Arturo Olivarez

The Role of Cognition, Motivation, and Emotion in Explaining the Mathematics Achievement Gap Between Hispanic and White Students:

The authors investigated the relationships between cognitive, motivational, and emotional variables across Hispanic and White students to predict mathematics performance. A theoretically based structural model fit a total sample of 666 4th- to 10th-grade students well, supporting that self-efficacy, sources of self-efficacy, and emotional feedback were all stronger predictors of mathematics performance than general mental ability. Tests of the structural model across ethnicity suggested a good fit for the White sample but not for the Hispanic sample. However, the majority of the associations in the White model were not significant. Because the model positing relationships among motivational and cognitive variables has been well established, the findings indicated that the inclusion of emotional feedback made it more complicated.

Evaluating Continuing Competency: A Challenge for Nursing

Twenty-five nurse leaders met at an invitational conference in Texas to discuss professional nurse competency evaluation. Conference attendees who were statewide nursing leaders in practice, education, and administration identified ways to evaluate competency. Responses were recorded and clustered into the following patterns: (1) components of competency evaluation, (2) barriers and challenges to evaluating competency, and (3) recommendations for evaluating competency. Conference attendees reported competency includes the abilities to think in action, have confidence and clarity in decision making, and retrieve information throughout the career trajectory. Nurses must demonstrate the ability to access evidence-based information and synthesize it within the context of practice situations. Self-reflection and self-assessment are necessary components to competency evaluation for the improvement of nursing practice.

IMAGINATION IN STORY READING: THE ROLE OF IMAGERY, VERBAL RECALL, STORY ANALYSIS, AND PROCESSING LEVELS

The spontaneous use of imagery and its relationship to free verbal recall were investigated. Community college students read a 2,100-word story under one of three sets of instructions and then recalled the story and reported their images immediately and 48 hours later. A new methodology for classifying imagery reports was developed. Results indicated that separate categories of imagery reports and verbal recalls were not highly correlated. Principal components analysis yielded factors predominated by imagery variables. Further, whereas total verbal recall declined over the retention interval (i.e., forgetting), imagery did not. Experimental instructions to readers designed to manipulate processing depth in an externally valid fashion did not result in significant differences in imagery reporting and recall, suggesting that a strict levels of processing view may be untenable for ecologically valid reading situations. Other results indicated that a significant relationship existed between imaging a story segment and the story grammar macro-structure of that segment, and that imagery of the climactic event was the most common. This study contributes to a series of studies using various texts and methodologies that suggest that imagery is a distinctive aspect of reading, viable for study in its own right.

Psychometric Properties of the Learning and Study Strategies Inventory-High School Version

Abstract The purpose of this study was to examine the latent composition of the Learning and Study Strategies Inventory for High School (LASSI-HS) by applying both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. A sample of 367 ninth-grade students completed the LASSI-HS. These data were used for estimating reliability and for identifying a structural measurement model. The sample data were divided into two homogeneous groups to test for the covariance properties of the proposed measurement model using confirmatory factor analysis via the CALIS procedure. Based on previous research done on a similar instrument, a three-factor model was suggested in the initial set of exploratory analyses, and evidence supported the proposed model over other alternate models. The three latent variables were identified and labeled affective/effort-related activities, cognitive aspects/activities, and goal-oriented activities. Interrelationships among the constructs are examined, and the potential uses of the LASSI-HS are disc...

The Managerial Roles of Public Community College Chief Academic Officers

Utilizing a managerial role survey based on Mintzbergs taxonomy, this study sets out to answer two important questions regarding the duties of the community college Chief Academic Officer: 1) What managerial roles do CAOs at community colleges perform and which roles do they emphasize? 2) Are there differences in the roles CAOs emphasize because of environmental characteristics, because of personal characteristics, or because of situational characteristics? The answers to these questions create a benchmark for managerial roles of CAOs at community colleges.

