Choices or Rights? Charter Schools and the Politics of Choice-Based Education Policy Reform

Simply put, charter schools have not lived up to their advocates’ promise of equity. Using examples of tangible civil rights gains of the twentieth century (e.g. Brown v. Board, Lau v. Nichols) and extending feminist theories of invisible labor to include the labor of democracy, the authors argue that the charter movement renders invisible the labor that secured civil protections for historically marginalized groups. The charter movement hangs a quality public education—previously recognized as a universal guarantee—on the education consumer’s ability to navigate a marketplace. The authors conclude that the neoliberal agenda of positioning choice as the best mechanism for securing an education rolls back the rights that were already secured through the labor of democracy.     

Adolescent risk-taking is predicted by individual differences in cognitive control over emotional,but not non-emotional,response conflict

While much research on adolescent risk behaviour has focused on the development of prefrontal self-regulatory mechanisms, prior studies have elicited mixed evidence of a relationship between individual differences in the capacity for self-regulation and individual differences in risk taking. To explain these inconsistent findings, it has been suggested that the capacity for self-regulation may be, for most adolescents, adequately mature to produce adaptive behaviour in non-affective, “cold” circumstances, but that adolescents have a more difficult time exerting control in affective, “hot” contexts. To further explore this claim, the present study examined individual differences in self-control in the face of affective and non-affective response conflict, and examined whether differences in the functioning of cognitive control processes under these different conditions was related to risk taking. Participants completed a cognitive Stroop task, an emotional Stroop task, and a risky driving task known as the Stoplight game. Regression analyses showed that performance on the emotional Stroop task predicted laboratory risk-taking in the driving task, whereas performance on the cognitive Stroop task did not exhibit the same trend. This pattern of results is consistent with theories of adolescent risk-taking that emphasise the impacts of affective contextual influences on the ability to enact effective cognitive control.     

Adjustment modes in the trajectory of progressive multiple sclerosis: a qualitative study and conceptual model

Objective: We examined cognitive and behavioural challenges and adaptations for people with progressive multiple sclerosis (MS) and developed a preliminary conceptual model of changes in adjustment over time.

Design: Using theoretical sampling, 34 semi-structured interviews were conducted with people with MS. Participants were between 41 and 77 years of age. Thirteen were diagnosed with primary progressive MS and 21 with secondary progressive MS. Data were analysed using a grounded theory approach.

Results: Participants described initially bracketing the illness off and carrying on their usual activities but this became problematic as the condition progressed and they employed different adjustment modes to cope with increased disabilities. Some scaled back their activities to live a more comfortable life, others identified new activities or adapted old ones, whereas at times, people disengaged from the adjustment process altogether and resigned to their condition. Relationships with partners, emotional reactions, environment and perception of the environment influenced adjustment, while people were often flexible and shifted among modes.

Conclusions: Adjusting to a progressive condition is a fluid process. Future interventions can be tailored to address modifiable factors at different stages of the condition and may involve addressing emotional reactions concealing/revealing the condition and perceptions of the environment.     

Perceptions of the Social Psychological Climate and Sport Commitment in Adolescent Athletes: A Multilevel Analysis

The present study investigated the relationship between the social psychological climate and sport commitment on both the individual and team level. High school athletes (n = 400) competing on 27 different teams completed motivational climate, caring climate, and sport commitment measures. Multilevel models were constructed to examine the hierarchical relationship between the climates and commitment. Task-involving (γ₂₀ =.15, t = 2.31, p =.02) and caring climates (γ₁₀ =.33, t = 3.48, p =.002) were significantly related to commitment on the individual level, and a task-involving climate (γ₀₂ = 1.13, t = 2.90, p =.008) was significantly related to commitment on the team level. In an effort to enhance commitment, coaches and sport psychology consultants may wish to employ strategies targeted toward the facilitation of task-involving and caring climates.     

Correspondence Bias and American Sentiment in the Wake of September 11, 20011

This experiment examined correspondence bias associated with the expression of pro‐ or anti‐American sentiment in the months following September 11, 2001. Participants read a pro‐ or anti‐United States essay written by a person whose name was varied to suggest that he either was or was not a Muslim. Participants were informed either that the position taken in the essay had been chosen or assigned. Inferences made about the essay writer's true opinions demonstrated strong and consistent correspondence bias only when participants believed the essay writer was not a Muslim. When participants believed the essay writer was a Muslim, correspondence bias was diminished on one measure and disappeared completely on another. These findings are consistent with the notion that participants were concerned about rushing to incorrect conclusions about a Muslim target person. The strong correspondence bias exhibited by participants making judgments about a non‐Muslim is consistent with Gilbert and Malone's (1995) assertion that unrealistic expectations lead to correspondence bias.     

Observers can voluntarily shift their psychometric functions without losing sensitivity

Psychometric sensory discrimination functions are usually modeled by cumulative Gaussian functions with just two parameters, their central tendency (μ) and their slope (1/σ). These correspond to Fechner's "constant" and "variable" errors, respectively. Fechner pointed out that even the constant error could vary over space and time and could masquerade as variable error. We wondered whether observers could deliberately introduce a constant error into their performance without loss of precision. In three-dot vernier and bisection tasks with the method of single stimuli, observers were instructed to favour one of the two responses when unsure of their answer. The slope of the resulting psychometric function was not significantly changed, despite a significant change in central tendency. Similar results were obtained when altered feedback was used to induce bias. We inferred that observers can adopt artificial response criteria without any significant increase in criterion fluctuation. These findings have implications for some studies that have measured perceptual "illusions" by shifts in the psychometric functions of sophisticated observers.     

Elevated suicide rates at high altitude: sociodemographic and health issues may be to blame

Suicide rates are higher at high altitudes; some hypothesize that hypoxia is the cause. We examined 8,871 suicides recorded in 2006 in 15 states by the National Violent Death Reporting System, with the victim's home county altitude determined from the National Elevation Dataset through FIPS code matching. We grouped cases by altitude (low<1000m; middle=1000-1999m; high≥2000m). Of reported suicides, 5% were at high and 83% at low altitude, but unadjusted suicide rates per 100,000 population were higher at high (17.7) than at low (5.7) altitude. High and low altitude victims differed with respect to race, ethnicity, rural residence, intoxication, depressed mood preceding the suicide, firearm use and recent financial, job, legal, or interpersonal problems. Even after multivariate adjustment, there were significant differences in personal, mental health, and suicide characteristics among altitude groups. Compared to low altitude victims, high altitude victims had higher odds of having family or friends report of a depressed mood preceding the suicide (OR 1.78; 95%CI:1.46-2.17) and having a crisis within 2weeks before death (OR 2.00; 95%CI:1.63-1.46). Suicide victims at high and low altitudes differ significantly by multiple demographic, psychiatric, and suicide characteristics; these factors, rather than hypoxia or altitude itself, may explain increased suicide rates at high altitude.     

Examining classification criteria: a comparison of three cut score methods

This study compared 3 different methods of creating cut scores for a screening instrument, T scores, receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) analysis, and the Rasch rating scale method (RSM), for use with the Behavioral and Emotional Screening System (BESS) Teacher Rating Scale for Children and Adolescents (Kamphaus & Reynolds, 2007). Using the BESS norm data set, we compared the methods across 7 classification indices. Additional information about accuracy was used with a subset of children who had been given a prior diagnosis for selected disorders. The results showed that the methods were generally in concordance, with similarities identified across methods. RSM and ROC analysis methods performed similarly, with both methods identifying the same optimal cut-point. The method based on T scores appeared to be more conservative, identifying a lower cut score as optimal.