To examine the current state of reading attitudes among middle school students in the United States, a survey was developed and administered to 4,491 students in 23 states plus the District of Columbia. The instrument comprised four subscales measuring attitudes toward: recreational reading in print settings, recreational reading in digital settings, academic reading in print settings, and academic reading in digital settings. Factor analysis confirmed the factor structure corresponding to the four subscales, and reliability coefficients for these subscales ranged from 0.78 to 0.86. Correlations among the subscales varied considerably, due largely to the recreational digital subscale. Analyses of variance subsequently confirmed a pattern for the recreational digital subscale that differed from that of the others. For academic digital, recreational print, and academic print, the attitudes of females were more positive than those of males; however, for attitudes toward recreational reading in digital settings, the pattern was reversed. In addition, results for three of the subscales showed a gradual worsening of attitudes from 6th to 8th grade. The exception was academic print, for which attitudes did not differ by grade. No interactions were observed between grade and gender for any of the subscales. Results are discussed in the context of attitude theory and the rapid evolution of digital literacy and its social uses by adolescents.

No abstract

This study examined teachers’ perceptions of their jobs and teacher turnover through an analysis of data from the National Center for Education Statistics Schools and Staffing Survey and Teacher Follow-Up Survey. Our analysis suggests that student discipline problems were a major reason for teachers’ dissatisfaction with their jobs, second only to low compensation. Private school teachers generally encountered fewer student discipline problems and perceived their professional lives more favorably than public school teachers, although private schools usually offer lower salaries than public schools. Minority teachers were less satisfied with work conditions and student discipline problems than nonminority teachers. These findings imply policy changes for teacher retention.

An examinee faced with a test item will engage in solution behavior or rapid-guessing behavior. These qualitatively different test-taking behaviors bias parameter estimates for item response models that do not control for such behavior. A mixture Rasch model with item response time components was proposed and evaluated through application to real test data and a simulation study. The analysis of extant data indicated that a two-class solution fit better than a one-class solution and that 15% of examinees engaged in rapid-guessing behavior. Moreover, solution behavior examinees had substantially higher average ability scores than rapid-guessing examinees. Results of the simulation study indicated that the parameters were recovered well.An examinee faced with a test item will engage in one of two possible behaviors. Solution behavior occurs when an examinee spends an appropriate amount of time on a test item and actively seeks to answer it correctly (Schnipke & Scrams, 1997;Wise & Kong, 2005). An examinee engaging in solution behavior reads all parts of an item, processes the information, and selects a response option. This type of behavior is desirable and it contrasts with rapid-guessing behavior, which occurs when an examinee rapidly responds to an item (Schnipke & Scrams, 1997;Wise & Kong, 2005). The rapid response may be a random guess or the product of a quickresponse strategy.Rapid-guessing and solution behavior result in qualitatively distinct item response patterns and introduce conditional dependencies among items. Consequently, item response models based on an assumption of conditional independence (e.g., Rasch, 2PL, 3PL) produce biased estimates when both types of behavior are present (Douglas, Kim, Habing, & Gao, 1998; Oshima,1994). Eliminating these conditional dependencies and accurately estimating item response model parameters requires knowledge of an examinee's test-taking behavior. Researchers have proposed mixture Rasch models of item response or mixture models of item response time to classify test-taking behavior and adjust item response model parameter estimates Article

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a framework that is commonly used for guiding the construction and delivery of instruction intended to support all students. In this study, we used a related model to guide creation of a multimedia-based instructional tool called content acquisition podcasts (CAPs). CAPs delivered vocabulary instruction during two concurrent social studies units to 32 SWD and 109 students without disabilities. We created CAPs using a combination of evidence-based practices for vocabulary instruction, UDL, and Mayer’s instructional design principles. High school students with and without learning disabilities completed weekly curriculum-based measurement (CBM) probes (vocabulary matching) over an 8-week period along with two corresponding posttests. Students were nested within sections of world history and randomly assigned to alternating treatments (CAPs and business as usual) that were administered sequentially to each group. Results revealed that students with and without disabilities made significant growth on CBMs and scored significantly higher on the posttests when taught using CAPs.