Wisconsin Model Research Articles

High realistic aspirations – Do normative pressures overthrow rational calculations? Applying the model of frame selection to the educational aspirations of immigrant and majority students in Germany

Educational aspirations are of interest to scholars in several disciplines. They can affect multiple aspects of educational success and have been shown to differ between major social groups. Explanations for educational aspirations typically link to two main models of aspiration formation: the Wisconsin model (WM) and rational choice theory (RCT). Whereas the WM highlights significant others’ educational norms, RCT cites cost-benefit calculations to explain how aspirations are formed. As it is still unclear how the two approaches interrelate, we apply a third model, namely the model of frame selection (MFS), which allows the integration of both WM and RCT arguments. In short, it suggests that the importance of others’ educational norms moderates the relevance of own cost-benefit calculations. We assume that considering this interrelation is fruitful when explaining aspirations in general, and specifically when explaining immigrant students’ aspirations, who often perceive high educational obligations by their parents. Using data from the German National Educational Panel Study (NEPS), we test prognoses derived from the three theoretical models for their relevance when explaining the aspirations of Turkish and German students. Results indicate that the processes suggested by both WM and RCT shape aspirations. Consistent with the MFS, these processes also interrelate in that parents’ educational norms reduce the relevance of students’ own cost-benefit calculations. This interrelation does not only apply to Turkish students but holds for all students in the sample.

What We Don’t Know About the Effects of Temperature on Salmonid Growth

AbstractSalmonid biologists use both mental models—simple assumptions—and bioenergetics‐based mathematical models to understand and predict effects of temperature regime on growth. Bioenergetics model results, however, sometimes conflict with common assumptions. Previous studies plus “Wisconsin model” bioenergetics simulations lead to four conclusions that conflict with some management assumptions. The first conclusion is that food consumption is at least as important as temperature in explaining growth; we cannot understand temperature effects without understanding food consumption. Second, at natural food consumption rates, there is no “optimal temperature for growth”; growth peaks in model results are artifacts of food consumption assumptions, and growth peaks in laboratory studies are (apparently) artifacts of ad libitum feeding. Third, effects of temperature on growth can be stronger during cooler seasons than in summer; traditional temperature criteria are not useful for managing such effects. Fourth, salmonid populations that are adapted to survive higher temperatures may be more, not less, vulnerable to temperature effects on growth due to their higher metabolic rates. Temperature–growth relations observed under ad libitum feeding seem risky for managing wild populations. Model predictions of growth need to carefully consider assumptions about food consumption. For predicting effects of increased temperature, the traditional assumption that consumption is a constant fraction of maximum consumption rate appears especially uncertain and incautious, with its hidden assumption that consumption increases with temperature; assuming a constant ration is simpler and more cautious. Growth can be predicted more reliably with feeding models and individual‐based population models that consider how consumption and energetic costs depend on processes such as habitat selection, competition, and adaptive behaviors involving tradeoffs between food intake and predation risk. Two research needs are clear: empirical observations for parameterizing and testing the Wisconsin model comprehensively under natural conditions (which we lack despite the extensive energetics literature), and methods for predicting salmonid food production responses to temperature and flow regimes.

Determinants of students\u2019 idealistic and realistic educational aspirations in elementary school

Although the social stratification of educational aspirations is well documented for parents and adolescents, current educational inequality research largely ignores the perspective of children. To learn more about the involvement of children in the emergence and reproduction of social disparities, we examine children’s educational aspirations during elementary school. Based on the Wisconsin model, rational choice approaches, and the theory of cultural reproduction, our explorative investigation aims to identify determinants of young students’ idealistic and realistic aspirations. We utilize a sample of 4947 third grade students from Starting Cohort 2 of the German National Educational Panel Study (NEPS). The multivariate results indicate that students’ aspirations are influenced by their parents’ social position and aspirations, whereby the students’ self-rated rational choice indicators assert the greatest impact.

