Jon Patton

School Climate: Historical Review, Instrument Development, and School Assessment.

This study’s purpose is to examine the existing school climate literature in an attempt to constitute its definition from a historical context and to create a valid and reliable student-reported school climate instrument. Five historically common school climate domains and five measurement tools were identified, combined, and previewed by the target audience to determine face validity. The final student sample (N = 2,049) was randomly split into exploratory and confirmatory samples and subjected to factor analytic and structural equation modeling techniques. Factor analysis results confirmed an eight-factor solution (loadings with absolute values > .40). Item factor loadings ranged from .42 to .87. Coefficient alphas ranged from .65 to .91. Preliminary analyses support the reliability and validity of the instrument. This is the first study to balance historical precedent (what to measure) and modern scale development procedures (e.g., structural equation modeling) into a single attempt to measure school climate. Implications and potential uses are discussed.

Validation of the Brief Multidimensional Students' Life Satisfaction Scale Among College Students.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the psychometric properties of the BMSLSS among 522 college students. METHODS Internal consistency reliability explored scale reliability, factor analysis explored construct validity, known-groups validity was assessed by use of items from the National College Youth Risk Behavior Survey and Harvard National Survey of Alcohol Use, and criterion-related validity was explored through analyses with the CDCs Health-Related Quality of Life Scale. RESULTS Acceptable internal consistency reliability, construct, known-groups, and criterion-related validity were established. CONCLUSIONS These findings offer preliminary support for the BMSLSS; it could serve as part of comprehensive evaluations of subjective QOL for program evaluation and/or policy purposes among college students.

Long-term relationships among early first language skills, second language aptitude, second language affect, and later second language proficiency

Fifty-four students were followed over 10 years beginning in first grade to determine best predictors of oral and written second language (L2) proficiency. Predictor variables included measures of first language (L1) skill administered in first through fifth grades, L1 academic aptitude, L2 aptitude (Modern Language Aptitude Test), and L2 affect (motivation, anxiety). All participants completed 2 years of L2 study in high school. Findings revealed strong correlations between early L1 skills and later L2 proficiency, but the Modern Language Aptitude Test was the best predictor of overall L2 proficiency and most L2 proficiency subtests. However, L1 word decoding was the best predictor of L2 word decoding skills. Early L1 skills, L2 motivation, or L2 anxiety added a small amount of variance to the prediction models. Findings suggested that language-related variables are the most robust predictors of L2 proficiency. Results are discussed in the context of long-term cross linguistic transfer of early L1 skills to later L2 aptitude and L2 proficiency.

Early first-language reading and spelling skills predict later second-language reading and spelling skills.

This prospective study examined early first-language (L1) predictors of later second-language (L2) reading (word decoding, comprehension) and spelling skills by conducting a series of multiple regressions. Measures of L1 word decoding, spelling, reading comprehension, phonological awareness, receptive vocabulary, and listening comprehension administered in the 1st through 5th grades were used as predictors of L2 reading (word decoding, comprehension) and spelling skills in high school. The best predictor of L2 decoding skill was a measure of L1 decoding, and the best predictors of L2 spelling were L1 spelling and L1 phonological awareness. The best predictor of L2 reading comprehension was a measure of L1 reading comprehension. When L2 word decoding skill replaced L1 word decoding as a predictor variable for L2 reading comprehension, results showed that L2 word decoding was an important predictor of L2 reading comprehension. The findings suggest that even several years after students learn to read and spell their L1, word decoding, spelling, and reading comprehension skills transfer from L1 to L2.

Differences in native-language skills, foreign-language aptitude, and foreign-language grades among high-, average-, and low-proficiency foreign-language learners: two studies

Two studies examined the extent to which there would be differences in native language skills, foreign-language aptitude, and final foreign-language grades among high-school students completing a second year of a foreign-language course and identified as high-, average-, and low-proficiency learners. Oral and written proficiency measures in Spanish, French, and German were designed and administered by trained evaluators. The first study involved 60 females who attended a private, single-sex suburban high school; the second involved a coeducational population of 36 students in a suburban public2 school. Results showed overall differences among the three proficiency groups on native-language and foreign-language aptitude measures. Most group differences were between high- and lowproficiency learners, although high vs average and average vs low groups differed on some measures. There were also group differences in final grades at end of both first-year and second-year foreign-language courses. Discriminant analyses showed that two testing measures in the first study and one testing measure in the second study were significant in distinguishing the three groups. Conclusions and implications about connections among foreign-language proficiency and native-language skills, foreign-language aptitude, and end-of-year grades are presented.

