Reading Comprehension of Dutch Deaf Children

In this study, the reading comprehension of deaf children and adolescents in the Netherlands is examined along with their word identification. The reading comprehension of 464 deaf students and the word identification of 504 deaf students between 6 and 20 years of age was examined. The results show the reading comprehension scores of deaf children to be far below the scores of hearing children. On average, the deaf subjects scored at a level equivalent to a hearing child in the first grade. The word identification scores of the deaf children, however, were almost equivalent to the scores of hearing children. Although reading comprehension and word identification appear to be related, this relation does not completely explain the comprehension difficulties encountered by deaf children. Additional factors are required to explain deaf children’s difficulties with reading comprehension.     

Adolescent academic achievement: A model of social support and grit

Grit has been defined as passionate perseverance toward long-term challenging goals and it is associated with various positive outcomes for youth, including academic achievement. However, less is known about these associations for the two facets of grit (i.e., perseverance of effort, consistency of interest) and few studies have examined the link between grit and perceived social support. The present study examined the group-level demographic differences (i.e., gender, grade, socioeconomic status, and special education status) of grit in a high school sample (N = 1,077). In addition, direct associations between grit and perceived social support from multiple sources (i.e., teacher, classmate, parent) were examined, as well as a potential enhancing effect of social support as a moderator of the relation between grit and academic achievement. Results indicated positive associations among grit and its facets with social support from parents and classmates. Furthermore, the positive relation between grit and achievement was stronger for students reporting high social support from teachers, but not other sources (i.e., classmates, parents). Practical and theoretical implications for promoting student success are discussed.     

Early Childhood Parenting Predicts Late Childhood Brain Functional Connectivity During Emotion Perception and Reward Processing

Seventy-nine 3-year olds and their mothers participated in a laboratory-based task to assess maternal hostility. Mothers also reported their behavioral regulation of their child. Seven years later, functional magnetic resonance imaging data were acquired while viewing emotional faces and completing a reward processing task. Maternal hostility predicted more negative amygdala connectivity during exposure to sad relative to neutral faces with frontal and parietal regions as well as more negative left ventral striatal connectivity during monetary gain relative to loss feedback with the right posterior orbital frontal cortex and right inferior frontal gyrus. In contrast, maternal regulation predicted enhanced cingulo-frontal connectivity during monetary gain relative to loss feedback. Results suggest parenting is associated with alterations in emotion and reward processing circuitry 7–8 years later.     

Value Profiles During Middle Childhood: Developmental Processes and Social Behavior

Little is known about how children's value priorities develop over time. This study identifies children's value priority profiles and follows their development during middle childhood. Australian children (N = 609; ages 5–12 at Time 1) reported their values over 2 years. Latent Transition Analysis indicated four profiles: Social-Focus, Self-Focus, Growth-Focus and Undifferentiated. Within person development was characterized by profile stability or transfer to the Social-Focus profile. Younger children were more likely to have an Undifferentiated profile (or Self-Focus among boys) than older ones. Girls were more likely to have a Social-Focus profile or transfer to it, and less likely to have a Self- or Growth-Focus profile than boys. Social-Focus profile membership over time predicted more prosocial and less aggressive behavior.     

Tales from three countries: reflections during COVID-19 for mathematical education in the future

How can school mathematics prepare citizens for a democratic society? Answers to this question are not static; they change as society and its problems change. The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic with its corresponding disease COVID-19 presents such a problem: what is needed to navigate this complex situation that involves, among other things, mathematics? Using the essay genre, we use three narratives from three countries—Italy, the USA (California), and Germany—to reflect on the goals of teaching mathematics during this crisis and examine aspects of each country’s standards for mathematics education. These three stories are framed by the authors’ backgrounds, experiences, interests, their country’s situation, and response to the pandemic. We first present the three narratives and then examine common issues across them that might provide insights beyond this current crisis, for preparing students to become active citizens. In particular, we focus on three issues: (1) developing a positive mindset toward mathematics to engage with and reflect on real-world problems, (2) improving interdisciplinary connections to the sciences to better understand how science professional practices and insights are similar or different from everyday practices, and (3) considering interpersonal and collective matters beyond the individual.

     

Scholars committed to opportunities in psychological education: a training and mentoring program for future psychologists of color

ABSTRACT

Although strides towards inclusivity and racial equality have been made in graduate education, many barriers to graduate education remain for racial/ethnic minorities. In response, we created Scholars Committed to Opportunities in Psychological Education (SCOPE), a mentor-based program for racial/ethnic minority undergraduates. 63 racial/ethnic minority undergraduates completed the SCOPE curricula and pre- and post-program questionnaires regarding graduate school application knowledge, application confidence, stress, self-efficacy, and SCOPE program satisfaction. Mentors completed a training and questionnaires in one SCOPE cohort. Knowledge about the GRE, the application process, and application confidence increased, and stress decreased, following SCOPE. The result of this work is a portable mentoring program that can be used across disciplines and demographics to increase inclusivity and equality.     

Teachers' Perceptions of a Learner-Centered Teacher Evaluation System

Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability - Promoting success for all students is the driving force to develop and implement sound teacher evaluation systems. As Stronge suggests,...     

The role of scaling up research in designing for and evaluating robustness

One of the great strengths of Jim Kaput’s research program was his relentless drive towards scaling up his innovative approach to teaching the mathematics of change and variation. The SimCalc mission, “democratizing access to the mathematics of change,” was enacted by deliberate efforts to reach an increasing number of teachers and students each year. Further, Kaput asked: What can we learn from research at the next level of scale (e.g., beyond a few classrooms at a time) that we cannot learn from other sources? In this article, we develop an argument that scaling up research can contribute important new knowledge by focusing researchers’ attention on the robustness of an innovation when used by varied students, teachers, classrooms, schools, and regions. The concept of robustness requires additional discipline both in the design process and in the conduct of valid research. By examining a progression of three studies in the Scaling Up SimCalc program, we articulate how scaling up research can contribute to designing for and evaluating robustness.     

Assessing the counselling needs of high school students in Kenya

The Student Counselling Needs Scale (SCNS) was administered to 867 participants recruited from high schools in Kenya. The data were analyzed using exploratory factor analysis yielding five factors: human relationships, career development, self development, social values, and learning skills were assessed. The findings highlighted the importance of using assessment instruments to identify students’ counselling needs in Kenya.