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Editor:
Tonya Allen
allen@pop.psu.edu
PRInformation
Spring 2007
New External Research Funding
Education Careers and Migration of Rural Youth: What's Happening to Rural America's Future?
Dr. Anastasia Snyder, assistant professor of rural sociology and demography, and Dr. Diane K. McLaughlin, associate professor of rural sociology and demography, received funding from USDA for a four-year project to study choices and outcomes facing today's rural youth, with comparisons between rural and urban youth, and how the educational and occupational attainment process for rural youth might be unique and closely linked with residential migration. Analysis of primary and secondary data sources will examine education, career and migration outcomes, multi-level predictors, and highlight the intersection of these three outcomes in the paths rural youth take from adolescence to adulthood. Findings from this study will broaden understanding of youth development and also inform rural development strategies that aim to promote high quality youth, youth retention and sustainable communities.
The Emergence of Family Planning Programs
Dr. Warren Robinson, professor emeritus of economics, received funding from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation to cover editorial, publication and distribution costs of a new book entitled The Global Family Planning Revolution, to be published in July, 2007 by the World Bank. The volume presents a series of case-studies of how national family planning policies and programs emerged and took root in the 1960s. The individual chapters have been written by a panel of distinguished experts while Robinson and his co-editor, John Ross, contribute a summary drawing evidence-based conclusions.
Instructional Effects on Achievement Growth of Children with Learning Difficulties in Mathematics
Dr. George Farkas, professor of sociology, demography, and education and director of the PRI Statistics Core, and Dr. Paul Morgan, assistant professor of education, received funding for two years from the Institute of Education Sciences to identify the most effective type of instruction for children with, or at risk for, mathematics disabilities. Their analyses will be conducted using the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Cohort (ECLS-K), a nationally representative dataset maintained by the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics to track an initial sample of 21,260 kindergarten children as they progress through their school years. The project has three aims. The first is to identify the developmental dynamics of poor mathematics performance in grades K-5. The second is to test the effects of time spent on alternative types of mathematics teaching practices and content in preventing or remediating mathematics disabilities, including whether these contrasting practices lead to consistent achievement gains for two subgroups of children with or at risk for mathematics disabilities -- those experiencing mathematics difficulties (MD) alone, and those experiencing both mathematics and reading difficulties (MD/RD). The project's third aim is to replicate these analyses for non-MD students, and so test whether the same types of instructional practices are effective for both MD and non-MD students.
Intergenerational Resemblances in Eating: The CSFII
Dr. Sibylle Kranz, assistant professor of nutritional sciences, with Dr. Leann Birch, Dr. Helen Smiciklas-Wright and Dr. David Wagstaff, received funding for two years from NICHD to examine the intergenerational transfer of dietary intakes using a novel approach by correlating dietary intakes of total energy, food groups, and nutrients as well as the relative portion sizes of commonly eaten foods of female and male heads of households with those of the child 2-18 years old in the same household in a large nationally representative data set, The Continuing Survey of Food Intake by Individuals (CSFII) 1994-96 and 1998. Associations between adult's and children's mean dietary intakes will be examined corrected for socio-demographic variables, body weight status, and sedentary behavior. The investigators will examine whether large portion sizes (highest quintile of portion size) of commonly eaten foods by adults predicts children consuming large portion sizes.
Measurement and Changes over One Semester in High-School Students' Civic Skills, Knowledge, Dispositions, and Beliefs
Dr. Constance Flanagan, professor of agricultural and extension education, received funding from the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) for a one-year project to conduct secondary analyses of a large data set collected at two time points during the last national election (the beginning and end of the fall semester, 2004) in 8-12th grade civics and social studies classes in 80 Pennsylvania public schools. The goals of the secondary analyses are to develop a set of civic measures with good psychometric properties for use with adolescent students, and to assess the efficacy of various teaching practices on civic outcomes for this age group.
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