Rigorous Course Research Articles

Computer Vision‐Based Evaluation of Pre‐ and Postrigor Changes in Size and Shape of Atlantic Cod (Gadus morhua) and Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar) Fillets during Rigor Mortis and Ice Storage: Effects of Perimortem Handling Stress

The present study describes the possibilities for using computer vision-based methods for the detection and monitoring of transient 2D and 3D changes in the geometry of a given product. The rigor contractions of unstressed and stressed fillets of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) and Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) were used as a model system. Gradual changes in fillet shape and size (area, length, width, and roundness) were recorded for 7 and 3 d, respectively. Also, changes in fillet area and height (cross-section profiles) were tracked using a laser beam and a 3D digital camera. Another goal was to compare rigor developments of the 2 species of farmed fish, and whether perimortem stress affected the appearance of the fillets. Some significant changes in fillet size and shape were found (length, width, area, roundness, height) between unstressed and stressed fish during the course of rigor mortis as well as after ice storage (postrigor). However, the observed irreversible stress-related changes were small and would hardly mean anything for postrigor fish processors or consumers. The cod were less stressed (as defined by muscle biochemistry) than the salmon after the 2 species had been subjected to similar stress bouts. Consequently, the difference between the rigor courses of unstressed and stressed fish was more extreme in the case of salmon. However, the maximal whole fish rigor strength was judged to be about the same for both species. Moreover, the reductions in fillet area and length, as well as the increases in width, were basically of similar magnitude for both species. In fact, the increases in fillet roundness and cross-section height were larger for the cod. We conclude that the computer vision method can be used effectively for automated monitoring of changes in 2D and 3D shape and size of fish fillets during rigor mortis and ice storage. In addition, it can be used for grading of fillets according to uniformity in size and shape, as well as measurement of fillet yield measured in thickness. The methods are accurate, rapid, nondestructive, and contact-free and can therefore be regarded as suitable for industrial purposes.

The proving ground

The proving ground

The Deracinated Self: Immigrants, Orphans, and the "Migratory Consciousness" of Willa Cather and Susan Glaspell

THE DERACINATED SELF: IMMIGRANTS, ORPHANS, AND THE "MIGRATORY CONSCIOUSNESS" OF WILLA CATHER AND SUSAN GLASPELL Martha C. Carpentier Seton Hall University On May 10, 1931, in the New York Times, Brooks Atkinson bewailed the awarding of the Pulitzer Prize to Susan Glaspell for her play Alison s House, performed by Eva Le Gallienne's repertory company . "Ifthe drama prize were for Miss Glaspell personally," he writes, "every one would purr with satisfaction. For nearly a quarter of a century she has been an influence for good in the literature of this country ." But Alison's House "does not represent her fairly" and Atkinson castigates the Pulitzer committee for "passing silently over 'Brook Evans,' the novel she published three years ago" which he calls "the finest transcript of her mind." This is reminiscent of another Midwestern woman writer who similarly won the Pulitzer Prize for a work that was not considered her best, One of Ours, and who similarly should have won it for a novel she had published four years previously , My Antonia. Indeed, Atkinson compares them: "Like Willa Cather, who also comes out of the Middle West, Miss Glaspell has been seeing life steadily and seeing it whole. . . . Those who come from that wide, freely populated territory, where farming is still a basic industry, are likely to have a breadth and tenderness of mind that is no longer common among Eastern writers."1 Situating their comparison in a common sense of place is appropriate for these writers, both of whom were deeply affected by the migration of their families from east to west; in Glaspell's case, not during her own lifetime as was the case with Cather, but during the waves of migration westward of the 1820s-1850s, first to Ohio and Kentucky and finally settling in Davenport, Iowa. Although Glaspell did not live through the westward migration herself, as her most recent biographer Linda Ben-Zvi has shown, her paternal grandmother and namesake, a "spinner of a mythology of pioneering," lived with the family throughout Glaspell's childhood and influenced her profoundly . Ben-Zvi writes that the word and concept that "remained constant" throughout her work on Glaspell was pioneer. "Pioneer . . . defines the direction of Glaspell's own life and the ways in which she continually pushed against fixed boundaries, assuming an independence that she saw as a legacy from her ancestors."2 But this is only the beginning of the remarkable parallels between the lives and work 132Martha C. Carpentier of Susan Glaspell and Willa Cather. Born three years apart, Cather in 1873 and Glaspell in 1876 (ironically , Cather claimed the centennial year for her birth while Glaspell disavowed it, dropping six years from her age), both of them became prototypical turn-of-the-century "New Women." Both were well versed in the classics and pursued academic university educations "at a time when less than two percent of American women attended college " (Ben-Zvi, viii). Cather was "excused from the 'first prep' year typically required ofstudents from small high schools"3 when she went to the University of Nebraska, while Glaspell entered Drake University in Des Moines as a junior, "waiving two years because of her Latin certificate" (Ben-Zvi, 35). Both took rigorous courses of study including Greek, Latin, French, and English literature, Cather graduating in 1895 and Glaspell in 1899. Both were involved while at college in literary, journalistic, and oratorical pursuits, publishing essays in their respective college journals, the Hesperian for Cather, and the Delphic for Glaspell. Both had significant careers in journalism that began very early: "just out of high school" Glaspell began contributing to the Davenport Morning Republican and published a weekly column, "Social Life," in the Weekly Outlook from 1896 to 1897, while Cather "was not yet twenty years old" when she began "doing a regular column for the Nebraska State Journal as well as miscellaneous reviews" (BenZvi , 30; Stout, 38). After graduation both women returned home where they continued working for newspapers to make money, Glaspell at the Des Moines Daily News, where she covered the state legislature and the murder trials that were to influence her work later on. For both writers journalism provided an important apprenticeship and...

