Does Natural Mentoring Matter? A Multilevel Meta‐analysis on the Association Between Natural Mentoring and Youth Outcomes

In this meta‐analytic review, we examined the relation between natural mentoring and youth outcomes in four domains: academic and vocational functioning, social‐emotional development, physical health, and psychosocial problems. Natural mentoring relationships are thought to foster positive youth development and buffer against the risks associated with the tumultuous years of adolescence. Two separate meta‐analyses were conducted on the presence of a natural mentor and the quality of the natural mentoring relationship, including thirty studies from 1992 to present. The findings indicated that the presence of a natural mentor was significantly associated with positive youth outcomes (r = .106). A larger effect size was found for the quality of the natural mentoring relationship in terms of relatedness, social support, and autonomy support (r = .208). The largest effect sizes were found for social‐emotional development and academic and vocational functioning. Risk‐status (e.g., teenage mothers, homeless youth, youth in foster care, and youth of alcoholic parents) did not moderate the relation between presence and quality of natural mentoring relationships and youth outcomes, which may indicate that natural mentors are generally beneficial for all youth regardless of risk‐status. Implications for theory and practice concerning the quality of the natural mentoring relationship are discussed.     

修订的布卢姆目标分类与加涅和安德森学习结果分类的比较

本文首先阐述了对新修订的布卢姆认知教育目标分类学与加涅和安德森的认知学习结果分类进行比较研究的缘由;然后分别概述这三个分类理论;接着就他们分类的异同进行比较,以沟通_三者关系;最后表明,应该将教学目标与学习结果分类理论相沟通才能有效运用目标分类学指导教学目标、策略和评估的设计.     

Measurement issues in health-related quality of life: Challenges for health psychology

Abstract

Quality of life assessment is a central element of clinical trials and related forms of evaluative research. Early efforts to establish appropriate methods of measuring quality of life drew on psychometric principles and emphasised the need for validated measures. However, it is increasingly clear that, whilst still a central requirement of quality of life measures, validity needs to be emphasised alongside a number of other essential properties that have become clearer as the field has developed. Moreover formal psychometric methodology has to be adapted to take account of the specific needs of evaluative research. Research is beginning to develop more appropriate methods of outcome assessment in this area. Further lines of research are suggested to examine psychometric with other approaches to measurement of health-related quality of life.     

The Unintended Outcomes of High-Stakes Testing

SUMMARY

Although it is important to evaluate the intended outcomes of high-stakes testing, it is also important to evaluate the unintended outcomes, which might be as important or more important than the intended outcomes. The purpose of this paper is to examine some of the unintended outcomes of high-stakes testing, including those related to: (a) using tests as a means to hold educators accountable, (b) the effects on instruction, (c) the effects on student and teacher motivation, and (d) the effects on students who are at-risk of school failure. In examining the evidence, I conclude that while some unintended outcomes of high-stakes testing have been positive, many of the unintended outcomes have been negative. Hopefully, through a greater awareness of the unintended outcomes, school psychologists can work to minimize the negative effects of testing on students and educators.