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CLINICAL RELEVANCE Children with uncorrected visual impairment have lower scores on a variety of motor and cognitive tests. Exploring the influencing factors of low-income groups seeking vision care services is helpful for identifying relevant barriers and necessary measures to improve the utilization rate of vision care services. BACKGROUND The community-based vision center (VC) is a popular model for solving vision problem of students in rural China. Compliance is the key factor to the success of the VC model. Factors determining compliance with visitations to VC among primary school students after screening were explored. METHODS A cross-sectional study was conducted with 15,763 students from 228 primary schools. Information was collected through questionnaires and vision examinations. The determinants that affect visits of students to the VC were analyzed using logistic regression. RESULTS Among the 15,763 sample, 5,361 (34%) students had a visual impairment. At baseline, only 962 (18%) of students with visual impairment sought vision care services. After a local VC was established, among the 5,163 students who needed to be referred, only 2,237 (43.33%) students visited the VC. Multivariate logistic regression models for predicting students visit the VC revealed that the following characteristics were significant predictors: poor uncorrected visual acuity (P

The ways in which children from different countries view and draw scientists have been investigated in numerous studies. The present study explored Italian primary school students’ images of scient...

Schools in the U.S. have yet to achieve the goal that every student read at grade level or above by the end of grade 3, a goal first articulated twenty years ago in the No Child Left Behind Act of ...

Guided by the social–ecological, social identity, and social misfit theories, the present study examined the gender, racial/ethnic, and grade-level differences of students’ perceived school safety ...

The current study examined (a) the associations of COVID-19 stress with anxiety and depression and whether those associations differed by gender or grade level, and (b) how different coping strateg...

This study investigated the influence of grade level on the development of science epistemological beliefs and the relationship between science epistemological beliefs and science achievement among co-educational secondary schools of Homa Bay County, Kenya. The study employed cross-sectional and correlational survey designs with purposive sampling. Epistemological Beliefs Questionnaire (EBQ) was used to measure science epistemological beliefs. The instrument was administered to 214 students from 2 co-educational schools (Grade 9, n = 116, Grade 12, n = 98). Students’ achievement in Biology, Chemistry and Physics were computed for Science Achievement Scores (SAS). The data were analysed by grade level using independent sample t-tests and by dimensions and achievement scores using multiple regression analysis. The findings indicate statistically significant grade level differences in terms of source, certainty and development and non-significant grade level differences in terms of justification. The findings also indicate that certainty and justification dimensions were significant predictors of science achievement. It is concluded that grade level has an influence on development of epistemological beliefs (source, certainty and development) and certainty and justification dimensions were predictors of science achievement. Implications for practice and further research are herein explained.

Chachu Genale, Arebu Issa, Bezawit Negash, Kebede Wondu Department of Pharmaceutics and Social Pharmacy, School of Pharmacy, College of Health Sciences, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, EthiopiaCorrespondence: Kebede WonduDepartment of Pharmaceutics and Social Pharmacy, School of Pharmacy, College of Health Sciences, Addis Ababa University, P.O. Box 1176, Addis Ababa, EthiopiaEmail kebede.wondu@aau.edu.etBackground: Patients are frequently provided with medicine information materials (MIMs). Rendering medicine information through written material is a reliable method. Readability is an important attribute of written material that can affect the reader’s ability to comprehend. Patient’s perception can also affect the comprehensibility of written MIMs.Objective: The objectives of the study were to assess the readability of medicine information in Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital (TASH); and assessing patients’ perception and understanding of medicine information materials.Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted from September 21, 2019 to November 24, 2020, at TASH. Quantitative and qualitative data collection approaches were used in this research. The readability value of each material was determined in accordance with the Flesch Reading ease scores (FRE) and Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level (FKGL). The tools compute readability based on an average number of syllables per word and an average number of words per sentence. FRE provides scores from 0 to 100; higher scores mean easily comprehensible while FKGL sets grade levels for written texts. A structured interview was administered with questions about how MIMs had been used, and was analyzed qualitatively.Results: The results of this research showed low readability scores of MIMs found in TASH. Most patients do not get MIMs and are unaware of how to use them. They are interested to receive and read medicines information from pharmacists and physicians. Moreover, most of them preferred information through both verbal and written forms.Conclusion: The readability levels of selected MIMs obtained from TASH are found to be not compliant with the patients’ needs. This might be worsening their health outcomes and resulting in poorer use of healthcare services.Keywords: Flesch readability formula, information, medicine, readability, reading grade level, Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital

Limited research has been conducted exploring students’ motives for choosing certain career pathways, aspirations and goals in Atlantic Canada. This study examines data from a province-wide survey ...

