 25 Mlux-hours, and LED samples, 182 Mlux-hours. Colour monitoring of the samples showed that almost all barks initially darkened and then faded. Daylight through window caused the most rapid and extensive darkening and fading. Bluewool (BW) ratings for window samples were the lowest (most light sensitive). The MFT and LED samples showed a similar degree of colour change, with the same dose, despite the difference in intensity. Ratings of MFT samples are within one BW step difference compared to LED samples. The rate and extent of initial darkening depended on the colour of the bark; the middle range orange-toned barks showed the most rapid and extensive darkening followed by fading.     

Prekindergarten Interactive Book Reading Quality and Children’s Language and Literacy Development: Classroom Organization as a Moderator

Research Findings: This study examined the association between interactive book reading quality and prekindergarten children’s gains in language and literacy skills over the course of an academic year for 96 teachers and 417 children across multiple locations in the United States. Two moderators were examined, namely, children’s initial skill level and teachers’ classroom organization during an interactive read-aloud session. In keeping with prior research, interactive book reading quality, measured by examination of teachers’ extratextual talk, was positively and significantly related to children’s development of both language and literacy skills. Interactive book reading quality was not significantly moderated by children’s initial skills, with the exception that interactive book reading quality appeared most beneficial to children’s print knowledge for children entering prekindergarten with relatively low skill. The unique contribution of this study is that the association between interactive book reading quality and children’s expressive vocabulary was dependent on an organized classroom during the book reading session. Practice or Policy: The quality of teachers’ talk during interactive book reading may matter for children’s vocabulary development only when reading sessions are characterized by relatively high classroom organization. Classroom organization should be an important consideration while planning for interactive book reading sessions.     

Achievement in Science as a Function of the Mobility—Fixity Dimension

The characteristic of field‐independent subjects to function consistently in a field‐independent fashion (i.e. fixity) and of others to vary more according to circumstances (i.e. mobility) has been referred to as the Mobility‐Fixity Dimension. This dimension, based on the theories of Werner, Witkin and Pascual‐Leone suggests, that field mobile students perform better than fixed students in science courses. The main objective of this study, based on high school students (mean age = 16.5 years; SD = 1.0) in Venezuela, was to test the following predictions. (1) Mobile students would obtain a better performance than fixed students on variables such as introductory high school mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology and earth science courses; and (2) among mobile students, those classified in the middle‐high range of the Group Embedded Figures Test (GEFT) and the Figural Intersection Test (FIT), would obtain a better performance as compared to those in the lower‐middle range. Results obtained, in general, provide support for the first prediction. The differences between the performances of mobile and fixed groups were, however, significant (p < 0.05) only for the biology and earth science courses. Students in one of the high mobility groups obtained a better performance (in all courses) than not only the corresponding low mobility group but also a fixed group with high scores on both the GEFT and FIT, which provides support for the second prediction. It is concluded that problem‐solving ability in science courses may be strengthened through the mediation of the Mobility‐Fixity Dimension.     

Latino Airwaves: Radio Bilingüe and Spanish-Language Public Radio

This article focuses on Radio Bilingüe, a community driven Spanish-language public radio station that serves the information and entertainment needs of one of the most disenfranchised Latino communities across local, national, and transnational borders. The author discusses its establishment as a result of the formation of CPB’s Task Force on Minorities and explains the role Radio Bilingüe plays in helping elevate minority voices in public broadcasting. This case illustrates how a Latino owned and operated radio enterprise empowers traditionally underrepresented Latino communities by providing them a space where they can be heard and represented in culturally sensitive ways.