Does classroom matter? - A longitudinal multilevel perspective on students' achievement goal orientation profiles during lower secondary school

The present study adds to earlier person-oriented research by investigating differences in students' achievement goal orientation (AGO) profiles and their development using a simultaneous consideration of classroom patterns with longitudinal multilevel methods. The sample of almost 10,000 lower secondary school students, representing over 600 classrooms, was surveyed on their AGOs in the 7th and 9th grade. Multilevel latent profile analyses (MLPAs) and transition analysis (MLTA) revealed similar student profiles in AGOs in both grades: success-oriented, moderate multiple goals and avoidance-oriented, as well as two classroom types: success-oriented and mixed orientation classrooms with varied relative proportions of different student-level profiles and patterns of likely transitions. Stability of profiles was more typical than change. Maladaptive transitions were related to lower, and stable and adaptive transitions to higher GPA in the end of 9th grade. In success-oriented classrooms, it was more common to maintain or adopt the success-orientation across lower secondary school compared to the other classroom type.     

The development of reading skills in young partially sighted readers

Young learners with severe visual impairments are restricted in many ways, and psychologists and special needs teachers require information about the nature and extent of the possible educationally handicapping effects. This article, written by Michael Tobin, Emeritus Professor of Special Education within the School of Education at the University of Birmingham, and Eileen Hill, a teacher at Queen Alexandra College, Birmingham, reports the use of a longitudinal approach to measure how reading development is affected in these children and to uncover the relationships with and among other cognitive factors. The 60 participants were part of a larger cohort of children registered as blind or partially sighted, their reading progress being monitored from seven to 12 years of age. While improving in all three skill areas as measured by the Neale Analysis of Reading Ability, there were significant deficits/lags in development as compared with the norms for their fully‐sighted age peers, especially in speed of reading. Even more disturbing was the finding that the deficits increased with age. Significant correlates of reading, changing in importance over time, were intelligence, visual efficiency, phonological awareness, vocabulary knowledge and short‐term memory. It is proposed that, if the educationally handicapping effects of the impairment are to be overcome, a formal, regular cycle of testing to monitor progress be instituted by specialist teachers and educational psychologists. together with the design, development and standardisation of a new reading assessment procedure; and that the professionals collaborate in the construction of programmes of continuing structured teaching to improve speed of reading throughout primary and early secondary schooling.     

Impact of a universal school-based violence prevention program on violent delinquency: distinctive benefits for youth with maltreatment histories

Objective

Child maltreatment constitutes a strong risk factor for violent delinquency in adolescence, with cumulative experiences of maltreatment creating increasingly greater risk. Our previous work demonstrated that a universal school-based violence prevention program could provide a protective impact for youth at risk for violent delinquency due to child maltreatment history. In this study we conducted a follow-up to determine if participation in a school-based violence prevention program in grade 9 continued to provide a buffering effect on engaging in acts of violent delinquency for maltreated youth, 2 years post-intervention.

Methods

Secondary analyses were conducted using data from a cluster randomized controlled trial of a comprehensive school-based violence prevention program. Students (N = 1,722; 52.8% female) from 20 schools participated in 21 75-min lessons in grade 9 health classes. Individual data (i.e., gender, child maltreatment experiences, and violent delinquency in grade 9) and school-level data (i.e., student perception of safety averaged across students in each school) were entered in a multilevel model to predict violent delinquency at the end of grade 11.

Results

Individual- and school-level factors predicting violent delinquency in grade 11 replicated previous findings from grade 9: being male, experiencing child maltreatment, being violent in grade 9, and attending a school with a lower perceived sense of safety among the entire student body increased violent delinquency. The cross-level interaction of individual maltreatment history and school-level intervention was also replicated: in non-intervention schools, youth with more maltreatment in their background were increasingly likely to engage in violent delinquency. The strength of this relationship was significantly attenuated in intervention schools.

Conclusions

Follow-up findings are consistent with the buffering effect of the prevention program previously found post-intervention for the subsample of youth with maltreatment histories.

Practice implications

A relative inexpensive school-based violence prevention program that has been shown to reduce dating violence among the whole student body also creates a protective effect for maltreated youth with respect to lowering their likelihood of engaging in violent delinquency.     

Contextual and individual-level predictors of abused children's reentry into out-of-home care: a multilevel mixture survival analysis

Objectives

This study examined the effects of individual and contextual factors on reentry into out-of-home care among children who were discharged from child protective services in fiscal year 2004-2005. The objectives were to: (1) examine individual and contextual factors associated with reentry, (2) explore whether there are meaningful groups of youth who differ in terms of risk for reentry, and (3) determine whether relatively homogeneous clusters of child welfare agencies, based on contextual characteristics, differ significantly in terms of the reentry rates of the children whom they serve.

Method

The study design involved a multilevel longitudinal analysis of administrative data based on an exit cohort. Two Cox proportional hazards multilevel mixture models were tested. The first model included multiple individual level predictors and no agency level predictors. The second model included both levels of predictors.