Social Influence or Rational Choice? Two Models and Their Contribution to Explaining Class Differentials in Student Educational Aspirations

AbstractBoth the Wisconsin model of status attainment (WIM) and rational choice theory (RCT) indicate that social class differentials in student educational aspirations are partially determined by academic performance. Conditional on performance, the WIM predicts that social influence mechanisms explain the remaining class differentials, whereas RCT maintains that rational calculus factors provide the explanation. Both theories have rarely been compared directly using large-scale empirical data. Moreover, the appropriateness of these models has been questioned for highly stratified and selective educational systems such as Germany’s. In this article, we analyse the extent to which the WIM and RCT can explain the relationship between students’ social class origins and their educational aspirations. We use data from the National Educational Panel Study and analysed the aspirations of 4,896 ninth-graders in German schools along with data about their school performance, social class positions, social influences, and rational choice factors. Our mixed logit models largely confirm that both social influences and rational choice factors mediate class differentials. Five factors contribute the most: parents’ expectations, friends’ aspirations, the motive of status maintenance, costs, and perceived probability of success. This research confirms that both the WIM and RCT can each independently explain aspirations and class differentials in aspirations.

Class and ambition in the status attainment process: A Spanish replication.

There are two principal theoretical schools that seek to explain status outcomes in early adulthood: those focusing on intergenerational transmission of class privilege and those emphasizing individual characteristics, particularly ambition. The first may be called the structuralist school and the second the psycho-social school, following the Wisconsin Model of Status Attainment. A second structuralist perspective, Segmented Assimilation, highlights transmission of socio-economic status across immigrant generations, but emphasizes the positive role of co-ethnic resources for upward mobility and preventing downward assimilation. We examine these alternative predictions using a large longitudinal sample of youths in Spain that includes both children of native parentage and children of immigrants. Spain possesses characteristics that make it uniquely suitable to examine these predictions. Results show that both family socio-economic status and ambition, measured by adolescent educational aspirations and expectations, play important roles in educational and occupational attainment, but the influence of family status persists even after controlling for ambition. The influence of co-ethnic nationalities disappears after these controls, except among Chinese and Filipino youths, a result consistent with segmented assimilation. Predictive models of status attainment yield identical results for children of immigrants and children of natives, indicating that in Spain, they have become part of a common youth universe. Theoretical and practical implications of the analysis are discussed.

Institutional constraints and the translation of college aspirations into intentions—Evidence from a factorial survey

This article examines under which conditions high school students’ college aspirations (unconstrained wishes) translate into (constrained) college intentions. Drawing on the Wisconsin model of status attainment and sociological rational choice theory, it is argued that—while educational aspirations are mainly the result of socialization processes within families and schools—educational intentions are constrained by institutional opportunities and barriers emerging from the higher education system, which might influence students from different social backgrounds in different ways. The focus lies on four institutional characteristics of German higher education institutions—namely geographical distance, reputation, selection procedures and the information provided by colleges. Methodologically, I draw on a factorial survey on application intentions for college programs that is integrated in a survey of Berlin high school students who indicated an aspiration to attend college one year before graduating. The findings suggest that distance from home is an especially strong constraint on college application intentions. The effects of the institutional dimensions, however, rarely differ for students from different social backgrounds. Nevertheless, social background differences can be observed regarding the overall strength of application intentions indicating that socially advantaged students feel generally less constrained by the institutional characteristics presented to them. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Unequal academic achievement in high school: the mediating roles of concerted cultivation and close friends

Building from the classic Wisconsin model of status attainment, this study examines whether a specific style of parenting, concerted cultivation, and a close friend’s school-related attitudes and behaviors mediate the relationship between a family’s socioeconomic status and their child’s academic achievement in the United States. Using a recursive path model on nationally representative panel data of high school students (N = 10,350), the results confirm a direct association between socioeconomic status and concerted cultivation. In addition, concerted cultivation and close friends are shown to mediate the relationship between a family’s socioeconomic status and their child’s academic achievement.

