The Relationship between Civic Behavior and Civic Values: A Conceptual Model

This study examined the relationships among college students’ civic values and behaviors, college culture, and college involvement, accounting for their pre-college inclinations toward civic responsibility. Using a longitudinal, national dataset comprised of 3,680 college students, the study employed structural equation modeling to identify a model that suggests social activism goals mediate the relationship between co-curricular engagement and charitable involvement behaviors.     

The characteristics and quality of pre-school education in Spain

We examined 25 four-year-old pre-school classrooms from a random sample of 15 schools within a large urban city in southern Spain. Observational measures of classroom quality included the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale-Revised, the Classroom Assessment Scoring System and the Observation of Activities in Pre-school. Findings revealed that, on average, classroom quality was low in regards to space and materials, developmentally appropriate activities and instruction; however, classrooms were relatively high on positive climate and productivity, and teachers demonstrated positive relationships with families. The observed ratio of children to teachers was high across classrooms. Results from regression analyses indicate that a higher ratio was associated with lower quality language modelling, teacher feedback and personal care routines available in these settings. Qualitative data from teacher interviews highlighted the importance of a pre-school education for children's development and school readiness, but also emphasised the challenges teachers faced with the new government-subsidised, universal pre-school programme, including increased class sizes and a lack of staff and resources. Implications for maintaining high-quality programme standards are discussed.     

The influence of context,timing, and duration of risk experiences for the passage from childhood to midadulthood

This study investigated the long-term effects of social disadvantage on academic achievement and on subsequent attainments in adulthood. The study drew on data collected for over 30,000 individuals born 12 years apart, following their development from birth to adulthood. The pathways that link social disadvantage to individual development across the life course were analyzed in a developmental-contextual systems model. The results showed that the influence of risk factors associated with socioeconomic disadvantage depended on the developmental stage of the individual, the experience of long-term or continuous disadvantage, and the overall sociohistorical context. Early risk had a moderate influence on the formation of individual competences. The greatest risk was associated with persisting and accumulating experiences of socioeconomic disadvantage throughout childhood and adolescence. Material conditions improved for the later-born cohort, yet pervasive social inequalities existed that affected outcomes during childhood and were consequently reflected in adult attainment.     

Librarian as Professional

What does it mean to be a professional, and do librarians meet the academic definition of a professional? Professions are strongly related to identity, and stereotypes associated with the culture of a profession are going to have some effect on the public’s perceptions of that profession. The stereotype of the vaguely purposed but somehow controlling older person (who “shushes” patrons to maintain silence) does not contribute positively to the professional image of a librarian. Library users do not even superficially understand what librarians do, and this leads to an undervaluing of the impact and importance of librarians. In the modern environment of budget challenges, it is important to be able to articulate the value of both libraries and particularly librarians. This article explores the sociological academic literature on professions to determine if librarianship meets the requirements to be a profession, if library literature supports librarianship as a profession, and why it matters for librarians to be seen as professionals.     

Assessing the comparability of teacher-related constructs in TIMSS 2015 across 46 education systems: an alignment optimization approach

Research related to the “teacher characteristics” dimension of teacher quality has proven inconclusive and weakly related to student success, and addressing the teaching contexts may be crucial for furthering this line of inquiry. International large-scale assessments are well positioned to undertake such questions due to their systematic sampling of students, schools, and education systems. However, researchers are frequently prohibited from answering such questions due to measurement invariance related issues. This study uses the traditional multiple group confirmatory factor analysis (MGCFA) and an alignment optimization method to examine measurement invariance in several constructs from the teacher questionnaires in the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2015 across 46 education systems. Constructs included mathematics teacher’s Job satisfaction, School emphasis on academic success, School condition and resources, Safe and orderly school, and teacher’s Self-efficacy. The MGCFA results show that just three constructs achieve invariance at the metric level. However, an alignment optimization method is applied, and results show that all five constructs fall within the threshold of acceptable measurement non-invariance. This study therefore presents an argument that they can be validly compared across education systems, and a subsequent comparison of latent factor means compares differences across the groups. Future research may utilize the estimated factor means from the aligned models in order to further investigate the role of teacher characteristics and contexts in student outcomes.

     

The Impacts of COVID-19 on Early Childhood Education: Capturing the Unique Challenges Associated with Remote Teaching and Learning in K-2

Early Childhood Education Journal - Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, schools across North America closed to in person learning in March 2020. Since then, it has become increasingly clear that physical...     

Improving College Enrollment of At-Risk Students at the School Level

Many federal, state, and local education policy priorities are aimed at preparing high school students, especially those at risk, to be college- and career-ready when they graduate from high school. A number of programs across different institutional entities have been initiated to achieve these goals, encompassing individual partnerships with schools. Many of these programs include a variety of interventions, ranging from college and course counseling to college visits. Although there have been some evaluations of the larger federal programs, and some state and district programs, few have examined national observational data on the impact of these programmatic efforts on college enrollments. This study uses the HSLS:09 database to investigate the impact of specific treatments in at-risk schools on college enrollments. Results show that several of these programmatic initiatives have a positive effect on college enrollment; however, the effects are small compared to some of those reported by other national studies.     

Special Education Advocacy in the Juvenile Justice System: Perspectives from Probation Officers

Although students with disabilities are over-represented in the juvenile justice system and frequently receive poor educational services, few studies have examined strategies to increase compliance with student needs and individualized education programs. In this study, we conducted interviews with eight probation officers in the Advocacy Unit of a juvenile justice system in a large Midwestern city. We examined the advocacy strategies used by the probation officers as well as the barriers they faced in ensuring court-involved youth received appropriate educational supports. Advocacy strategies included: documentation, collaboration with other stakeholders, and assertive but not aggressive communication. Probation officers also mentioned more creative advocacy strategies. Barriers to effective advocacy included: poor working relationships with schools, older age of youth, and obstacles to parent involvement. We discuss implications for research and practice.