Influences on, and the consequences of, low achievement

The paper examines the influences on, and consequences of, low achievement defined as scores within the lowest achievement quartile. Low achievement is moderately associated with socioeconomic background and Indigenous status and the relationships with gender, ethnicity, region, family type, state and region differ for reading and mathematics. Low achievement substantially reduces the chances of school completion and university entrance. It has much less impact on other forms of post-secondary education and training. There are stronger differences in labour market outcomes between low and higher achievers for young women than for young men. This study suggests the policies promoting the securing of full-time work soon after completing full-time education should reduce the detrimental effects of low achievement on labour market outcomes.     

Homeschooling Choice and Timing: An Examination of Socioeconomic and Policy Influences in Wisconsin

Over the past two decades homeschooling has become increasingly popular, but this educational alternative has lacked rigorous empirical evaluation because of data limitations. Since little data are available for individual students, we examine homeschooling participation at the statewide and district level in Wisconsin. The most compelling finding is the large decrease in homeschooling at the upper levels of high school which may distort the evaluation of homeschooling as preparation for college. We also examine district and community factors associated with overall homeschooling participation and find evidence, for example, of the importance of test scores and specific religious preferences to that choice. Specifically, we find that higher district level homeschool participation is associated with lower district grade school test scores, lower expenditure per pupil, and a lower percentage of Catholic individuals living in the surrounding area.     

Future teacher scholarship programs for science education: Rationale for teaching in perceived high-need areas

Data from Oklahoma Future Scholarship Recipients were collected covering awards over a seven-year period. Scholarships ($1000–$1500 per year) were awarded by the State Regents for Higher Education to attract and retain potential teachers into the teaching of science. The study focused on the reasons that these teachers (N=58) went into the teaching of science. From the survey teachers went into teaching because (in ranked order) they want to teach subject matter; they were committed to social change; they liked to work with and be a positive force in the life of children (adolescents), etc. They did not go into teaching for money, because it was easy, because they drifted into it, or because it was not their first choice. The teachers who received scholarships like teaching science, liked teaching, and are (they say) likely to stay in the field, but they would have gone into teaching anyway: 82% were not enticed into either the field or the discipline of science by their scholarships. Those who would use scholarships in the $1000–$1500 per year range, as a marketing strategy, to attract students to a discipline such as science should rethink the efficacy of this approach.     

Is peer review an appropriate form of assessment in a MOOC? Student participation and performance in formative peer review

Many aspects of higher education must be reconceptualised for massive open online courses (MOOCs). Formative and summative assessment of qualitative work in particular requires novel approaches to cope with the numbers involved. Peer review has been proposed as one solution, and has been widely adopted by major MOOC providers, but there is currently little evidence about whether it is appropriate or under what conditions. Here, we examine student participation, performance and opinions of a peer review task in a biomedical science MOOC. We evaluate data from approximately 200 student topic summaries and 300 qualitative peer reviews of those summaries, and compare these to student demographic data (gender, age, employment status, education, national language) and to performance in multiple choice tests. We show that higher performance in the written topic summary correlated with both higher participation in the peer review task and with writing higher quality peer reviews. Qualitative analysis of student comments revealed that student opinion on the usefulness of the peer review task was mixed: some strongly believed it benefitted their learning, while others did not find it useful or did not participate. We suggest instructional design strategies to improve student participation and increase learning gain from peer review in the MOOC context.     

Understanding attributional processes in cross-cultural counselling

Attribution is especially important from a cultural perspective in understanding how change occurs in cross-cultural counselling. In this paper a framework adapted from Brickman et al. (1982) is proposed in which attributions are classified along two dimensions: the extent to which the individual believes in personal responsibility for the cause of a problem and the extent to which he or she believes in personal responsibility for its solution. This framework provides a convenient means for understanding the differences in attributions about these behaviours across cultures. Four types of client problems in cross-cultural counselling are reviewed in light of client attributions and corresponding helping strategies.Cross-cultural counselling is a complex endeavour. A number of factors have been identified which address some of the difficulties experienced by both clients and counsellors (Ahia, 1984; Dillard, 1983; Pedersen, Draguns, Lonner & Trimble, 1981). Included among these are the inherently Western nature of counselling, different communication patterns among individuals of different cultures, and the needs and values of the client and counsellor who are from different cultures. In addition, differences in perception and cognitive style across cultures have been demonstrated to affect cross-cultural counselling (Oddou & Mendenhall, 1984). An important cognitive variable is the attribution or explanation that the counsellor and client use regarding the problem, its causes, solution, and treatment.The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between attribution processes and cross-cultural counselling. After a brief overview of attribution theory, Brickman's model of attributions of responsibility (Brickman, Rabinowitz, Karuza, Coates, Cohn, & Kidder, 1982) is adapted for use cross-cultural counselling. This model is then applied to four types of cross-cultural problems. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications and advantages of focusing on attribution as a major theme in cross-cultural counselling.