A study of culturally syntonic variables in the bilingual/bicultural science classroom

The purpose of this study was to conduct a needs assessment of bilingual/bicultural elementary science classrooms in order to determine if the current instructional environment addresses the educational needs of Hispanic/Latino children. This study examined 57 randomly selected elementary bilingual/bicultural science classrooms in a large metropolitan area of the southwestern United States in terms of culturally syntonic variables (i.e., culture-of-origin beliefs and/or practices that impact the teaching/learning process). Findings from this study indicate that Hispanic/Latino children are receiving science instruction: (a) with culturally asyntonic printed materials, teaching strategies, and supplementary materials, (b) in classrooms that do not use the child's native language, familia learning groups, peer tutoring, or manipulative materials, and (c) with oral and verbal instruction that lack culturally syntonic role models, examples, analogies, and elaborations. Findings from this study imply that changes are needed in pre-service and in-service teacher training, in science textbook formats, and in the scope and focus of elementary school bilingual/bicultural science curriculum and instructional strategies.     

Leadership coaching for principals: a national study

Surveys were sent to a large representative sample of public school principals in the United States asking if they had received leadership coaching. Comparison of responses to actual numbers of principals indicates that the sample represents the first national study of principal leadership coaching. Results indicate that approximately 50% of all principals have received or currently receive coaching. In general, this same percentage applies to most demographic categories. Respondents also rated components found to be of consequence to coaching success and these were compared with characteristics of the coaching relationship. Respondents overwhelmingly found coaching to be supportive and beneficial to them and believed it contributed to increasing student achievement. Recommendations include the expansion of leadership coaching programs and further study into specifics of the coaching relationship.     

Educational differentiation and national development: A statistical study

The relationships between two dimensions of educational systems, educational structural differentiation and enrollment ratios, and two dimensions of national development, information-processing capacity and urbanization, are examined using Latin American data. Educational differentiation is found to be better associated with both dimensions of national development than are enrollment ratios. This finding suggests that the typical practice of conceiving of education's contribution to national development solely, or principally, in terms of the proportions of eligible students who are educated is misleading. It is of greater importance to consider the kinds of information the educational system can process or transmit.     

Developing national attainment measures: A study of irish experience

Recent experience of test development in Ireland, a country which had no tradition of formal standardised testing, is drawn on, in order to highlight a number of practical and measurement problems that future test developers in other countries may experience. The paper focuses on a number of issues that have received relatively little attention in the literature. The practical problems which are examined include the identification of the objectives of the school curriculum, the production of test materials and the selection of appropriate samples of schools for standardisation purposes. The measurement or psychometric problems relate to curricular and statistical characteristics of individual test items, a test ceiling effect caused by some pupils answering all or almost all of the test items correctly and the lack of test sophistication among pupils and teachers. It is pointed out that a number of conventional procedures for developing norm-referenced measures of pupil attainment may prove somewhat less than successful in countries or educational systems with common curricula.

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Zusammenfassung Aufgrund neuerer Erfahrungen in Irland, einem Lande, das keine Tradition formalen standardisierten Testens besitzt, stellt der Verfasser eine Anzahl praktischer und psychometrischer Probleme heraus, denen wahrscheinlich auch zukünftige Testentwickler in anderen Ländern begegnen werden. Im Vordergrund steht eine Reihe von Fragen, die in der einschlägigen Literatur bisher wenig Beachtung gefunden haben. Zu den untersuchten praktischen Problemen gehören die Identifizierung der Schulcurriculumsziele, die Herstellung von Testmaterialien und die Auswahl geeigneter Samples von Schulen zum Zwecke der Standardisierung. Die Messungsoder psychometrischen Probleme betreffen curriculare und statistische Merkmale der einzelnen Testfragen, eine Art Höchstgrenze der Tests, die erreicht wird, wenn mehrere Schüler alle oder fast alle Fragen richtig beantworten, sowie mangelnde Gewandtheit von Schülern und Lehrern im Umgang mit Testfragen. Ferner wird darauf hingewiesen, dass sich verschiedene gebräuchliche Verfahren zur Entwicklung von normbezogenen Massstäben für Schülerleistungen in Ländern oder Bildungssystemen mit einheitlichen Curricula als wenig erfolgreich erweisen dürften.

