Can’t get there from here: The decision to apply to a selective college

In an attempt to increase applications from low-income students, some selective 4-year colleges are developing programs to target and attract low-income students. However, relatively little research has looked at factors important in the college application process, and in particular, how these factors differ for low-income students. This paper uses data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 (NLSY97) to analyze factors influencing students’ college application decisions, with a focus on the decision to apply to a selective 4-year college. We hypothesize that distance from a student's home to selective colleges may play a role in the application decision and differentially impact low-income students. Our results suggest that distance does matter, although the effects do not vary by family income level.     

From here to there! Elementary: a game-based approach to developing number sense and early algebraic understanding

Educational technology research and development - This paper examines whether using From Here to There! (FH2T:E), a dynamic game-based mathematics learning technology relates to improved early...     

Getting there faster: 18- and 24-month-old infants' use of function words to determine reference

Infants of 18 and 24 months acquiring English were tested in a preferential looking task on their ability to detect ungrammaticalities caused by manipulating a single function word in sentences. Infants heard grammatical sentences in which the determiner the preceded a target noun, as well as three ungrammatical conditions in which the was either dropped, replaced by a nonsense function word (el), or replaced by an alternate English function word (and). Both the 18- and 24-month-old infants oriented faster and more accurately to a visual target following grammatical sentences. The results suggest that by 18 months of age, infants use their knowledge of determiners in sentence computation and in establishing reference.     

Separating arguments from conclusions: the mistaken role of effect size in educational policy research

ABSTRACT

Effect size is the basis of much evidence-based education policymaking. In particular, it is assumed to measure the educational effectiveness of interventions. Policy is being driven by the influential work of John Hattie, the Education Endowment Foundation, and others, which is grounded in this assumption. This article demonstrates the assumption is false and notes that, when criticized, proponents either attempt to inoculate themselves by listing (without checking) assumptions or use the specious reasoning that, however flawed their argument, no-one has disproved their conclusions.     

Vehicles of Logics: The role of policy documents and instructional materials in reform

To understand the complexities of education policy implementation, it is necessary to consider how artifacts associated with reform are imbued with ideas, meanings, and values. This empirical paper draws on neo-institutional theory to reveal how artifacts carried particular logics (D’Adderio in J Inst Econ 7(2):197–230, 2011; Feldman and Pentland in Adm Sci Q 48:94–118, 2003; Pentland & Feldman in Ind Corporate Change 14(5):793–815, 2005; in: Scott, Institutions and organizations, Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, 2001). This paper argues that two types of artifacts, policy documents, and instructional materials, carried logics of reading instruction, thereby playing a role in the implementation of this reform. This paper draws on qualitative data collected over a 13-month period in order to advance our understanding of the relationship between institutional logics, policy, and practice. The findings from this paper have implications for district and school reform, as well as for policymakers and non-system actors.     

From here to there and back again: the story of a mother,her son,disability, and school choice

Nelly and her children live in Queensland, Australia. When it came time for her second youngest son to start school, Nelly was not prepared for the difficulty that she had enrolling him at the school of her choice. In spite of her son's disability, Nelly thought that it was natural that he would go to his local school with his sister. It is not surprising that she expected this, given the legal and policy endorsement of inclusive education that exists in the Queensland education system. What unfolded in Nelly's life as she pursued this enrolment is the subject of this article. This is the story of a mother who believed in and hoped for inclusive schooling for her son but who found herself caught in a series of events and experiences which ultimately led to the decision to transfer him into a special school. This is also the story of how, disillusioned and regretful, she went on to undo that decision. Told primarily in Nelly's own words, this narrative provides a deep insight into one mother's efforts to exercise her parental authority, the difficulties she encountered in trying to do so, and the consequences for her son.     

“Home” and “not home” in children's stories: Getting there—and being worth it

Jon C. Stott teaches Children's Literature at the University of Alberta and also teaches regularly in elementary schools. Christine Doyle Francis teaches at Central Connecticut University.     

National Qualification Frameworks: from policy borrowing to policy learning

This article takes up the issue of the internationalisation of Vocational Education and Training (VET) reforms, expressed in the way policy instruments such as National Qualifications Frameworks (NQF) are introduced in the European Training Foundation's (ETF) partner countries. There is an international debate and different perspectives regarding NQFs. These perspectives have largely talked past each other. The article brings together these perspectives and highlights the issues at stake in this field. Through the analysis of ETF interventions in different regions, the article makes a case for new approaches of intervention, namely policy learning, that aim at enabling national stakeholders and that are conducive for home-grown VET policies. The discussion is broad in scope, not only because the article reviews developments in qualifications frameworks across-regions, but also because it highlights the complex interaction of the global and local development when introducing NQFs and the impact of such reforms on VET systems.     

Strengthening Universal Primary Education in Uganda: The potential role of an asset-based development policy

This paper is divided into three complementary parts. First, we examine the challenges to the Universal Primary Education (UPE) policy in Uganda, including insufficient instructional materials and family-level poverty. Second, guided by asset theory, and based on a systematic review of studies on asset-based development programs and interventions, we assess the potential of these programs in addressing the challenges of UPE, and improving access to UPE. Third, we conclude with a discussion of the implication of using asset-based development as one structural-level approach that may strengthen the UPE policy.     

从殖民地语言政策到民族独立的语言政策——老挝语言政策研究

老挝是曾被法国、日本、美国殖民统治的国家,语言政策上留下了深刻的殖民统治的烙印.老挝人民共和国独立后,制定了以老挝语为官方语言和教学语言的语言政策和语言法规,加强了老挝语言的传播和学习,也巩固了老挝的教学语言和教学制度.但是,法语、英语、汉语、越南语、泰语在老挝社会交际中仍然具有重要的作用.     

Teaching portfolios: their role in teaching and learning policy

Teaching Portfolios are now common in higher education. They are used both developmentally and summatively in spite of the fact that many academics find them generically quite unfamiliar. This paper explores, primarily conceptually, the experience of one institution as to the ways in which portfolios have functioned in its processes and its practice. The paper introduces a small empirical sample of portfolios in an attempt to give concrete meaning to some of the points made. Ultimately, it questions whether portfolios can have a mixed developmental/summative mode of existence and still meet the purposes the institution intends. This raises the issue of the extent to which a summative mechanism can become an end in itself and can actively limit progressive potential.

Les dossiers d'enseignement (teaching portfolios) font maintenant partie de la vie courante en enseignement supérieur. Ils sont utilisés dans une double optique de développement et d'évaluation sommative en dépit du fait que de nombreux universitaires les jugent généralement assez étranges. Cet article explore, d'un point de vue conceptuel, l'expérience d'une institution en ce qui a trait à l'utilisation des dossiers d'enseignement dans le cadre de ses processus et de sa pratique. L'article présente un échantillon empirique limité de dossiers d'enseignement dans le but d'illustrer, de façon concrète, l'argument présenté. Ultimement, l'article remet en question l'idée que les dossiers d'enseignement peuvent à la fois avoir une existence mixte de développement/d'évaluation sommative et atteindre les objectifs visés par une institution. Ceci soulève la question de savoir dans quelle mesure un mécanisme sommatif peut devenir une fin en soi et ainsi limiter activement le potentiel progressif.     

Comparative higher education studies: The perspective from the policy sciences

The article explores the historical background of comparative policy studies. These studies are traced back to the comparative approaches in political science and public administration. Following a discussion on the methodological aspects of the comparative approach, an overview and assessment of a number of recent comparative policy studies in higher education is presented.