第三辑（上）

1. Assessing the Effects of

High School Exit Examinations

Author(s): Jennifer Jellison Holme, Meredith P. Richards, Jo Beth Jimerson, Rebecca W. Cohen

Source:REVIEW OF EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH, December 2010, 80(40)

Abstract: High school exit exams are affecting a growing majority of high school students. Although exit testing polices were enacted with the goal of improving student achievement as well as postsecondary outcomes, they also have the potential for negative effects. To better understand the effects of exit testing policies, in this article the authors systematically review 46 unique studies that pertain to four domains of expected influence: student achievement, graduation, postsecondary outcomes, and school response. The evidence reviewed indicates that exit tests have produced few of the expected benefits and have been associated with costs for the most disadvantaged students. This review suggests policy modifications that may attenuate some of the negative effects.

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2. Perspective taking and synchronous argumentation for learning the day/night cycle

Author(s): Baruch B. Schwarz, Yaron Schur, Haim Pensso and Naama Tayer

Source: International Journal of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning, 2010, Online First

Abstract: Changing practices in schools is a very complex endeavor. This paper is about new practices we prompted to foster collaboration and critical reasoning in science classrooms: the presentation of pictures representing different perspectives, small group synchronous argumentation, and moderation of synchronous argumentation. A CSCL tool helped in supporting synchronous argumentation through graphical representations of argumentative moves. We checked the viability of these practices in science classrooms. To do so, we investigated whether these practices led to conceptual learning, and undertook interactional analyses to study the behaviors of students and teachers. Thirty-two Grade 8 students participated in a series of activities on the day/night cycle. Learning was measured by the correctness of knowledge, the extent to which it was elaborated, the mental models that emerged from the explanations, the knowledge integration in explanations, and their simplicity. We showed that participants could learn the day/night cycle concept, as all measures of learning improved. For some students, it even led to conceptual change. However, the specific help provided by teachers during collective argumentation did not yield additional learning. The analysis of protocols of teacher-led collective argumentation indicated that although the teachers’ help was needed, some teachers had difficulties monitoring these synchronous discussions. We conclude that the next step of the design-research cycle should be devoted to (a) the development of new tools directed at helping teachers facilitate synchronous collective argumentation, and to (b) activities including teachers, designers, and researchers for elaborating new strategies to use these tools to improve the already positive learning outcomes from synchronous argumentation.

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3．Sharing and Cultivating Tacit Knowledge in an Online Learning Environment

Author(s): Tee, Meng Yew; Karney, Dennis

Source: International Journal of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning, 2010, 5(4)

Abstract: Research on knowledge cultivation often focuses on explicit forms of knowledge. However, knowledge can also take a tacit form--a form that is often difficult or impossible to tease out, even when it is considered critical in an educational context. A review of the literature revealed that few studies have examined tacit knowledge issues in online learning environments. The purpose of this study was to develop a greater understanding of the conditions and processes that help promote the sharing or cultivation of tacit knowledge in a formal online course setting. Using naturalistic inquiry as the methodology of this study, an online graduate business course offered at a private, non-profit United States-based university was purposively selected as the research site. The study found that the online course encouraged processes and created conditions consistent with Nonaka's model of knowledge creation and the concept of "ba" (or shared context)--encouraging students to share, and to construct knowledge through socialization, externalization, combination, and internalization. The results suggest that purposefully developing a "ba"-like environment may be a useful approach to facilitating online learning, creating a strong potential to support learning processes necessary for students to cultivate tacit knowledge. (Contains 2 tables.)

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4.Tripartite Growth Trajectories of Reading and Math Achievement

Tracking National Academic Progress at Primary, Middle, and High School Levels

Author(s): Jaekyung Lee

Source: American Educational Research Journal，2010, 47(4)

Abstract: This study examines trends in American students’ growth trajectories in reading and math achievement over the past three decades. Drawing upon multiple sources of national assessment data, cohort analyses provide new evidence on the stability and change of national academic growth curves. The emerging trends imply a tripartite pattern where American students are gaining ground at the pre/early primary school level, holding ground at the middle school level, and losing ground at the high school level. National progress in reading and math achievement at the pre/early primary school level appears to be offset by declines at the high school level. The study discusses the limitations and challenges of tracking academic growth trajectories across all different levels of education over the long term. It also calls for national P-16 education policy and research efforts toward sustainable academic growth and seamless educational transition.

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5.Teacher-Child Relationship and Behavior Problem Trajectories in Elementary School

Author(s): Erin E. O’Connor, Eric Dearing, Brian A. Collins

Source: American Educational Research Journal，2011, 48(1)

Abstract: The present study examined associations between the quality of teacher-child relationships and behavior problems among elementary school students using data from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development, a study of 1,364 children from birth through adolescence. There were two main findings. First, high-quality teacher-child relationships predicted low levels of externalizing behaviors. Second, high-quality relationships acted as protective factors, helping to prevent children with high levels of internalizing behaviors in early childhood from developing trajectories of long-term internalizing behavior problems. Teacher-child relationships may be proximal phenomena that can be targeted in interventions to help prevent behavior problems in middle childhood.

