The pace of vocabulary growth helps predict later vocabulary skill

Children vary widely in the rate at which they acquire words—some start slow and speed up, others start fast and continue at a steady pace. Do early developmental variations of this sort help predict vocabulary skill just prior to kindergarten entry? This longitudinal study starts by examining important predictors (socioeconomic status [SES], parent input, child gesture) of vocabulary growth between 14 and 46 months (n = 62) and then uses growth estimates to predict children’s vocabulary at 54 months. Velocity and acceleration in vocabulary development at 30 months predicted later vocabulary, particularly for children from low‐SES backgrounds. Understanding the pace of early vocabulary growth thus improves our ability to predict school readiness and may help identify children at risk for starting behind.     

An Overview of Evaluative Instrumentation for Virtual High Schools

Abstract

With an increasing prevalence of virtual high school programs in the United States, a better understanding of evaluative tools available for distance educators and administrators is needed. These evaluative tools would provide opportunities for assessment and a determination of success within virtual schools. This article seeks to provide an analysis and classification of instrumentation currently available. It addresses issues regarding the limited arsenal of assessments and evaluation instrumentation for virtual schools.     

Perceptions of Communication With Gay and Lesbian Family Members: Predictors of Relational Satisfaction and Implications for Outgroup Attitudes

This study investigates perceptions of family communication among members with different sexual identities. Specifically, from the perspective of heterosexual family members (N = 129), the study takes an intergroup perspective to determine how accommodative and non-accommodative communication and attitudes toward homosexuality predict intergroup anxiety and relational satisfaction with gay or lesbian family members. Further, the manner in which family communication influences attitudes toward homosexuality is examined. Results are discussed in terms of implications for research on heterosexual–homosexual interaction, family communication, and intergroup communication, in general.     

Adaptive Assistance for Learning Improvement Efforts: The Case of the Institute for Learning

Districts across the country face significant demands to strengthen student learning districtwide, and many are turning to intermediary organizations to help them build their capacity for such demanding, large-scale work. However, how these “learning-support intermediary organizations” assist with these capacity-building efforts is little understood. This article reports data from a largely qualitative investigation into how one such intermediary organization, the Institute for Learning (IFL) at the University of Pittsburgh, partnered with multiple urban districts to help build district capacity for districtwide learning improvements. Our conceptual framework draws on sociocultural learning theory to identify key features of the IFL-district assistance relationships that seem associated with these outcomes. We utilized data from interviews, observations, document reviews, and focus groups conducted over a five-year period. Findings elaborate specific features of their assistance relationships—which we call adaptive assistance relationships—such as enabling particular forms of modeling, tools, and opportunities for rich dialogue. We conclude with implications for the research and practice of districtwide learning improvement efforts and the participation of intermediary organizations in the process.     

A First-Year Teacher's Top 10 Mistakes

A teacher shares a detailed look into a first year of teaching and the lessons she learned.     

A Review of “Waiting for a Glacier to Move: Practicing Social Witness”

Religious Education in Ireland over the past two decades has achieved a new status in the publicly funded schools at the secondary (high school) level. This has happened largely because it has become examinable and is now a subject like any other. In this process however, it has tended to become too much like other subjects sharing their science-framed perspectives. To ensure religion’s intrinsic meaning and transformative value it will be argued through analysis of literature supplemented by interviews, surveys, and mail that a better methodological base is needed to enable students become more satisfactorily religiously literate. This Irish experience offers a further instance of how Religious Education can become more central to publicly funded schooling.     

A Review of “Racing across the Lines: Changing Race Relations through Friendship”

Educators employed in devoutly religious institutions often teach students who view even their secular higher education through a uniquely religious lens. Based on his own experiences teaching psychological science at a Jewish university, the author suggests enhancing student interest and enthusiasm by wedding secular curricula with religious education, where feasible. By way of illustration, the current article shows how a cutting edge area of brain research could be taught in the context of ancient and medieval Jewish sources. This example is especially appropriate, given the recent special interest among leaders in the field of religious education in the potential relationships between their own discipline and the field of neuroscience, as well as the fact that the literatures of the histories of neuroscience and related disciplines have long noted the relevance of Jewish religious sources.     

FACTORS AFFECTING THE ATTITUDES OF COMMUNITY COLLEGE ADMINISTRATORS TOWARD MANAGEMENT BY OBJECTIVES

This study was designed to assess and determine how operation under a management by objectives system (MBO) has affected administrative units and individual administrators in public two‐year community colleges. Results from the study showed that respondent attitudes toward the management by objectives system were favorable. The variables identified which serve as significant predictors of administrator attitudes toward the MBO program were: (a) effective as a means for planning and organizing work for which an administrator is accountable, (b) effective as a means for evaluating work performance, (c) effective in improving satisfaction with being more a part of decisions, (d) effective in improving the attitudes of the superior toward the MBO program as perceived by subordinates. Negative reactions toward the MBO system were perceived to be generated by increased paperwork and difficulty in setting educational objectives.