<p>Not since the Cold War and the launch of Sputnik has there been such a focus on producing college graduates in fields related to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). As manually driven careers disappear, new diverse careers are created and they have one thing in common, STEM. As students move into these challenging curriculums they will need to have faith in their abilities to achieve their goals. This self-efficacy is vital component for their collegiate and career success. This mixed methods study examines the unique pre-college STEM outreach phenomenon called Mind Trekkers. Mind Trekkers uses the `WOW? of experiential learning in the areas of STEM to motivate K-12 students to engage in STEM related fields. The focus of the study is on the first-year college freshmen that join this program, becoming STEM serviceteers, and how being part of this STEM phenomenon impacts their self-efficacy. The findings can be summed up in a quote I get to help people understanding in a different way than I would if I was just doing volunteering like I did in high school. It?s cool. I just love it and it gives me the confidence that what I am doing is the right thing here at (the university). (Jean) The results of the study indicate that the Mind Trekkers program acted as a catalyst to increase the self-efficacy of the students that participated in it, through personal social and academic impact.

<p> The field of student conduct administration (SCA) in higher education has grown more complex. Researchers and practitioners have noted the tension for conduct officers between managing legal and policy compliance focused on the adjudication of cases and serving as restorative justice minded educators oriented towards student growth and learning. As a result, the knowledge required and the skills practiced by conduct officers are broad and varied. An overlooked dimension of SCA is how conduct officer development, especially as it relates to meaning-making, influences their experiences, knowledge, and skills. This study, utilizing a developmental theory known as &ldquo;action logics,&rdquo; explores how conduct officer meaning-making informs their thoughts, actions, and ultimately, how they take on their responsibilities for their institutions and for their students. </p><p> A three-stage analysis of data from two qualitative interviews and a photography exercise was designed to explore the relationship between meaning-making and action logic expression for nine SCAs. In stage one, an analysis of narrative was constructed, coded for meaning-making characteristics, and an action logic hypothesis was formed. In stage two, three methods of triangulation generated additional insights. These included member checking, participant results from the Global Leadership Profile instrument, and an external audit. Finally, a cross-case analysis explored how the action logic expressed was related to meaning-making and specific themes identified from the interviews and literature. </p><p> The findings from these participants suggest the presence of a developmental range rather than a fixed action logic expression influencing the exercise of their responsibilities. Additionally, data analysis suggests that the developmental range is partly a function of organizational role. This first finding is inconsistent with previous research, providing a direction for future research. The study proposes a developmental leadership taxonomy that may be present and accounts for the range of actions logics available that could potentially be integrated into their conduct officer roles. This study has implications for training and practice of conduct officers and other student affairs professionals. The study also offers methodological considerations for research at the intersection of leadership, action logics, meaning-making, and human development.</p>

This research was conducted to obtain information to clarify the nature of the relationship between degree of prematurity and associated perinatal complications and academic achievement. Previous investigations have suggested that children born prematurely do experience academic deficits, however, significant relationships between prematurity and achievement have not consistently been reported. Advances in neonatal medical care in the past 20 years has ensured the survival of extremely fragile premature infants that previously would have perished. There has been great interest in the developmental progress of these premature survivors. In spite of this interest, questions still remain about academic progress. The present sample included 188 first grade students who were born prematurely. All students were enrolled in a prospective longitudinal follow-up program upon graduation from the neonatal intensive care nursery. Structural equation model testing (LISREL) was used to examine the structure of the relationships between the independent variables and academic achievement. Independent variables included the following; degree of prematurity, perinatal illness, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, and preschool experience. Structural equation model testing revealed that none of the eleven models tested provided a good fit for the data. Hierarchical model testing indicated that one model was preferred over the others. The model that provided the most parsimonious representation of the data specified that there was no direct relationship between degree of prematurity and achievement nor was there a direct relationship between perinatal illness and achievement. This model also included direct relationships between ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and preschool experience and achievement. This analysis revealed that within this sample of premature survivors of neonatal intensive care, neither degree of prematurity nor perinatal illness were significantly related to academic achievement. The significance of socioeconomic status has been well documented in the literature and is supported by this investigation. While preschool experience was significantly related to achievement, the relationship was not in the anticipated direction. That is, children with preschool experience had lower achievement scores than children with no preschool experience. These unexpected results were discussed in terms of the lack of sensitivity of the preschool measure.