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Résumé Une expérience a été menée récemment sur le développement des tests en Irlande — un pays qui n'a aucune tradition de standardisation formelle en ce domaine — pour mettre en évidence un certain nombre de problèmes d'ordre pratique et d'évaluation que pourraient rencontrer les futurs utilisateurs de tests dans d'autres pays. L'article est centré sur un certain nombre de questions auxquelles, jusqu'à présent, la littérature spécialisée n'a accordé que peu d'attention. Les problèmes pratiques examinés comprennent l'identification des objectifs du curriculum scolaire, la production des matériels de test et la sélection des échantillons appropriés d'écoles en vue d'une standardisation. L'évaluation ou les problèmes psychométriques se rapportent aux caractéristiques curriculaires et statistiques des questions du test individuel, à un test à effet plafonnant causé par le fait que presque tous les élèves répondent correctement à tous, ou presque tous les items du test, et à un manque d'habitude aux tests tant chez les élèves que chez les enseignants. L'auteur de l'article souligne qu'un grand nombre de procédés conventionnels pour développer les mesures normatives des acquisitions de l'élève peuvent se révéler quelque peu décevants dans des pays, ou dans des systèmes d'éducation, ayant des curricula communs.

     

A qualitative study of student responses to body painting

One hundred and thirty‐three preclinical medical students participated in 24 focus groups over the period 2007–2009 at Durham University. Focus groups were conducted to ascertain whether or not medical students found body painting anatomical structures to be an educationally beneficial learning activity. Data were analyzed using a grounded theory approach. Five principal themes emerged: (1) body painting as a fun learning activity, (2) body painting promoting retention of knowledge, (3) factors contributing to the memorability of body painting, (4) removal from comfort zone, and (5) the impact of body painting on students' future clinical practice. Students perceive body painting to be a fun learning activity, which aids their retention of the anatomical knowledge acquired during the session. Sensory factors, such as visual stimuli, especially color, and the tactile nature of the activity, promote recall. Students' preference for painting a peer or being painted is often dependent upon their learning style, but there are educational benefits for both roles. The moderate amounts of undressing involved encouraging students to consider issues surrounding body image; this informs their attitudes towards future patients. Body painting is a useful adjunct to traditional anatomy and clinical skills teaching. The fun element involved in the delivery of this teaching defuses the often formal academic context, which in turn promotes a positive learning environment. Anat Sci Educ 3:33–38, 2010. © 2009 American Association of Anatomists.     

Prosocial growth during college: Results of a national study

Ethical growth and prosocial development are increasingly salient learning outcomes in higher education. Previous research has shown that the traditional college years facilitate moral development, especially with respect to moral reasoning. This research examined the impact of college experiences on students’ sense of active responsibility for others—prosocial orientation—via a longitudinal, multi-institutional design through the Spirituality and Higher Education project at University of California, Los Angeles. Data from over 14,000 undergraduates show that key college experiences predict growth on prosocial outcomes. Especially salient predictors include active forms of learning, engagement with diversity and other means by which students encounter multiple perspectives. Implications for higher education are discussed.     

’Viewpoint 2’: a study of audience responses to schools television

As part of an M.A. course in Film Studies at the Polytechnic of Central London, a small‐scale study was undertaken of audience responses to two schools TV programmes from the recent ITV series, ‘Viewpoint 2’. The theoretical orientation and methodology derive from recent developments in semiology (notably the work of Morley on ‘The Nationwide Audience'). While the work does not aim at ‘scientific’ proof, a fairly consistent pattern of responses emerged which indicates the influence of socio‐demographic factors on the decoding of educational programmes. Particularly with responses to one of the programmes, concerned with media representations of race, these variations were sufficiently extreme as to suggest some disturbing questions for programme makers and for teachers using such material in schools.     

Psychological responses to reservation-based discrimination: A qualitative study of socially marginalized youth at a premier Indian university

Given the history of caste politics in India, it is not surprising that the socially marginalized students face discrimination, especially after the introduction of the reservation policy (affirmative action) in educational institutes. Our qualitative study, informed by Meyer’s Minority Stress model, analysed in-depth interviews with 30 undergraduate students, 3 faculty members, and 4 administrative officials at a premier Indian university to examine the psychological wellbeing of the reserved category students. We analysed how the discrimination processes contributed to students’ poor academic performance, low self-esteem, and weak motivation. Student group affiliations and university resources created a supportive environment for the socially marginalized, despite a small risk of stigmatization due to enrolment in a few campus support-programs. Moreover, there existed a palpable frustration among the socially privileged students, resulting in discriminatory attitudes against reserved categories but not “lower” caste. Our findings call for the attention of college administrators, policymakers, and the society at large to ensure that well-intended social justice policies are efficiently implemented, to deliver justice to the underprivileged students of India.     