Results

The results of multilevel Cox regression mixture modeling indicated that at the individual level, younger age, being placed in out-of-home care because of neglect and having physical, health problems corresponded to a decreased likelihood for reentry. At the agency level, lower average expenditures per child and contracting out case management services were associated with faster reentry into out-of-home care.

Conclusions

This study demonstrates that children who reenter out-of-home care appear to be a homogeneous population and that reentry is associated with both contextual factors and individual characteristics.

Practice implications

The most important implication that can be drawn from the study findings is that reentry may be most effectively prevented by focusing on such factors at the organizational level as contracting out case management services and funding allocation. Child welfare agencies that are responsible for an array of services and decide to contract out case management should consider the use of performance-based contracts and emphasize and strengthen quality assurance approaches for contracted services. In addition, to compensate for lower funding allocated for children served in out-of-home care, child welfare workers should become more familiar with community resources and help connect families to these supports.     

Student teachers’ skills in the implementation of collaborative learning: A multilevel approach

This study explores the development of student teachers’ skills in implementing collaborative learning (CL) using a multilevel repeated measures design. Participants were 105 pre-service teachers that were trained in CL implementation. The results indicate that student teachers generally perform well in implementing CL. Further, it appears that these skills increase over time, although no linear growth can be found. Student teachers’ skills development appears to be positively connected with their general feeling of teaching efficacy. Surprisingly, training and students’ pedagogical knowledge have no significant impact.     

语境顺应视角下《英雄》的字幕翻译

语言顺应论是一个极富解释力和适应性的理论,它对翻译理论研究有很强的借鉴作用。顺应论认为顺应性是人类语言的重要特征之一,翻译是一个根据语境不断进行顺应性选择的动态过程,译者在翻译过程中必须考虑对译语语境以及译文的语言结构的顺应。本文主要从语用学视角探讨了语境顺应对电影《英雄》字幕翻译的影响,指出了语境动态顺应在字幕翻译中的重要性。     

图书流通信息多层关联规则挖掘法的优化与应用

通过对FP-Growth算法的扩展,提出图书流通信息关联规则挖掘的新算法即MACLC-FP（Multilevel Association with Chinese Library Classification FP）算法;结合实例着重阐述应用该算法,采用多层关联分析技术,挖掘读者借阅行为中隐含规律的可行性;进而探讨该数据挖掘技术在现代图书馆中的应用前景。这对图书馆调整资源建设的学科结构、提升读者服务的工作水平都具有重要意义。     

Capturing a nuanced picture of classroom cultural diversity climate: Multigroup and multilevel analyses among secondary school students in Germany

As cultural diversity is increasing around the globe, a more nuanced understanding of the cultural diversity climate in classroom settings is needed, including how its different aspects relate to student outcomes. We developed the Classroom Cultural Diversity Climate Scale (CCDCS), integrating theory and research from social psychology and multicultural education and including novel facets like polyculturalism, which has not been studied in the school context before. We then studied associations with intergroup relations, socio-emotional adjustment, and school achievement among students of immigrant and non-immigrant background at the individual and classroom levels. The scale includes six subscales in the two broad dimensions of equality and inclusion: contact and cooperation, (un)equal treatment, and color-evasion, and cultural pluralism: heritage and intercultural learning, critical consciousness, and polyculturalism. Using data from 1,335 secondary school students in Germany (M_age = 14.7; 51% male; 51% immigrant background), the scale demonstrated measurement invariance by immigrant background, gender, and school track, and reliability at individual and classroom levels. A more positive diversity climate, with better intercultural relations (equality and inclusion) and more opportunities to learn about cultural diversity (cultural pluralism), was associated with more positive student outcomes. Interestingly, polyculturalism was not associated with negative effects observed for other facets of cultural pluralism. Relations for different climate aspects also varied by outcome and students’ immigrant background. This underscores the importance of a nuanced perspective when evaluating different approaches to cultural diversity in context.     

论英语电影片名汉译中的语境顺应

文章以语境顺应理论为基础,探讨了英语电影片名汉译中的语境顺应,即语言语境顺应和交际语境顺应,从而揭示了语境顺应对电影片名翻译的巨大解释力和重要作用.     

面向多层用户的农业信息资源分类初步研究

在分析现有农业信息资源分类的基础上，提出了面向不同用户需求和网络农业信息资源管理的农业信息资源分类方案：在农业行业分类的基础上，依据农业信息内容的属性特征，分为农业空间信息、农业科技信息信息、农村社会经济信息、农业相关机构信息、农业自然资源信息、农业生产资料信息和农产品市场信息等7类; 各类信息依据用户对信息需求的差异，分别分为基本信息和全集信息，并初步建立了农业信息资源分类的编码体系。它有益于促进我国农业的信息化和现代化，对农业科学研究也具有重要意义。