The current study aims to investigate the mental models of primary school students about marine environments and how variables such as gender, grade level, and city of residence affect their mental models. To this end, 100 students were selected from each of the four grade levels of primary education in Turkey; thus, a total of 400 students participated in the study. In the analysis of the collected data, both statistical tests and the content analysis method were used. As a result of the analyses conducted, it was found that with increasing grade level, the number of the codes belonging to marine environments also increased significantly (X (2) (3, n = 400) = 151.296, p = 0.000). In other words, the students' mental models about marine environments were parallel to their grade level. In addition, the students' mental models about marine environments were not found to vary significantly depending on gender (U = 18,513, z = -0.861, p = 0.39 with effect size r = 0.04) and city of residence (U = 19,852, z = -0.129, p = 0.897, with effect size r = 0.006).

This study explored cross-sectional gender and grade level trends in emotional literacy and empathy among 634 elementary school children in Japan. Children were presented with hypothetical scenario...

Students with high academic ability have unique educational needs. Like all students with special needs, they require evidence-based interventions to develop their potential. One recommended interv...

As an intimidating school subject for students globally, writing requires a high level of motivation, especially for second language (L2) learners. Despite abundant research on motivation in both f...

There is growing recognition of the prevalence of “within school churn”, a phenomenon in which teachers remain within a school but are assigned a new grade level or course. In this study we examine...

Lignite is one of the most important energy sources. An important problem in the economic and technical evaluation of lignite reserves is to measure lignite quality. The quality of lignite depends ...

The Grooved Pegboard Test (GPT) is a cognitive test used to assess patients' manual dexterity, rapid visual-motor coordination and psychomotor speed. Studies have shown that performance on the GPT is associated to cognitive functions and examinee's demographics; however, none of which involved Arab populations. The present study aims to explore motor dexterity as measured by the GPT and its relationship to intellectual abilities, age, gender and education in a sample of Lebanese individuals. We reviewed the charts of 330 patients who were administered the GPT as part of larger cognitive batteries in an outpatient diagnostic center in Beirut, Lebanon between September 2013 and September 2016. Results from this sample suggest that a higher Full Scale IQ, and an older age contribute to a better performance on the GPT, whereas gender and grade level are not significant predictors of performance. Results also show a significant difference between the performance of patients diagnosed with a Developmental Coordination Disorder and patients with no neurodevelopmental diagnosis.

This study examined pre-service primary teachers’ (PSPTs) mathematics performance on a set of question items measuring at the sixth grade level in Hong Kong. These items covered the five learning s...

This study investigated whether students’ motivational beliefs about learning science (i.e., self-concept in science and intrinsic value of science) varied significantly across grade levels and gen...

Language learning is a complex process, regardless of the age, grade level, or native-speaking proficiency of the learner. The concepts behind language learning in both English-dominant and English...

In this column, the authors provide the lesson objectives, the audience/grade level(s) it is most appropriate for, the premise of the activity, the parameters of the game, how to determine “lane pl...

Virginia law mandates the use of threat assessment in all public schools, yet there is little research on grade-level differences. This study investigated a statewide sample of 3,282 threats from 1...

Child welfare workers routinely use schools as a location to interview children who are the alleged victims of child abuse and neglect. This study analyzed the survey responses from 109 pri...

TEACHERS OFTEN FIND THEMSELVES GROUPED INTO CATEGORIES BY ADMINISTRATORS. Common labels for teacher groupings include grade level and subject matter, for example, 3rd-grade teacher or math teacher....

Purpose: The objective of this study was to compare the symptoms of cluttering among school-age children who do and do not clutter in the contexts of monologue, conversation and expository discourse.Method: A matched pairs design was used to compare cluttering symptoms according to the Lowest Common Denominator (LCD) definition of cluttering, a definition representing the core speech and fluency characteristics of cluttering agreed upon among experts. Cluttering symptoms (over-coarticulated words, normal disfluencies, abnormal pauses) in eight school-aged males with cluttering were compared to eight controls matched by sex and grade level in school. Symptoms were compared in the speech contexts of conversation, monologue and expository discourse.Result: Regardless of the speaking context, significantly more over-coarticulated words were found in children with cluttering (CWC) as compared to controls. Significantly more normal disfluencies were produced by CWC during monologue only.Conclusion: Study findings confirm increased over-coarticulation and normal disfluencies in specific speaking contexts in CWC when compared to controls. These findings provide the premise for clinical implications for cluttering assessment and diagnosis. Findings also provide the basis for further investigation of the validity of the LCD's symptom of abnormal pausing for accurate diagnosis of people who clutter.