Comparison of Online and Onsite Bioinformatics Instruction for a Fully Online Bioinformatics Master’s Program

The completely online Master of Science in Bioinformatics program differs from the onsite program only in the mode of content delivery. Analysis of student satisfaction indicates no statistically significant difference between most online and onsite student responses, however, online and onsite students do differ significantly in their responses to a few questions on the course evaluation queries. Analysis of student exam performance using three assessments indicates that there was no significant difference in grades earned by students in online and onsite courses. These results suggest that our model for online bioinformatics education provides students with a rigorous course of study that is comparable to onsite course instruction and possibly provides a more rigorous course load and more opportunities for participation.

An Introduction to “Early College”

Several national and international assessments have demonstrated that there has been little improvement in the performance of American high school students in recent decades. High school students are increasingly underprepared for transition into college-level course-work. One new approach to high school redesign, “early college,” seeks to address these issues. The model features a rigorous academic course of study that engages students in college-level work in grades nine through fourteen. Early college is a subset of dual enrollment programs providing opportunities for students to complete high school and college credits with the same courses. The goal is to prepare students academically for college-level coursework while easing the transition to higher education. Early college offers promise in directly addressing student academic performance, attrition rates, and readiness for college, but further research is needed to determine its efficacy and scalability.

Getting Down to Basics in Western Civilization: It's about Time

According to Tinto (1993), more students leave college than graduate, especially at the community college level. Much of the blame for this attrition has been attributed to a lack of adequate preparation for college-level courses. Consequently, many colleges must provide remedial programs despite the objections of opponents of remediation who believe these programs fail to prepare students sufficiently. The authors of this article, however, demonstrate that a learning community that links English-as-a-second-language remedial-reading and remedial-writing courses to a rigorous 3-credit history course can integrate learners into college and improve academic performance.

Comparison of Online and Onsite Bioinformatics Instruction for a Fully Online Bioinformatics Master’s Program

The completely online Master of Science in Bioinformatics program differs from the onsite program only in the mode of content delivery. Analysis of student satisfaction indicates no statistically significant difference between most online and onsite student responses, however, online and onsite students do differ significantly in their responses to a few questions on the course evaluation queries. Analysis of student exam performance using three assessments indicates that there was no significant difference in grades earned by students in online and onsite courses. These results suggest that our model for online bioinformatics education provides students with a rigorous course of study that is comparable to onsite course instruction and possibly provides a more rigorous course load and more opportunities for participation.

Hispanic College Attendance and the State of Texas GEAR UP Program

AbstractThis article reports the results of an evaluation of the state of Texas GEAR UP project implemented in six school districts from 1998 to 2005. The intent of the program was to enhance preparation for post‐secondary education among low‐income, Hispanic students. The program was comprised of practical interventions including vertical curriculum alignment, training teachers in advanced placement techniques, encouraging students to take rigorous courses, and increasing outreach about college attendance to students and parents. The central dependent variable is reports by parents of graduating seniors about whether their children would be attending college. A multivariate analysis, controlling for household SES, student grades and attendance, household composition, and language spoken in the home indicates that increased student exposure to the GEAR UP program markedly increases the probability that parents will report that their children are going to attend college.

