Discrepant SAT Critical Reading and Writing Scores: Implications for College Performance

Despite the similarities that researchers note between the cognitive processes and knowledge involved in reading and writing, there are students who are much stronger readers than writers and those who are much stronger writers than readers. The addition of the writing section to the SAT provides an opportunity to examine whether certain groups of students are more likely to exhibit stronger performance in reading versus writing and the academic consequences of this discrepant performance. Results of this study, based on hierarchical linear models of student performance, showed that even after controlling for relevant student characteristics and prior academic performance, an SAT critical reading–writing discrepancy had a small effect on 1st-year grade point average as well as English course grades in college. Specifically, students who had relatively higher writing scores as compared to their critical reading scores earned higher grades in their 1st year of college as well as in their 1st-year English course(s).     

A Collaborative Process Model for Promoting Successful Referrals in College Counseling

The need to refer students to off‐campus mental health providers is common in college counseling. Such referrals can be challenging for college counselors who strive to meet students' counseling needs while adhering to ethical and center policy guidelines. In this article, the authors explore the nature and challenges of referral in college counseling settings and introduce a collaborative process model to enhance the likelihood of successful referrals. A case study is provided to illustrate the model.     

Gender Differences in Teacher Response to School Inspection

Teachers’ responses to inspection were investigated using a questionnaire survey of a random sample of 821 secondary school teachers who had undergone a full OFSTED inspection and in‐depth interviews with a further 35 teachers. The research found that inspection causes additional stress and that female teachers, regardless of level of seniority, felt more nervous about inspection than male teachers. Both male and female teachers felt more nervous when an inspector of a different gender to themselves was observing them in the classroom. Teachers’ affective responses to inspection alter their behavioural ones, thus affecting the resultant picture not only of the school itself but also of schools in this country‐‐a picture on which future advice and policy may be based. Explanations for gender differences are sought using the frameworks of stress and power differentials.     

An application of cluster analysis to the study of organisation in a College of Education

As part of a wider study of organisation in a large College of Education, fifty-seven established staff members were interviewed and completed an Osgood-type instrument. The data from this instrument was subjected to Principal Components Analysis, and cluster analysis was used on the distance matrix calculated from the resulting component specifications. It is concluded that the clusters of staff members thus empirically identified are meaningful and consistent with interview responses and observational data. If internal staff groupings can be satisfactorily identified in relation to major issues in the enterprise by the use of such techniques, a useful tool for organisational analysis has been achieved, which holds out the hope that the internal politics of enterprises may be brought within the bounds of empirical research.