Using Curriculum-Based Measurements for Program Evaluation: Expanding Roles for School Psychologists

Educators increasingly need to evaluate schoolwide reform efforts; however, complex program evaluations often are not feasible in schools. Through a case example, we provide a heuristic for program evaluation that is easily replicated in schools. Criterion-referenced interpretations of schoolwide screening data were used to evaluate outcomes associated with participation in four-year-old kindergarten. Nonparametric analyses allowed for group comparisons across early literacy screening outcomes. Risk ratios demonstrated that four-year-old kindergarten participants were less likely to score “at-risk” on kindergarten and first grade screenings. The methods employed meaningfully addressed local program effectiveness questions. Further, they were easily determined and disseminated. Implications for extensions of the heuristic to other evaluation questions and data sources as well as limitations of the approach are discussed.     

The effects of colour and valence on news evaluation

Research across different fields of psychology has reported effects of colour cues on a variety of cognitive processes. Especially, the colour red has been shown to have striking influences. In the context of media reception, however, colour effects have been widely neglected so far. This study made a first step in this direction by investigating the effects of the colour red (compared with blue and grey) on the way news articles are evaluated. Two types of news were framed by a coloured border while the valence of the news content additionally varied. Based on 369 participants who read and evaluated the news articles online, we observed effects for colour cues and news valence in the absence of an interaction effect, indicating that the colour red induced approach motivation. However, only the contrast between red and grey reached statistical significance, indicating that chromatic and achromatic colours may differ in their perceived visual saliency. Overall, these results provide an important complement to previous studies and have practical implications for media researchers and producers.     

Supervisory countertransferences and impingements in evaluating readiness for graduation: Always present,routinely under‐recognized

Utilizing detailed, in‐depth material from supervisory hours from around the world (explored in End of Training Evaluation groups), this paper shows that supervisors are subject to multiple, diverse and, at times, ongoing intense countertransferences and impingements on their ability to evaluate candidates’ progress. Multiple external and internal sources of these impingements are explored. It is suggested that supervisory countertransferences and their manifestation in parallel enactments remain under‐recognized, their impact underappreciated, and the information they contain underutilized. It is argued that the recognition, containment, and effective use of the parallel process phenomena and supervisory countertransferences are essential in order to evaluate candidates’ progression and readiness to graduate. Common signals of such entanglements in the supervisor's evaluative function are identified. Three remedies, each of which provides a ‘third,’ are offered to assist supervisors in making effective use of their countertransference: self‐supervision, consultation, and institutional correctives.     

The Relevance of Self‐Evaluations for Students' Career Optimism

This study investigated how people's beliefs regarding their vocational abilities (i.e., career decision self‐efficacy) are associated with their perceived academic control, self‐liking, and self‐competence. It also assessed the relevance of these 4 types of self‐beliefs for personal job optimism among 268 Croatian college students. Results indicated that participants' career decision self‐efficacy and perceptions of their chances of finding jobs nationwide were significant predictors of personal job optimism. Furthermore, the influences of self‐competence and perceived academic control on personal job optimism were mediated by career decision self‐efficacy. These results extend previous research and may be informative for vocational guidance interventions.     

Evaluating Philosophy as Exploratory Research

This article addresses the question how philosophy should be evaluated in a research‐grant funding environment. It offers a new conception of philosophy that is inclusive and builds on familiar elements of professional, philosophical practice. Philosophy systematically questions the questions we ask, the concepts we use, and the values we hold. Its product is therefore rarely conclusive but can be embodied in everything we do. This is typical of explorative research and differentiates it from exploitative research, which constitutes the bulk of funded research activity. This article argues that exploratory research is crucial for long‐term progress and requires a distinct evaluative regime.     

