This paper proposes three new measures of components STEM career preferences (affinity, certainty, and goal), and then explores which dimensions of "science learning activation" (fascination, values, competency belief, and scientific sensemaking) are predictive of STEM career preferences. Drawn from the ALES14 dataset, a sample of 2938…

Interim tests are a central component of district-wide assessment systems, yet their technical quality to guide decisions (e.g., instructional) has been repeatedly questioned. In response, the study purpose was to investigate the validity of a series of English Language Arts (ELA) interim assessments in terms of dimensionality and prediction of…

This exploratory study foregrounds the important, but often understudied social side of pre-service teacher development and its relation to teaching performance in one university-based teacher preparation program in the US. We examine the extent to which pre-service elementary teachers' social relationships and perceptions of peer trust and…

The present study used a collaborative framework to integrate 2 long-term prospective studies: the Terman Life Cycle Study and the Hawaii Personality and Health Longitudinal Study. Within a 5-factor personality-trait framework, teacher assessments of child personality were rationally and empirically aligned to establish similar factor structures…

Teacher quality has received increasing focus over the past decade, yet, by some measures, teachers rarely improve after their first few years of teaching, and not all teachers seem driven to improve. Traditional models of professional learning have emphasized the processes that teachers take part in as a facilitator of their improvement. Research…

Educational success among Asian American students has often been misunderstood as an occupational development separate from any experience of racism. However, several theorists have suggested that racial barriers in occupational mobility correlate with educational pursuits. Therefore, this research aims to examine the direct effect of perceived…

The purpose of this study was to add to the literature on college student satisfaction. More specifically, expanding research of empirical studies set in multi-campus systems. This was accomplished by examining the influences of academic engagement factors and comparing demographic group differences related to college student satisfaction. Factor…

This study investigates how community college students' current levels of computer technology competence, confidence and attitudes toward technology in learning at a community college are affected by current access to technology and by demographic characteristics as well as by past experiences with computer technology. The research questions…