An exploratory study on the relationship between parents�� career interests and the career interests of young adults

In this study, we attempt to investigate the potential effects of parents’ career interests on young adults’ career interests. Using a sample of 113 freshmen in Hong Kong, results indicated that after controlling for personality, gender, general mental abilities and emotional intelligence, some of the parents’ career interests were still related to the young adults’ respective career interests. For some types of interests, the extent of influences is found to be contingent on the gender of the respondents. Implications are discussed.     

Career oriented and university bound: higher education outcomes of IB Career-related Programme graduates in the US

The Career-related Programme (CP) is an innovative education programme by the International Baccalaureate (IB). Designed to promote college and career readiness equally in the last two years of high school, the CP combines rigorous university preparatory coursework with targeted career-related studies. This study examines the patterns of higher education enrolment, destination and persistence of all CP graduates from high schools in the US between 2013 and 2015. The results indicate that CP graduates enrol in higher education at higher rates than do all high school graduates nationally and career and technical education concentrators specifically: 81% versus 68% versus 70%, respectively. They persist for 1 year at higher rates than do all high school graduates: 89% versus 72%, respectively. Results of logistic regression show that the number of IB exams and the completion of the CP certificate are significant predictors of postsecondary enrolment and that higher mean IB exam scores predict higher odds of a student attending a 4-year institution over a 2-year institution. The results suggest that students who engage in career and technical education alongside rigorous university preparatory coursework within the CP are well-prepared to succeed in higher education.     

Exploring Animal-Assisted Programs with Children in School and Therapeutic Contexts

Animal-Assisted programs with children are becoming increasingly popular in school and therapeutic settings. This article provides an overview of the benefits accrued by children as well as the concerns with programs which involve animals, and therapy dogs in particular, in these environments. Research over the past 30 years indicates that therapy dogs may offer physiological, emotional, social, and physical support for children. The distinguishing features of Animal-Assisted Therapy (AAT) are characterized by the supplemental inclusion of a trained therapy dog in reaching an intervention goal in therapeutic environments, and as a supplement to an educational objective in school contexts. The general assumptions underlying AAT with children are that although therapy dogs are interactive, children seem to perceive them as non-judgemental participants who are outside of the complications and expectations of human relationships. This unique interaction may offer children a valuable form of social and emotional support in educational and therapeutic settings.     

Empowering student learning through Tablet PCs: A case study

Empowering students to learn through ICT is seen as a way to address the growing awareness and demand for preparing students to effectively participate in the emerging global knowledge economy. It is believed that, in order to maintain competitiveness in a global economy, traditional classroom practices must be re-conceptualized in a way that enables students to engage themselves in knowledge building, to become more self-directed, and to assume greater autonomy and social responsibility over their own learning. In this article, we report a case study on the use of Tablet PCs to support teaching and learning in a primary school in Hong Kong, and provide insights into how schools can harness and capitalize on the opportunities offered by such emerging technologies.     

Behavioral control and resiliency in the onset of alcohol and illicit drug use: a prospective study from preschool to adolescence

The developmental trajectories of behavioral control and resiliency from early childhood to adolescence and their effects on early onset of substance use were examined. Behavioral control is the tendency to express or contain one's impulses and behaviors. Resiliency is the ability to adapt flexibly one's characteristic level of control in response to the environment. Study participants were 514 children of alcoholics and matched controls from a longitudinal community sample (Time 1 age in years: M =4.32, SD =0.89). Children with slower rates of increase in behavioral control were more likely to use alcohol and other drugs in adolescence. Children with higher initial levels of resiliency were less likely to begin using alcohol.     

Temperature-induced droplet coalescence in microchannels

This paper reports a technique for temperature-induced merging of droplets in a microchannel. The multiphase system consists of water droplet and oil as the dispersed phase and the carrying continuous phase. A resistive heater provides heating in a rectangular merging chamber. The temperature of the chamber is controlled by the voltage applied to the heater. The merging process of two neighboring droplets was investigated with different applied voltage, flow rate ratio between water and oil and total flowrate. Merging is found to be effective at high flow rate ratio, high temperature, and low total flowrate. The presented technique could be used for merging and mixing in droplet-based lab-on-a-chip platforms.     

Evaluation of a truancy court intervention in four middle schools

The effectiveness of a school‐based truancy court intervention in four middle schools in a mid‐sized school district was evaluated. Cumulative data from 185 youth attending a truancy court from 2004 through 2008 were included in the analyses. Results indicated a differential impact of the truancy court intervention depending on truancy severity at baseline. The intervention was most successful in increasing attendance for students with severe truancy, but had limited impact on students with moderate truancy, and no impact on mild truancy. The intervention did not result in improved school attachment or grade point averages, nor did it significantly reduce discipline offenses. Furthermore, the aftercare intervention, consisting of regular meetings with an authority figure (e.g., a juvenile officer), was only effective at maintaining truancy court attendance gains for students with severe truancy at baseline, although it was associated with a substantial decrease in discipline offenses for all groups. These results suggest that truancy courts similar to the one described here may have an impact on truancy for severely truant students, but may have a limited effect on students with mild or moderate truancy. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

COMPARISON OF PREDICTIVE VALIDITY AND DIAGNOSTIC ACCURACY OF SCREENING MEASURES OF READING SKILLS

Assessment data must be valid for the purpose for which educators use them. Establishing evidence of validity is an ongoing process that must be shared by test developers and test users. This study examined the predictive validity and the diagnostic accuracy of universal screening measures in reading. Scores on three different universal screening tools were compared for nearly 500 second‐ and third‐grade students attending four public schools in a large urban district. Hierarchical regression and receiver operating characteristic curves were used to examine the criterion‐related validity and diagnostic accuracy of students’ oral reading fluency (ORF), Fountas and Pinnell Benchmark Assessment System (BAS) scores, and fall scores from the Measures of Academic Progress for reading (MAP). Results indicated that a combination of all three measures accounted for 65% of the variance in spring MAP scores, whereas a reduced model of ORF and MAP scores predicted 60%. ORF and BAS scores did not meet standards for diagnostic accuracy. Combining the measures improved diagnostic accuracy, depending on how criterion scores were calculated. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.     

Speed-bumps on the on-ramp to the information highway: Going online at average U

Many universities are still struggling to put a technology infrastructure in place. This article is particularly concerned with the means by which English teachers in institutions with technology infrastructures in their infancy can help students develop literacy skills for a digital culture. While our universities are building technology infrastructures, we can and should forge cross-departmental collaborations which allow us to incorporate low-end technology uses during the interim phase of technology development. Our interim technology initiatives should in turn become part of a long-term technology planning that builds upon a collaborative exchange between faculty and administration.