Measuring citizenship competences: Assessment of measurement invariance

Highlights: • Standardised questionnaires are used to measure the outcomes of citizenship education. • A prerequisite for cross-group comparisons based on these questionnaires is an assessment of measurement invariance. • This study used data from 6035 students from 87 Dutch primary schools to examine the measurement invariance of citizenship knowledge, attitude, and skill across sex, socioeconomic position and migration background. • The measurement invariance was sufficient in most cases. • Periodic assessment of measurement invariance in instruments measuring citizenship competences is important due to the dynamic nature of the construct. Purpose: Standardised questionnaires are used to measure the outcomes of citizenship education. These outcomes are often compared across groups to document different outcomes, for example, between boys and girls. A prerequisite for cross-group comparisons is an assessment of measurement invariance.  Methodology: This study used data from 6035 students from 87 Dutch primary schools to examine the measurement invariance of the Citizenship Competences Questionnaire (Ten Dam et al., 2011). Dutch schools use this questionnaire to gain insight into students’ citizenship knowledge, attitudes, and skills. Measurement invariance was assessed across sex, socioeconomic position, and migration background. Findings: Measurement invariance was sufficient in most cases, allowing for cross-group comparisons of associations between latent constructs and their indicators, and in some cases, for cross-group comparisons of the latent means. We conclude by emphasising that periodic assessment of measurement invariance in instruments measuring citizenship competences is important due to the dynamic nature of the construct

Element pool changes within a scrub-oak ecosystem after 11 years of exposure to elevated CO2

The effects of elevated CO2 on ecosystem element stocks are equivocal, in part because cumulative effects of CO2 on element pools are difficult to detect. We conducted a complete above and belowground inventory of non-nitrogen macro- and micronutrient stocks in a subtropical woodland exposed to twice-ambient CO2 concentrations for 11 years. We analyzed a suite of nutrient elements and metals important for nutrient cycling in soils to a depth of ∼2 m, in leaves and stems of the dominant oaks, in fine and coarse roots, and in litter. In conjunction with large biomass stimulation, elevated CO2 increased oak stem stocks of Na, Mg, P, K, V, Zn and Mo, and the aboveground pool of K and S. Elevated CO2 increased root pools of most elements, except Zn. CO2-stimulation of plant Ca was larger than the decline in the extractable Ca pool in soils, whereas for other elements, increased plant uptake matched the decline in the extractable pool in soil. We conclude that elevated CO2 caused a net transfer of a subset of nutrients from soil to plants, suggesting that ecosystems with a positive plant growth response under high CO2 will likely cause mobilization of elements from soil pools to plant biomass

Inspecting School Social Quality: Assessing and Improving School Effectiveness in the Social Domain

Purpose: School inspection of school social quality is, in contrast to inspection in the cognitive domain, still in its early phase of development. While schools are shown to affect social outcomes, the interplay of mechanisms makes it difficult to isolate the effect of the school. This paper aims to evaluate different approaches to inspecting school social quality. Methodology: Based on a school effectiveness model, we consider what aspects could be taken into consideration to evaluate school social quality. Findings and implications: Using insights from inspection of cognitive outcomes, we present three ideal-type models of inspection, focusing on outcomes, school improvement, or process. There is as of yet no clear best approach to inspecting school social quality, as inspection of school quality can influence school performance in a range of ways. Implications of the described models and possible strengths and weaknesses are discussed

Civics education in primary school. Characteristics of schools and competencies of students.

