Children’s Verbal, Visual and Spatial Processing and Storage Abilities: An Analysis of Verbal Comprehension, Reading, Counting and Mathematics

The importance of working memory (WM) in reading and mathematics performance has been widely studied, with recent research examining the components of WM (i.e., storage and processing) and their roles in these educational outcomes. However, the differing relationships between these abilities and the foundational skills involved in the development of reading and mathematics have received less attention. Additionally, the separation of verbal, visual and spatial storage and processing and subsequent links with foundational skills and downstream reading and mathematics has not been widely examined. The current study investigated the separate contributions of processing and storage from verbal, visual and spatial tasks to reading and mathematics, whilst considering influences on the underlying skills of verbal comprehension and counting, respectively. Ninety-two children aged 7- to 8-years were assessed. It was found that verbal comprehension (with some caveats) was predicted by verbal storage and reading was predicted by verbal and spatial storage. Counting was predicted by visual processing and storage, whilst mathematics was related to verbal and spatial storage. We argue that resources for tasks relying on external representations of stimuli related mainly to storage, and were largely verbal and spatial in nature. When a task required internal representation, there was a draw on visual processing and storage abilities. Findings suggest a possible meaningful separability of types of processing. Further investigation of this could lead to the development of an enhanced WM model, which might better inform interventions and reasonable adjustments for children who struggle with reading and mathematics due to WM deficits.

Backtalk: Preparing emotionally competent educators

Early childhood is a time when children begin building foundational skills of self-regulation and emotional competence. But, as Donna Housman explains, their teachers may not themselves have the training and support to help young students develop these abilities. She recommends that early childhood teachers receive professional development that helps them recognize and manage their own emotions, stress, and anxieties so they can better foster self-regulation among their students.

An Emerging Strategy for the Development of Culturally Relevant Scales to Capture Aspects of Students’ Socio-Emotional Learning and Social Support for Learning.

Existing research on students’ socio-emotional learning and social support for learning in the Global South is limited and most scales that have been developed to measure these aspects of students’ learning and development originate in the Global North. We outline our emerging strategy for capturing student socio-emotional learning and social support for learning in the context of Ethiopia, which may have relevance for other researchers seeking to explore this area of study in Ethiopia or in other related contexts. We propose that considering aspects of students’ socio-emotional learning and social support for learning—in addition to foundational skills of numeracy and literacy—can help to move towards a more expansive and holistic understanding of learning.

The College Gets Its Act Together: Cutting the Costs of Disputes in Organizations

This case is framed around the personal experience of a faculty member whose dispute with supervisors lead to the resignation of a chair, the eventual firing of a dean, and the loss of good will with key community stakeholders. It focuses on the analysis of an internal grievance process that brings the student to two decision points, namely, (a) what shortcomings exist in the current internal grievance process and (b) what changes should be made to make them fairer and more effective? The case briefly addresses and illustrates the foundational skills of dispute resolution and mediation designed to resolve conflicts efficiently and fairly at the lowest cost.

Structure Altering Effects of a Multicomponent Reading Intervention: An Application of the Direct and Inferential Mediation (DIME) Model of Reading Comprehension in Upper Elementary Grades

We evaluate the direct and inferential mediation (DIME) model for reading comprehension with a sample of struggling readers in Grades 3 to 5 ( N = 364) in the context of a large-scale randomized controlled trial (RCT) investigating two theoretically distinct reading interventions (text processing + foundational skills [ n = 117] or text processing only [ n = 120]) and a control condition ( n = 127). We investigate whether the intervention affects not just reading comprehension levels, but also how variables within the reading system interrelate. This approach allows the focus to shift from intervention as influencing a change in reading comprehension status to a complex set of processes. We fit structural equation models (SEMs) to evaluate the DIME model at baseline, and a change model including reading comprehension and word reading at posttest. There were no significant mean differences between groups in reading comprehension. However, significant differences emerged on the direct and indirect effects of background knowledge, vocabulary, word reading, strategies, and inferencing on comprehension across grade levels and treatment conditions. Related to treatment groups, background knowledge, vocabulary, and inferencing were significantly related to comprehension at posttest for students who received text processing and/or foundational skills interventions. The results have implications for the direct instruction of higher-order reading skills in the context of multicomponent interventions.

Making Sense of Reading Comprehension Assessments: Guidance for Evaluating Student Performance

Educators use reading comprehension assessments to summarize academic achievement, make decisions in diagnostic evaluations, and identify intervention needs. A challenge, however, with using different assessments in practice is that student performance may change depending on which assessment is administered. This article guides educators in evaluating student performance across multiple assessments, specifically when making decisions for students with learning disabilities (LD) in reading. First, this article provides educators with guidance in establishing a student’s foundational skills, specifically those that may contribute to low performance on reading comprehension assessments. Next, the article presents steps for examining the texts and assessment methods commonly used in measures of reading comprehension. The article concludes with recommendations for evaluating student performance when considering a student’s foundational skills and characteristics of reading comprehension assessments.

Benefiting from big data in natural products: importance of preserving foundational skills and prioritizing data quality

Big data is changing how we do natural products research and creating exciting new possibilities. Continued attention to enhancing data quality, increasing access, and preserving foundational skills is needed.