What Explains Vietnam’s Exceptional Performance in Education Relative to Other Countries? Analysis of the Young Lives Data from Ethiopia, Peru, India and Vietnam

Vietnam’s strong performance on the 2012 and 2015 PISA assessments has led to interest in what explains the strong academic performance of Vietnamese students. Analysis of the PISA data has not shed much light on this issue. This paper analyses a much richer data set, the Young Lives data for Ethiopia, India (Andhra Pradesh and Telangana), Peru and Vietnam, to investigate the reasons for the strong academic performance of 15-year-olds in Vietnam. Differences in observed child and household characteristics explain 37-39% of the gap between Vietnam and Ethiopia, while observed school variables explain only about 3-4 additional percentage points (although an important variable, math teachers’ pedagogical skills, is not available for Ethiopia). Differences in observed child and household characteristics explain very little of the gaps between Vietnam and India and between Vietnam and Peru, yet one observed school variable has a large explanatory effect: primary school math teachers’ pedagogical skills. It explains about 10-12% of the gap between Vietnam and India, raising the overall explained portion to 14-21% of the gap. For Peru, it explains most (65-84%) of the gap.

MELITOPOL SCHOOL OF APPLIED GEOMETRY. HISTORY AND WORK EXPERIENCE

The work examines the history of formation, development and the main scientific works of the Melitopol School of Applied Geometry. The materials give a general characteristic of the main scientific directions of the school: variable discrete geometric modeling (VDGM) and point calculus Balyub-Naidish (BN calculus). The materials cover the list and peculiarities of scientific and organizational measures carried out by scientists of the school. The scientific school of applied geometry was founded by Meer Moiseevich Yuditsky in the 60s of the last century. The active personal, scientific and organizational activities of M. M. Yuditsky, the participation of scientists of the department in conferences and seminars of various levels, the defense of dissertations that took place in subsequent years gave the basis for the formation of a regional scientific center for applied geometry on the basis of the department. In 1977, Vladimir Mikhailovich Naydysh became the head of the school, which was called the Melitopol Scientific School of Applied Geometry. One of the significant results of the work of the school and its head personally is the holding in Melitopol of the annual International Scientific and Practical Conference "Modern Problems of Geometric Modeling" (held since 1994). The main scientific direction of the school is the development of the theory and applied aspects of discrete applied geometry. Since 2007, Andrei Vladimirovich Naydysh, Doctor of Technical Sciences, took over the leadership of the scientific school. Today, the basic institution of higher education for the school is the Bogdan Khmelnitsky Melitopol State Pedagogical University. Materials The modern state of the school, the level of its scientific developments, the personal achievements of the school's specialists give reason to consider the Melitopol School of Applied Geometry as having all the features of a scientific school by type - a school as a research team.

The Loleva Oral and Written Language Test: Psychometric Properties

LolEva, a computerized test for ages 3 to 8 years old, identifies issues in the development of skills that can lead to reading acquisition difficulties. Its structure captures two distinct areas: Phonological Awareness (PA, seven subtests: rhyme, identification-addition-omission of syllable and phoneme at the beginning and end of a word), and Initial Reading Competence (IRC, six subtests: reading uppercase and lowercase letters, simple words, complex words, and pseudowords, and word segmentation). With results collected in a sample of 341 children with the target ages and attending public or private schools, the alpha coefficient was .94 for PA, and .92 for IRC. Factor analysis indicated three factors are present (performance on PA and IRC, and word reading times), together explaining 75% of variance, providing evidence to support the construct validity of the test. On the other hand, analysis of variance showed significant differences for year-in-school variable for PA subscale, F(4, 336) = 191.385, p < .001, η2p = .695, 1–β = 1.0, as well as for IRC subscale, both in number of correct answers, which increased as schooling progressed: F(4, 336) = 197.897, p < .001, η2p = .702, 1–β = 1.0, and task completion time, which decreased as education progressed: F(4, 335) = 47.048, p < .001, η2p = .360, 1–β = 1.0. Also, PA repeated measures analysis revealed that was easier Identification than Addition and Omission , F(2, 672) = 31.639, p < .001, η2p = .086, 1–β = 1.0, syllable-related tasks than phoneme-related task, F(1, 336) = 229.000, p < .001, η2p = .405, 1–β = 1.0, and syllable or phoneme at the end of the word than at the beginning, F(1, 336) = 59.201, p < .001, η2p = .150, 1–β = 1.0. Moreover, all items were examined and indexes of difficulty and discrimination were obtained.

Frequency and risk factors for toxocariasis in children from a pediatric outpatient center in southeastern Brazil

To estimate the frequency of anti-Toxocara sp. antibodies, and evaluate factors associated with this infection, sera from 242 male and female children, aged from one to fifteen years old, attended at the Hospital of the Federal University of Uberlândia, Minas Gerais State, Brazil, were analyzed by ELISA. Information on the patients was collected and registered using an investigative questionnaire, and details on possible clinical alterations were obtained from the medical charts of 187 patients. Of a total of 242 samples, 21 (8.7%) were positive for anti-Toxocara sp. antibodies. The presence of dogs and cats and the school variable (place of contact), appeared to be significantly associated (p < 0.05) with a positive serology. Respiratory symptoms and eosinophil counts greater than 20% also showed a positive statistical correlation with a positive serology for Toxocara sp.. Factors such as sex and age, and symptoms like headache, stomach ache, convulsive crises and anemia were not associated with toxocariasis.

Influence of Prior Knowledge, Attitudes, Ability, and Activity Structure on Students' Learning and Use of Software

Based on evidence from the learner control literature, a study was designed that aimed to identify the conditions and individual characteristics that would best support learners' acceptance of control within hypermedia. The effects of prior domain knowledge, learning activity structure, ability, and attitudes on acceptance of control opportunity, knowledge acquisition, and attitudes were investigated. The study was conducted in two single-gender schools to remove the effects of gender interaction while using computers. Confirmatory analysis of a covariance structure model did not provide support for the hypothesized effects, with the exception of a weak effect for the variable ability on acceptance of control opportunity. Analysis of a substantively-based alternative model identified an effect of the school students attended on students' choices within the software. The effect of the “school” variable was stronger than the hypothesized variables. Qualitative analysis of interview and audit-trail data further supported the quantitative results showing a difference in preferences and navigational strategies for students at the two schools. Qualitative results and existing literature suggest factors that may contribute to the effect of the “school” variable are the epistemological beliefs of students, school culture, and gender. Further research attention to these variables is recommended.