Susan Elgie

Measuring Ethnic Community Involvement: Development and Initial Testing of an Index

This paper builds on the work of Chaganti and Greene, who distinguish between ethnic minority entrepreneurs/small business owners who are very involved with their ethnic community and those who are not. We extend their work by developing an Index of Ethnic Community Involvement based not only on personal but also business characteristics. We utilize a large sample size (698 interviews with entrepreneurs), drawn from five ethnic groups, and develop a valid and reliable (0.69) Index of Ethnic Involvement (IEI) with a strong emphasis on social capital theory. Our initial analysis shows the IEI predicts some personal and business characteristics. Future development will include building regression models to predict business outcomes. The IEI, when fully developed, promises to be useful for targeting assistance, education and training programs, and policy initiatives for entrepreneurs and small business owners according to the level of ethnic community involvement.

Genetic dependence of the electroencephalogram bispectrum

The resting electroencephalogram of monozygotic twins and genetically unrelated controls was analyzed with the ordinary spectrum and with the bispectrum. Both the ordinary spectrum which measures linear EEG wave activity and the bispectrum which detects non-linear and correlated frequency activity had evidence for a genetic basis. It is suggested that there is a genetic basis for the process of EEG generation.

Educational experiences and achievements of war-zone immigrant students in Canada

This study examined the educational experiences and achievements of immigrant students who entered the Canadian educational system from global war-zone (WZ) countries or regions experiencing extreme conditions of civil unrest and destabilization. As exposure to traumatic experience of various types is known to affect the well‐being of individuals, questions about the potential learning challenges that exposure to the traumatic events of war posed to students provided some of the impetus for this study. The research compared backgrounds, academic achievements, school experiences and self-perceptions among three groups of high school students: 245 students from WZ regions around the world, 272 non-war-zone immigrant students from other global regions and 276 Canadian-born (CB) students. Indices of academic performance, participation, engagement and self-rated competencies were obtained from a Statistics Canada database of 15-year-olds. The overall results of this study revealed that adolescent immigrant students from WZ areas around the world were participating successfully in the Canadian educational system. The findings indicated that WZ students were performing as well as other immigrant and CB students on many indices of scholastic achievement, and in some areas were surpassing them. As well, the results revealed that immigrant students in general and WZ immigrant students in particular were connected to and engaged with their school environment and their learning. A number of limitations of the study are discussed.

Academic experiences of war-zone students in Canada

This research examined educational outcomes and experiences of late adolescent immigrant students who entered the Canadian educational system following residence in global war-zone regions or areas of extreme civil unrest. Data from a Statistics Canada data-set of 18- to 20-year-old respondents (N = 658) were used to compare the academic achievements, school experiences and self perceptions of war-zone immigrant high school and post-secondary students with those of non-war-zone immigrant youth and Canadian-born youth. The results revealed that war-zone immigrant students performed well in high school and at generally comparable levels to Canadian-born students, however, had longer times to high school completion. High levels of academic engagement, motivation and expectations were seen among war-zone students. Social engagement was found to be lower for both groups of immigrant students. The results are discussed in terms of the positive academic achievements of war-zone immigrant students in Canada and the potential impact of pre-migration traumatic events.

Using Lexical Profiling Tools to Investigate Children's Written Vocabulary in Grade 3: An Exploratory Study.

Research in the study of students’ writing concludes that vocabulary use is a key variable in determining the holistic quality of the writing. In the present study, 77 writing samples from a mixed group of Grade 3 children were analyzed for features of linguistic diversity using public domain vocabulary-profiling software. The writing was also evaluated holistically on a trait-based rubric. Data analysis identified the salient features of linguistic diversity correlating to quality standards of writing; the key is “lexical stretch” or use of low-frequency and “off-list known” words. Implications for assessment include the potential to identify children in need of vocabulary enrichment at an early stage in the educational trajectory and to track their evolving vocabulary growth in the shape of their lexical profile over time.

How school leaders search for and use evidence

ABSTRACT Background: Often, a principal’s responsibilities include making decisions about the appropriateness of educational programmes to adopt in their school. Recommendations about programmes can be conflicting; so, a principal may need to search for evidence to inform their decision. Purpose: The purpose of this small-scale study was to clarify how school leaders search for, and use, evidence to inform programme adoption. We sought to answer three research questions: (1) how do principals search for evidence, (2) how do they use common sources and (3) what sources do they consider most useful? Sample: Twelve elementary school principals or vice-principals in Ontario, Canada participated in the study. Design and methods: In telephone interviews, the participants described how they would respond to a fictional decision-making scenario and rated different sources of evidence. Responses were analysed in depth, using a mixed-method approach, which involved coding principals’ interview responses for themes and conducting a dual scaling analysis of their ratings of the usefulness of possible sources. Results: Principals report valuing formal sources of evidence such as reports and articles. However, in practise, findings indicated that they would turn to people first. Conclusions: School leaders prefer curated evidence from local educators to inform their decisions about the appropriateness of educational programmes for potential adoption.