“Circle of Friends”—An Exploration of Impact Over Time

This study investigated the impact of different aspects of the circle of friends (CoF) intervention. A naturalistic sample of 14 primary‐aged children with a range of special educational needs were involved, seven of whom were followed‐up a term later, to assess medium‐term impact. The whole‐class meeting was found to be effective in increasing the social inclusion of the focus children. However, with the exception of one child with an autistic spectrum disorder (ASD), the weekly CoF meetings produced no measurable further improvements. Possible explanations for the pattern of findings and implications for educational psychology practice are discussed.     

Dialogue in the support of learning to teach: a case study of a mentor/mentee pair in a teacher education programme

In this paper, we examine the role of reflection in teacher preparation, specifically within a mentoring relationship between cooperating and preservice teacher. We report findings from a case analysis of this pair who engaged in problem-posing dialogue within pre- and post-conferences around practice over one year of their work together in an elementary-level classroom. The context is an innovative programme in which cooperating teachers pursue their Master’s degree while undergraduates (preservice teachers) complete their elementary education degrees. Our analysis of talk about teaching during six coaching cycles as well as supporting documents illustrates how Jane’s mentoring supported reflective practices and disrupted a notion of a field experience as simply a place to ‘practice’ pedagogical knowledge with corrective feedback. Additionally, we explore the tensions in this approach to mentoring. This case study has implications for teacher educators who seek to bolster teacher preparation through the support of mentoring relationships.     

Sex and Race Differences in Faculty Tenure and Promotion

Data from the 1993 National Study of Postsecondary Faculty are used to explore sources of the lower representation of women and minorities among tenured than tenure track faculty and among full professors than lower ranking faculty. A 2-step approach is used. First, differences in the probability of being tenured rather than on a tenure track are explored. Then, differences in the probability of holding the rank of full professor among faculty who are tenured are examined. Logistic regression analyses are used to isolate the effects of sex and race on the dependent variables after controlling for human capital, productivity, and structural characteristics. For both tenure and promotion to full professor, separate analyses are conducted for women and men in order to explore sex differences in the tenure and promotion processes. All analyses are conducted separately for full-time faculty working at public 2-year institutions and full-time faculty working at 4-year institutions.     

The Validity of Value-added Estimates from Low-Stakes Testing Contexts: The Impact of Change in Test-Taking Motivation and Test Consequences

Accountability mandates often prompt assessment of student learning gains (e.g., value-added estimates) via achievement tests. The validity of these estimates have been questioned when performance on tests is low stakes for students. To assess the effects of motivation on value-added estimates, we assigned students to one of three test consequence conditions: (a) an aggregate of test scores is used solely for institutional effectiveness purposes, (b) personal test score is reported to the student, or (c) personal test score is reported to faculty. Value-added estimates, operationalized as change in performance between two testing occasions for the same individuals where educational programming was experienced between testing occasions, were examined across conditions, in addition to the effects of test-taking motivation. Test consequences did not impact value-added estimates. Change in test-taking motivation, however, had a substantial effect on value-added estimates. In short, value-added estimates were attenuated due to decreased motivation from pretest to posttest.     

The Relationship between Parenting Types and Older Adolescents' Personality, Academic Achievement, Adjustment, and Substance Use

The purpose of the present study was to examine Baumrind's T3 conceptual framework using a multiple informant design and an older adolescent population. With 178 college students and their families as participants, the present study found many of the predicted relations between parents' child-rearing style (Authoritative, Democratic, Nondirective, Nonauthoritarian-Directive, Authoritarian-Directive, and Unengaged) and their adolescent children's behavior in the 4 domains assessed: personality, adjustment, academic achievement, and substance use. The differences between parenting types on the criterion measures were not as large as reported in Baumrind's study, and significant effects were predominantly due to the poor scores from children with Unengaged and Authoritarian-Directive parents. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for the Authoritative parenting type, the utility of using a typology, and areas for future research.     

The Italian adaptation of courage measure

International Journal for Educational and Vocational Guidance - This project developed and examined the psychometric properties of an Italian version of the Courage Measure, the reduced version...     

Which Words? Words which 4 to 6 Year Old Children Use in Their Writing

The use of high frequency word lists has re-emerged recently as a useful part of the knowledge base of primary teachers of literacy. The National Literacy Project framework for teaching makes explicit use of such lists. In this article Laura Huxford and her colleagues examine the contents of word lists and make some useful observations about the words it appears important to teach children to read at Key Stage 1.     

Children at play: the role of peers in understanding the effects of child care

Although the studies of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Early Child Care Research Network (this issue) and of Watamura, Donzella, Alwin, and Gunnar (this issue) identify the potential of child care to affect children's adjustment, how these effects are produced remains unclear. In this commentary, it is argued that there is a need to expand child care research by considering one of the most important, but unrecognized, contributors to child care effects-peers. Research is reviewed that suggests that children's interactions in same-sex peer groups at child care affect their short- and long-term adjustment. We consider how research on early peer influences can inform the findings of the NICHD Early Child Care Research Network and Watamura et al. studies, aswell as contribute to the next generation of child care research.