Doctoral Programs: Changing High Rates of Attrition

Attrition of doctoral students is costly to society. This study examines organizational and personal factors that contribute to the number of graduate students leaving their program of study prior to receiving the terminal degree. The authors make suggestions for program modification and present results from a stress-management intervention program implemented for doctoral students. ********** The doctoral program is considered the preeminent level of study throughout the United States and internationally. Despite its status, graduate education in the United States is far from ideal, considering that only about half of all entering PhD students obtain doctorates (Bowen & Rudenstine, 1992). Recent publications indicate a need to examine how graduate programs themselves contribute to the high attrition rates of their students and what can be done to reduce the number of students who drop out. Some publications have addressed this specific issue (Brannock, Litten, & Smith, 2000; Kelly & Schweitzer, 1999; Lawson & Fuehrer, 2001; National Science Foundation, 1998; N. G. Nelson, Dell'Oliver, Koch, & Buckler, 2001; Ross, Niebling, & Heckert, 1999; Tenenbaum, Crosby, & Gliner, 2001). Lovitts (2001) analyzed factors that influence a graduate student's decision to complete a doctoral program, such as accessibility to faculty, acceptable research topics, the ability of the dissertation committee chair to secure grants, relationships with significant others, employment demands, time constraints, and family issues. Our study examined in depth a select group of factors that have an impact on doctoral students (see Figure 1). Organizational factors examined included student selection process, program structure, ineffective advisers, ineffective mentors, program flexibility, and the community of the program. Personal factors examined included relationships with significant others, family responsibilities, support systems, employment responsibilities, financial strains, time constraints, and overload. In addition, a stress management course for doctoral students is discussed. The stress-management course included materials from sources such as The Relaxation & Stress Reduction Workbook (Davis, Eshelman, & McKay, 2000). [FIGURE 1 OMITTED] ORGANIZATIONAL FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO HIGH ATTRITION RATES Lipschutz (1993) reported that the organizational environment of graduate programs, including those in laboratory sciences, humanities, and social sciences, contributes to high attrition rates among doctoral students. Related factors include (a) student selection process, (b) program structure or lack thereof, (c) ineffective or noncaring advisers/mentors, (d) lack of program flexibility, and (e) lack of community within the program itself (Boes, Ullery, Millner, & Cobia, 1999; Gumport & Snydman, 2002; Lipschutz, 1993; Lovitts, 2001). Before faculty begin the selection process, students should be made aware of the challenges and demands of doctoral study through material on the program such as course requirements, policies, and procedures (Boes et al., 1999). Applicants then know the rigorous course of study they are selecting before beginning the application process. Graduate programs vary as to how they select students, depending on the nature of the program, the number of applicants seeking admission, and the number of students who are allowed to enter the program. Some doctoral programs have become extremely selective, with a limited number of spaces available for new students, whereas others have a more open admissions policy. Admission committees use an applicant's references and interview information to assess the student's ability to complete the program successfully. The interview with a student is the first opportunity to find out what are the needs that must be met in order for him or her to graduate, as well as any obstacles that he or she is facing. …

Sentence Completion Test Verbal Defensiveness as a Predictor of Success in Military Personnel Selection

A previous report (Picano, Roland, Rollins, & Williams, 2002) showed sentence completion test (SCT) verbal defensiveness to be higher among elite military personnel who failed to complete a rigorous selection course. In this article, we prospectively evaluate whether SCT verbal defensiveness differentiates completion of a selection course for high demand military missions in a new sample of 125 military personnel. We further describe relationships between SCT verbal defensiveness and psychologist ratings of suitability for high demand military positions. Candidates high in SCT verbal defensiveness were less likely to complete a rigorous military selection course for high demand assignments and were twice as likely as those low in verbal defensiveness to leave early in the course. Psychologists rated candidates who were high in verbal defensiveness lower in overall suitability for high demand assignment and lower in motivation, trainability, and personality competence than candidates low in SCT verbal defensiveness. These findings support continued investigation of the SCT in military selection research.