The author explored text difficulty for third-grade bilingual students reading below grade level. In six small-group discussions, students read and discussed informational texts matched to their re...

Background: There is a growing interest in investigating attitudes towards science and views of Nature of Science among elementary grade students in terms of gender, cultural backgrounds, a...

Enhancing intercultural effectiveness through the development of intercultural skills and competencies substantially contributes to establishing a more peaceful and tolerant society, which explains a considerable research interest it excites. The present study aims at investigating how study field, grade-point average (GPA), nationality, gender, university status, and grade level impact intercultural effectiveness of Bosnian university-level students. The research sample consisted of 184 students studying at the Departments of English Language and Literature and Psychology at three different universities in Bosnia and Herzegovina. A 2 × 4 ANCOVA indicated that intercultural effectiveness varied significantly by study field and GPA, with small effect size in both cases. The interaction effect of study field x GPA was also significant, with an almost moderate effect size. Similarly, a two-way MANOVA revealed that nationality and gender had a significant effect on the combined dependent variables of intercultural effectiveness and their interaction effect was also significant, with a small effect size. On the other hand, a two-way MANOVA revealed an insignificant impact of grade level and university status on the combined dependent variables of intercultural effectiveness. The interaction effect of grade level x university status was also insignificant, with a small effect size. The present study shows that intercultural effectiveness can be further developed and increased in the university milieu and is thus expected to contribute to recognising the importance of its enhancement through curricula and teaching content in particular.

This study examined how parents' reports of children’s technology use in the home varies by a child’s gender or grade level. Framed by technology adoption models, this mixed-method study gathered parent reports of their elementary child’s use of portable technology for entertainment and learning in the home, collected from 120 surveys and 13 individual interviews with survey respondents. Results across the four 2×2 ANOVAs yielded three significant main effects: gender and entertainment devices, gender and entertainment apps, grade-level and learning apps. No significant effects were found among any of the interaction variables or within the ANOVA summary for learning devices. Interview data revealed girls are interested in reading with Kindle, whereas parents are reluctant to provide boys with portable technology because of their preference to play games. Strategies are provided for teachers, support specialists, and parents to improve how children use technology. Implications for app developers a...

Student motivation is a necessary catalyst for reading achievement; therefore, educators need to determine how to motivate reluctant readers, including students reading below grade level. Our qualitative study begins to address this challenge by reporting what struggling adolescents and their teacher at 1 urban middle school discussed about their motivation to read before and after the implementation of a multicomponent reading intervention. We found that students (a) valued narrative fiction over informational text, (b) valued certain text features and books, and (c) were motivated by key relationships with others to obtain and read books. Furthermore, some students were uninterested in reading, unable to obtain books, or not inspired to read by others. The teacher also noted students’ differential preferences for texts and levels of motivation for reading. We discuss how these qualitative findings yield important implications for practice and future research centered on motivating adolescents wh...

Some claim that good and poor readers continue their trajectories despite intervention. This quasi-experimental study examined whether the READ 180 program helps general education, below-grade-leve...

The purpose of this study was to examine whether functional movement proficiency could be improved as measured via the Functional Movement Screen using a standardized warm-up protocol in middle school physical education. A secondary purpose was to determine whether such improvement, if it occurred, would positively influence the technical performance of 4 fundamental motor skills: overhand throw, vertical jump, kicking, and running.Participants were 120 7th- and 8th-grade physical education student volunteers. Two classes from each grade level were assigned to the functional group (N = 54) while the remaining 2 classes of each grade were assigned to the control group (N = 66). Baseline measures were obtained using the Functional Movement Screen and the Get Skilled: Get Active (2000) process-oriented motor skill assessment. For 6 weeks, the functional group warmed up by performing functional stretching, stability, and mobility exercises while the control group completed a traditional dynamic warm-up.According to gain score analysis, those in the functional group significantly reduced dysfunctional movements (scores of 1) compared with those in the control group. Further, boys in the functional group significantly improved their Functional Movement Screen composite score as compared with their male counterparts in the control group whose scores declined. No differences were found for fundamental motor skill performance.Replacing the traditional dynamic warm-up with one that emphasizes functional movement in preparation for activity in physical education appears effective for correcting movement dysfunctions in young adolescents.