时间压力下你想听什么? 参照组影响对冲动购买的调节

本文研究时间压力下消费者冲动性购买怎样受参照组的影响。通过二手数据和实验的方法发现时间压力和参照组影响类型对冲动性购买具有交互作用:时间压力低,信息性影响更能激发冲动性购买;时间压力高,规范性影响更能起作用;即时喜悦和规范性评估起中介作用。而且不同的信息性影响类型也会产生差异:时间压力高,数量性信息更容易使消费者冲动性购买;时间压力低,内容性信息更能起作用。本文的研究丰富了冲动性购买的相关理论和管理经验。     

Evaluating Effort: Influences of Evaluation Mode on Judgments of Task‐specific Efforts

The claim that humans adapt their actions in ways that avoid effortful processing (whether cognitive or physical) is a staple of various theories of human behavior. Although much work has been carried out focusing on the determinants of such behaviors, less attention has been given to how individuals evaluate effort. In the current set of experiments, we utilized the general evaluability theory to examine the evaluability of effort by examining subjective value functions across different evaluation modes. Individuals judged the anticipated effort of four task‐specific efforts indexed by stimulus rotation, items to be remembered, weight to be lifted, and stimulus degradation across joint (i.e., judged comparatively) and single evaluation modes (i.e., judged in isolation). General evaluability theory hypothesizes that highly evaluable attributes should be consistently evaluated (i.e., demonstrate similar subjective value functions) between the two modes. Across six experiments, we demonstrate that the perceived effort associated with items to be remembered, weight to be lifted, and stimulus degradation can be considered relatively evaluable, while the effort associated with stimulus rotation may be relatively inevaluable. Results are discussed within the context of subjective evaluation, internal reference information, and strategy selection. In addition, methodological implications of evaluation modes are considered. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Affect in the eyes: explicit and implicit evaluations

The present study investigated whether another individual’s gaze direction influences an observer’s affective responses. In Experiment 1, subjective self-ratings and an affective priming paradigm were employed to examine how participants explicitly and implicitly, respectively, evaluated the affective valence of direct gaze, averted gaze, and closed eyes. The explicit self-ratings showed that participants evaluated closed eyes more positively than direct gaze. However, the implicit priming task showed an inverse pattern of results indicating that direct gaze was automatically evaluated more positively than closed eyes were. Experiment 2 confirmed that the opposite patterns of results between the two tasks were not due to differences in presentation times of the gaze stimuli. The results provide evidence for automatic affective reactions to eye gaze and indicate a dissociation between explicit and implicit affective evaluations of eyes and gaze direction.     

Proportional reasoning,framing effects,and affirmative action: Is six of one really half a dozen of another in university admissions?

People often reason proportionally, perceiving fixed outcomes as larger or smaller depending upon the reference condition. Thus, for policies affecting individuals, presenting data as percentages rather than frequencies can alter perceived effects on high versus low base rate group members, even though identical numbers of individuals in each group are affected. Such numerical framing effects were explored through a case analysis of public debates over race-conscious selection policies and through experimental manipulations employing a race-conscious university admissions scenario. Undergraduates (N = 193) received data reporting the expected impact on black and white student enrollment resulting from a university shift to race-neutral admissions. Compared to those encountering percentages or proportions, participants receiving identical information expressed as frequencies revealed a predicted greater preference for race-neutral or “race blind” admissions. Structural equation analysis supported a model in which perceived impact and fairness mediated the relationship between format and endorsement of race-neutral admissions.     

A qualitative study of adaptation to the euro in the Republic of Ireland: I. attitudes,the ‘euro illusion’ and the perception of prices

This is the first of two reports of a study using semi‐structured, in‐depth interviews to explore the current and recollected experiences of Irish people for the period before, during, and after the introduction of euro notes and coins (1 January 2002). Twenty‐four adults, 12 males and 12 females, covering a range of ages and educational attainment, were interviewed between October 2002 and February 2003. We found that most had welcomed the new currency initially, though some had felt less positive about it, whilst current experiences were more mixed. People's explanations for their attitudes seemed to focus more on the economic and practical aspects of currency change rather than symbolic meanings. Initially, most had experienced a euro illusion (prices in euros seeming to be more expensive than in punts). However, for most, the strength of the illusion appeared to diminish quite quickly. Nonetheless, current prices were believed to be higher, and many respondents attributed this either directly or indirectly to the change of currency. Although independent evidence found that there had been price increases in certain sectors, it was concluded that perceived price rises were, in part, illusory, and driven by expectations and selective price monitoring. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.