Equating Exams as a Prerequisite for Maintaining Standards: Experience with Dutch centralised secondary examinations

National examinations in The Netherlands play an important role both as school-leaving exams and in providing access to tertiary education. For most subjects the exams consist of two parts: a part internal to the school which is constructed, set and marked by the individual schoolteacher; and a central part which is constructed by Cito, the Dutch National Institute for Educational Measurement, but administered and marked by the schools. For many years, and until the 1990s, the procedures for the construction of the exams and for setting cut-off scores remained largely unchanged. In the 1990s, in response to concerns over standards, studies were conducted which demonstrated the necessity and feasibility of using equating procedures. Acting upon the outcomes, the State Secretary for Education and Science provided funds for introducing and maintaining equating as a standard procedure in central exams. From 1994 onwards, more and more exams have involved formal equating procedures.     

A typology of drug resistance strategies

This study examined social influences on adolescents' responses to drug offers. Seventy narrative accounts of both successful and unsuccessful attempts to say no were collected. From these data, the authors developed a typology of both drug offers and drug resistance strategies. In addition, typologies were developed for: who made the offer, what substance was offered, where the offer occurred, and why the subject responded as she or he did. As well, the study revealed the influence of the type of drug, alcohol or controlled substance, on the process of offering and resisting.

The analysis revealed that adolescents were more likely to resist offers of controlled substances and did so more often when the offer was made by an acquaintance at school. When they did refuse, they were most likely to simply say no. Also, teenagers were more likely to accept offers of alcohol, particularly from friends in social situations when the friends used persuasive appeals.     

A general approach for calculating the likelihood of dyadic interactions: Applications to sex preferences in rat pups and agonistic interactions in adults

We introduce a general approach for calculating the expected frequency of different types of dyadic interactions between animals and illustrate it with two applications. The first application determines whether there are sex contact biases between male and female Norway rat pups. We hypothesized that opposite-sex contact biases should be small, because it is likely that differences in contact based on the sex of animals would interfere with other biological functions, such as group temperature regulation. We found a small but significant bias of 3% in opposite-sex contacts. The second application reanalyzed J. B. Calhoun’s (1962) data on antagonistic encounters between rats for two factors (sex and birth location), each with two levels. The results of these two applications suggest that sex contact biases among pups are predictive of agonistic encounters among adults and that this approach has general application to the analysis of dyadic interactions among animals.     

Stories for young ones stuart

Dorthy Kostroun is a mother and grandmother of six and a storyteller, living in Buckholtz, Texas. Kelita Alberts is an art student and daughter of Mrs. Kostroun     

Perceptions of conflict strategies and communication competence in task‐oriented Dyads

Individuals in temporary task‐oriented dyads or groups must manage conflict competently if they hope to be successful in reaching their goals. Thus far, however, research on the associations between conflict styles and communication competence has focused on acquainted dyads, such as relational partners and coworkers, rather than unacquainted dyads assigned to work on tasks. The present study tests the applicability of the competence model of interpersonal conflict to temporary task‐oriented dyads. Dyads (N = 100) who had little or no relational history completed a simulated decision‐making task that involved choosing two out of four employees to lay off in response to a company's need to downsize. Results indicate people generally perceived the solution‐oriented strategy as appropriate and effective. Although people perceived their partners' use of the controlling strategy to be inappropriate, people rated themselves as more effective when they used the controlling strategy. People evaluated nonconfrontational strategies as particularly incompetent.     

Perceptions of conflict strategies and communication competence in task-oriented Dyads

Individuals in temporary task-oriented dyads or groups must manage conflict competently if they hope to be successful in reaching their goals. Thus far, however, research on the associations between conflict styles and communication competence has focused on acquainted dyads, such as relational partners and coworkers, rather than unacquainted dyads assigned to work on tasks. The present study tests the applicability of the competence model of interpersonal conflict to temporary task-oriented dyads. Dyads (N = 100) who had little or no relational history completed a simulated decision-making task that involved choosing two out of four employees to lay off in response to a company's need to downsize. Results indicate people generally perceived the solution-oriented strategy as appropriate and effective. Although people perceived their partners' use of the controlling strategy to be inappropriate, people rated themselves as more effective when they used the controlling strategy. People evaluated nonconfrontational strategies as particularly incompetent.     

Identity formation among African late-adolescents in a contemporary South African context

Questions relating to the domainsof occupation, religion and politics, taken fromMarcia's original Identity Status Interview, as wellas questions on attitudes toward pre-marital sex,formulated by Marcia and Friedman (1970), were used todetermine the nature of identity-related choices (egoidentity statuses) made by 102 African first-yearuniversity students from both sexes in the present-daySouth African circumstances. It was found thatsignificantly more female and also male adolescentsused sophisticated decision-making modes (identityachievement and moratorium) in forming an occupationalidentity, and that males were more inclined to useless sophisticated modes (foreclosure and identitydiffusion) in the area of religion. In contrast tofindings often obtained in Western settings a highproportion of male adolescents achieved a maturepolitical identity, indicating high levels of personaland emotional involvement in political affairs.Significantly more female participants usedsophisticated modes of decision-making in forming asexual identity. A comparison of the patterns ofdecision-making between the sexes revealed nosignificant differences in the domains of occupation,religion, and attitudes toward premarital sex.However, a significant difference was obtained for thedomain of politics, suggesting greater diversity inthe way that female adolescents deal with the world ofpolitics in comparison with males. It can be concludedfrom the findings that Marcia's identity statusparadigm is a fruitful method of studying identityformation in an African context, however, the use ofqualitative methods would provide valuable insightinto the peculiarities of formulating a personalidentity in a different (African) cultural setting.     

The relationship between Marcia's ego identity statuses and selected personality variables in an African context

Marcia's operationalization of Erikson's identity construct, the four identity statuses, was used in a study on late adolescent males in an African cultural context. Identity statuses were determined for 110 first-year university students in relation to global identity, as well as occupation, religion and politics, the content areas of Marcia's original Identity Status Interview. Personality dimensions were measured by the High School Personality Questionnaire and the IPAT Anxiety Scale. Contrary to findings obtained in Western settings, adolescents in the foreclosure status (global identity) displayed lower intelligence and concrete thinking patterns. Identity statuses relating to the individual content areas were both supportive and in conflict with findings obtained in Western studies, indicating possibly qualitative differences in an African situation.     

Development of a Reality‐Based Multimedia Case Study Teaching Method and its Effect on Students’ Planned Food Safety Behaviors

There is opportunity to decrease the frequency of foodborne illnesses by improving food safety competencies and planned behaviors of college students before they begin careers in the food industry. The objectives of this study were to (1) develop a multimedia case study teaching method that provides real world context for food science education; and (2) evaluate the extent to which it improves the intentions of students to implement food safety management systems upon entering the workforce, as well its impact on knowledge gains and students’ abilities to understand complex concepts. The target audience consisted of all participants in an upper‐level undergraduate food safety management systems course (n = 17). A pretest and posttest survey research instrument was developed to measure knowledge gains and also students’ food safety intentions using the framework of the Theory of Planned Behavior. Students experienced significant gains in knowledge, attitude, and intention after completion of the course (P < 0.05). One hundred percent of students agreed that the interactive videos aided in their understanding of food safety concepts. A paired t test suggested that both behavioral control beliefs and attitudes of students toward food safety management significantly increased (P < 0.5) after completion of the case study. These results suggest that integrating multimedia case studies into food science education may enhance food safety behaviors.