Underachievement is many-sided

The concept of underachievement, though widely used and voluminously researched, is still ill-defined. The reason seems to be that underachievers are defined merely in terms of the discrepancy between their predicted and earned grades. So classified, the groups are too heterogeneous to be psychologically meaningful. There are different types of achievers and underachievers who need to be identified and different educational climates that need to be studied, if the concept of underachievement is to become productive in our thinking about high school and college students     

PROGRESS IN PSYCHOMETRICS: CAN INDUSTRIAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY CATCH UP?

Murphy and DeShon (2000) show that interrater correlations do not provide reasonable estimates of the reliability of job performance ratings, and suggest that better estimates can be obtained by applying the methods of generalizability theory. Schmidt, Viswesvaran, and Ones (2000) criticize our suggestions as radical, and argue that: (a) the reliability of ratings should be evaluated using the parallel test model rather than the more general and more realistic generalizability model, (b) reliability and validity are distinct concepts that should not be confused, and (c) measurement models have little to do with substantive models of the processes that generate scores on a test or measure. All three of these ideas were once part of the psychometric mainstream, but progress in psychometrics over the last 3 decades has moved the field well beyond these assumptions and approaches. Modern psychometric theory calls for close linkages between measurement models and substantive models of the phenomena being measured.     

The Case for Secular Assimilation? The Latino Experience in Richmond,Virginia

Studies of 20th-century ethnic immigrant groups to the United States profile religion as a key factor in their assimilation into U.S. culture. Religious institutions provided immigrants and families with a safe haven where they could hold on to their ethnic identity, even as they and their children were mainstreamed into the larger culture. Changes in immigration law since 1965 have complicated somewhat the relationship between religion and assimilation. The variety of religious forms now present in the United States and the diversity of immigrants create new options as they seek to adapt to U.S. life. We look at the absence of religion as one of those options. The nonreligious paths chosen by some Latinos in Richmond, Virginia have implications for the way they become part of the community, especially in comparison to those who remain members of their religion of origin or who convert to U.S. faiths.     

Can Changes in Differential Dropout Rates Reduce Adverse Impact? A Computer Simulation Study of a Multi‐wave Selection System

A simulation was used to explore the effects of variations in the rate at which applicants drop out of selection processes on racial differences in selection outcomes. Archival data was used to simulate a realistic range of selection scenarios in which test score differences between groups and selection ratios varied. The basis for dropping out was manipulated in two separate studies. Study 1 simulated dropout decisions that occurred at random within racial subgroups; in this study, dropout rates of minority versus White candidates were varied. Study 2 examined dropout decisions that occurred as a function of test scores. Results from both studies showed that mean test score differences between White and minority applicants have the largest influence on adverse impact. Interventions designed to reduce the tendency of minority applicants to withdraw from selection are likely to have, at best, small effects on the adverse impact of selection tests.     

Engaging Nietzsche's Women: Ofelia Schutte and the Madres de la Plaza de Mayo

Ofelia Schutte's relationship to Nietzsche is contentious. Sometimes she identifies him as an ally. Sometimes she calls him an enemy. Appealing to Nietzsche's abolition of the appearance reality distinction and to his discussions of women as skeptics, I turn to Ofelia's discussions of the Madres de la Plaza de Mayo to suggest that their protests can be understood as a Nietzschean politics of transvaluation where the myth of the mother and the materialities of women's bodies become the ground of the demand for justice.