Goal orientation theory has been widely investigated and found to affect many motivation and behavior variables in relation to student learning and work performance. However, unlike the motivational construct of self-efficacy, researchers have yet to investigate whether this theory can be applied to the field of teaching and contribute to the…

Purpose/Objectives: The school nutrition environment includes food policy and practices, advertising, and presence of competitive foods (CF). CF provide schools with revenue; however, CF decrease National School Lunch Program (NSLP) participation and reimbursement as well as the nutrient density of children's diets. Local wellness policies (LWPs)…

Although it is well established that preterms as a group do poorly relative to their full-term peers on tests of global cognitive functioning, the basis for this relative deficiency is less understood. The present paper examines preterm deficits in core cognitive abilities and determines their role in mediating preterm/full-term differences in IQ.…

Support for students before planning, planning to enter, and while enrolled in higher education is needed to ensure academic achievement, especially among U.S. Hispanics. Measures for determining the nature of student support or obstruction are necessary if we are to understand academic achievement and its development among U.S. Hispanic learners.…

This article reports the authors' research which combined quantitative and qualitative methods to analyze a rather intangible phenomenon of interest to higher education researchers and administrators, that being "departmental climate" (often referred to as "academic climate"). This investigation required the authors to develop a method by which…

One purpose of the present study was to develop and test the factor structure of a multidimensional and hierarchical Norwegian Principal Self-Efficacy Scale (NPSES). Another purpose of the study was to investigate the relationship between principal self-efficacy and work engagement. Principal self-efficacy was measured by the 22-item NPSES. Work…

This article examines the analysis of the psychometric properties, including the validity and reliability, of the Empathy Index (EI), a new instrument designed to measure empathy deficits of sex offenders. The EI was tested with a sample of 158 sex offenders incarcerated in North Carolina prisons. An exploratory factor analysis yielded three…

Interest in mindfulness-based interventions for children and adolescents is burgeoning, bringing with it the need for validated instruments to assess mindfulness in youths. The present studies were designed to validate among adolescents a measure of mindfulness previously validated for adults (e.g., Brown & Ryan, 2003), which we herein call…

Purpose: This study aims to explore the impact of school leadership, particularly that of the principal (head teacher), on school improvement in England. Design/methodology/approach: The study adopts a mixed-methods (MM), longitudinal design to investigate the leadership of a sample of academically effective and improving schools identified from…

The aim of this study is to determine the primary and high school principals' competency in technology leadership and so to define implications for advanced competency. The population of the study was formed by 134 school principals in Maltepe and Kadikoy districts in Istanbul. On account of the fact that population was reachable, no specific…

The purpose of this study was to use differential item functioning (DIF) and latent mixture model analyses to explore factors that explain performance differences on a large-scale mathematics assessment between examinees allowed to use a calculator or who were afforded item presentation accommodations versus those who did not receive the same…

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between religiosity and retention at Idaho State University (ISU). Attrition is a problem that has, and continues to plague higher education. Research shows that students who are more integrated in education (both in and out of class) are more likely to remain enrolled. For this study,…

The purpose of this study was to examine specific aspects of the reliability and validity of age band 1 of the Movement Assessment Battery for Children-Second Edition (MABC-2) (Henderson, Sugden, & Barnett, 2007) in Greek preschool children. One hundred and eighty-three children participated in the study; the children ranged in age from 36 to…

The Environmental (2-MEV) Scale questionnaire was developed in Europe to measure adolescents' attitudes and gauge the effectiveness of educational programs. It also formed the basis for the Theory of Ecological Attitudes. In the present four-year study, the 2-MEV Scale was modified for use with 9-12-year-old children in the United States. Initial…

The authors describe research that applies a tourist framework to study abroad attitudes and preferences. A total of 371 university business students in the Southern region of the United States completed a survey that included the International Tourist Role scale and study abroad attitudes and preferences. These students were grouped into one of 4…