从国有养马业看秦制源于《周礼》

《周礼》成书于何时历来是各家争论的一大内容，撇开此问题不谈，《周礼》所体现的制度设计是中国古代国家制度的本源却是毋庸质疑的。秦简的出土有力的证明了秦的制度设计源于《周礼》，国有养马业管理制度亦然。秦简的内容虽然主要以法律条文的形式出现，但从中也可以看出其与《周礼》的相通之处。所以我们对《周礼》的认识应该有更全面的认识。     

Using lotteries to evaluate schools of choice: Evidence from a national study of charter schools

This paper draws on data and experiences observing and analyzing school lotteries from the National Evaluation of Charter School Impacts (Gleason et al., 2010) to describe the challenges associated with lottery-based research. In that study, covering 36 charter middle schools in 15 states, we found that charter schools did not affect student achievement or behavior on average, although there was substantial variation across schools. In this paper, we discuss the prevalence of oversubscribed charter schools at the time the study was conducted (the 2005–2006 and 2006–2007 school years), which was lower than commonly reported. We then describe how the sample of schools that participated in the study compared to all other charter middle schools nationwide, to provide some insight into the generalizabilty of findings from lottery-based studies. In general, oversubscribed charter schools were more likely to be located in urban areas and serve a higher-achieving population of students than those without excess demand. We also describe common features of school lotteries and waitlists, and examine implications of these features for a school's ability to support a lottery-based study. Finally, we summarize lessons learned for conducting lottery-based research on charter schools, drawing on our observations of the schools’ lotteries and analysis of the data from these lotteries.     

国家图书馆iPhone客户端应用初探

在对国家图书馆官方网站比较的基础上,总结出国家图书馆iPhone客户端独有的特色功能：拍照识别功能,全国各地公共图书馆的超链接功能,获取豆瓣网书评的功能．同时希望国家图书馆iPhone客户端能够增加“新书推荐”服务．     

Teachers’ intentions to use national literacy and numeracy assessment data: a pilot study

In recent years the educational policy environment has emphasised data-driven change. This has increased the expectation for school personnel to use statistical information to inform their programs and to improve teaching practices. Such data include system reports of student achievement tests and socio-economic profiles provided to schools by various state education departments’ data services. This paper reports on a pilot study that explored factors affecting Mathematics and English teachers’ intentions to engage with the statistical data their schools receive and to consider these data when making decisions about their teaching practices. It was found that most teachers perceived that such data identify weak students and some teachers (mostly mathematics teachers) thought that they can help to identify curriculum topics that need attention. Most teachers felt that the reports were not easy to understand. Confidence in dealing with statistical data was a problem for many teachers, but especially for English teachers.     

高校国防教育对大学生国家意识构建的研究

在国家安全忧患局势的时代紧迫性时期,以国防教育为主线培养大学生国家意识,对维护国家的长治久安,提高大学生的综合素质起着决定性的作用。本文主要从我国国防教育的现状、加强大学生国防教育的原因、主要方法与途径等方面论述了国防教育对于当代大学生国家意识构建的重要意义。     

Selective acquiescence,creative commitment and strategic conformity: situated national policy responses to Bologna

The non-binding nature of the Bologna Declaration and loose policy-making and implementation through the open method of coordination (OMC) have led to varied national responses to the Bologna Process. The OMC has allowed countries room for manoeuvre to interpret Bologna policy and attach different degrees of importance to it. Looking at the interplay between agency and structure in policy implementation, this article aims to illustrate the localised character of Bologna policy implementation driven by national priorities and political agendas, a reflection of the ‘policy as text’ metaphor (Ball, 1994). The analysis is driven by an agentic understanding of the policy process, highlighting ‘actors’ perceptions, perspectives, preferences, actions and interactions' (Trowler, 2002). Three different country reactions are examined — England, Portugal and Denmark, described as selective acquiescence, creative commitment and strategic conformity to capture the essence of the cases in question. In analysing the countries' responses, the article considers national readings of Bologna, motivations behind responses to the Process, as well as its reception and implementation at national level.     

Connecting teacher development and school improvement: ironic consequences of a preservice action research course

This article describes the author's attempts to strengthen connections between teacher development and school improvement in a preservice course requirement. The context is an action research course taught during the final semester of a two-year masters degree, cohort program. Hired into the school system as full-time instructional assistants, students in the course were more knowledgeable about and more integrated into the life of their schools than traditional student teachers. While the course goals were partially successful, ironic consequences occurred. Students could not study simultaneously their own teaching and school improvement efforts. By documenting what went on in the course, examining text materials, and analyzing school contexts, the author finds some answers in the ways in which teaching is conceptualized and institutionalized.     

Gender and Sex Education: A study of adolescent responses

This is a study of sex education programmes and focuses on the reactions adolescents had to the sex education they were offered. The findings suggest that girls and boys respond differently to the sex education schemes, and that boys react more negatively than girls. The conclusion is that there is a need for new strategies, both to reach the boys effectively and to protect space for the girls' interests. We argue for the provision of some single-sex work in the sex education area of the curriculum, especially in the early years of secondary school.