The impact evaluation process,part 1: Building a case for demonstrating the worth of performance improvement interventions

Evaluation results and consequences are only as strong as the plan and the partnerships that provide guidance for the evaluation process. This article, the first of a two‐part series on evaluation, is a pragmatic guide for conducting useful evaluations that produce action‐based recommendations for measurably improving performance. The next installment focuses on planning a responsive evaluation by establishing solid partnerships with stakeholders.     

Neurocognitive and Temperamental Systems of Self‐Regulation and Early Adolescents’ Social and Academic Outcomes

ABSTRACT— The aim of the current study was to examine the role of individual differences in neurocognitive and temperamental systems of self‐regulation in early adolescents’ social and academic competence. Measures used in the study included the Attention Network Test, the Early Adolescence Temperament Questionnaire, a peer‐reported Social Status Questionnaire, a self‐reported measure of Schooling Skills, and information on grades obtained by the students in a variety of school subjects (n= 69 12‐year olds). Results showed that efficiency of the neurocognitive network of executive attention is related to academic outcomes, particularly in mathematics, as well as to aspects of social adjustment. Temperamental effortful control appears to be a significant predictor of all dimensions of school competence assessed in this study and mediates the relationship between social adjustment and poor schooling outcomes. These data suggest that individual differences in systems of self‐regulation are central to understanding processes of learning and social adjustment in the school.     

On Becoming Allies: A Qualitative Study of Lesbian‐, Gay‐, and Bisexual‐Affirmative Counselor Training

The authors present a qualitative analysis of a process by which a research team of counselors‐in‐training confronted their heterosexist biases while investigating heterosexual attitudes toward sexual minorities. Members of the research team discovered that it was essential to reflect on and evaluate their attitudes, assumptions, and biases before they could conduct scientific research about affirmative attitudes toward lesbian, gay male, and bisexual male and female individuals. Self‐reflective narratives written by each research team member were analyzed using consensual qualitative research methodology. Results yielded 10 general categories or themes. Implications for counseling theory, training, and future research are discussed.     

Maternal teaching of the symbolic function of a scale model / La enseñanza materna de la función simbólica de una maqueta

This study explores how mothers naturally guide their children in the use of a symbolic object, a scale model. Nineteen mothers, along with their two-and-a-half-year-old children, participated. The children had to find a toy hidden in a small room by using a scale model that represented it. It was found that mothers used three kinds of strategies: model-room correspondence, life experience and the names of the objects; with correspondence being the preferred strategy. The mothers were very responsive to their children, offering feedback in order to evaluate both their correct and incorrect searches. The corrective feedback affected the children’s performance when mothers had previously used strategies like correspondence and experience, but not in the case of name. In general terms, the results illustrate how mothers naturally guide the cultural knowledge of their children, structuring the interaction in a particular way and providing teaching and correction strategies in line with the responses of their children and the characteristics of the task.     

Teachers negotiating discourses of gender (in) equality: the case of equal opportunities reform in Andalusia

This article is focused on the analysis of the narratives produced by a group of teachers, experts in coeducation, while they were discussing their everyday activities. They are responsible for the implementation of a Plan for Gender Equality in public secondary schools in Andalusia (Spain). This study is based on contributions about doing gender view, according to which gender is not an attribute of individuals, but a way of making sense of interactions and practising a complex system as functioning on three levels: sociocultural, interactional, and individual. We use these levels to understand gender culture in schools through teachers’ discourse. Our interest lies particularly in the meanings, contradictions, difficulties, and conflicts experienced by expert teachers in co-education. Our study was based on group discussions with teachers in charge of the plan for equal opportunities between women and men in school settings. Results show teachers’ conflicts about meanings and how they are supposed to apply the Equality Plan. We observed interactional levels during these conflicts and analysed how teachers construct and validate their discourse.