School quality signals and attendance in rural Guatemala

This study analyzes school dropout in rural Guatemala using event history data and unusually detailed data on schools and teachers. Significant results for language of instruction, teacher education and fighting between students demonstrate the importance of accounting for school context influences on an outcome that has, historically, been analyzed mainly as a function of family background. Less support is found for the contention that dropout is lower in schools that are better at maximizing student achievement. Finally, using interaction analysis some of the school effects vary significantly by student gender and ethnicity. The various linkages between school features and dropout highlight the complicated reality of identifying the kinds of features of schools that are valued by poor families.     

A Sport Education Fitness Season’s Impact on Students’ Fitness Levels,Knowledge, and In-Class Physical Activity

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which a sport education season of fitness could provide students with recommended levels of in-class moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) while also increasing students’ fitness knowledge and fitness achievement. Method: One hundred and sixty-six 5th-grade students (76 boys, 90 girls) participated in a 20-lesson season called “CrossFit Challenge” during a 4-week period. The Progressive Aerobic Cardiovascular Endurance Run, push-ups, and curl-ups tests of the FITNESSGRAM® were used to assess fitness at pretest and posttest, while fitness knowledge was assessed through a validated, grade-appropriate test of health-related fitness knowledge (HRF). Physical activity was measured with Actigraph GT3X triaxial accelerometers. Results: Results indicated a significant time effect for all fitness tests and the knowledge test. Across the entire season, the students spent an average of 54.5% of lesson time engaged in MVPA, irrespective of the type of lesson (instruction, free practice, or competition). Conclusions: The results suggest that configuring the key principles of sport education within a unit of fitness is an efficient model for providing students with the opportunity to improve fitness skill and HRF knowledge while attaining recommended levels of MVPA.     

Food Choice Is Multifaceted,Contextual, Dynamic,Multilevel, Integrated,and Diverse

Eating is broadly conceptualized as food choice. Food choice is a complex activity with many dimensions. Food choice is multifaceted as it involves whether, where, when, how long, how, why, with whom, for whom, and under what conditions eating occurs. Food choice is contextual as it is situated within specific conditions and settings involving both individuals and institutions. Food choice is dynamic as it unfolds and is embedded in eating episodes over lifetimes within historical eras. Food choice is multilevel as physical, biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors operate simultaneously and interact. Food choice is integrated as people coordinate many considerations to construct specific eating activities. Food choice is diverse in its broad scope of distinct and unique eating activities. Food choice can be examined using both multi‐perspective and multi‐purpose approaches, and it may not be possible to integrate different perspectives into a unified approach to understanding and changing food choice.     

Coming to terms with the accountability versus improvement debate in assessment

Concerns about quality and accountability in higher education have led the majority of states to mandate student outcomes assessment. While many institutions have begun to address these requirements as matters of accountability, discussion in most state capitals seems to be more about program improvement than about summative evaluation. These dichotomous perspectives frame a fundamental debate over the nature and direction of the assessment movement in the United States. Accountability and improvement are twin concerns of effective assessment, but their coexistence depends upon the resolution of suspicions and different interpretations of the mission of higher education between state and institutional authorities.     

Walking the Talk: Continuous Improvement of a Quality Management Field Exercise

This article provides results from a three semester case study of the pedagogical efficacy of an innovative quality management field exercise. A series of direct and indirect measures were used to assess the extent to which the field exercise met a set of learning objectives. The results indicate that the assessment framework is useful in identifying areas of improvement for course delivery. Finally, the results have been used to devise modifications to the course.     

Student achievement and education system performance in a developing country

The global spread of national assessment testing activities, and the growing pressure to move beyond basic measures of participation in educational monitoring, means that student achievement measures are likely to become increasingly relevant indicators of systemic progress in the developing world. Using data from the CESSP project in Cambodia, this paper incorporates a standard decomposition framework to go beyond simple comparisons of average achievement levels over time in order to better understand the underlying dynamics of change. The results show that recent improvements in student achievement in Cambodia are attributable in part to changes in the composition of student cohorts, although there is some evidence of a tradeoff between increasing participation rates and average achievement. There is also some encouraging evidence that school quality is improving, especially in lower grades where the leveling off of participation is creating a policy window of opportunity. The framework can be easily applied to a growing body of assessment data in the developing world to aid both inter- and intra-national monitoring of education system progress.     

Promoting resiliency in adolescent girls through adventure programming

This study examined whether participation in an adventure program increased the resiliency of adolescent girls. Eighty-seven girls who participated in Dirt Divas, a non-profit, adventure program, completed the Resiliency Scale for Children and Adolescents^® before and after their experience. Means-comparison tests for within-subjects designs were conducted and revealed that participants reported significantly higher levels of resilience after completing the Dirt Divas program, compared with their pre-program reports. Mixed-model repeated-measures analyses of variance showed that the changes in the girls’ resiliency were not affected by their socioeconomic status. Lastly, the long-term impact results (one month post participation) indicate that observed increases in resilience persist over time.     

Polyvictimization,Psychological Distress,and Trauma Symptoms in College Men and Women

This study examined the relationship between polyvictimization, psychological distress, and trauma symptoms in college men and women. Childhood victimization was common among participants. Regression analyses revealed that polyvictimization (i.e., high cumulative levels of victimization) is a better predictor of psychological distress and trauma symptoms than is any individual category of victimization (i.e., sexual, physical, peer/sibling, child maltreatment, witnessing/indirect, or property crime). Gender did not moderate the relation between victimization and distress and trauma symptoms. Implications for counselors are discussed.