America's Top Model: The Wisconsin Government Accountability Board

The United States is an outlier among democratic countries when it comes to the institutions charged with running our elections. Most other democratic countries have an independent election authority that enjoys some insulation from partisan politics in running elections. In the United States, by contrast, partisan election administration is the near-universal norm at the state level. In most states, the chief election authority — usually the Secretary of State — is elected to office as a nominee of his or her party, while in almost all the remaining states the chief election official is appointed by partisan officials. There is one conspicuous exception to the partisan character of election administration at the state level: Wisconsin’s Government Accountability Board (“GAB”). Established by the Wisconsin state legislature in 2007, the GAB has responsibility for election administration, as well as enforcement of campaign finance, ethics, and lobbying laws. Its members are former judges chosen in manner that is designed to ensure that they will not favor either major party. This makes the GAB unique among state election management bodies in the U.S. Is there any hope for nonpartisan election administration in an era of intense political polarization? This article considers this question by examining and assessing the performance of Wisconsin’s GAB. It concludes that the GAB has been successful in administering elections evenhandedly during its first five years of existence and, accordingly, that it serves as a worthy model for other states considering alternatives to partisan election administration at the state level. Part II discusses the origins and history of the GAB, putting it in the context of other electoral institutions in the U.S., as well as electoral institutions in other democratic countries. Part III discusses the most important election administration issues that have come before the Wisconsin GAB since its creation, including fierce partisan debates over voter registration and voter identification, errant reporting of election results in a very close state supreme court race, and contentious recall elections of the Governor and prominent state legislators. Part IV concludes by evaluating the GAB’s performance during these trying times and considering whether the Wisconsin model can and should be exported to other states.

Parent resources during adolescence: effects on education and careers in young adulthood

Building on the Wisconsin Model of Status Attainment, this study examined the contextual process of obtaining educational attainment and the subsequent work outcomes and career satisfaction. This study used the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) with structural equation modeling techniques to assess US participants from adolescence to young adulthood (N = 8309). Socioeconomic resources provided by parents in adolescence directly predicted education outcomes and were partially mediated by family success expectations. Family success expectations were an important predictor of education outcomes. Neither socioeconomic resources nor success expectations directly predicted work outcomes or career satisfaction. Instead, education was the direct predictor of career satisfaction with work outcomes partially mediating. A multiple group analysis was conducted to compare outcomes between men and women. The discussion explores the implications of the findings and educational attainment for young adults in a global society.

A Tailored Approach to Family‐Centered Genetic Counseling for Cystic Fibrosis Newborn Screening: The Wisconsin Model

This article describes the development of a tailored family-centered approach to genetic counseling following abnormal newborn screening (NBS) for cystic fibrosis (CF). A genetic counseling consortium reviewed research literature, selected theoretical frameworks, and incorporated counseling psychology micro skills. This innovative intervention integrated theories and empirically validated techniques. Pilot testing and parent feedback confirmed satisfaction with and feasibility of the approach designed to (a) minimize parents' distress, (b) facilitate parents' understanding, (c) increase parents' capacities to use genetic information, and (d) enhance parents' experiences with genetic counseling. Counselors engage in a highly interactive process of evaluating parents' needs and tailoring assessments and interventions that include a therapeutic environment, the family's emotional needs, parents' informational needs, and a follow-up plan. This promising new model is the first to establish a theory-driven, evidence-based standard for genetic counseling in the context of NBS for CF. Additional research will evaluate the model's efficacy in clinical practice.

Framing the Future: Revisiting the Place of Educational Expectations in Status Attainment

This study revisits the Wisconsin model of status attainment from a life course developmental perspective. Fixed-effects regression analyses lend strong support to the Wisconsin framework's core proposition that academic performance and significant others' influence shape educational expectations. However, investigating the process of expectation formation back to the elementary grades yields insights not evident when analyses are limited to the high school years: (1. many youth consistently expect to attend college from as early as fourth grade; (2. the expectations of middle- and low-SES youth are less stable, and across years the preponderance of their exposure to socialization influences mitigates against sustained college ambitions; (3. long-term stable expectations are more efficacious in forecasting college enrollment than are changing, volatile expectations. As anticipated in the Wisconsin framework, family- and school-based socialization processes indeed contribute to social reproduction through children's educational expectations, but the process starts much earlier and includes dynamics outside the scope of the original status attainment studies.

Estimation of Bioenergetics Parameters for Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) Using Capture-Recapture Data with Comparison to Estimates from a Laboratory-Based Model

Bioenergetics models provide estimates of growth and consumption in fish and other animals. These estimates can then be used to infer metabolic and population-level consequences of various natural or human-induced environ- mental perturbations to fish populations. Most existing models utilize parameter values and functions derived from labora- tory experiments on similar, closely related populations or species. However, the use of parameters from other species has long been criticized and recent work suggests that certain metabolic rates can vary substantially between closely related species and geographically separated populations of the same species. We evaluate a new model framework (termed the general bioenergetics model) which estimates bioenergetics parameters from length-increment and length-at-age data taken from the same population being modelled. Estimates of growth and consumption from this general model are com- pared with the commonly used bioenergetics model in terms of model fit and predictions resulting from simulated climate warming. Growth estimates using the general bioenergetics model were slightly higher than that of the Wisconsin model but consumption estimates were similar. Both models made similar predictions about effect of climate warming, although there was a consistent difference between model estimates of growth. The findings of this study add weight to the notion that metabolic information through bioenergetics models can be estimated from the population, al- though further validation should be conducted.

