Attributes of effective and efficient kindergarten reading intervention: an examination of instructional time and design specificity

A randomized experimental design with three levels of intervention was used to compare the effects of beginning reading interventions on early phonemic, decoding, and spelling outcomes of 96 kindergartners identified as at risk for reading difficulty. The three instructional interventions varied systematically along two dimensions--time and design of instruction specificity--and consisted of (a) 30 min with high design specificity (30/H), (b) 15 min with high design specificity plus 15 min of non-code-based instruction (15/H+15), and (c) a commercial comparison condition that reflected 30 min of moderate design specificity instruction (30/M). With the exception of the second 15 min of the 15/H+15 condition, all instruction focused on phonemic, alphabetic, and orthographic skills and strategies. Students were randomly assigned to one of the three interventions and received 108 thirty-minute sessions of small-group instruction as a supplement to their typical half-day kindergarten experience. Planned comparisons indicated findings of statistical and practical significance that varied according to measure and students' entry-level performance. The results are discussed in terms of the pedagogical precision needed to design and provide effective and efficient instruction for students who are most at risk.     

The role of personality and motivation in predicting early college academic success in non-traditional students at a Hispanic-serving institution

Non-cognitive factors represent a chance to learn more about how to help students succeed in early college experiences. This study examined personality and motivation as predictors of first-quarter GPA in a sample of 315 non-traditional undergraduates at a Hispanic-serving institution. Our results provide support for the importance of high levels of conscientiousness, intrinsic motivation, and low levels of extrinsic motivation in first-quarter school success. Implications and possible interventions are discussed.     

Privatisation by the Back Door: the case of the higher education policy in Israel

The purpose of this study is to seek to understand the process of privatisation and deregulation of Israel's higher education system which had been until the late 20th century predominantly public. Since 1994, public and governmental agencies became major clients of private universities. Thus the public sector played a major role in the expansion of international universities and in the operation of their academic programmes and became their major financial source. This partnership between the public and the private sector could be explained by the following: the increased demand for higher education by native born Israelis and the large flux of immigrants from the former USSR and Ethiopia on the one side, and the socialist ideology which deeply rooted in the Israeli society, to enable for everyone who wishes to attain higher education to find a place in the undergraduate system (particularly the population of the developmental towns and minority groups) on the other, pushed the Israeli government to expand its boundaries. Israel's public universities have been subjected to relax admissions requirement, which they refused to do. Another reason is the increasing demand from the public service in general and particularly from the education service that having a BA degree would increase the teacher salary and it does not matter whether the degree comes from an Israeli university(with its higher standards) or from a branch of an international university(with its lower standards). That explains the expansion and diversification that occurred in the higher education system in Israel. The 1998 Branches Act stipulating that any overseas institution intending to open an off shore branch must obtain a licence from the Council of Higher Education. The new regime demonstrates the paradox in higher education policy, on one side privatisation by the backdoor, on the other, regulation and control by the Israeli government.     

Test reviews

The WISC‐III and WPPSI‐R are both recent additions to the assessment scene. Each revised battery is technically excellent, and has several features that enhance its usefulness for gifted children: a very representative standardization sample; successful efforts to provide adequate “top” on all subtests, except at the oldest ages for which each battery is intended; and elimination of biased items. However, both revised tests place an unusually high premium on speed of responding, which may substantially affect gifted children's IQs. In addition, subtest stability tends to be low for both tests, hindering profile interpretation. Overall, both tests should make useful contributions to gifted assessment.     

Teacher collaboration in the context of the Responsive Classroom approach

This mixed‐method study examined characteristics and predictors of teacher collaboration. Limited research exists that describes the characteristics of teacher collaboration, and surprisingly little work explains the ways in which teaching experience and teachers’ perceptions of the school environment influence teacher collaboration. Questionnaire data were collected from a sample of 118 elementary school teachers in six schools in a northeast urban school district, and interviews were conducted with administrators in each school. Three schools were in their second year implementing the Responsive Classroom ^® (RC) approach, and three schools were comparison schools. Teachers reported collaborating approximately once or twice per month, generally with fellow grade‐level teachers about student‐centered topics. Teachers in RC schools reported more frequent formal collaboration than comparison school teachers. In regards to predicting teacher collaboration, teachers who used more RC practices and/or resources reported collaborating more, valuing collaboration to a higher degree, and perceiving greater involvement in school decision‐making, controlling for whether they taught at a RC school. Also, teachers’ perceptions of the school environment related positively to teacher collaboration. The current study adds to the understanding of teacher collaboration and its antecedents, contributing uniquely to the literature on how a school‐wide educational initiative is associated with teachers’ perceptions of their school environment as well as their collaborative behaviors and beliefs.     

Examining creativity in Turkey: Do Western findings apply?

Different cultures have unique perspective on creativity, yet it is usually the American/Western perspective represented in the psychological literature. Here the authors test previous, Western research findings in creativity on Turkish participants. Study One looks at gender and age differences in creativity. Study Two explores the relationship between creativity and motivation, and Study Three examines the factor structure of creativity. In general, the authors were able to validate past research on Western populations. Creativity tended to increase with age, and intrinsic motivation is significantly correlated with creativity. Some gender differences were found (unlike in Western findings), and there were some differences in the factor structure of creativity.     

Androgen and the Development of Human Sex-typical Behavior: Rough-and-Tumble Play and Sex of Preferred Playmates in Children with Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia (CAH)

We hypothesized that girls with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH), who experience higher than normal levels of androgens prenatally, would show masculinization of behaviors that show sex differences. Therefore, we examined rough-and-tumble play and sex of preferred playmates in 3–8-year-old children with CAH and in unaffected 3–8-year-old male and female relatives. The hypothesized sex differences in rough-and-tumble play were seen, with unaffected boys showing more rough-and-tumble play than unaffected girls. However, CAH girls were similar to unaffected girls. Additionally, CAH boys showed reduced rough-and-tumble play. In contrast, sex of preferred playmates showed the hypothesized pattern of results. There were sex differences, with unaffected boys preferring boys and unaffected girls preferring girls. In addition, the preferences of girls with CAH were masculinized compared to those of unaffected girls. Results are discussed in terms of possible influences of social, hormonal, and illness factors.