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6.Adapting to the System or the Student? Exploring Teacher Adaptations to Disadvantaged Students in an English and a Belgian Secondary School

Author(s): Peter A. J. Stevens , Mieke Van Houtte

Source: EDUCATIONAL EVALUATION AND POLICY ANALYSIS, 2010, Online First

Abstract: This article builds on research on teacher adaptations to students by exploring how Belgian and English national contexts influence teachers’ definitions of educational success, their explanations of educational failure, and their allocation of scarce educational resources to disadvantaged students. Ethnographic data from one Flemish (Belgian) and one English secondary multicultural school suggest that teachers in both schools adapt their expectations to students in line with the perceived ability and interests of students. However, differences between England and Flanders in how students and schools are evaluated can help to explain differences between Flemish and English teachers’ allocation of scarce educational resources and responsibility for educational success. The conclusions discuss the implications of these findings for social policy and further research.

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7.Do “Education Governors” Matter?

The Case of Statewide P–16 Education Councils

Author(s): Christine G. Mokher

Source: EDUCATIONAL EVALUATION AND POLICY ANALYSIS, 2010, 32(4)

Abstract: This study examines the role of governors in the P–16 education reform movement through their influence in the adoption of policies creating statewide P–16 councils. Network theory is used to distill three sets of hypotheses to predict how leadership influences of governors, the structure of state educational governance organizations, and environmental characteristics of states may help to explain the spread of voluntary and mandatory P–16 councils from 1992 to 2008. These hypotheses are tested empirically through the use of event history analysis. The results indicate that the presence of an education governor, as well as certain environmental conditions, may affect a state’s decision of both whether to form a P–16 council and the type of P–16 council that is formed.

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8.Effects of Class Size and Adaptive Teaching Competency

on Classroom Processes and Academic Outcome

Author(s): Bruhwiler, Christian; Blatchford, Peter

Source: Learning and Instruction, 2011, 21(1)

Abstract: In many studies of class size effects, teacher characteristics are missing, even though many argue it is not class size that is important but teacher quality. In the present study teachers' effectiveness on the learning progress was assessed while teaching a unit with predefined learning objectives. To measure adaptive teaching competency a multi-method approach was employed (e.g., vignette and video test). There were 49 teachers and 898 students. Smaller classes led to higher academic learning progresses, better knowledge of students, and better classroom processes. Adaptive teacher competency remained relevant in smaller classes, that is, class size and teacher quality were independently important. (Contains 5 tables and 4 figures.)

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9.Developing Children's Conceptual Understanding of Area Measurement: A Curriculum and Teaching Experiment

Author(s): Huang, Hsin-Mei E.; Witz, Klaus G.

Source: Learning and Instruction, 2011, 21(1)

Abstract: The present study examined the effectiveness of three instructional treatments which had different combinations of mathematical elements regarding 2-dimensional (2-D) geometry and area measurement for developing 4th-grade children's understanding of the formulas for area measurement and their ability to solve area measurement problems. Participants were 120 fourth graders. The results showed that the enriched curriculum, involving the geometry motions and area measurement connections effectively facilitated children's mathematical judgments and explanations demanding high-level conceptual understanding. The instructional curricula accentuating only 2-D geometry or numerical calculations for area measurement did not exhibit such effectiveness. Interview data revealed that the geometric operations of superimposition, decomposition, re-composition as well as the concept of congruence were deemed essential by children for the conceptualization of the formulas for area measurement. (Contains 1 table and 1 figure.)

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10.Situational Interest and Academic Achievement in the Active-Learning Classroom

Author(s): Rotgans, Jerome I.; Schmidt, Henk G.

Source: Learning and Instruction, 2011, 21(1)

Abstract: The aim of the present study was to investigate how situational interest develops over time and how it is related to academic achievement in an active-learning classroom. Five measures of situational interest were administered at critical points in time to 69 polytechnic students during a one-day, problem-based learning session. Results revealed that situational interest significantly increased after the problem stimulus was presented. Subsequently, situational interest gradually decreased but at the end of the day increased again. Testing a path model relating the situational interest measures showed strong (directional) interrelations. Moreover, situational interest was highly predictive for observed achievement-related classroom behaviors. The latter, in turn, proved to be a significant predictor of academic achievement. Aggregating situational interest over the day led to less accurate predictions of achievement-related classroom behaviors and academic achievement. Implications of these findings for situational interest research are discussed. (Contains 1 table and 2 figures.)