Evaluation of Time of Set for Concrete Mix in Cold Weather with HIPERPAV Wisconsin Model

The major objective of this research was to evaluate time of set (TOS) predictions with the HIPERPAV Wisconsin software for cold weather concrete paving when Class C fly ash is used. The effects of Class C fly ash on the hydration properties and TOS of paving concrete were investigated on State Highway 95 near Alma Center, Wisconsin. Researchers teamed with the National Concrete Pavement Technology Center of Iowa State University to select the highway project and to conduct field testing, isothermal, and semi-adiabatic calorimetry for that project. The project data and experimental information were used to compare measured TOS with that predicted by the HIPERPAV Wisconsin software. The TOS computed with the HIPERPAV model was compared with the TOS obtained by the ASTM C403 test method and the thermal TOS computed by the derivatives method from isothermal test data. It was concluded that the HIPERPAV model may overestimate TOS predictions for Class C fly ash and alternative solutions to solve this problem were recommended.

Fit to Miss, but Matched to Hatch: Success Factors among the Second Generation's Disadvantaged in South Florida

This article examines the elements of successful outcomes among disadvantaged members of the South Florida immigrant communities and assesses the utility of rational choice theory and the Wisconsin model. The findings are derived from ethnographic interviews and analysis of two of the most underprivileged South Florida districts, Little Haiti and Hialeah. The article builds upon the elements of success as identified in the lead article of this volume, which include items relevant to the family, the individual, and the broader community context. The authors add the following to those success factors: (1) ignorance (or disregard) of the barriers to success and the odds against overcoming them; (2) emotionally motivated responses to the surrounding social conditions or to specific (cathartic) events; and (3) exiting underprivileged neighborhoods of origin to facilitate access to resources, mainly educational.

Bioenergetics Modeling: Progress since the 1992 Symposium

AbstractA symposium held at the annual meeting of the American Fisheries Society in Rapid City, South Dakota, in 1992 provided an overview of bioenergetics modeling and led to the publication of a series of papers in the Transactions of the American Fisheries Society the next year. Since then, Wisconsin Sea Grant has published a new version of its bioenergetics software (Fish Bioenergetics 3.0) and a manual to facilitate use of that model. Review of the more recent literature reveals continuing development and application of this modeling approach. A symposium held at the annual meeting in Madison, Wisconsin, in 2004 provided an opportunity for reporting progress and concerns about the “Wisconsin model.” This special section stems from the papers presented at that meeting.

Unpacking Standards in Early Childhood Education

Background/Content Policy-makers at the federal and state levels have increased their efforts to implement standards-based accountability reform in early childhood education (ECE) to improve the academic readiness of children for elementary school. As these policies have taken on more prominence within ECE reform, national organizations such as the National Association for the Education of Young Children and the National Association of Early Childhood Specialist in State Departments of Education and the National Institute for Early Education Research have produced guidelines and suggestions for formulating standards. Early childhood researchers have investigated and questioned the purpose, goals, and policy process of early learning standards. These works examine a range of issues such as capacity and capital, curriculum and assessment, and readiness and retention. Focus of Study In this article, I examine how early childhood stakeholders in the state of Wisconsin responded to the current Bush Administration's Good Start, Grow Smart (GSGS) initiative by creating a double-voiced document that answered requirements of the GSGS initiative while at the same time attempting to pique the interest and support of the state's loosely coupled field of ECE to a voluntary set of standards. Examining these stakeholders’ response highlights the tensions that exist in attempting to reform ECE and how simple policy solutions such as the GSGS initiative fail to address the complexity that exists within the field of ECE. Research Design This research project is a qualitative instrumental case study that examines the formulation and implementation of Wisconsin's Model Early Learning Standards. Conclusions Even though the Early Learning Standards Steering Committee created a double-voiced document that responded to policy-makers’ demands for early learning standards while attempting to attract and unite early childhood programs and practitioners around a collective understanding of the goals of ECE, the future of the field is uncertain. The second-class status of ECE in the realm of policy and the investment of capital that is required to alter the field cause one to question whether systemic reform could ever occur in ECE. Nevertheless, policy-makers’ demands for improved student performance will not die down simply because states are implementing early learning standards. Thus, the field of ECE is at a critical point within the history of education reform, and stakeholders must continue to promote a vision of ECE that goes beyond simply protecting current practices and demand structural changes that foster the growth and development of all children.

