Shana Pribesh

Why are residential and school moves associated with poor school performance

Most research on residential mobility has documented a clear pattern: Residential and school moves are associated with poor academic performance. Explanations for this relationship, however, remain speculative. Some researchers argue that moving affects social relationships that are important to academic achievement. But the association between moving and school performance may be spurious; the negative correlation may be a function of other characteristics of people who move often. We offer several conceptual and analytical refinements to these ideas, allowing us to produce more precise tests than past researchers. Using longitudinal data, we find that differences in achievement between movers and nonmovers are partially a result of declines in social relationships experienced by students who move. Most of the negative effect of moving, however, is due to preexisting differences between the two groups.

Disadvantage, Disorder, and Urban Mistrust

Does life in the city foster mistrust of others? This study tests four connected hypotheses about urban mistrust by comparing the City of Chicago to suburbs, small cities, towns, and rural areas. The Urban Mistrust Hypothesis is that urban residents are more mistrusting than residents of places outside the city. The Neighborhood Disadvantage Hypothesis is that mistrust increases with the prevalence of economic and social disadvantage in ones neighborhood, which accounts for some of the mistrust associated with urban residence. The Individual Disadvantage Hypothesis is that socioeconomically disadvantaged individuals are more mistrusting than others, which accounts for some of the mistrust associated with residence in Chicago and in disadvantaged neighborhoods. The Neighborhood Disorder Hypothesis is that mistrust correlates positively with observing signs of disorder in ones neighborhood such as graffiti, vandalism, run‐down or abandoned buildings, noise, crime, and people hanging out on the streets, drinking, or taking drugs; and disorder mediates some of the effects of residence in the city and in a disadvantaged neighborhood. Some, but not all, of the association between disorder and mistrust is mediated by criminal victimization. We examine these hypotheses using the Community, Crime and Health data, which is a 1995 survey of a representative sample of 2,482 Illinois residents linked to contextual data on their neighborhoods. We find results consistent with all four hypotheses. The mean level of mistrust reported by residents of Chicago is more than half a standard deviation above that of people living elsewhere. Most of the higher mistrust in Chicago can be attributed to three related things: neighborhood disadvantage, individual disadvantage, and neighborhood disorder; but even with adjustments for disadvantage and disorder, urban residents report more mistrust.

The Access Gap: Poverty and Characteristics of School Library Media Centers

Stephen Krashen believes that schools can counter the effects of poverty in at least one area: access to books. However, little research has been done to determine whether students living in poverty have access to school library services comparable to those attending schools with low concentrations of students living in poverty. We examined the school library access gap; namely, the differences in school library characteristics (staffing, books added to collection, schedule, and number of days closed) in schools with various concentrations of students living in poverty. Alarmingly, we found that the students in most need—those attending schools with the highest concentrations of students living in poverty—had the fewest school library resources to draw on. Findings suggest that if we hope to close achievement gaps between high and low socioeconomic groups, we must attend to the access gap in school libraries in high- and low-poverty schools.

The Effects of Troops to Teachers on Student Achievement: One State’s Study

This study examined approximately 6,500 Florida students’ reading and mathematics performance when taught by a sample of teachers who obtained their teaching credentials through the Troops to Teachers program. Results indicated that students served by Troops teachers performed about equally well in reading and achieved a small but statistically significant advantage in mathematics when compared with all teachers but achieved substantially and statistically significantly higher in both reading and mathematics when compared with teachers matched by subject and teaching experience.

Motivations and Consequences of Alcohol Use Among Heavy Drinking Nonstudent Emerging Adults

Research suggests that nonstudent emerging adults may be at elevated risk of alcohol-related problems in adulthood. The present study utilized a qualitative approach to broaden our understanding of the drinking-related perceptions and experiences of heavy drinking nonstudents, with the ultimate goal of generating meaningful knowledge that could aid intervention planning. Research aims were to identify nonstudent (a) drinking motivations and (b) drinking consequences. Eleven focus groups were conducted (n = 64 participants). Data analytic techniques were used to code transcripts and generate themes emerging from the group data. Three main themes emerged regarding nonstudent reasons for drinking (i.e., emotional, social, enhanced experiences). Four prominent themes were identified for drinking consequences (i.e., physical health, psychological health, risk-taking, life functioning). Our findings underscore several considerations related to intervening with this at-risk and understudied population.