The study aimed to statistically analyze forest fire perceptions and cognitive deficits of children through drawings. Results showed that children's perceptions on forest fire were under desirable levels. Also, perception levels were significantly impacted by gender and grade level, whereas impact of school type was not significant. Since children's imaginations are found to be limited and most of forest fires are known to arise from human-induced activities, applied approaches are suggested to enlarge their vision on nature and forest fire with the purpose of raising more responsible, aware, and environmentally-conscious children, as a contributor to prevention of future forest fires.

This study attempts to determine whether teachers' access to computational thinking (CT) and CT technologies varies by rurality (rural versus urban) of the school county and grade level taught (pri...

This research examines change in lifetime drug use frequency among three drugs, marijuana, alcohol, and inhalants, and antisocial behaviors using a cohort longitudinal model. Inhalants are the only drugs which use decline with grade level. Focus of the article is whether the use of these three drugs is a normal part of adolescent development. Using three determinants: associations between drug use and grade and scores on an antisocial behavior scale; and percent of abstainers; the authors determined none of the three drugs represent normal deviance. Data are from 2008 thru the 2014 the Caring Communities Youth Survey (CCYS).

Results from Rasch analysis of GCSE and GCE A level data over a period of four years suggest that the standards of examinations in different subjects are not consistent in terms of the levels of the latent trait specified in the Rasch model required to achieve the same grades. Variability in statistical standards between subjects exists at both individual grade level and the overall subject level. Findings from this study are generally consistent with those from previous studies using similar statistical models. It has been demonstrated that the alignment of statistical standards between subjects based on the Rasch model would likely result in substantial change in performance standards of the examinations for some subjects evidenced here by significant changes in grade boundary scores and grade outcomes. It is argued that the defined purposes of GCSE and A level qualifications determine how their results should be interpreted and reported and that the existing grading and results reporting proced...

Curriculum-based measurement (CBM) for oral passage reading (OPR) is among the most commonly used tools for making screening decisions regarding academic proficiency status for students in...

This study examines teacher implementation of an adolescent literacy curriculum designed as an intervention for students reading two years below grade level. Specifically, this work focuses on the ...

The principal aim of the present study is to examine the level of parental satisfaction with inclusive education for their children with disability attending Italian schools of any grade level. The...

The study examined the impact of students’ absolute age-position at the time of testing by grade level and gender on their achieved level of mathematics, reading and science performance. An analysis was conducted based on a sample of 11,500 15-year-old pupils in the United Arab Emirates who participated in the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2012 study. In support of an absolute age-position effect it was found that the youngest age-at-test student grouping demonstrated significantly lower levels of mathematics, reading and science performance than their older peers. It was also shown that grade level had a significant influence on the demonstration of functional knowledge by same-aged students. Lastly, the female students attained significantly higher levels of mathematics, reading and science performance than their male counterparts.

The relation between autonomy support and basic need satisfaction was investigated by applying a longitudinal design at a time interval of two years, and by comparing two different grade level coho...

The extent to which clients understand the nature and anticipated course of therapy is referred to as informed consent. Counseling psychologists often provide informed consent documents to enhance the education of services and for liability purposes. Professionals in numerous health care settings have evaluated the readability of their informed consent documents, but no such peer-reviewed research exists for university counseling centers. This study evaluated the informed consent documents for psychotherapy from university counseling centers using three readability formulas (Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level, Flesch Reading Ease Score, and Simple Measure of Gobbledygook [SMOG] Grading). The findings support the authors’ exploratory hypotheses that informed consent documents in university counseling centers are rated as challenging to read for college students. Recommendations and implications for practice are discussed.

An increasing number of youth are exhibiting social, emotional, and behavioral problems that hinder their ability to function at grade level. Subsequently, school mental health services have not been able to address the need for services particularly among students who are minority and poor. A mixed methodology study was conducted to determine the treatment outcomes from a brief strength-based leadership training group for primarily students who are African American and poor. Pre–post scores on three scales and focus group data revealed significant positive changes in regard to internal areas of functioning and social skills, anger management skills, and school attitude. Gender and age significantly impacted outcomes.