A Lay Helper Intervention for Rural Elders with Severe Mental Illness

Carolina Companions established a lay helping relationship between an older adult with severe mental illness and a similar age peer without a mental health diagnosis who was paid to provide companionship and support. In adapting the Rhinelander, Wisconsin model of community supportive care this demonstration project involved elders as providers and recipients of care. Impacts of the intervention on self-rated quality of life among 10 participating consumers matched with 10 comparison older consumers receiving standard community treatment were evaluated. Consumers had numerous chronic physical conditions, reported generally low levels of psychiatric distress, adhered to psychiatric treatment, and increased daily activities and social contacts. Challenges associated with evaluating a small demonstration project for rural elders with mental illness are explored.

Alignment of an Alternate Assessment with State Academic Standards

In this article, the authors describe an alignment and content analysis of the Wisconsin Alternate Assessment (WAA) for students with disabilities. The WAA is an assessment of the academic performance of students with significant disabilities and is an alternative to the traditional on-demand achievement test. Alternate assessments like the WAA are required by federal law and are expected to be aligned with state content standards. The primary purpose of this investigation was to determine the extent to which the WAA adequately measured the concepts and skill areas represented in Wisconsin's Model Academic Standards. The ratings of an expert panel ( N = 10) that participated in the WAA Alignment Institute provided data regarding the alignment of WAA items to the standards. The expert panel's responses indicated that the WAA generally meets the multifaceted criteria developed by Webb (1997) and advocated by Title I reviewers for acceptable alignment between assessments and curriculum expectations as articulated in academic content standards.

Early Elementary Curricular Alignment and Teacher Perspectives on Standards-Based Reform

The author investigated the alignment of reading instruction to Wisconsin Model Academic Standards for Reading, grades 1-4 (Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, 1998a). Teachers in 18 hearing-only, 10 mixed (hearing and deaf students), and 8 deaf-only classrooms were study participants. Teacher groups demonstrated equal alignment to the standards. The study also measured teachers' views on standards. Teachers in hearing-only and deaf-only classrooms scored higher on a scale measuring receptivity toward standards than teachers in mixed classrooms. Teachers in hearing-only classrooms considered the standards good guidelines though perhaps too prescriptive. Teachers in deaf-only and mixed classrooms viewed standards as tools to ensure equity for students but also focused on challenges like the emphasis on phonetics and their need to include sign in deaf students' instruction. Limitations include the challenge of generalizing standards-based analysis, the small number of participants, and use of self-report measures of classroom instruction.

Relativistic calculation of the meson spectrum: A fully covariant treatment versus standard treatments

A large number of treatments of the meson spectrum have been tried that consider mesons as quark - anti quark bound states. Recently, we used relativistic quantum "constraint" mechanics to introduce a fully covariant treatment defined by two coupled Dirac equations. For field-theoretic interactions, this procedure functions as a "quantum mechanical transform of Bethe-Salpeter equation". Here, we test its spectral fits against those provided by an assortment of models: Wisconsin model, Iowa State model, Brayshaw model, and the popular semi-relativistic treatment of Godfrey and Isgur. We find that the fit provided by the two-body Dirac model for the entire meson spectrum competes with the best fits to partial spectra provided by the others and does so with the smallest number of interaction functions without additional cutoff parameters necessary to make other approaches numerically tractable. We discuss the distinguishing features of our model that may account for the relative overall success of its fits. Note especially that in our approach for QCD, the resulting pion mass and associated Goldstone behavior depend sensitively on the preservation of relativistic couplings that are crucial for its success when solved nonperturbatively for the analogous two-body bound-states of QED.