“I'M PREPARED FOR ANYTHING NOW”: STUDENT TEACHER AND COOPERATING TEACHER INTERACTION AS A CRITICAL FACTOR IN DETERMINING THE PREPARATION OF “QUALITY” ELEMENTARY READING TEACHERS

This research is an examination of the interactions between 19 pairs of student teachers and cooperating teachers engaged in guided reading instruction in Grades 1 through 3. As the basis for the study, the authors analyzed interaction patterns through conducting content analysis (Van Sluys, Lewison, & Seely Flint, 2006) and discourse analysis (Gee, 2005) over semi-structured interviews (Seidman, 2006) focused around learning to teach reading. Through a theoretical lens of imitation, guidance, and scaffolding based on Granotts (1993) work, the authors analyzed the interview transcripts to identify perceptions of behavior patterns between the student teachers and cooperating teachers. The authors also conducted a cross-comparison analysis of the similarity in reporting between each partner to examine the extent to which the pairs corroborated one anothers perceptions. Findings for the study include high levels of imitative interaction between cooperating teachers and student teachers in areas of reading assessment and grouping children for reading instruction. Interaction deemed to be guided and scaffolded in nature occurred less frequently overall.

Development and Evaluation of the Mathematics Interest Inventory.

Abstract This study describes the development of the Mathematics Interest Inventory. Internal reliability and concurrent and construct validity were evaluated using 3 samples of children totaling 724. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses revealed the presence of 3 factors representing the psychological stale of individual interest. Cross-validation with older children supported the factors.

Investigating Organizational Dimensions of Middle School Curricular Leadership: Linkages to School Effectiveness

Abstract This study explores the organizational nature of curricular leadership in middle schools. A conceptual model of the organizational structure and effects of curricular leadership in middle schools is presented. The Organizational Curricular Leadership (OCL) model suggests that the relationship between organizational inputs and effectiveness in middle schools is mediated by a variety of organizational curricular leadership (OCL) variables. Five meaningful dimensions of OCL are empirically derived. The OCL model posits multiple, reciprocal relationships occurring among school inputs, OCL variable dimensions, and school outcomes. OCL variable linkages to various indices of school effectiveness are posited and explored using quantitative methods. The model is operationally defined through the development of a new quantitative measure of overall OCL leadership in middle schools—the Organizational Curricular Leadership Inventory (OCLI). A variety of implications are derived from study findings for: (1) recasting and extending notions of conceptual-based research on middle school organizations; (2) informing curricular leadership in middle schools; and (3) guiding further middle school organizational curricular leadership and effectiveness studies.

Predictive Bias with Referred and Nonreferred Black, Hispanic, and White Pupils

Predictive bias was examined using data obtained from ethnically diverse referred and nonreferred samples. Achievement and intelligence measures included the Wechsler Intelligence Scale-Revised, Kaufman Achievement Battery, Woodcock-Johnson Psychoeducational Battery and the Woodcock Language Proficiency Battery. The sample consisted of 236 subjects selected from a large urban district in Texas. Results revealed evidence of predictive bias in several sets of intelligence-achievement measures. For the most part, intercept bias was more evident than slope bias (differential validity). The need for test developers to assess predictive bias in new or revised tests is emphasized.

Evaluating the Mathematics Interest Inventory Using Item Response Theory Differential Item Functioning Across Gender and Ethnicities

As the United States has begun to lag behind other developed countries in performance on mathematics and science, researchers have sought to explain this with theories of teaching, knowledge, and motivation. We expand this examination by further analyzing a measure of interest that has been linked to student performance in mathematics and intention to enroll in advanced mathematics classes. Using Item Response Theory (IRT), the purpose of this study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Mathematics Interest Inventory (MII). Six hundred sixty-six students (47.6% Hispanic, 48.2% Male) formed the sample. Results revealed minimal differential item functioning (DIF) between genders. Substantial DIF emerged between Hispanic and White students. Implications of the differential functioning and the measurement of interest in mathematics are discussed.