The implications of an across-the-board salary increase

The implications of an across-the-board salary increase for selected outcomes are assessed. While such an approach to employee compensation is easily administered, the results of this analysis suggest that such an approach has some long-run costs. Those perceiving themselves as high performers and as putting forth greater effort felt undercompensated. Those with feelings of being undercompensated, relative to those feeling equitably compensated, anticipated a reduction in their job performance during the coming year, and perceived a deterioration in the association between performance and compensation. Differences in intentions to search for alternative employment are statistically significant.     

Shoptalk: Lessons in Teaching from an African American Hair Salon: A Review

The Urban Review - The following is a review of the text Shoptalk: Lessons in Teaching from an African American Hair Salon, by Majors (2017). In this text, the author asserts that adopting...     

The Media Diet Imbalance Score: A Measure of Aggregate Media Diet

As media options continue to expand in both quantity and variety and move to new media platforms, consumers’ media diets are becoming increasingly varied and complex. This complexity calls for a more nuanced method of quantifying media consumption that goes beyond the binary like-minded or cross-cutting categories currently used in studies of selective exposure. We develop a measure that captures the full diversity of content in an individual’s media diet, the media diet imbalance score, by adapting Brader, Tucker, and Therriault’s (2014) measure of sociodemographic cross-pressures. Our method allows for research on important aspects of the current media environment that are impossible with existing measures, and it is less labor intensive than previous strategies for measuring selective exposure.     

The preparation of school psychologists for crisis intervention

School psychologists (N = 276, 81% return rate) were surveyed regarding the following aspects of crisis intervention: (a) university preparation, (b) continuing professional development, and (c) current involvement with school crisis plans and crisis teams. Of those receiving university training, 58% believed they were minimally prepared or not at all prepared to deal with school crises. Only 2% reported being well prepared or very well prepared. Data analyses indicated increased university training in recent years, particularly with practicum/internship experiences related to crisis intervention. Approximately 81% of school psychologists participated in local training for crisis intervention as part of continuing professional development. Although 91% of school psychologists worked in districts with crisis plans in place, only 53% participated on crisis teams. Suicide, violence, and school district crisis plans were recommended as high priority topics for future academic training. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Here for You: Attachment and the Growth of Empathic Support for Friends in Adolescence

Attachment was examined as a predictor of teens’ empathic support for friends in a multimethod longitudinal study of 184 U.S. adolescents (58% Caucasian, 29% African American, 13% other) followed from ages 14 to 18. Adolescents’ secure state of mind regarding attachment at 14 predicted teens’ greater capacity to provide empathic support during observed interactions with friends across ages 16–18 (B_average = .39). Teens’ empathic support was generally stable during this period, and less secure teens were slower to develop these skills. Further, teens’ attachment security predicted the degree to which friends called for their support (B_average = .29), which was associated with teens’ responsiveness to such calls. The findings suggest that secure attachment predicts teens’ ability to provide empathic support in close friendships.     

Getting Everyone to the Fair: Supporting Teachers in Broadening Participation in Science and Engineering Fairs

Journal of Science Education and Technology - Science and Engineering (S&E) fairs are a valuable educational activity and are believed to increase students’ engagement and learning in...     

Investigating Academic Success Factors for Undergraduate Business Students

Student academic performance is of major interest to all stakeholders of higher education institutions. This study questions whether or not statistical analysis of information that is readily available in most universities' official records system can be used to predict overall academic success. In particular, this study is an attempt to understand factors that affect academic success for business students by examining gender, age, ethnicity, and performance in two required core knowledge courses as predictors of academic success for a large sample of undergraduate students at a Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business–accredited business school. The results suggest that student performance is significantly related to some basic demographic variables, but the strongest predictors of overall academic success are the grades the students receive in core knowledge courses that are typically taken in the earlier semesters of business students' plans of study.     

The role of the library in higher education and the implications for the external mode of study: An Australian perspective

The role of the library is necessarily dependent upon the educational objectives of the institution. Frequently, these are unstated or inadequate. Reference is made to some definitions of objectives for higher education, and the consequences for libraries are discussed. The view is urged that libraries, and therefore librarians, should be treated as integral and active parts of the educational process, and the latter be involved in course planning and development.The role identified for libraries in traditional higher education has not been transferred to the thinking about the external mode of study. The problems of providing any library service to external students in a country as vast and sparsely peopled as Australia are enormous. To extend services and opportunities equivalent to those available on campus may be impossible, but great effort should be made. Otherwise it may be impossible to match the educational experiences of external and internal students, in which case the equivalence of their qualifications is in serious question.     

Associations between socio‐economic status (including school‐ and pupil‐level interactions) and student perceptions of school environment and health in English secondary schools

This article examines interactions between school‐level and pupil‐level measures of socio‐economic status for pupil reports of the school environment and a range of risk behaviours and health outcomes. The baseline survey for the INCLUSIVE trial provided data on pupil affluence and pupil reports of the school environment, smoking, drinking, anti‐social behaviour at school, quality of life and psychological wellbeing for over 6,000 pupils (aged 11–12 years) in 40 schools within a 1‐hour train journey from central London. The level of socio‐economic disadvantage of the school was measured using the percentage of pupils eligible for free school meals. Multilevel regression models examined the association between pupil affluence, the socio‐economic composition of the school and the interaction between these with the school environment, risk behaviours and health outcomes. Our findings provide some evidence for interactions, suggesting that less affluent pupils reported lower psychological wellbeing and quality of life in schools with more socio‐economically advantaged intakes. There appears to be a complex relationship for anti‐social behaviour. Where pupil affluence and school socio‐economic composition were discordant, pupils reported a higher number of anti‐social behaviours. This article provides further evidence that less affluent pupils are more likely to engage in a variety of risk behaviours and experience worse health outcomes when they attend schools with more socio‐economically advantaged intakes, supporting some of the mechanisms described in the theory of human functioning and school organisation.     

Modeling black student academic performance in higher education

Recent research has noted differences in the predictive efficacy of educational attainment models produced for whites as opposed to blacks; and called for more resolution in the findings on blacks in advance of further comparative analyses. The National Study of Black College Students (NSBCS) is employed to develop a model that distinguishes between high- and low-performing black undergraduates attending public, four-year institutions. In the NSBCS sample (N=695), discriminant function analysis identifies several institutional and student characteristics which are related to black students' educational outcomes. Specifically, students with both high occupational aspirations and high academic performances tend to be male, attend comparatively larger schools, and, to a lesser degree, be relatively well-adjusted upperclassmen. When academic performance is the sole issue, it is positively correlated with institutional quality, but the advantage belongs to black females. Contrary to the suggestions of previous research, black community sentiment did not have relationships with educational outcomes to the extent expected. These results suggest that future models of black educational attainment marry traditional Wisconsin-type measures with institutional and student attributes.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 1983 meetings of the American Sociological Association, Detroit, Mich.