Elsa-Sofia Morote

Basic employability skills: a triangular design approach

Purpose – This paper seeks to examine the basic employability skills needed for job performance, the reception of these skills in college, and the need for additional training in these skills after graduation.Design/methodology/approach – The research was based on a triangular design approach, in which the attitudes of three distinct groups – recent graduates, the faculty who taught them, and human resource managers who recruit them – were studied. The participants responded to a survey that included 47 items measuring eight dimensions of basic employability skills.Findings – The study revealed considerable differences in opinion among the three groups with regard to the skills needed for job performance, the skills received by college graduates, and the additional training needed.Research limitations/implications – The research study was limited to graduates, faculty, and recruiters at a business school in southern California. It is suggested that further studies be conducted to determine whether differe...

Predicting Career Advancement with Structural Equation Modelling

– The purpose of this paper is to use the authors’ prior findings concerning basic employability skills in order to determine which skills best predict career advancement potential., – Utilizing survey responses of human resource managers, the employability skills showing the largest relationships to career advancement were used in a regression analysis. The regression results generated structural equation models., – According to human resource managers, leadership skills and information technology skills needed for job performance were shown to be significant contributors to recent graduates’ career advancement potential. Work ethic and critical thinking skills were found to be closely linked with leadership skills. Additionally, management skills, leadership skills, and basic literacy and numeracy skills received from recent graduates by their employers were found to be the strongest predictors of graduates’ career advancement potential., – The research study was limited to graduates, faculty, and recruiters at a business school in southern California. Further studies can determine whether differences in attitudes from those found in this study might exist., – It is important that students develop basic employability skills prior to entering the workforce, since remedial training on the job could impede career advancement., – Those graduates who show deficiencies in the skills that are viewed by employers to be predictors of advancement are likely to experience difficulties with career growth., – The first part of this study utilized a triangular approach to survey three distinct groups of respondents – graduates, the faculty who taught them, and the human resource managers who recruited them – concerning their attitudes toward basic employability skills. In this second part of the study, the novelty utilized was structural equation modelling, which highlighted those skills that are most critical to career advancement.

The Link between Investment in Early Childhood Preschools and High School Graduation Rates for African American Males in the United States of America.

This article reports the investigation of the extent to which US preschool federal funding (Head Start) and the preschool enrollment of African American males (aged three to five) affected the high school graduation rates of this population (aged 14 to 19). The authors found that a link exists between preschool enrollment and the high school graduation rate of this population. They also found a link between Head Start funding and the high school graduation rate for this group.

A Model of Academic Self-Concept for High School Hispanic Students in New York

This study examined how Hispanic students’ academic self-concept influences the independent variables of family academic expectations, peer relationships, schoolwork, and student–teacher relationships. A survey was administered to 222 ninth-grade students in Long Island, New York, 99 of whom self-identified as Hispanic. A structural equation model analyzed the influence of the independent variables on the dependent variable, academic self-concept. A multiple regression analysis indicated that peer relationships, family academic expectations, and schoolwork were significant predictors of students’ academic self-concept. Peer relationships was a modifying variable on students’ academic self-concept.

Predicting Fourth Grade Student English Language Art (ELA) Achievement Among New York Schools

The researchers used structural equation modeling (SEM) to create a model to predict fourth-grade student achievement in English Language Arts (ELA) by exploring the relationships among: student, household, school, and teacher factors. Public data from the New York State Education Department (NYSED) 2012–13 school report card data, NYSED fiscal reporting system, Census 2010 School District Demographics System, and 2011 Civil Right Data Collection were used from 1,263 schools in New York excluding New York City. Variables were chosen using this convenient sample and supported by our conceptual rationale.The model predicted fourth-grade ELA achievement with 73 percent of effect size. Household attributes had the strongest predictive value for student achievement. School attendance rate, and the percentage of teachers with master’s degrees plus 30 additional educational credits in the school had medium predictive value for student achievement. The model also predicted the percentage of economically disadvantaged (ED) students in a grade with 73 percent of effect size based on the school district household attributes. Single family household was a major predictor for ED students.

A Study About the Academic Integrity of Second-Year Aviation Students in U.S. Higher Education

Abstract This study measures the influence of an ethics course on the academic integrity of second-year college students enrolled in an aviation program in the United States and their beliefs about following Federal Aviation Regulations standards. Academic integrity is defined by three variables: beliefs about not cheating, beliefs about exhibiting moral behavior, and beliefs about following a code of conduct. Normalized gains, bivariate correlations, and independent samples t-test procedures indicated significant differences in academic integrity between aviation students who took an ethics course and students who did not take an ethics course. The gain in reported moral behavior was found not to be significant. The results of the study imply that offering ethics courses to aviation students promotes their academic integrity. Future studies about other factors that influence the academic integrity of aviation students in college are recommended.