Is there a case for the freshman women's residence hall?

Because most institutions are experiencing student migration from residence halls, the educational function of the halls is being promoted, resulting in numerous variations in design and staff organization. The purpose of this study was to investigate the merits of one of these variations—the all-freshman women's residence hall. Freshman women in three types of halls (all-freshman women, all-undergraduate women, and coeducational) were compared on the basis of academic achievement, attitudes about the campus environment, and conduct. Results indicated that on those factors, no case can be built in support of housing women in an all-freshman women's hall.     

Perceived Support,Belonging, and Possible Selves Strategies Among Incarcerated Juvenile Offenders1

Possible selves theory ( Markus & Nurius, 1986 ) suggests that future‐oriented expectations, fears, and strategies are constrained by feedback in one's sociocultural context. The current paper represents a preliminary look into the relationship between support in one's immediate context and the development of strategies for the achievement of desired future selves. Youthful offenders (N = 543) were surveyed in secured treatment facilities in Alaska, Idaho, Nevada, and Oregon. Program belonging was a consistent predictor of strategy generation among both males and females, and attributional support from a staff person was significant among males. The findings support further examination of interpersonal interactions as they relate to future‐oriented planning and point to a need for further investigation into the development of concrete strategies.     

Student learning as the basis for reinforcement to the instructor

The present study reinforced the two instructors of two students with profound mental retardation first for the instructors' training behaviors, then for improved student learning in a multiple baseline across responses design. Reinforcement of the instructors' training behaviors increased their training behaviors, replicating the findings of previous studies, but had no effect on student learning. When the reinforcement for the instructors was instead made contingent upon student learning, the student learning improved and the instructors' high level of training behaviors was maintained. In addition, the instructors began to request training for themselves. These findings suggest that staff motivation programs for instructors might usefully base the reinforcers not only on the instructor's performance, but on the progress of their students.     

Gendered Training: Men and Men's Issues in Marriage and Family Therapy Programs

Few studies examine men's experiences in becoming a therapist. Only a modicum of attention appears to be paid to men's professional training needs in MFT training programs as expressed in the family therapy literature. Five recommendations, based on the author's experiences and male student voices, are provided for how to best meet the needs of male students in MFT training programs. These recommendations are (1) be aware of men's experiences and don't assume silence means disinterest, (2) develop depth in clinical training on men's issues, (3) incorporate theories of masculinity into curriculum, (4) engage male students in the training process, and (5) provide support to male students through mentorship and support groups.     

The Importance of Student Involvement: A Dialogue with Alexander Astin

This article is based on an interview with Alexander W. Astin, professor of higher education and director of the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA. Astin offered several implications of his theory of student involvement for students, faculty members, and administrators. He also commented on excellence as the development of students' talents and on the characteristics of today's college students, as reflected in the findings of an ongoing national study of over 5 million students, 100,000 faculty and staff members, and over 1,200 institutions of higher education.     

The resolution of adolescence in college

This article discusses five prominent developmental tasks encountered by the college student during late adolescence and early adulthood. The manner used to resolve these tasks is crucial not only to the student's adaptation at college but to his eventual life style. The five tasks are: (a) the shift in the nature of one's relationship with one's parents, i.e., from a child-parent to an adult-adult relationship; (b) the resolution of a personal sexual identity; (c) the creation of a value system which fits the student as a truly unique individual; (d) the development of the capacity for true human intimacy; and (e) the choice of a life's work.     

Social support at university scale, a brief index

A brief, 3-item index of social support among college students, the Social Support at University Scale, is introduced. Its psychometric properties are examined in a sample of 90 college students (51 women, 39 men) and compared with those of an equivalent scale distributed among 100 university staff (67 women, 33 men). The Short-Form Social Support Questionnaire, the Perceived Stress Scale, and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale were also administered to each participant. The data suggest that the Social Support at University Scale possesses internal consistency reliability suitable for research (alpha = .68), external validity as indicated by comparisons between the student and staff samples, concurrent validity as indicated by correlations with measures of generic social support, and criterion validity as indicated by associations with known correlates of social support, namely, perceived stress, anxiety, and depression.     

What teacher factors influence their attributions for children's difficulties in learning?