The primary aim of this study was to investigate the impact of self-esteem on recent alcohol use (past 30 days) and recent binge drinking (five or more alcoholic beverages on one occasion) among youths. This study performed a secondary data analysis of the National Longitudinal Study on Adolescent to Adult Health. All youth participants were in grades 7 through 12. Overall, recent alcohol use and recent binge drinking increased by grade level. Youths with low self-esteem were at increased odds for recent binge drinking among male and female students, White students, and students in grades 7 and 8 and grades 11 and 12.

This study investigates how reading achievement relates to student and school characteristics in countries with different reading scores at the fourth grade level. Data comes from the Progress in I...

Research has identified a number of linguistic features that influence the reading comprehension of young readers; yet, less is known about whether and how these findings extend to adult readers. This study examines text comprehension, processing, and familiarity judgment provided by adult readers using a number of different approaches (i.e., natural language processing, crowd-sourced ratings, and machine learning). The primary focus is on the identification of the linguistic features that predict adult text readability judgments, and how these features perform when compared to traditional text readability formulas such as the Flesch-Kincaid grade level formula. The results indicate the traditional readability formulas are less predictive than models of text comprehension, processing, and familiarity derived from advanced natural language processing tools.

WOS: 000400030300004, The current study aimed to establish Turkish preservice teachers' mental models of the environment and to determine the relationship these models have with gender and grade level. The study group comprised 463 Turkish preservice teachers from primary school education and preschool education departments. The data from the study were collected from drawings made by the participants. The drawings were evaluated using the Draw-an-Environment Test Rubric (DAET-R). The results of the study revealed that preservice teachers provide only superficial and scientifically deficient descriptions of the environment and that they constructed their mental models by perceiving the environment not as a unity of systems but as an object. On the basis of the findings, which showed that many preservice teachers do not include humans in their drawings, or draw biotic factors without other elements, it was concluded that preservice teachers perceive the environment as nature only. Although no statistically significant difference was found between females and males with respect to their mental models, significant differences occurred between second-year and fourth-year students and between third-year and fourth-year students, in favor of second- and third-year students.

Patients are often given patient education documents to take home with them when they leave the hospital. It is important that these documents be at an appropriate grade level since some patients have low health literacy and may be unable to read the materials given to them. Evaluators can use readability tools to assess their patient education materials and make sure they are at a sixth- to eighth-grade reading level. The hospital librarian can play a large role in identifying the grade level of patient education materials.

The use of addictive substances by adolescents is a major public health concern; however, rural vs. urban variations are poorly understood. The purpose of the current study was to examine rural-urban differences in the prevalence of recent use of 11 substances in grades 6–12 in a statewide sample of students from the Georgia Student Health Survey II (n = 513,909). We found that rural-urban differences in substance use depend largely upon grade level, with rural middle school students demonstrating higher rates of alcohol, smoking tobacco, and chewing tobacco use, and urban high school students demonstrating higher rates of illicit drugs.

This study explores the quality of student–teachers’ (STs’) verbal communication during their teaching practice on the ‘Studies for the Environment’ subject, and identifies potential factors affect...

The present study examined motivation toward English learning among students at an international school in Japan. The motivation of 112 elementary school students, including those with English and Japanese as an L1, and those bilingual in English and Japanese, was analyzed based on self-determination theory. The results showed a distinction between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, including three types of regulation (viz., identified, introjected, and external regulation) on the self-determination continuum. For all three language groups, self-determined orientations constituted the highest motivation for studying English, and English L1 participants were more enthusiastic than Japanese L1 participants about studying English. Whereas a number of studies have suggested that Japanese L1 students’ motivation toward English learning decreases with grade level, this study found that participants’ intrinsic motivation did not decrease significantly. This finding may be due to the immersion environmen...

Two related questions are investigated regarding programs accredited by the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE). First, to what extent do NCATE-recognized elementary teacher preparation programs, which have been approved by the Association for Child Education International (ACEI), prepare candidates to teach in grades PreK–3, grades that the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) considers part of early childhood education? The current results indicate extensive grade-level overlap: 10% of ACEI-accredited elementary programs have grade spans that begin in preschool (or below), 53% begin in kindergarten, 30% in first grade, and 6% in second grade. The second investigation employed a content analysis to compare ACEI’s national standards for elementary teacher preparation with NAEYC’s national standards for early childhood teacher preparation. This analysis indicates that ACEI’s standards include far fewer references to terms that capture esse...