Does Segregation Still Matter? The Impact of Student Composition on Academic Achievement in High School

The Coleman report, published 12 years after the Brown decision, confirmed that widespread school segregation in the United States created inequality of educational opportunity. This study examines whether racial and socioeconomic segregation, which is on the rise in the United States, is still contributing to the achievement differences among students. The study used data from the National Education Longitudinal Survey of 1988 to estimate multilevel models of achievement growth between Grades 8 and 12 in mathematics, science, reading, and history for a sample of 14,217 students attending a representative sample of 913 U.S. high schools. The study found that the average socioeconomic level of students’ schools had as much impact on their achievement growth as their own socioeconomic status, net of other background factors. Moreover, school socioeconomic status had as much impact on advantaged as on disadvantaged students, and almost as much impact on Whites as on Blacks, raising questions about the likely impact of widespread integration. The impact of socioeconomic composition was explained by four school characteristics: teacher expectations, the amount of homework that students do, the number of rigorous courses that students take, and students’ feelings about safety. The results suggest that schools serving mostly lower-income students tend to be organized and operated differently than those serving more-affluent students, transcending other school-level differences such as public or private, large or small. This article then addresses the question of whether such school characteristics can be changed by policies to reform schools and funding systems versus policies to desegregate schools.

Does Segregation Still Matter? The Impact of Student Composition on Academic Achievement in High School

The Coleman report, published 12 years after the Brown decision, confirmed that widespread school segregation in the United States created inequality of educational opportunity. This study examines whether racial and socioeconomic segregation, which is on the rise in the United States, is still contributing to the achievement differences among students. The study used data from the National Education Longitudinal Survey of 1988 to estimate multilevel models of achievement growth between Grades 8 and 12 in mathematics, science, reading, and history for a sample of 14,217 students attending a representative sample of 913 U.S. high schools. The study found that the average socioeconomic level of students’ schools had as much impact on their achievement growth as their own socioeconomic status, net of other background factors. Moreover, school socioeconomic status had as much impact on advantaged as on disadvantaged students, and almost as much impact on Whites as on Blacks, raising questions about the likely impact of widespread integration. The impact of socioeconomic composition was explained by four school characteristics: teacher expectations, the amount of homework that students do, the number of rigorous courses that students take, and students’ feelings about safety. The results suggest that schools serving mostly lower-income students tend to be organized and operated differently than those serving more-affluent students, transcending other school-level differences such as public or private, large or small. This article then addresses the question of whether such school characteristics can be changed by policies to reform schools and funding systems versus policies to desegregate schools.

AGA president elect advocates before congress for enactment of Digestive Disease Commission and IBD legislation

AGA President Elect David A. Peura, M.D., testified recently before a key House subcommittee to advocate for passage of the AGA-sponsored Commission on Digestive Diseases Research Act. The establishment of a contemporary commission would update the findings of the original digestive diseases commission in the late 1970s (created under Public Law 94-562) in efforts to effectively address the numerous digestive disorders that remain in today’s diverse population. Each year, more than 62 million Americans are diagnosed with digestive disorders. These conditions, such as gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), colorectal cancer, liver disease, and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) require patients to undergo rigorous courses of treatment that can include physician care, inpatient and outpatient hospital care, emergency care, and pharmaceutical therapy. Loss of productivity, or time away from work, can also be substantial for patients with digestive diseases. Dr. Peura addressed the Energy and Commerce Committee’s Health Subcommittee, which holds jurisdiction over the commission legislation. David Rubin, M.D., of Chicago, an active AGA member and constituent of one of the chief sponsors of the commission bill, also attended the hearing. The hearing, entitled “Assessing Digestive Diseases Research and Treatment Opportunities” focused on the Commission on Digestive Diseases Research Act, H.R. 3756, as well as the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Act, H.R. 290. If passed, the Commission on Digestive Diseases Research Act would create a panel of digestive-disease experts to assess the state of digestive disease in the United States and identify ways to improve the management of digestive diseases. The commission would create a long-range plan to recommend resources to effectively promote gastroenterology research. After thanking Rep. Roy Blunt, R-MO, and Rep. Bobby Rush, D-IL, for introducing the commission bill, Dr. Peura noted that “this initiative will once again galvanize the government, the research community and the expanding population of people suffering from digestive diseases in a comprehensive and cost-effective national campaign to end the scourge of digestive disorders.” Representing the Digestive Disease National Coalition (DDNC), an organization composed of the AGA and 24 other GI-focused patient and professional groups, Dr. Peura also called upon Congress to pass the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Act. The IBD bill would authorize Congress to spend $75 million on IBD research in fiscal year 2005, create an epidemiology program at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and direct the General Accounting Office to study problems IBD patients experience in obtaining Social Security disability benefits.