Background Identifying the factors that influence teacher beliefs about teaching children with learning difficulties is important for the success of inclusive education. This study explores the relationship between teachers' role, self‐efficacy, attitudes towards disabled people, teaching experience and training, on teachers' attributions for children's difficulties in learning. Method One hundred and eighteen primary school teachers (44 general mainstream, 33 mainstream learning support, and 41 special education teachers) completed the short form of the Teachers' Sense of Efficacy Scale, the Interaction with Disabled Persons Scale (IDP), and a revised version of the Teacher Attribution Scale. Results Regression analysis found that teachers' role influenced stability and controllability attributions. However, for stability attributions the effect was not sustained when examined in the context of the other factors of teaching efficacy, experience, training, and attitudes towards disability. What emerged as important instead was strong feelings of sympathy towards disabled people which predicted stable attributions about learning difficulties. Experience of teaching children with additional support needs and teaching efficacy positively predicted external locus of causality attributions. Surprisingly, training was not found to have an impact on attributions. A mixed MANOVA found that mainstream teachers' controllability attributions were influenced by whether or not the child had identified learning support needs. Conclusions Teacher efficacy, experience of teaching students with support needs, attitudes towards disabled people, and teachers' role all impact on teacher attributions, but no relationship with training was found. Implications for teacher training and development, and for student achievement and student self‐perception are discussed.     

Reconciling the maintenance of on-field success with off-field player development: A case study of a club culture within the Australian Football League

ObjectivesAs a contribution to developing understanding of how professional athletes may successfully develop a dual career and maintain a balance between life on and off the field, the present study sought to analyse a professional Australian Football club culture that has been identified within the industry as successfully supporting player dual career development. At the same time the club has been able to maintain a successful on-field record.MethodsA case study methodology was used for the analysis with Schein's (2010) levels of organisational culture providing a theoretical framework. Data were collected by means of fifteen interviews which included players (11), and non-playing staff (4) comprising an executive staff member, a coach, a team manager, and the player development manager. Observations were also made and recorded by the first author during a two week immersion in the club environment.ResultsFour basic assumptions that explained the coherence between espoused values and artefacts concerning dual career development were identified. They were that: dual career development is important however football comes first; balancing sport and off-field life ensures players' well-being and facilitates on-field performance; players should be encouraged to find personal meaning in their dual career activity, and; the club has an ethical responsibility to support player dual career development.ConclusionAnalysis of the findings suggests that the successful support of dual careers requires a coherent club culture, where related activities exist as part of a holistic approach to player development. This approach must recognise the priority placed on athletic performance.     

Kate Hevner Mueller: Woman for a Changing World

Kate Hevner Mueller was a pioneer, not only in student affairs administration but also in the graduate-level preparation of student affairs staff and in the education of women for diverse roles in society. At the same time, she was a scholar of many interests, from psychometrics to aesthetic expression, who made a lasting contribution to the knowledge and literature of student affairs. Mueller's personal papers included extensive autobiographical reflections on her life and her experiences as a teacher, researcher, and mentor. These writings, as well as the recollections of her students and colleagues, were fashioned into the “interview” that follows.     

Psychoanalysis,violence and rage-type murder

Abstract

This paper presents and explores some ideas about the ways that children referred to a London borough learning support service, their teachers and school managers can be helped by a specialist teacher making use of her training as a psychodynamic counsellor and child psychotherapist. This paper is based on the premise that conditions necessary for feeling secure and establishing the capacity to think and learn by experience are based upon the infant's experience of a facilitating maternal environment coupled with the infant's ability to engage in this relationship. By extension, children need to feel safe enough in order to take advantage of the learning and social opportunities offered in the context of the school environment. The author draws upon psychoanalytic theories and developmental psychology as useful frameworks for understanding the continuing impact of infantile experience upon the learning process. The author also draws attention to the context of her work as an area support teacher, concluding that prevailing political demands for rapid change hinder the capacity of educational support services, schools and individual staff from mediating effectively the emotional demands of children trying to engage in the difficult task of learning.

One starts somewhere -where the learner is. And one starts whenever the student arrives to begin his career as a learner.     

Facilitators and barriers to the implementation of motivational interviewing for bullying perpetration in school settings

Bullying is a perplexing and persistent problem with negative consequences for all involved. Schools are assigned considerable responsibility for the management of bullying because of its prevalence amongst youth. Despite considerable efforts over decades to curtail bullying through the use of anti-bullying policies and other school-based interventions, the rates of young people who frequently bully has not decreased significantly. Motivational Interviewing (MI) is a relational and affirming conversational method that strengthens an individual's motivation and commitment to change, overcoming ambivalence toward the problem. The aim of the current study was to provide preliminary insight into the feasibility of incorporating MI into student service repertoires for addressing bullying. Ten staff participants from six secondary schools, who had roles in bullying intervention within their respective schools, were offered training in MI and invited to use and monitor this method in their practice as an intervention for students who perpetrate bullying. Results indicated a number factors which influenced the uptake of MI in schools. Facilitators enabling the use of MI included practitioner's professional background, administrative support, training and implementation of MI. Barriers to the use of MI included time pressure and administrative expectations, school roles and system limitations, and preconceptions and the stigma of bullying.     