Can Providing Rubrics for Writing Tasks Improve Developing Writers' Calibration Accuracy?

ABSTRACT Rubric-referenced calibration and the interaction between writing achievement and calibration, a measure of the relationship between ones performance and the accuracy of ones judgments, were investigated. Undergraduate students (N = 596) were assigned to one of three calibration conditions: (a) global, (b) global and general criteria, or (c) global and detailed criteria. Students in all three conditions provided global predictions and postdictions of essay exam scores. Although calibration judgments by condition did not affect calibration accuracy overall, statistically significant main effects were found between calibration accuracy by criteria and prior achievement. High achievers made more-accurate predictions and postdictions by criteria than low achievers. Regardless of achievement level, those students in the detailed rubric condition had higher postdictive accuracy for the organization criteria than did students in the general rubric condition.

A Comparison of Screening Tools for the Early Detection of Peripheral Neuropathy in Adults with and without Type 2 Diabetes

Objective Examine the effectiveness of the 128 Hz tuning fork, two monofilaments, and Norfolk Quality of Life Diabetic Neuropathy (QOL-DN) questionnaire as tools for the early detection of diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) in overweight, obese, and inactive (OOI) adults or those who have prediabetes (PD) or type 2 diabetes (T2D). Research Design and Methods Thirty-four adults (mean age 58.4 years ± 12.1) were divided by glycemia (10 OOI normoglycemic, 13 PD, and 11 T2D). Sural nerves were tested bilaterally with the NC-stat DPNCheck to determine sural nerve amplitude potential (SNAP) and sural nerve conduction velocity (SNCV). All other testing results were compared to SNAP and SNCV. Results Total 1 g monofilament scores significantly correlated with SNAP values and yielded the highest sensitivity and specificity combinations of tested measures. Total QOL-DN scores negatively correlated with SNAP values, as did QOL-DN symptoms. QOL-DN activities of daily living correlated with the right SNAP, and the QOL-DN small fiber subscore correlated with SNCV. Conclusions The 1 g monofilament and total QOL-DN are effective, low-cost tools for the early detection of DPN in OOI, PD, and T2D adults. The 128 Hz tuning fork and 10 g monofilament may assist DPN screening as a tandem, but not primary, early DPN detection screening tools.

Students With Mental Health Needs: College Counseling Experiences and Academic Success

Abstract: In this study, we examined college counseling experiences and academic outcomes. About 10% of college students seek counseling for mental health needs, and many would be unable to persist without support. Building on previous research, we found that participating in counseling was beneficial to academic success. Students who visited the counseling center and then remained in counseling as recommended were more likely to experience GPA increases and graduate than were their peers who either did not complete further counseling after their first visit or were referred off campus. Attending a greater number of sessions appeared to have greater benefits. We discuss implications for professionals across campus.

Effect of a Mindful Breathing Intervention on Community College Students’ Writing Apprehension and Writing Performance

ABSTRACT Mindful breathing has been linked to changes in physiology, but we took the practice further by examining whether a mindfulness breathing intervention, a three-minute breathing exercise marked by focused attention on the sensations of breath, affected writing anxiety, and writing performance measures. In addition, we examined mindful breathing as an intervention for community college students—some of the most at risk and underprepared students in higher education in the United States. We compared Daly Miller Writing Apprehension surveys and narrative writing samples from 277 students enrolled in a freshman composition course at a southeastern community college, half of the class sections were randomly assigned to practice a mindful-breathing technique at the beginning of class sessions. Students in the class sections that practiced mindful-breathing group experienced a statistically significant decrease in writing apprehension and mechanical error scores from pre- to post-test when compared to students in the comparison class sections.

An Examination of Late-Registering Students’ Success in Online and On-Campus Classes

ABSTRACT Late registration is a common practice in community colleges, but the evidence-based argument for the presumed deleterious effects of late registration on student success is weaker than is commonly believed, and there has been no published research on how success rates may differ for late registrants in online and on-campus classes, and for students who complete a college success skills course. Using nearly 100,000 matched enrollment cases from Virginia’s Community Colleges, we predict the effect of late registration on student success for first-time-in-college students. The statistically significant results indicate late registration is negatively related to student success, especially for students with other success risk factors. Attending face-to-face classes as well as completing a college skills course were independently and positively related to course success. Interestingly, late registration interacted with both course delivery mode and college skills course completion indicating that late registration does not impact students equally.