Reforming Secondary Education

LET'S START the school year positively by saying something nice about the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act. It is one of the best conversation starters that public education has ever had. Despite (or maybe because of) its numerous flaws, people across the country -- and not just educators -- are talking as never before about schools, the quality of teaching, expectations, and accountability. The problem is that this law, like most federal involvement in education, focuses on specific strategies. Consequently, the conversations we are having about education and about changing NCLB zero in on small pieces of the whole public education enterprise. How do we more fairly fit disabled children and those with limited ability in English into the testing system? What about schools that barely miss academic targets in only one subgroup? Is there a way for special education teachers who instruct across the curriculum to meet the high- quality teacher requirements without getting certified in each subject? Where are we going to get the capacity for gathering all the data we'll need? Nitpicking, one might say, but unfortunately this is the level of conversation that NCLB fosters. Missing from this opportunity to engage the public in thinking and talking about the public schools are broader and deeper issues that go beyond the law. In the rush to form an agenda for changing NCLB, the conversations are ignoring fundamental questions, such as, What makes a good school? How does a highly qualified teacher differ from others? What price do schools pay for minimizing the influence of communities? And what really engages students in learning? Over the next few months, this column will try to interject into the conversations some attention to values and issues that, in the long run, will do a lot more to determine success under NCLB than will merely revising its technical details. The most current among the ideas that are being left behind is a better understanding about student motivation, especially among high school students. As Marilyn Crawford and Eleanor Dougherty, the authors of Updraft/Downdraft (Scarecrow Press, 2003), point out, high schools offer a lot of incentives to students who already buy into the system and have a clear idea about what they want to do with their lives. Advanced courses, college counseling, better teachers, and a social support system all let these students float easily to the top. Students without the skills and the family and support network to take advantage of such incentives are on a constant downdraft, subjected to remedial and punitive attention that keeps them down. Schools do not have an incentive system for them. Some contend that more challenging and rigorous courses would create incentives for the vast majority of drifting students. Certainly, the most important discovery of the High Schools That Work network throughout the South and several other states is that vocational students who take a standard college-prep core curriculum do better academically than others in the vocational track. High school graduates with sounder academic backgrounds also fare better in terms of income several years after entering the work force, according to researchers at Cornell University. Many groups now consider that a college-ready curriculum in high schools should be the norm for all students. A second tactic for engaging these students puts more emphasis on personalized environments, such as those achieved by the small schools movement, and the building of stronger student/teacher relationships, such as those promoted by the Tripod Project. The two approaches became running themes at a recent series of conferences and meetings on high school reform. The National High School Alliance summarized the calls for high school reform in an interesting report, Crisis or Possibility? Conversations About the American High School. The need for reform was taken as a given. …

Possible mechanism for the effect of the RN − allele on pork tenderness

The effect of the dominant RN − allele on rigor development, ageing and tenderness was studied in M. longissimus dorsi (LD) from 11 heterozygous carriers and five non-carriers of the RN − allele. Rigor development was followed by measurements of muscle shortening, isometric tension, pH and FOP. During ageing the myofibrillar length and Warner–Bratzler shear force were measured in the meat. Sensory analysis was performed at 4 days post-mortem using a trained expert panel. It was found that the decrease in pH was faster for RN − carriers than non-carriers during the first 5 h post-mortem, after which the pH-time slope was similar for the two groups. This resulted in a significantly lower mean ultimate pH in LD from RN − carriers than non-carriers. During rigor development the isometric tension was lower in RN − carriers than in non-carriers, while contraction (shortening and sarcomere length) did not differ significantly between the two genotypes. The myofibrillar length, which is an indirect measure of the proteolytic activity that has occurred in the meat, was shorter for the RN − carriers than for the non-carriers. The difference in myofibrillar lengths between the genotypes was significant at 1 and 4 days post-mortem but not at 7 days post-mortem, which indicates that the RN − carriers have a higher proteolytic activity earlier post-mortem. The results from the Warner–Bratzler shear force measurements showed that the meat from the RN − carriers was significantly more tender, 1 and 4 days post-mortem, than the meat from the non-carriers. The meat from non-carriers needed 7 days to reach the tenderness attained by that from the RN − carriers 4 days post-mortem. The greater tenderness in LD from RN − carriers than that from non-carriers was also confirmed by a sensory panel at 4 days post-mortem. In conclusion, differences observed in the course of rigor and ageing in muscle from carriers and non-carriers of the RN − allele suggest that proteolytic action, as initiated by a more rapid fall in pH, is the most important factor governing the variation in tenderness of the two genotypes.

