Svetlana A. Beltyukova

Beliefs about Teaching Science: The relationship between elementary teachers’ participation in professional development and student achievement

Because of increasing calls for school accountability, an increased emphasis placed on the role of the teacher, and theoretical connections between teacher beliefs and classroom action, a critical need exists to examine teacher professional development programs to determine their impact on teacher belief systems, teaching practices, and student learning. The primary goal of this study was to assess elementary teachers’ science teaching efficacy as they participated in a large-scale professional development program and to determine the relationship of these beliefs with student learning. It was found that elementary teachers who participated in a long-term, intense (over 100 contact hours annually) science professional development program displayed significant gains in their science teaching self-efficacy. Several background variables were found to be predictive of teacher beliefs including how often teachers spend teaching science. Males tended to display more positive beliefs than their female counterparts. Although a small portion of the variance was explained, teacher beliefs and the number of hours participating in the research-based professional development program were significantly predictive of students’ science achievement. Other factors may be involved in teachers’ beliefs and their connection with student learning, including classroom practices, curriculum materials, support systems, and student background variables. These factors should be the target of future investigations.

The Impact of a Professional Development Program Integrating Informal Science Education on Early Childhood Teachers' Self-Efficacy and Beliefs About Inquiry-Based Science Teaching

This report aimed to measure the impact of a unique professional development program entitled Project ASTER III (Active Science Teaching Encourages Reform) on teachers’ self-efficacy and perceptions about inquiry-based science teaching. Project ASTER III enabled teachers to explore inquiry-based science teaching through exhibit-based hands-on/ minds-on investigations at a science museum and to develop a science curriculum aligned with museum exhibits and state and national science education standards. Quantitative data indicated that teacher beliefs were positively and significantly impacted by the professional development program and confirmed that programs like ASTER III are effective but need to be provided on a continuous basis to reinforce these beliefs in the teachers. Finally, three themes emerged from the analysis of the qualitative data from the participant journals: (1) impact on teacher understanding of inquiry, (2) increased confidence about science teaching, and (3) benefits of collaboration.

Educational testing and validity of conclusions in the scholarship of teaching and learning.

Validity and its integral evidence of reliability are fundamentals for educational and psychological measurement, and standards of educational testing. Herein, we describe these standards of educational testing, along with their subtypes including internal consistency, inter-rater reliability, and inter-rater agreement. Next, related issues of measurement error and effect size are discussed. This article concludes with a call for future authors to improve reporting of psychometrics and practical significance with educational testing in the pharmacy education literature. By increasing the scientific rigor of educational research and reporting, the overall quality and meaningfulness of SoTL will be improved.

Effects of Compliance Monitoring of Vocal Function Exercises on Voice Outcome Measures for Normal Voice

This experimental study examined the efficacy of the vocal function exercise program in improving voice production in individuals with normal voices. 20 young women (M age = 22 yr.) with normal voices, 10 in the Monitored compliance group and 10 in the Unmonitored compliance group, received training in performing vocal function exercises followed by daily practice of the exercises for 28 consecutive days. Participants in the Monitored compliance group were required to submit audio or video recordings of their daily practice of vocal function exercises, and those in the Unmonitored compliance group were not required to record their daily practice sessions. Results indicated that while the participants in both groups significantly increased maximum phonation times and maximum phonational frequency ranges, those in the Monitored group improved significantly more than the participants in the Unmonitored group on these outcome measures.

Objective Standard Setting for Judge-Mediated Examinations

Judge-mediated examinations are defined as those for which expert evaluation (using rubrics) is required to determine correctness, completeness, and reasonability of test-taker responses. The use of multifaceted Rasch modeling has led to improvements in the reliability of scoring such examinations. The establishment of criterion-referenced standards for these assessments has, however, remained a labor-intensive practice. This article explores a method for incorporating the establishment of minimal competency within the measurement model itself. Two high-stakes testing boards participated in a controlled experiment comparing a multifaceted Rasch modeled approach to a traditional modified borderline approach often used for standard setting in judge-mediated situations. Criterion points from each were compared to assess differences and support validity. Results of the experiment suggest that modeling standard setting as part of the performance evaluation is an effective and efficient way to define minimal competence.

Refining Change Measure With the Rasch Model

This study was to develop a linear measure of change using University of Rhode Island Change Assessment items that represented Prochaska and DiClemente’s theory. The resulting Toledo Measure of Change is short, is easy to use, and provides reliable scores for identification of individuals’ stage of change and progression within that stage.

Rasch Analysis of the General Public’s Perceptions of the EU: A Case-Study of Ten Asia-Pacific Countries

Image and reputation are valuable commodities in international relations. Not only do they help to attract business, elicit respect and convey influence to foreign partners, but they also hark back to the feeling of pride and identity among domestic audiences (van Hamm, 2008). This forces state actors to ‘pay more attention to the politics of credibility’ in a world where they have to ‘share a stage newly empowered with non-governmental actors and individuals’ (Nye, 2002, p. 76). With both state and non-state actors eager to be publicly present on the international stage, powerful images and good reputation become critical to securing visibility and a positive image in a world characterized by the deficit of attention, not information. The quest for images and reputation challenges ‘traditional’ diplomacy — a non-transparent, secretive and elitist activity, targeting top state-level actors; and changing global paradigms requires reflection on the public’s contribution to international relations: International relations today … are paid special attention by many groups within the public which also demand their say in decision-making processes. … politicians who wish to see their foreign policies materialized need the support not only of their own citizens, but also of the foreign public. (Andrlic and Gustovic-Eicegovac, 2012, p. 6)

The Utility of an Involvement and Talent Development Framework in Defining Charter School Success A Pilot Study

The purpose of this pilot study was to explore the utility of an involvement and talent development framework in assessing the success of charter schools and their students. Focus group interviews were conducted with parent/guardians and teachers in four charter schools in Ohio. Teachers and parents mentioned the involvement of students, teachers, and parents and the growth in students’cognitive and affective talents as important indicators of school and student success. The study concludes that new approaches to the assessment of charter schools and their students need to reflect insiders’ perceptions of the importance of measuring involvement and talent development.

Communicating NATO in the Asia-Pacific Press: Comparative Analysis of Patterns of NATO’s Visibility, Capability, Evaluation, and Local Resonance

ABSTRACT This article provides a reflection on the communication phase in a narrative’s cycle. It explores and compares NATO narratives communicated by influential press in NATO’s five Asia-Pacific strategic partners (16 media outlets observed on a daily basis between February–July 2015). The analysis traces NATO narratives communicated to broader society on the system, identity, and policy-issue levels. Innovatively linking strategic narrative theory by Miskimmon, O’Loughlin, and Roselle and the cascading activation framing theory by Entman, the article explores a range of narratives and assesses what narratives enjoyed higher visibility, stronger local resonance, and more pronounced emotive charge while communicating NATO as a capable IR actor. The article operationalizes and modifies elements of Entman’s theory (visibility, local resonance, and emotive charge, adding a category of capability), and then tests hypotheses based on this, using the inferential statistics Rasch Measurement Model. The article ends with a set of policy recommendations to NATO’s public diplomacy on how to capitalize on opportunities these narratives present and how to tackle challenges (specifically low local resonance and limited media visibility of the narratives).