Parent–infant interaction and children’s language development

Learning to speak and understand language is a remarkable and important accomplishment of early childhood. Parent–infant interaction in the first three years is critical to this. This is the focus of this review – the first of the whole area. Seven databases were searched and 1750 studies reduced to 60 with good evidence. These 60 were from many disciplines and their methodological quality was variable. There was strong evidence that parental contingency (communication when the intended recipient is fully oriented towards receiving and processing it) and parental efforts in pre-literacy activities are important. There was strong evidence that interventions can be effective. Parental elaboration of language had less strong evidence. The role of gesture and the role of interaction with siblings and peers had the weakest evidence, but even these were quite well supported. Requirements for future research are specified. Parent–infant interaction is already established as a key factor in language development.     

OCCUPATIONAL ROLE STRESSORS,COPING, SUPPORT,AND HARDINESS AS PREDICTORS OF STRAIN IN ACADEMIC FACULTY: AN EMPHASIS ON NEW AND FEMALE FACULTY

The presence of work-related stress and strainis viewed as a serious concern for faculty, particularlynewer and female faculty. The present study examineddifferences in levels of occupational stress and personal strain experienced by new andexperienced female and male faculty. Factors affectingthe stress-strain relationship were also examined. Therewere no significant differences on measures of stress or strain between male and femalefaculty or between new and more experienced facultymembers. Role overload and avoidant coping weresignificant predictors of strain measures with hardinessand responsibility for home-centered tasksaccounting for variance in some, but not all, of thestrain measures. Results on the negative impact of roleoverload and avoidant coping on measures of personalstrain are consistent with the literature and suggestthe need for promoting different coping strategies inthe academic workplace as well as working with facultyto help them prioritize and balance their daily work loads.     

Strategies for Examining the Consequences of Assessment and Accountability Programs

This article addresses issues in evaluating the consequences of assessment programs that are developed for the purpose of holding schools accountable to state standards. After providing a brief review of research examining consequential evidence, a validation study to obtain consequential evidence for state assessment and accountability programs is proposed. The proposal includes a validity argument, a set of propositions that follow from the validity argument, a delineation of the consequential evidence needed, and a way to model the relationship between performance gains and school, principal, teacher, and student variables.     

Building Global Learning Experiences: A Case Study of a Hungarian,Ukrainian, and American Educational Partnership

Conceptions of education that fragment content and process and that compartmentalize learning may not produce globally conscious citizens. Thus, educational policies that attend to both content and process, as well as to the local and global, are more likely to foster citizens who are able to function successfully in a world characterized by complex global challenges. Multidimensional citizenship developed through an international partnership among Hungarian, Ukrainian, and American educators offers a case in point of how higher education can embrace a global dimension and expand professionalism in this new century.     

Addressing bullying through critical making

This paper explores how maker pedagogies helped middle school students develop transferable competencies, such as creativity, problem solving, self-directed learning and citizenship skills. We offer an in-depth look at how purposeful or critical making related to bullying awareness can help struggling students develop positive attitudes related to their roles as contributing members of a classroom community of learners.