We replicated and extended prior research investigating a theoretically guided intervention based on expectancy-value theory designed to enhance student learning outcomes (e.g., Hulleman & Harackiewicz, 2009). First, we replicated prior work by demonstrating that the utility value intervention, which manipulated whether students made connections between the course material and their lives, increased both interest and performance of low-performing students in a college general education course. Second, we extended prior research by both measuring and manipulating one possible pathway of intervention effects: the frequency with which students make connections between the material and their lives. In Study 1, we measured connection frequency and found that making more connections was positively related to expecting to do well in the course, valuing the course material, and continuing interest. In Study 2, we manipulated connection frequency by developing an enhanced utility value intervention designed to increase the frequency with which students made connections. The results indicated that students randomly assigned to either utility value intervention, compared with the control condition, subsequently became more confident that they could learn the material, which led to increased course performance. The utility value interventions were particularly effective for the lowest-performing students. Compared with those in the control condition who showed a steady decline in performance across the semester, low-performing male students randomly assigned to the utility value conditions increased their performance across the semester. The difference between the utility value and control conditions for lowperforming male students was strongest on the final exam (d ϭ .76).

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Clear adverse effects of blood lead levels >or=10 microg/dL have been documented in children. Given that the majority of US children have levels below 10 microg/dL, clarification of adverse effects below this cutoff value is needed. Our study evaluated the associations between blood lead levels <10 microg/dL and a broad spectrum of children's cognitive abilities. Data were analyzed from 534 children aged 6-10, enrolled in the New England Children's Amalgam Trial (NECAT) from the urban area of Boston, Massachusetts and rural Farmington, Maine. Adjusting for covariates (age, race, socioeconomic status, and primary caregiver IQ), children with 5-10 microg/dL had 5.0 (S.D. 2.3) points lower IQ scores compared to children with blood lead levels of 1-2 microg/dL (p=0.03). Verbal IQ was more negatively affected than performance IQ, with the most prominent decrement occurring in children's vocabulary. Wechsler Individual Achievement Test scores were strongly negatively associated with blood lead levels of 5-10 microg/dL. In adjusted analyses, children with levels of 5-10 microg/dL scored 7.8 (S.D. 2.4) and 6.9 (S.D. 2.2) points lower on reading and math composite scores, respectively, compared to children with levels of 1-2 microg/dL (p<0.01). Finally, levels of 5-10 microg/dL were associated with decreased attention and working memory. Other than associations of lead exposure with achievement, which even persisted after adjustment for child IQ, the most pronounced deficits were in the areas of spatial attention and executive function. Overall, our analyses support prior research that children's blood levels <10 microg/dL are related to compromised cognition and highlight that these may especially be related to academic achievement.

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clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT00065988.

This study examined the utility of Web-based quizzing. We assigned 3 classes to a no-quiz, in-class quiz, or Web-based quiz condition. Midsemester results demonstrated a positive effect for in-class quizzing but not Web-based quizzing. After several adjustments in quiz presentation and duration, the Web-based group increased exam performance to a level equivalent to the in-class quiz group for the second half of the semester. These results illustrate that online quizzing can be as effective as in-class quizzing, but only under specific conditions.

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The poor connections between practitioners and researchers have many resultant costs. Perhaps the most often cited is the difficulty of getting research into practice: well-meaning researchers generate ideas, findings, practices, and programs that are not optimally communicated to practitioners, and often not optimally designed for use in practice. Catherine Snow-Harvard Graduate School of Education