April Foolishness: The 20th Anniversary of A Nation at Risk

A Nation at Risk famously declared crisis in American education. Even today, 20 years after the report's release, we cling to its message, which Mr. Bracey shows to be as flawed as it was compelling. TWENTY YEARS ago this month, James Baker, Ronald Reagan's chief of staff, and Mike Deaver, Reagan's close advisor, defeated Attorney General Meese in battle of White House insiders. Over Meese's strong objections, they persuaded President Reagan to accept A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform, the report of the National Commission on Excellence in Education. Secretary of Education Terrel Bell had convened the commission. In his memoir, The Thirteenth Man, Bell recalled that he had sought Sputnik-type occurrence that would dramatize all the constant complaints about education and its effectiveness that he kept hearing. Unable to produce such an event, Bell settled for booklet with 36 pages of text and 29 pages of appendices about who had testified before the commission or who had presented it with paper. Meese and his fellow conservatives hated A Nation at Risk because it did not address any of the items on President Reagan's education agenda: vouchers, tuition tax credits, restoring school prayer, and abolishing the U.S. Department of Education. Baker called those issues extraneous and irrelevant. He and the moderates on the White House staff thought the report contained lot of good stuff to campaign on.1 The President accepted the report, but his speech acknowledging it largely ignored the report's content and simply reiterated his own agenda. According to Bell, the speech was virtually identical to the draft of Reagan speech that he had read and rejected the previous day. The Washington Post called it homily. Bell tells of looking around as Reagan spoke and noticing that Ed Meese was standing there with big smile on his face.2 Despite Meese's sabotage, A Nation at Risk played big in the media. In the month following its publication, the Washington Post carried 28 stories about it. Few were critical. Joseph Kraft did excoriate conservatives for using the report to beat up on liberals without offering anything constructive. William Buckley chided it for recommendations that you and I would come up with over the phone. The New York Times humor columnist Russell Baker contended that sentence containing phrase like a rising tide of mediocrity wouldn't be worth than C in tenth-grade English. About the authors' writing overall, Baker said, I'm giving them an A+ in mediocrity.3 Any students who were in first grade when A Nation at Risk appeared and who went directly from high school graduation into the work force have now been there almost nine years. Those who went on to bachelor's degrees have been on the job for nearly five years. Despite the dire predictions of national economic collapse without immediate education reform, our national productivity has soared since those predictions were made. What, then, are we to make of A Nation at Risk 20 years on? The report's stentorian Cold War rhetoric commanded and still commands attention: If an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today, we might well have viewed it as an act of war (p. 5). By contrast, the report's recommendations were, as Buckley and others observed, banal. They called for nothing new, only for more of the same: more science, more mathematics, more computer science, more foreign language, more homework, more rigorous courses, more time-on- task, more hours in the school day, more days in the school year, more training for teachers, more money for teachers. Hardly the stuff of revolution. And even those mundane recommendations were based on set of allegations of national risk that Peter Applebome of the New York Times later called brilliant propaganda.4 Indeed, the report was veritable treasury of slanted, spun, and distorted statistics. …

Internet-based delivered early admissions courses for high school students and faculty

In order to develop a pipeline of high achieving students into engineering, science, and maths, a partnership between secondary schools and higher education is pertinent. In addition, the challenges of engineering departments to recruit and retain students in their programmes have become a major focus and concern for faculty and administration. The College of Engineering at Texas Tech University (TTU) is providing high school students access to rigorous engineering courses through the Early Admission Engineering Program (EAEP). Through internet based delivery, EAEP high school students learn about an engineering discipline before enrolling in it. In addition, students participating in the EAEP enter the university with credit for at least one engineering course taught by a TTU faculty member. Because these EAEP courses are delivered on-line, students never have to set foot on the Texas Tech campus but can remain in their own high school or home environment. This approach benefits the students, the department, the college and Texas Tech University. The EAEP programme builds an infrastructure for cooperation between the high school teacher and the university faculty member. At the same time, high school students take on the role of high school/university students. By mentoring the student, the high school teacher becomes a learning partner, continuing his or her own education and learning while developing first hand understanding of the rigorous coursework students meet when they enrol in engineering. By providing the teachers access to university faculty, high school teachers are able to provide their insight into the constraints in teaching at the high school level to university faculty. In turn, university faculty can provide valuable teaching tools to the high school teacher. The Texas Tech University EAEP taps into the experts in content and in on-line course development at the high school and the university level in order to develop rigorous and effective engineering courses. By collaborating with other disciplines and institutions, educators can build on the expertise of professionals and on the experience of other educators to form solid curricula for students who study highly rigorous fields of study like engineering.