Cross-Cultural Validity of Holland's Model in Hong Kong

While Holland's model has been widely tested and found broad support in the West, it has not been tested in Hong Kong. Using a sample of 1813 entering freshmen, we investigated the cross-cultural validity of Holland's models of six interest or personality types in Hong Kong. Results indicated: (a) Holland's model as operationalized by UNIACT has considerable external validity; (b) the internal structure of the UNIACT was generally consistent with the formulations by Holland; (c) the cultural value of traditionality affected the fit between Holland's model and the student data in that Hong Kong students who hold stronger traditional values tended to behave less consistently with Holland's model than those who hold weaker traditional Chinese values. These findings were discussed in terms of their implication for future cross-cultural vocational psychology research and practices.     

Teaching complex verbal operants to children with autism and establishing generalization using the peak curriculum

The present study evaluated the feasibility of the PEAK Relational Training System's Generalization Module (Dixon, 2014b) to teach and establish generalization of autoclitic mands, distorted tacts, and creative path finding in three children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. Using a multiple‐baseline design across behaviors, each participant was provided with differential reinforcement and a least‐to‐most prompting hierarchy for correct responses to a subset of stimuli, and responses to other similar stimulus sets were probed for emergent generalization. Following training, each participant successfully acquired the directly trained behaviors and demonstrated generalization to the nonreinforced test exemplars. These data support the utility of Skinner's (1957) analysis to teach complex forms of verbal operants, and suggest that a manualized curriculum such as PEAK may have utility for promoting skill development and generalization for front line staff and caregivers of children with autism.     

Curricular Information Demand in Theological Degrees: Operationalizing a Key Concept for Library Services

If seminary libraries exist to support student information needs, then librarians need specific knowledge about how a given school's curriculum shapes such needs. This article puts forward a model of the intended curriculum in master's-level theological education. Based on analysis of the intended theological curriculum (giving special attention to the use of student time), the author posits curricular information demand (CID) as a way to describe with precision how courses and degree programs expect students to find, retrieve, analyze, and use information. CID has a weaker measure based on analysis of syllabi and a stronger measure based on analysis of actual student work. The author presents examples of CID for courses at Austin Presbyterian Theological School. Finally, the author calls for research to analyze the usefulness of the model.     

Self-Recording

The purpose was to evaluate the effects of self-recording in reducing off-task behavior with a high school student labeled as attention deficit disordered with hyperactivity (ADHD). The student emitted low rates of attending and was enrolled in a self-contained classroom for the behaviorally disordered. Off-task data were gathered in the student's special education classroom setting. An ABAB single-subject replication design was employed to evaluate effects of a self-monitoring. The results indicate an increase in off-task behavior within the classroom setting. Opinions provided by the other school staff suggested a perceived lack of generalization of treatment gains to other courses in which the student was enrolled. Ratings by a student observer indicate that the severity of disruptions declined during the self-monitoring phases. Possible reasons for this outcome are discussed. Practical implications for the use of the procedures in a secondary classroom are presented.     

Meeting the Standard? A Sample of Christian Schools Libraries/Media Centers in Texas

This article reports a study using structured interviews of librarians of Christian schools in Texas. The study focuses on the librarian, the collections, the financial support and the selection policies, both written and assumed. Standards related to accreditation are also reviewed. Several denominations are included as well as varying size of schools. The libraries range in size from 3,000 to 25,000 volumes with the majority of holdings fewer than 10,000. Issues relating to censorship and selection of materials are discussed. We call for all accreditation agencies for our nation's private schools to investigate whether requiring specific standards for library/media center collections, budget, and their professional staff would make a significant impact on student performance. Also included in the article is a list of recommendations for a private school library selection policy.     

Conservatism,Locus of Control and Life Satisfaction: A Person/Environment Fit Analysis

Pettigrew's (1958) hypothesis that quality of psychological adjustment is partly a function of the fit between a person's political values and those of the surrounding social milieu was tested using student samples from Queensland and South Australia. The measures of psychological adjustment were two factors of locus of control (political and general) and general life satisfaction. As predicted, in the Queensland sample conservatism was positively associated with higher general life satisfaction while this correlation was reversed for the South Australian sample. Results for the locus of control measures failed to support the hypothesis. The results provided support for the general Person/Environment fit model and indicated the feasibility and value of studying regional differences in Australia.