A case study in defining literacy: David Olson's journey from the Great Divide to the Great Beyond

David Olson writes his reply to Snyder in this issue ofInterchange. See page 56.     

Implementation of the Peer-Led Team-Learning Instructional Model as a Stopgap Measure Improves Student Achievement for Students Opting Out of Laboratory

In entry-level university courses in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields, students participating in associated laboratory sessions generally do better than those who have no related lab classes. This is a problem when, for various reasons, not enough lab sections can be offered for students and/or when students opt out of optional available lab courses. Faced with such a situation, this study evaluated the efficacy of the peer-led team-learning (PLTL) instructional model as a potential method for narrowing the achievement gap among undergraduate students electing not to enroll in an optional laboratory component of an introductory biology course. In peer-led workshops, small groups of students participated in solving problems and other activities that encouraged active learning. Students led by peer leaders attained significantly higher exam and final course grades in introductory biology than comparable students not participating in PLTL. Among the introductory biology students who opted not to enroll in the optional lab course, those who participated in PLTL averaged more than a letter grade higher than those who did not. This difference was statistically significant, and the PLTL workshops almost entirely closed the achievement gap in lecture exam and final grades for students who did not take the lab.     

Parents' Management of Their Children's Education Within the Home,at School,and in the Community: An Examination of African-American Families Living in Poverty

Using parents' answers to open-ended questions, we examine variation in parents' management of their children's education within the home, at school, and in the community as a function of whether their children were experiencing academic success or academic problems. Within the home, parents of high achievers used more specific strategies to help their children with their schoolwork and had more supportive conversations with their children than parents of low achievers. At their children's school, parents of high achievers not only were more involved but had different reasons for their involvement than parents of low achievers. In the community, more parents of high achievers explicitly engaged their children in activities to support their achievement than parents of low achievers. Implications for parents, schools, and communities are discussed.     

Birth and Adoptive Parent Antisocial Behavior and Parenting: A Study of Evocative Gene–Environment Correlation

Negative parenting is shaped by the genetically influenced characteristics of children (via evocative rGE) and by parental antisocial behavior; however, it is unclear how these factors jointly impact parenting. This study examined the effects of birth parent and adoptive parent antisocial behavior on negative parenting. Participants included 546 families within a prospective adoption study. Adoptive parent antisocial behavior emerged as a small but significant predictor of negative parenting at 18 months and of change in parenting from 18 to 27 months. Birth parent antisocial behavior predicted change in adoptive father's (but not mother's) parenting over time. These findings highlight the role of parent characteristics and suggest that evocative rGE effects on parenting may be small in magnitude in early childhood.     

Analysis of job satisfaction of university professors from nine Chinese universities

Research on work life and job satisfaction of university professors is becoming an important research issue in the field of higher education. This study used questionnaires administered to 1 770 teachers from different levels, types, and academic fields of Chinese universities to investigate job satisfaction among university professors and the relationship between job satisfaction of university professors and the organizational characteristics of the university. The job satisfaction of Chinese university professors includes six dimensions: career development and school management, teaching and research services, salary, benefits and logistical services, professional reputation, teaching and research facilities, and the work itself. The overall job satisfaction levels are close to average, with salary and benefits receiving the lowest level of satisfaction. The organizational characteristics of universities, such as school type, school level, academic field, organizational climate, evaluation orientation, and school management, all have significant effects on the overall job satisfaction of university professors. The organizational climate and school level affect all six dimensions of job satisfaction among university professors.     

Writing your first successful grant application to conduct communication research

Advice is offered to help scholars write successful communication grant applications, including practical issues such as learning about opportunities, finding the time to write, planning personnel, budgeting, negotiating internal resources, institutional review boards, and deliverables. Additional tips are offered on theoretically rich research with socially meaningful applied outcomes, counterintuitive mechanisms and outcomes, simplicity, detail orientation, demonstrating expertise in the content area, and demonstrating expertise with the population under investigation. Finally, we mention some important traits for getting through the review process-persistence and low ego-involvement.