Phonological Analysis Skills, Verbal Working Memory, and Reading Ability in Second-Grade Children

This study tested the hypothesis that phonological analysis skills make a unique contribution to reading ability against the hypothesis that one latent phonological factor underlies the assocations among analysis skills, verbal working memory skills, and reading achievement. Hierachical multiple regression analyses examined the unique contributions of phonological analysis and verbal working memory measures to the prediction of 3 measures of concurrent reading ability in 68 second-grade children (mean age 7 years 4 months). Phonological analysis and verbal working memory measures each accounted for unique variation in each of the 3 reading measures. In addition, phonological analysis measures, but not verbal working memory measures, were particularly strong predictors of pseudoword reading skills. These results suggest that, although phonological analysis and verbal working memory skills share a substantial amount of common variance, phonological analysis and verbal working memory tasks do tap somewhat different reading-related skills.     

Helping the In‐Group Feels Better: Children’s Judgments and Emotion Attributions in Response to Prosocial Dilemmas

Five‐ to 13‐year‐old European American children (N = 76) predicted characters’ decisions, emotions, and obligations in prosocial moral dilemmas. Across age, children judged that characters would feel more positive emotions helping an unfamiliar child from the racial in‐group versus out‐group (African American), happier ignoring the needs of a child from the racial out‐group versus in‐group, and greater obligation to help a child from the racial in‐group versus out‐group. Situations varied by whether the race of the needy child matched versus mismatched that of the focal character. With increasing age, children attributed more positive emotions to people who sacrifice their own desires to help needy others as well as became more discriminating about the situations that call for altruistic action.     

Does academic self-concept drive academic achievement?

Gaps in GCSE attainment have long been the concern of policy makers, academics, and social commentators, largely due to the importance of these exams for setting children on their future academic and career pathways. In the past a wide range of factors relating to the pupils, their families, and their schools have been found to account for differences in GCSE attainment. In this paper we examine the role of pupils’ beliefs in their own academic ability (academic self-concept). Using Next Steps data, we examine whether pupils with higher academic self-concept do better or worse in their GCSEs than pupils with lower academic self-concept. Results show that on average, controlling for other characteristics, having high academic self-concept increases GCSE scores by four grades. When we compare academic self-concept to measured achievement we find that both high and low attainers have higher probabilities of achieving five A*–C GCSEs and higher GCSE point scores on average if they have high academic self-concept than similarly able students who have lower academic self-concept.     

FACULTY DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES IN THE ILLINOIS COMMUNITY COLLEGE SYSTEM

In a time of declining resources and restricted faculty mobility, faculty mobility, faculty development has become increasingly important. This study addressed faculty development activities, their evaluation, and their perceived impact on the improvement of instruction in the community colleges of Illinois. Data gathered through the use of a questionnaire mailed to the chief academic officer of each of the state's community colleges were analyzed and interpreted. It was found that a wide variety of activities — orientation, inservice, professional, individual, and group — are available to faculty members. Orientation activities were viewed as being moderately useful for the improvement of instruction. Respondents saw professional activities as somewhat more useful than inservice activities. With some qualifications, group activities were perceived as being more useful than individual activities. Evaluation efforts, for the most part, are as yet sporadic and unsophisticated.

The results of this study suggest that perhaps the traditional inservice‐type activities may not be the “one best way” to deliver quality faculty development aimed at the improvement of instruction. Faculty‐development planners may want to examine more closely the needs of their faculty in relation to the activities available. In addition to continuing the most useful of the group and inservice activities, attention should be directed toward those individual and professional activities not frequently offered but rated as highly effective in improving instruction.     

Unpacking Participatory Research in Education

The authors of this paper are members of Ottawa Participatory Researchers in Education (OPRE) a group of teachers, university academics, and students attempting to develop research initiatives using democratic and collaborative research approaches. Building on the experiences of the group, the paper examines and problematizes three elements typically ascribed to non-traditional research approaches: a social action focus, a transformative objective, and a participatory process. Particular emphasis is placed on the questions of who participates, in what ways, and under what conditions. As a result of OPRE's experience and self reflection, seven traps of "pseudo-democracy" are identified and illustrated as potential problems in research purporting to embody equal collaboration between university based academics and community members, such as teachers and students. It is argued that in order to further a democratic research process, equality of opportunity to participate cannot be assumed at any stage of the research process. Attention is paid to the following stages: setting the research agenda, the research epistemology, chronology of the project, representativeness of project participants, funding processes, knowledge cultures, and dissemination choices. Conclusions call for raising awareness of the possibility of teachers and students collaborating to identify research issues of mutual concern and developing a controlling role in research where academics are included as consultants and equals, but not as the possessors of superior and controlling research expertise.     

A brief statement of some needs of nontraditional foreign students in American colleges and universities

In recent years, a new population of nontraditional students has emerged in American higher education. That population is made up of foreign nationals and immigrants, refugees, and other aliens. Many of these students have other than traditional credentials. Some have unverifiable credentials, and still others have no credentials at all. Many lack adequate language proficiency, and many are inadequately prepared for success in the fields they have chosen, or been sent, to study. This article presents a glimpse of who these students are, where some are from, and how they are classified. It identifies some of their needs, and states briefly what steps institutions are being urged to take in order to help meet those needs.Professor Hansen is a recipient of the Amoco Foundation-Horace T. Morse Award for Outstanding contributions to Undergraduate Education.     

The Willingness-to-Pay for the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen as a Public Good

In this paper some of the results of a Contingent Valuation (CV)-Study of the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen, Denmark, are presented. The estimated aggregated willingness-to-pay (WTP) for the Royal Theatre through taxes shows that the Danish population wants to pay at least as much as the theatre receives in public subsidies. The visitors comprise only about 7 per cent of the total population, but the non-users' WTP is quite substantial which is the interesting point. It means that the non-users are willing to pay an option price and that the Royal Theatre has non-use value. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.