Change of Writing Style with Time

This study investigates the writing stylechange of two Turkish authors, Çetin Altanand Yaşar Kemal, in their old and newworks using respectively their newspapercolumns and novels. The style markers are thefrequencies of word lengths in both text andvocabulary, and the rate of usage of mostfrequent words. For both authors, t-tests andlogistic regressions show that the length ofthe words in new works is significantly longerthan that of the old. The principal componentanalyses graphically illustrate the separationbetween old and new texts. The works arecorrectly categorized as old or new with 75 to100% accuracy and 92% average accuracy usingdiscriminant analysis-based cross validation. The results imply higher time gap may havepositive impact in separation andcategorization. For Altan a regressionanalysis demonstrates a decrease in averageword length as the age of his column increases. One interesting observation is that for oneword each author has similar preference changesover time.

Water Quality Trends and Changing Agricultural Practices in a Midwest U.S. Watershed, 1994-2006

Sediment and nutrient concentrations in surface water in agricultural regions are strongly influenced by agricultural activities. In the Corn Belt, recent changes in farm management practices are likely to affect water quality, yet there are few data on these linkages at the landscape scale. We report on trends in concentrations of N as ammonium (NH(4)) and nitrate (NO(3)), soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP), and suspended sediment (SS) in three Corn Belt streams with drainage areas of 12 to 129 km(2) for 1994 through 2006. During this period, there has been an increase in conservation tillage, a decline in fertilizer use, and consolidation of animal feeding operations in our study watersheds and throughout the Corn Belt. We use an autoregressive moving average model to include the effects of discharge and season on concentrations, LOWESS plots, and analyses of changes in the relation between discharge and concentration. We found significant declines in mean monthly concentrations of NH(4) at all three streams over the 13-yr period, declines in SRP and SS in two of the three streams, and a decline in NO(3) in one stream. When trend coefficients are converted to percent per year and weighted by drainage, area changes in concentration are -8.5% for NH(4), -5.9% for SRP, -6.8% for SS, and -0.8% for NO(3). Trends in total N and P are strongly tied to trends in NO(3), SRP, and SS and indicate that total P is declining, whereas total N is not.

The brief multidimensional students' life satisfaction scale-college version.

OBJECTIVES To investigate the psychometric properties of the BMSLSS-College among 723 college students. METHODS Internal consistency estimates explored scale reliability, factor analysis explored construct validity, and known-groups validity was assessed using the National College Youth Risk Behavior Survey and Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Study. Criterion-related validity was explored through analyses with the CDCs health-related quality of life scale and a social isolation scale. RESULTS Acceptable internal consistency reliability, construct, known-groups, and criterion-related validity were established. CONCLUSIONS Findings offer preliminary support for the BMSLSS-C; it could be useful in large-scale research studies, applied screening contexts, and for program evaluation purposes toward achieving Healthy People 2010 objectives.

Psychometric Support of the School Climate Measure in a Large, Diverse Sample of Adolescents: A Replication and Extension

BACKGROUND The School Climate Measure (SCM) was developed and validated in 2010 in response to a dearth of psychometrically sound school climate instruments. This study sought to further validate the SCM on a large, diverse sample of Arizona public school adolescents (N = 20,953). METHODS Four SCM domains (positive student-teacher relationships, academic support, order and discipline, and physical environment) were available for the analysis. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling were established to construct validity, and criterion-related validity was assessed via selected Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) school safety items and self-reported grade (GPA) point average. RESULTS Analyses confirmed the 4 SCM school climate domains explained approximately 63% of the variance (factor loading range .45-.92). Structural equation models fit the data well χ(2) = 14,325 (df = 293, p < .001), comparative fit index (CFI) = .951, Tuker-Lewis index (TLI) = .952, root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) = .05). The goodness-of-fit index was .940. Coefficient alphas ranged from .82 to .93. Analyses of variance with post hoc comparisons suggested the SCM domains related in hypothesized directions with the school safety items and GPA. CONCLUSIONS Additional evidence supports the validity and reliability of the SCM. Measures, such as the SCM, can facilitate data-driven decisions and may be incorporated into evidenced-based processes designed to improve student outcomes.

A Stylometric Analysis of Yaşar Kemal’s İnce Memed Tetralogy

We analyze four İnce Memed novels of Yaşar Kemal using six style markers: “most frequent words,” “syllable counts,” “word type – or part of speech – information,” “sentence length in terms of words,” “word length in text,” and “word length in vocabulary.” For analysis we divide each novel into five thousand word text blocks and count the frequencies of each style marker in these blocks. The style markers showing the best separation are “most frequent words” and “sentence lengths.” We use stepwise discriminant analysis to determine the best discriminators of each style marker. We then use these markers in cross validation based discriminant analysis. Further investigation based on multiple analysis of variance (MANOVA) reveals how the attributes of each style marker group distinguish among the volumes.