Stratification among the Haves

FAIRFAX County, Virginia, where I live, is a large (160,000 students), high-achieving district. Within Fairfax County, a magnet school, the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, educates about 1,600 of the brightest of the county's bright (and a few exceptional students from neighboring districts). At TJ, virtually everyone takes the SAT, and in 2001 the school's average was 725 on the verbal and 745 on the math. For Fairfax County as a whole, the numbers were 540 and 553 respectively; for the nation, 506 and 514. So TJ's students, who score collectively more than two standard deviations above the norm, should be set as as getting into the colleges and universities of their choice, right? Maybe not, according to Paul Attewell of the City University of New York, writing in the October 2001 issue of the Sociology of Education. Attewell points out that parents are concerned (some might say obsessed) with getting their children into prestigious colleges. They try to maximize their children's chances by moving into areas perceived to have superior by sending their children to prep schools, or by sending them to public such as Bronx Science, Boston Latin, Lowell High School in San Francisco, or the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Virginia. Sometimes the effort backfires. Attewell argues three points: 1. The reputation of a star school becomes tied to the attainments of its academically strongest students, but [that reputation] may be bought at the cost of reduced opportunities for the talented graduates who are below the top. 2. Attempts to game or manipulate the selective college entrance system have led to modifications in the grading systems that are used by many star high schools that further distance their top students from all the other students. 3. In some star this effort has led to changes in curriculum that lower the involvement of highly talented students in rigorous courses, especially in math and science and in Advanced Placement (AP) courses. Attewell finds that the SAT scores of students admitted to selective colleges from star schools are substantially higher than the average SAT scores for those colleges. However, students from star schools who are rejected by selective colleges had SAT scores that were far higher than the average of students who were admitted from other high schools. The principal culprit here is not the students' SAT scores or their grade-point averages (GPAs). It is class rank. I have pointed out repeatedly in connection with international comparisons that small differences in scores can yield large differences in ranks among countries. That is because many countries have similar scores. Forcing ranks onto a set of similar scores creates artificially large differences among nations. Similarly, at a school, ranking students can make a student with an SAT math score of 770 look much more able than a student who has an SAT math score of 750. In recent years, star schools have tried a variety of tactics to deny admissions officers access to class ranks. Some report only in terms of deciles. Colleges then get around this by assigning pseudoranks at the median of a decile. Thus a student from a class of 400 who is in the first decile is assigned a class rank of 20 (in a class of 400, the first 40 ranks are taken by the top decile). This puts anyone whose class rank is actually above 20 at a disadvantage. Some schools stopped reporting ranks altogether. Colleges then calculated pseudoranks using the distribution of GPAs that high schools report in the they send to college admissions offices. Some schools stopped sending fact sheets that included frequency distributions of grades, which led admissions officers to think the schools were hiding something. …

Weak Christians, Backsliders, and Carnal Gospelers: Assurance of Salvation and the Pastoral Origins of Puritan Practical Divinity in the 1580s

The great pearl of Reformed piety, assurance of salvation, eluded Richard Rogers, Essex presbyterian activist, in theearly 1580s. Rogers “languished long” in “unsettledness in my life” “untill wofull experience” drove him to search out a more reliable method of obtaining a steady assurance. He decided that only a steady, highly reflective, and rigorous course of life could keep assurance constant. To that end, Rogers devised “a more certain manner of direction for me through the daie and the weeke.” His new method combined continual selfreminders of God's blessings with strict activities of piety and selfscrutiny, and through it, he found the settled peace he had been seeking.

Promoting a Healthy Environment for College Admissions Testing

The best way to prepare for college admissions tests is for students to enroll and excel in rigorous high school courses. This article offers six recommendations to principals for promoting a positive atmosphere in which students can successfully take tests and make the transition to college.