Teacher Depressive Symptoms and Child Math Achievement in Head Start: The Roles of Family–Teacher Relationships and Approaches to Learning

This study examined the direct and indirect associations of teachers’ depressive symptoms with children’s math achievement through teachers’ reports of family–teacher relationships and children’s approaches to learning (ATL) in Head Start. This study included 3- and 4-year-old 1,547 children (49% female; 27% White, 24% Black, 41% Hispanic/Latino, and 8% others) who attended Head Start from fall 2014 through spring 2015. Results indicated that teachers’ depressive symptoms were directly associated with lower gains in children’s math skills over a year. In addition, teachers who reported higher depressive symptoms were less likely to report positive family–teacher relationships. This, in turn, resulted in lower gains in children’s ATL and was associated with lower achievement in math skills (r² = .69).     

Social responsibility in community colleges: Rethinking the commitment to alternative education

Because high school dropouts are among the least advantaged members of American society, the educational system that has failed them has the social responsibility for remediating their educational and developmental needs. The community college is proposed as the institution most able to develop policies and programs that will enable these least advantaged members of American society to overcome the educational system that has failed them. This paper discusses the responsibility of providing a quality education to all individuals, examines the role the community college can play in meeting the educational and social needs of dropouts, and presents an innovative program at a community college that has been particularly effective in meeting the needs of dropouts.     

Predicting who will major in a science discipline: Expectancy–value theory as part of an ecological model for studying academic communities

Research on factors that shape recruitment and retention in undergraduate science majors currently is highly fragmented and in need of an integrative research framework. Such a framework should incorporate analyses of the various levels of organization that characterize academic communities (i.e., the broad institutional level, the departmental level, and the student level), and should also provide ways to study the interactions occurring within and between these structural levels. We propose that academic communities are analogous to ecosystems, and that the research paradigms of modern community ecology can provide the necessary framework, as well as new and innovative approaches to a very complex area. This article also presents the results of a pilot study that demonstrates the promise of this approach at the student level. We administered a questionnaire based on expectancy-value theory to undergraduates enrolled in introductory biology courses. Itself an integrative approach, expectancy-value theory views achievement-related behavior as a joint function of the person's expectancy of success in the behavior and the subjective value placed on such success. Our results indicated: (a) significant gender differences in the underlying factor structures of expectations and values related to the discipline of biology, (b) expectancy-value factors significantly distinguished biology majors from nonmajors, and (c) expectancy-value factors significantly predicted students' intent to enroll in future biology courses. We explore the expectancy-value framework as an operationally integrative framework in our ecological model for studying academic communities, especially in the context of assessing the underrepresentation of women and minorities in the sciences. Future research directions as well as practical implications are also discussed.     

Further Reflections on an Evolutionary Theory of Socialization

In response to Maccoby's and Hinde's thoughtful commentaries, we highlight points of concurrence and disagreement. In particular, we note that mating and reproduction are affected by many factors beyond those to which our theory draws immediate attention; that the data linking socialization experiences and social structural conditions with pubertal timing are not restricted to either correlational studies or investigations of contemporaneous associations; that there may be more reason to question the theory's applicability to males than to females; that the question of whether male behave and develop the way we propose and Maccoby doubts is an empirically testable one; and that the data on relations between antecedent socialization conditions and pubertal timing and on variation in parental investment in the case of females run counter to Maccoby's doubts about the theory's applicability to females. Attention is drawn to the potential benefits of asking questions about proximal and ultimate causation simultaneously, and thus the need for child developmentalists to think both about the how and why of development.     

Childhood Experience, Interpersonal Development, and Reproductive Strategy: An Evolutionary Theory of Socialization

The concept of "reproductive strategy" drawn from the field of behavioral ecology is applied to the study of childhood experience and interpersonal development in order to develop an evolutionary theory of socialization. The theory is presented in terms of 2 divergent development pathways considered to promote reproductive success in the contexts in which they have arisen. One is characterized, in childhood, by a stressful rearing environment and the development of insecure attachments to parents and subsequent behavior problems; in adolescence by early pubertal development and precocious sexuality; and, in adulthood, by unstable pair bonds and limited investment in child rearing, whereas the other is characterized by the opposite. The relation between this theory and prevailing theories of socialization, specifically, attachment, social-learning, and discrete-emotions theory, is considered and research consistent with our evolutionary theory is reviewed. Finally, directions for future research are discussed.     

Dyslexia quotient: An index of reading ability

Summary A new index for expressing degree of reading disability in children is presented. Called the Dyslexia Quotient (D. Q.), it has the advantages of being simple to calculate and of being expressed in round numbers. Standardization of this new index is presented. In addition, the use of the Dyslexia Quotient in 50 patients who completed intensive dyslexia therapy is presented. An age-improvement distribution diagram, using the D. Q. is given. The authors suggest that the Dyslexia Quotient offers a valuable universal means of indicating degree of reading disability at any grade or age level.     

Techne and Technical Communication: Toward a Dialogue

The classical Greek discourse on techne has much to offer technical communication teachers concerned about the relationship between theory and practice, but this potential has not yet been realized. Plato's and Aristotle's discussions about the relationship between techne and rhetoric, for example, encompass questions about the rhetorical goals of the speakedwriter and about the role of theory in teaching rhetorical art that are of continuing relevance to the modern discourse on technical communication. The aim of this article is to identify several points upon which a fruitful dialogue between ancient and modern discourses can begin. First, I supply some background on how the term techne was used up through the fourth century BCE. Then I discuss how the modern discourse on technical communication (including material from popular textbooks) both converges with and departs from Plato's and Aristotle's statements on the relationship between techne and rhetoric. Finally, I point out areas for further discussion as teachers of technical communication continue to reflect upon and refine their pedagogies.