Should the Simple View of Reading Include a Fluency Component?

The Simple View of Reading states that reading comprehension is the product of word recognition and listening comprehension. Whereas much research has focused on word recognition accuracy, recent attention has been directed toward word recognition fluency. The current study investigated whether a separate fluency component should be added to the Simple View of Reading. A battery of reading and language measures was administered to 604 children in second, fourth, and eighth grades. Approximately half these children had language and/or nonverbal cognitive impairments in kindergarten, but weighting procedures were used to reduce the potential bias this sampling characteristic may have entailed. Structural equation modeling was used to determine whether fluency accounted for unique variance in reading comprehension after controlling for word recognition accuracy and listening comprehension. Individual profile analyses were conducted to determine the number of individual participants who␣had poor fluency in the spite of good word recognition accuracy and listening comprehension. Results showed that fluency did not account for unique variance in reading␣comprehension and that few individuals had problems in fluency separate from word recognition accuracy or listening comprehension. Thus, it does not appear that a separate fluency component should be added to the Simple View of Reading.     

Effects of conflict resolution training integrated into a kindergarten curriculum

The effectiveness of a conflict resolution training program was examined in an American midwestern suburban elementary school. Participants were 80 kindergartners randomly assigned to an experimental or control condition in morning or afternoon time blocks. Children in the experimental condition received 9 hr of conflict resolution training integrated into a curriculum unit on friendship taught daily for 4 consecutive weeks. Children in the control condition were taught the identical friendship unit for the same period of time without conflict resolution training. Teachers rotated equally across conditions. Significant differences between trained and untrained children occurred in their knowledge and retention of the conflict resolution procedure, willingness and ability to use the procedure in conflict situations, and conceptual understanding of friendship.     

Enhancing parental competencies for high risk mothers: An evaluation of prevention effects

A three-year study examined the effects of two prevention programs for sole-support mothers with preschool-aged children. A life-skills, esteem-building group program was compared with a group program teaching life skills combined with parent training. A non-randomized, repeated-measures design was employed with measures occurring before, after, and one year after each program for participants in the two intervention groups and for a group of matched comparison subjects. The lack of competency enhancement effects appeared to be a function of reduced exposure of subjects to the interventions. In addition, there was no support for the connection between short-term competency enhancement and long-term prevention of disorder. The negative results serve, in this report, as a cautionary tale highlighting the difficulties in conducting evaluations of primary prevention. It would appear that program planners are placed in a Catch-22 situation by trying to justify the effectiveness of primary prevention through short-term, low-intensity approaches.     

Inhibition of delay of the two-way avoidance response and warning-signal salience

Effects of extended training (nine sessions, 50 trials each) on two-way avoidance response latencies were studied. For each rat, auditory and visual warning signals (CS) were presented on separate trials, either according to a Gellermann series or in 25-trial blocks. Intermittent presentation of the two kinds of trials yielded shorter latencies and higher levels of avoidance performance in response to the noise CS than in response to the darkness CS. Presentation of trials in blocks revealed stronger response-eliciting properties of stimuli presented during the second half of the session than of those presented during the first half. A significant decrease of avoidance performance in the early portions of the delay period, an index of inhibition of delay, was obtained on auditory trials presented in the second half of the sessions. Results indicate that strong fear of the warning signal is required for inhibition of delay of avoidance responses.     

Retaining faculty: A tale of two campuses

The results of a study examining factors influencing the decisions of faculty with firm offers to leave two universities are discussed. Particular attention is paid to the relative weight and importance faculty placed on the tangible, intangible, and nonwork-related benefits of the incumbent and offering employment situations. Comparisons are drawn to previous studies of this genre, as well as between the urban and rural universities represented in the study. The methods and findings of this research should be of special interest to those from institutions concerned both with attracting and retaining a quality faculty.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 29th Annual Forum of the Association for Institutional Research, Baltimore, April 30–May 3, 1989.     

Developmental trends in eating rates of normal and overweight preschool children.

Eating rates (bites per interval) and other meal behaviors (number of chews, sips, talks with a neighbor, and chews per bite) were observed for 30 normal and 30 overweight white preschool children in their school cafeterias. Children were classified according to weight (overweight or normal), age (1 1/2--2 years, 3--4 years, or 5--6 years) and sex. Analysis of variance revealed that overweight preschool children demonstrated a somewhat higher rate of distinctly fewer chews per bite. Boys showed increasing chew rates with increasing age. Talk rates also increased with age but were unrelated to sex or weight status. Sip rates were not significantly associated with age, sex, or weight status. These results support the hypothesis that overweight persons are characterized by an increased eating rate and show that it is apparent even around the time of first self-feeding.     

The Chinese Government Scholarship Program: An Effective Form of Foreign Assistance?

This study investigates the effectiveness of Chinese international education assistance through an examination of student experience in the Chinese Government Scholarship Program, an important mechanism of Chinese foreign aid. Grounded in Pascarella’s (1985) model of the impact of college on students, the study investigates participants’ level of satisfaction with their higher education experience in China and their perception of the role of the scholarship program in promoting positive relationships between China and the scholarship students’ home countries. Findings indicate that participants are generally satisfied with their experiences in China and are positive about the impact of the program in building friendships with their home countries. The authors discuss the implications of these findings in terms of China’s emerging prominence as a provider of international development assistance.     

The role of social competence in predicting gifted enrollment

The purpose of this study is to examine how children's starting level and development of social competence (i.e., task orientation and peer sociability) during kindergarten and first grade predict gifted program enrollment by third grade, even after considering children's cognitive ability. A second purpose is to examine the extent to which the relationship between children's social competence and gifted program enrollment differs depending on children's socioeconomic status (SES), ethnicity, and gender. Latent growth curve analyses conducted on 347 children revealed that students enrolled in gifted programming were not only those high in cognitive ability, but also those showing early task orientation. Neither peer sociability's initial status nor growth was a significant predictor of gifted enrollment. Multigroup comparisons demonstrated different predictive paths for higher versus lower SES groups. Implications are discussed including important questions raised by this study and the need for teacher training in the identification of giftedness. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Teacher self‐efficacy and successful intelligence among Chinese secondary school teachers in Hong Kong

This study assessed perceptions of self‐efficacy and successful intelligence among 220 Chinese prospective and in‐service secondary school teachers in Hong Kong. Teacher self‐efficacy in six domains – teaching highly able learners, classroom management, guidance and counselling, student engagement, teaching to accommodate diversity, and teaching for enriched learning – was related to the three triarchic dimensions (analytical, creative, and practical) of successful intelligence. Each of the three triarchic abilities was found to contribute independently and in combination to the prediction of the six domains of teacher self‐efficacy. Practical abilities were the most significant predictor of self‐efficacy beliefs in five domains. Teaching teachers for successful intelligence, in strategies to enhance teacher self‐efficacy, is discussed.