ARTICLES COMPARISON

Articles Comparison

Articles Comparison

Introduction

Change in life is inevitable. We see it in the cycle of birth, growth, and death. We watch it in the natural and man-made landscapes that are the scenery of our lives. We want better medicines, fabrics, technologies, and homes than our ancestors had, and these things demand change. Nonetheless, change in our own lives is, more often than not, discomforting at best and gut wrenching at worst. Rugutt (2001) reminds us that human beings are pattern-seeking creatures who fight to preserve the fabric that gives predictability and stability to our lives. Thus change is a paradox. We must have it to grow, and we resist it energetically. This paper discusses articles by Rugutt (2001) Welsh (2010) Rimashevskaia (2010) and Zhao (2004).

Article Summaries

1. Rugutt, John Kipngeno (2001) “A Study of Individual Patterns of Longitudinal Academic Change: Exploring the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) and Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM)”, ERIC.

This study used structural equation modeling and multilevel modeling approaches for purposes of simultaneous study of individual and group change patterns on three waves of two longitudinally assessed domains. This study illustrates a few of the dual approaches to the analysis of covariance structures as they relate to the same individual growth model and the same data. LISREL (structural equation modeling) and hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) were used. The investigation studied whether individual change over time in mathematics and language differs from student to student and whether the individual growth parameters of each of the two domains were related within domain. The study used panel data from the Louisiana State Department of Education for 3 waves of students tested in grades 4, 6, and 7: (1) 50,907; (2) 47,003; and (3) 50,157. Assessments from the states testing program were administered in each of the three grades. Complete records for all 3 grades were available for 26,051 students, 11,627 of whom were African American. The study sheds light on the understanding of learners from the two ethnic groups and shows how they develop mastery in mathematics and language as they progress through school. The application of covariance structure analysis and growth curves to the study of growth in student academic achievement provides an avenue for an in-depth analysis of two academic areas in an available data set. The statistical techniques used in this research, LISREL and HLM methods, have a number of extensions that can be used in various research environments because they can accommodate any number of data points (waves) of longitudinal data. Four appendixes contain descriptive statistics from the study. (Contains 2 figures, 3 tables, and 50 references.) (SLD)

2. Welsh, Helga A. (2010) “Higher Education in Germany: Fragmented Change Amid Paradigm Shifts”, German Politics & Society, 6/30/2010, Vol. 28 Issue 2, p53-70.

Abstract: After the two German states unified in 1990, the tendency to transplant West German practices to the former East Germany was particularly pronounced in areas where systemic differences and perceived inefficiency met ideological reservations. The higher education system was among ...