A comparison of three screening tests and the WISC-R in special education evaluations

Eighty public school children referred for psychological assessment for potential special education placement were given the Slosson Intelligence Test, Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration, and Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children—Revised. Correlational and regression techniques were used to determine the effectiveness of the three former measures in predicting WISC-R IQ scores. SIT IQs were found to be the best predictors of WISC-R Verbal, Performance, and Full Scale IQs; however, these statistical relationships reveal little about the clinical utility of the screening measures. Problems with use of the current findings and those of other studies are discussed.     

Psychometric and Cognitive Functioning of an Under-Determined Computer-Based Response Type for Quantitative Reasoning

We evaluated a computer-delivered response type for measuring quantitative skill. "Generating Examples" (GE) presents under-determined problems that can have many right answers. We administered two GE tests that differed in the manipulation of specific item features hypothesized to affect difficulty. Analyses related to internal consistency reliability, external relations, and features contributing to item difficulty, adverse impact, and examinee perceptions. Results showed that GE scores were reasonably reliable but only moderately related to the GRE quantitative section, suggesting the two tests might be tapping somewhat different skills. Item features that increased difficulty included asking examinees to supply more than one correct answer and to identify whether an item was solvable. Gender differences were similar to those found on the GRE quantitative and analytical test sections. Finally, examinees were divided on whether GE items were a fairer indicator of ability than multiple-choice items, but still overwhelmingly preferred to take the more conventional questions.     

Patterns of core and generic skill provision in higher education

The study reported here is seeking to gain enhanced understandings of the acquisition and development of core and generic skills in higher education and employment against a backcloth of continued pressure for their effective delivery from employers, government departments, and those responsible for the management and funding of higher education. This pressure appears to have had little impact so far, in part because of tutors' scepticism of the message, the messenger and its vocabulary, and in part because the skills demanded lack clarity, consistency and a recognisable theoretical base. Any empirical attempt to acquire enhanced understandings of practice thus requires the conceptualisation and development of models of generic skills and of course provision. These models are presented together with evidence of their validity, including exemplars of the patterns of course provision identified.     

College institutional characteristics and the use of barrier methods among undergraduate students

Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) may be prevented through the use of barrier methods, but rates of use among US college students are low. Previous research focuses on individual-level factors influencing barrier method use, but few studies consider community-level influences. This study examined consistency of barrier use by college institutional characteristics including region, enrolment, control (public or private), locale, type, or religious-affiliation. Data from the Autumn 2013 US National College Health Assessment-II (n?=?13,400; 57 colleges) were analysed. Prevalence ratios were calculated for consistent barrier method use during vaginal, oral and anal sex. Consistent barrier use during vaginal sex was associated with enrolment at a college in the Northeast, compared to the West (aPR: 1.16 [95%CI 1.01–1.29], p = 0.04), and enrolment at larger institutions compared to smaller colleges. Attending a private college or university was associated with more consistent barrier method use during vaginal sex and anal sex compared to those attending a public college or university. Findings demonstrate differences in barrier method use by institutional-level factors, and future research should consider the role of the college community. US college-based health promotion should include barrier method interventions at multiple levels if STIs are to be reduced.     

Potential of one-to-one technologies in the classroom: teachers and students weigh in

Increased efforts to promote 21st century learning emphasize the central role of technology in instructional delivery in order to advance the multifaceted abilities and skills required for student success in an increasingly technology-rich learning and work environment. A qualitative study was conducted in a large, economically diverse, mid-Atlantic school district to examine the implementation of six technology devices in 18 elementary, middle, and high school classrooms. The purpose was to understand teachers’ and students’ experiences related to the instructional implications of each device to inform long term, one-to-one implementation of an appropriate technology device to meet the district’s strategic goals for a 21st century learning environment. Teacher interviews and student focus groups revealed several themes related to technology integration, factors influencing implementation, impact on instruction, and impact on student motivation and engagement. Findings are discussed in relation to the district infrastructure and other considerations to support a one-to-one teaching and learning environment and how each of the six devices support the establishment of 21st century learning environments.     

The representation of items in serial position

Four experiments with rats tested their ability to anticipate serial patterns made from elements of reward magnitudes (14, 7, 3, 1, or 0 food pellets). Anticipation was measured by the running time in a straight alley. Elements arranged in a monotonically descending pattern were more easily anticipated than were the same elements arranged in a nonmonotonic pattern. Better anticipation was also observed when training utilized four trials per day with short interrun intervals (10–15 sec), spent in the startbox of the runway, than when training utilized one trial per day with long interrun intervals (4–5 min), spent in the rat’s home cage. Anticipation of the monotonie sequence was also superior when training consisted of one trial per day with a short interrun interval relative to that observed with four trials per day and a long interrun interval. Following acquisition of anticipation of the monotonie sequence with a short interrun interval, transfer to the same sequence with a long interrun interval resulted in disruption of anticipation. Finally, anticipation of a well-learned monotonie sequence was not disrupted by replacement of individual rewarded elements in the sequence with a 0-pellet element. These experiments indicate that the duration between runs of a trial, but not that between trials or the number of trials per day, is important in the formation of serial expectancies. They also suggest that the rats come to represent the sequence as items in serial position.     

Modeling Basic Writing Processes From Keystroke Logs

The goal of this study is to model pauses extracted from writing keystroke logs as a way of characterizing the processes students use in essay composition. Low‐level timing data were modeled, the interkey interval and its subtype, the intraword duration, thought to reflect processes associated with keyboarding skills and composition fluency. Heavy‐tailed probability distributions (lognormal and stable distributions) were fit to individual students' data. Both density functions fit reasonably well, and estimated parameters were found to be robust across prompts designed to assess student proficiency for the same writing purpose. In addition, estimated parameters for both density functions were statistically significantly associated with human essay scores after accounting for total time spent writing the essay, a result consistent with cognitive theory on the role of low‐level processes in writing.