The recent evidence concerning the nature of cognitive development in Down Syndrome (DS) suggests that it is different than normal development. The neuropathology seen in DS implicates a prenatal interruption of normal neural development as a possible basis for these differences. Since the hippocampal formation (HF) undergoes extensive postnatal maturation and is found to be abnormal in DS, it is proposed that cognitive deficits associated with DS would be most evident in tasks requiring hippocampal function. The performance of DS children at 16-18 months and 28-30 months of age was compared to that of age-matched control groups of normal children on two cognitive tasks requiring abilities that develop during the first postnatal year shown not to involve hippocampal function, and a task requiring abilities that develop during the second postnatal year shown to require hippocampal functioning. The results show that the DS performed comparably on the nonhippocampal tasks but differently on the hippocampal task. The normal children's performance supports the position that the ability to perform HF tasks develops during the second postnatal year while the performance of the older DS children suggested that this development does not occur in DS. The specificity of the deficits to the hippocampal task was interpreted as indicative of a lack of HF development in DS.

This study addressed the semantic memory processes of learning disabled (LD) and non-disabled children. The semantic memory deficits of LD students are familiar to most educators; however, the nature of these difficulties is not understood precisely. Some researchers propose that an early form of memory organization is association of items by frequency. These associative relations may be the precursors to taxonomic memory organization, thus may be weak in LD children. This study examined second and sixth grade children's free recall organization of two types of 3 word lists: one in which items were associated by frequency and one in which items were related taxonomically; within each word list, half of the items were primary category members or frequency associates and half were secondary category members or frequency associates. It was hypothesized that younger, non-disabled children would rely more on frequency associations and that older, unimpaired subjects would tend to organize the material categorically. Learning disabled subjects were predicted to show impairments in the ability to form both frequency associations and categories during recall, particularly for the secondary items. These results were not found. Younger, non-disabled subjects organized words categorically as proficiently as their older peers, and LD children's categorization abilities were comparable to non-disabled subjects'. The only item type for which LD subjects showed significantly less clustering than non-disabled subjects was secondary frequency associates, which were viewed as representing the periphery of the knowledge base. The principal difference between this study and previous, similar research was the use of individual, child-generated word lists. Because all words were highly familiar and meaningful to the children, relationships between most of the items were probably quite salient, more so than in other studies using adult-generated words as stimuli. Thus, this study indicates that LD children are not impaired in their ability to recognize and utilize semantic structure to facilitate learning if material is highly meaningful and familiar to them.

<p> The purpose for this study was to examine the relationship between adolescent identity development, relevance, and rigor among high school students. The premise under investigation is rooted in the concept of building rigor through relevance. Students who have engaged in personal exploration and commitment to certain ideological and interpersonal issues, specifically personal and occupational identity (Erikson, 1982; Marcia, 2002; Super, 1980) are purported to find increased relevancy in their coursework (Crumpton &amp; Gregory, 2011) and in turn engage in more rigorous studies. This study used a profile of high school seniors to explore the relationship between adolescent identify development, student participation in relevance building activities, and engagement in academic rigor.</p><p> This cross-sectional study utilized quantitative methods to analyze archival survey, transcript, and performance data on student engagement in relevance, rigor, and identity producing activities (Fink, 2009). A Midwest school district, granting access to archival data, had engaged in extensive research on relevance, rigor, and identity. A review of literature resulted in the emergence of six factors related to college and career readiness. The focus on career exploration, adult guidance and support, career planning, occupational identity status, academic intensity, and performance benchmarks were aligned with the research questions for this study.</p><p> Findings of the study revealed students had positive experiences with adult guidance and support and career planning. Students reported parents or guardians and teachers as having a significant influence on their career aspirations, while counselors were viewed in a less significant role. Perceptions of career exploration experiences were reported low, however a lack of workplace experience was found as a key factor in that finding. Students in the study were found to have engaged in overall low levels of academic intensity which was consistent with the literature on academic rigor. A key finding was that adolescent identity status matters in relation to academic rigor and relevance. Exploration of individual passions and interests followed by commitment to an occupational identity was found to be related to engagement in rigor and relevance.</p><p> The study provided insight into the relationship between adolescent identity development, relevance, and rigor among high school students. However, additional questions about this relationship emerged during the study. Further research into the role of school counselors as leaders, impact of workplace experience on occupational identity development, exploration of how identity develops over time, analysis of career exploration variables related to identity, and exploration of findings for ACT composite will support more clarity in the arena of college and career readiness.</p>

