Never Let a Crisis Go to Waste: Large-Scale Assessment and the Response to COVID-19

In early spring 2020 the vast majority of US colleges and schools closed for the year due to COVID-19 with no clear direction on when or how these institutions will reopen for in-person instruction. School closures and the associated health concerns haulted large scale admissions testing and required alternative models such as remote proctoring at home, additional flexibility in test sites and administrative conditions, and additional testing dates for the fall. It is clear that access to admissions testing has been greatly reduced despite these efforts resulting in extended deadlines in graduate admissions and the wide-scale adoption of test-optional polcies in undergraduate admissions. This paper traces the efforts undertaken by admissions testing programs to adapt to COVID-19 and the measurement issues which emerge from these efforts.     

French secondary school students' perceptions of the education-labor market link

A survey was conducted to examine the strength of beliefs among French school pupils in three perceptions of the education-labor market link traditionally studied in the economy of human capital: ‘productivity’, ‘screening’ and ‘credentialism’. 247 male and female French students aged between 14 and 24 years responded to a paper-and-pencil questionnaire. The purpose of the study is by means of introducing the concepts of ‘productivity’, ‘screening’ and ‘credentialism’ into the field of psychology of education to identify on the one hand the relative dominance of these three conceptions, and on the other hand to study each in relation to classical demographic variables and psychosocial variables such as academic self-evaluation, self-assessment of the range of vocational options and type of education and training sought by the pupils. Results indicate that students are more inclined to believe that the achievement of academic degrees acts more as a ‘screening’ device and as evidence of achievement than a factor enhancing productivity in the workplace. It seems that the variability of the role assigned to education as regards employability depends on the students' social and academic standing and on the way they deal with it.     

The ABCs of New Zealand Sign Language: Aerial Spelling

Aerial spelling is the term given here for the way many deaf people in New Zealand, especially the elderly, manually represent letters of the alphabet. It is simply a system using the index finger to write letter(s) "in the air" and is an integral part of New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL). Unfortunately, recent research into NZSL is either dismissive of it or fails to acknowledge it. This article describes aerial spelling and discusses its nature, as well as its indifferent treatment in current literature.     

The relationship of school‐wide Positive Behavior Support to academic achievement in an urban middle school

An emerging literature on school‐wide Positive Behavior Support (PBS) in urban settings suggests the utility of PBS in addressing student social development while decreasing the need for disciplinary actions (i.e., office disciplinary referrals [ODRs]). This research represents a significant addition to, and expansion of, this literature by examining the relationship of school‐wide PBS‐induced reductions in out‐of‐class referrals to student academic achievement. School‐wide PBS was implemented in an urban, inner‐city middle school in the Midwest over a 3‐year period. Data on ODRs, suspensions, standardized test scores, and treatment fidelity were gathered and analyzed. Results demonstrated significant reductions in ODRs and suspensions and increases in standardized math and reading scores. Additionally, regression analyses suggested a significant relationship between student problem behavior and academic performance. Treatment adherence to PBS procedures was significantly correlated with reductions in problem behavior. These findings are discussed in terms of helping urban schools address challenging behavior. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 43: 701–712, 2006.     

Teacher Preparedness in the use of Co‐teaching in Inclusive Classrooms

Co‐teaching is a widely used instructional approach to meet the needs of all students in inclusive classrooms across the globe. Despite the widespread implementation of the practice, little is known about how teachers are prepared to use it. This study examined the extent to which 77 teachers were prepared to use co‐teaching. Results indicated that a majority of the teachers are underprepared in its use. Recommendations and implications are discussed.     

Higher order conditioning of a taste aversion

Two groups of rats each received 5 drops of NaCl solution from a dropper placed directly inside the mouth. The experimental group was then injected with lithium chloride to establish a conditioned taste aversion. The control group was injected 24 h later. After a recovery day the above procedures were repeated. On the next day both groups received 5 drops of a saccharin solution followed immediately by 5 drops of the NaCl solution. Subsequent preference tests established that the experimental group had learned an aversion to the saccharin solution as a result of its pairing with the NaCl solution which had previously been associated with poisoning. These results demonstrate that higher order conditioning of a taste aversion can be established using tastes as both the first-order stimulus and the second-order stimulus.     

Using Academic Journals to Help Students Learn Subject Matter Content, Develop and Practice Critical Reasoning Skills, and Reflect on Personal Values in Food Science and Human Nutrition Classes

ABSTRACT:  It has been reported that students learn best when they use a wide variety of techniques to understand the information of the discipline, be it visual, auditory, discussion with others, metacognition, hands-on activities, or writing about the subject. We report in this article the use of academic journals not only as an aid for students to learn about content knowledge needed in an Experimental Foods course, but also as a way to have students think about and reflect on their own personal values. The topics of these journal entries cover several of the core competencies in the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) Undergraduate Education Standards for Degrees in Food Science. These are basic principles of food science, as well as address several "Success Skills" (written communication, critical thinking, professionalism, life-long learning, interaction skills, and organizational skills). While there are no quantitative "measurements" of gains in learning, comments from the students indicate that learning took place, critical reasoning occurred, and personal values were analyzed. A guideline for writing and grading academic journals and a simple rubric for scoring the quality of the writing are included.     

TIME-LAG DIFFERENCES IN THE AGENDA-SETTING PROCESS: AN EXAMINATION OF FIVE NEWS MEDIA

Five news media in the U.S. were examined to determine the optimaltime-lag for agenda-setting effects to occur for each. Publicresponses to an open-ended question ‘What is the numberone problem facing our country today?’ were compared tomedia coverage from one to 26 weeks earlier. A number of differenceswere found across the five media. The results show that televisioncoverage had a shorter optimal time-lag than newspapers. Themore immediate effect of television news, however, quickly deteriorated,and newspapers had a stronger long-term agenda-setting effect.National and regional media also had a more immediate impactthan local media. All media, generally, had slightly shorteroptimal time-lags than previous research would suggest.     

Shared Governance among the new Majority: Non-Tenure Track Faculty Eligibility for Election to University Faculty Senates

Non-tenure track faculty members (NTTF) constitute what has been referred to by scholars as the new faculty majority. The growing numbers of NTTF have led to debates about the role they should play in shared governance. Currently, however, an overall lack of empirical knowledge exists regarding the status of their involvement in institutional governance. Using data from highest research activity doctoral universities, this study investigated current standards related to NTTF eligibility for election to institution-wide faculty senates. We also explored what these faculty governance standards and criteria reveal about the status and position of NTTF within the professoriate.     

Workplace as Community: Perspectives on Science Teachers’ Professional Learning

This study explores teacher professional learning within the workplace context of a science department community. Workplace learning is considered in terms of the construction and flow of information about science, pedagogy and the relationships of science to the wider community. Implications for establishing sound conditions for teacher workplace learning are also considered, particularly the importance of trust.