Deze studie beschrijft de vormgeving en opbrengsten van burgerschapsonderwijs in het basisonderwijs, en presenteert een representatief beeld van de stand van zaken anno schooljaar 2020/21. Het geeft daarmee een overzicht van de situatie kort voor de inwerkingtreding van de aangescherpte wettelijke eisen rond bevordering van burgerschap. Aan het onderzoek namen leerlingen, leerkrachten en schoolleiders op 94 scholen deel. De resultaten laten zien dat basisscholen verschillen in de manier waarop ze invulling geven aan burgerschapsvorming. Een latente klasse analyse toont een groep scholen die zich onderscheidt met gunstige condities voor effectief burgerschapsonderwijs. Ook blijkt een relatie met burgerschapscompetenties van leerlingen, waar het gaat om houdingen en zelf ingeschatte vaardigheden. Multilevel analyse laat vervolgens zien dat de rol van de school, in vergelijking met de invloed van leerlingachtergrondkenmerken, die het grootste deel van verschillen in burgerschapsuitkomsten verklaren, bescheiden is.Deze studie beschrijft de vormgeving en opbrengsten van burgerschapsonderwijs in het basisonderwijs, en presenteert een representatief beeld van de stand van zaken anno schooljaar 2020/21. Het geeft daarmee een overzicht van de situatie kort voor de inwerkingtreding van de aangescherpte wettelijke eisen rond bevordering van burgerschap. Aan het onderzoek namen leerlingen, leerkrachten en schoolleiders op 94 scholen deel. De resultaten laten zien dat basisscholen verschillen in de manier waarop ze invulling geven aan burgerschapsvorming. Een latente klasse analyse toont een groep scholen die zich onderscheidt met gunstige condities voor effectief burgerschapsonderwijs. Ook blijkt een relatie met burgerschapscompetenties van leerlingen, waar het gaat om houdingen en zelf ingeschatte vaardigheden. Multilevel analyse laat vervolgens zien dat de rol van de school, in vergelijking met de invloed van leerlingachtergrondkenmerken, die het grootste deel van verschillen in burgerschapsuitkomsten verklaren, bescheiden is

Are schools’ qualification and civic outcomes related? : the role of schools’ student composition and tracking

Published online: 4 September 2022In preparing generations for the future, schools fulfill a qualification and a civic task: providing youngsters knowledge and skills for the labor market, and equipping them to navigate democracy and society. Little research has considered how schools combine these tasks, particularly in relation to schools’ student composition in terms of socioeconomic (dis)advantages across vocational and academic tracks, the focus of this study. By means of a unique, combined dataset, qualification and civic outcome indicators of 101 Dutch secondary schools were examined. Results showed that schools’ qualification and civic outcomes were more positively related in academic than in vocational tracks, possibly informed by schools’ student composition: the role of student composition was stronger in academic than vocational tracks for both qualification and civic outcomes. This is discussed in relation to schools’ role in mitigating versus reproducing societal inequalities

Distribution of decidual mast cells in fetal growth restriction and stillbirth at (near) term

Introduction: Placental pathology and pregnancy complications are associated with unfavorable regulation of the maternal immune system. Although much research has been performed towards the role of immune cells like macrophages and T cells in this context, little is known about the presence and function of mast cells (MC). MC can be sub classified in tryptase-positive (MCT) and tryptase- and chymase-positive (MCTC). This study investigates the presence of MC in the decidua of pregnancies complicated by fetal growth restriction (FGR) and stillbirth (SB). Methods: Placental tissue from FGR (n = 250), SB (n = 64) and healthy pregnancies (n = 42) was included. Histopathological lesions were classified according to the Amsterdam Placental Workshop Group criteria. Tissue sections were stained for tryptase and chymase. Decidual MC were counted manually, and the results were expressed as number of cells/mm2 decidual tissue. Results: A significant lower median number of MCTC was found in the decidua of FGR (0.40 per mm2; p < 0.001) and SB (0.51 per mm2; p < 0.05) compared to healthy controls (1.04 per mm2). No difference in MCT number (1.19 per mm2, 1.88 per mm2 and 1.37 per mm2 respectively) was seen between the groups. There was no difference in number of MCT and MCTC between placental pathological lesions. Discussion: Our findings suggest a shift in decidual MC balance towards MCT in pregnancy complications. No difference in numbers of MC subtypes was found to be related to histopathologic lesions

Association of Under-Approximation Techniques for Generating Tests from Models

International audienceIn this paper we present a Model-Based Testing approach with which we generate tests from an abstraction of a source behavioural model. We show a new algorithm that computes the abstraction as an under-approximation of the source model. Our first contribution is to combine two previous approaches proposed by Ball and Pasareanu et al. to compute May, Must+ and Must- abstract transition relations. Prooftechniques are used to compute these transition relations. The tests obtained by covering the abstract transitions have to be instantiated from the source model. So, following Pasareanu et al., our algorithm additionally computes a concrete transition relation: the tests obtained as sequences of concrete transitions need not be instantiated from the source model. Another contribution is to propose a choice of relevant paramaters and heuristics to pilot the tests computation. We experiment our approach and compare it with a previous approach of ours to compute tests from an abstraction that over-approximates the source model