<p> This study explored the contributing factors to defending behaviors which are characterized as the actions of those who stand up for peers who are victims of peer aggression. These factors were cognitive empathy, affective empathy, appreciation of differences, peer group status, gender and age. The factors were examined in the context of a path model among adolescents aged 12 to 14. The results of this study supported the proposed model and it was determined to be a good fit to the data. Five out of seven hypotheses were supported. Affective empathy was found to mediate the relationship between cognitive empathy and defender status such that greater affective empathy indicated greater defender status. Cognitive empathy alone was not found to predict defender status. Peer group status mediated the relationship between affective empathy and defending behaviors such that higher peer group status indicated greater likelihood of defender status. Appreciation of differences did not mediate the relationship between affective empathy nor predict defender status alone. Age was significant in moderating the relationship between appreciation of differences and defender status such that it was a greater predictor for younger students than older ones. Gender did not moderate the relationship between peer group status and defending behaviors. Post hoc analyses indicated that the model was a better fit for males than females. Conclusions inform best practices for interventions to promote defending behaviors and the development of factors that contribute to defending behaviors.</p>

<p> Self-worth is commonly used as a barometer for psychological well-being in adolescence. As low-income urban African American youth are often exposed to contexts that may undervalue their worth (e.g., racial discrimination), positive self-perception may be especially crucial for their well-being. The current study focused on the development of global self-worth and two self-concept domains (i.e., social acceptance and physical appearance) within a large sample of African American adolescents. Analyses sought to: (a) identify classes of adolescents who demonstrate different trajectory classes of self-worth and domain-specific self-concept; (b) examine if gender predicts class membership; and (c) examine links between class membership and depression. </p><p> Participants were a community sample of 610 urban and predominantly low income African American adolescents who reported their global self-worth, perceived social acceptance and physical appearance from grade 6 through 12. Depressive symptoms were reported in the year following grade 12. Growth mixture modeling was used to identify latent classes of children who showed different patterns of change in global self-worth and domain-specific self-concepts from grade 6 through 12. Additional analyses explored whether gender predicted class membership, and if class membership predicted depressive symptoms in the year following grade 12.</p><p> Analyses indicated that a one-class solution fit best for global self-worth: overall, this sample showed <i>high and increasing</i> development of global self-worth. However, there was heterogeneity in the development of self-concept related to social acceptance and physical appearance, each demonstrating a two-class solution. For both domains, the majority of adolescents placed in a high and increasing trajectory class. A second group of adolescents demonstrated <i>moderate</i> and <i>stable</i> growth of social acceptance and physical appearance. Youth placed in the <i> high and increasing</i> physical appearance trajectory class were more likely to be male. Symptoms of depression were significantly higher in the year following grade 12 in the trajectory class of social acceptance marked by lower self-perception ratings. Results shed light on specific patterns amongst African American adolescents that may require intervention, and provide a foundation for examination of determinants and outcomes of domain-specific self-perceived competence.</p>

<p> Therapeutic treatment facilities that support adolescents in the criminal justice system in reforming delinquent behaviors are being used across the country as an intervention alternative to more punitive correctional facilities. Cognitive behavioral therapeutic techniques are the current primary treatment method used in such facilities, which has left them void of any depth psychological or psychodynamic modalities. Although cognitive behavioral therapy provides useful tools in supporting a patient&rsquo;s emotional awareness and affect regulation, it falls short in tending to the whole of an individual&rsquo;s psychic needs and drives. Using hermeneutic and heuristic methodologies, this thesis focuses on how a combination of depth psychological tools and psychodynamic conceptualizations of the adolescent psyche could increase treatment efficacy and client engagement. Using depth psychological and psychodynamic literature as well as this author&rsquo;s own professional experience in the field, this thesis examines the benefits of depth psychological methods in adolescent court-mandated treatment facilities.</p>

<p> Identifying students who may require additional assistance and coaching based on their self-concept score will also allow community colleges to provide additional support services for those students. If there is a difference in self-concept among students in a Mississippi community college, leaders might be able to use self-concept as a way of building additional services that help students improve their self-concept and subsequently reduce attrition. </p>