Learning and Self Government∗

BIOGRAPHY Dixie Demagogues by Allan A. Michie and Frank Rhylick. New York: The Vanguard Press. 298 pp. $2.50.

Elbert Hubbard: Genius of Roycroft by David Arnold Balch. Illustrated. Frederick Stokes. 320 pp. $2.50.

The Great Debureau by Francis Kozik. Farrar and Rinehart. 376 pp. $2.75.

EDUCATION Classroom Administration and Pupil Adjustment by Charles Myron Reinoehl and Fred Carleton Ayer. The Appleton-Century Series in Administration. Appleton-Century Co. 525 pp. $2.75.

Fundamentals of Democratic Education by Robert Ulich. The American Book Co. 362 pp. $2.25.

Fun with Words; With Tongue and Pen, Words and Their Use; Better English Usage. A Series of books in Step by Step in English for the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth grades by Frederick H. Bair, Elma Neal, Inez Foster, and Ollie P. Storm. Illustrated. Mac-millan Co. 242; 271, 299; 296 pp. 80 88 96 96.

Newer Instructional Practices of Promise. The Twelfth Yearbook of The Department of Supervisors and Directors of Instruction. National Education Association. Published by the N.E.A., 1201 16th street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 379 pp.

Preface to an Educational Philosophy by I. B. Berkson. Columbia University Press. 250 pp. $2.50.

Reading and the Educative Process by Paul Witty and David Kopel. Ginn and Company. 366 pp. $2.50.

The Development of Certain Motor Skills and Play Activities in Young Children by Theresa Dower Jones. Bureau of Publications, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, New York. 980 pp. $1.85.

The Development of Education in the Twentieth Century by Adolf E. Meyer. 393 pp. $2.75.

Your Career in Agriculture by Homer P. Anderson. Illustrated. E. P. Dutton and Co. 285 pp. $2.00.

FICTION No Arms, No Armour by Robert Henriques. Farrar and Rinehart, Inc. 373 pp. $2.50.

Precious Bane by Mary Webb. E. P. Dutton and Company, Inc. 320 pp. $1.00.

The Criminal C.O.D. An Asey Mayo Mystery by Phoebe Atwood Taylor. W. W. Norton. 288 pp. $2.00.

GENERAL LITERATURE A Mary Webb Anthology selected and edited by H. B. L. Webb. Illustrated. E. P. Dutton and Co. 253 pp. $3.00.

Body, Boots and Britches by Harold W. Thompson. J. B. Lippincott Company, 524 pp. $3.50.

Chip Off My Shoulder by Thomas L. Stokes. Princeton University Press. 561 pp. $3.00.

Figures of Transition: A Study of British Literature of the End of the Nineteenth Century, by Granville Hicks. The Macmillan Company. 315 pp. $2.50.

TRAVEL Finland: Land of Heroes by Toivo Rosvall. Illustrated. E. P. Dutton and Co. 272 pp. $2.50.

Sailing the Sulu Sea: Belles and Bandits in the Philippines by Rear Admiral David Potter (S.C.) U.S.N. E. P. Dutton &; Company. 310 pp. $3.00.

This Way Southward: A Journey Through Patagonia And Tierra Del Fuego by A. F. Tschieffely. Illustrated. W. W. Norton. 354 pp. $3.50.     

Childhood

(喜欢吮吸自己的拇指)(肚子会长虫虫的。)(这是我童年的坏毛病。(总是改不了。)(不管父母怎么认为,我们小孩仍然相信,大拇指是上帝恩赐给每个小孩的棒棒糖。)(偷偷摸摸)(争分夺秒)(爸爸想尽各种办法阻止…)天啊,双枪老太婆!(于是我吸另一只手。)(爸爸,还记得10年前的约定吗?)In     

Academic Integrity and Distance Learning∗

The present study examines research trajectories of 20 academic “stars” relative to scholarship in 20 prominent and 7 elite criminology and criminal justice (CCJ) journals. We employ a modest subset of career concepts (frequency, specialization, seriousness, and co‐offending) to identify divergent pathways open to CCJ professionals as they begin work in academe or subsequently shape more mature careers. Findings suggest that research productivity varies depending on the measure utilized (e.g., type of outlet; weighted or unweighted; standardized or unstandardized). Different measures of central tendency provide different snapshots of institutional output. Publication frequencies are found to be far greater among stars employed at Carnegie Research I institutions. Regarding research type‐mix, the stars tend to be more eclectic than specialized, with indications of a relationship between number of articles published and breadth of topic areas. Future directions for research are also discussed.     

The School and ‘Contestation'∗

(The Editors are pleased to publish this article by Monsieur Maurice Niveau, Rector of the Academy of Lille, because it raises many issues that are also topical in English education: politicization of educational problems, inability to achieve a consensus, the effects of a hierarchical administration, and the composition and powers of school governing bodies (this last was discussed in the context of the Green Paper by Mr Joslyn Owen, the Chief Education Officer for Devonshire, in an article in our last issue). The recent House of Commons Expenditure Committee report ('The Attainments of the School Leaver’, HMSO, London March 1978) recommended that we should seek more information on education elsewhere in Western Europe. The publication of this paper is one small contribution to greater knowledge in this area. The paper was first published in French in the Revue de la Défense Nationale, Paris, July 1977.

Monsieur Niveau, as Rector of Lille, is nominal head of all educational institutions, including universities, in one of the largest and most densely populated ‘académies’ (educational administrative divisions) in France. He is no stranger to Britain and was one of the OECD ‘examiners’ who reported to that organization on the state of English education and which criticized the alleged secrecy of the DES. (cf. Reviews of National Policies for Education, England, OECD Paris 1977.))     

Assessment and the improvement of education∗

This article explores the school coordinator role in initial teacher training (ITT) in England. Recognising that mentoring is fully embedded and highly researched in ITT, it argues the role of the coordinator, while integral to partnerships, is far less researched. This paper investigates tensions in the role, between managing programme-wide quality assurance, teaching professional studies and developing school-based mentors. These questions were explored through multi-site case-studies with four HEIs and their partner schools in four linked phases of data collection. Data analysis established a range of different conceptualisations of the role, with only limited evidence of a development role with their mentors. The authors argue for policies which establish a more coherent conceptualisation of the role, and an agreed nomenclature. A key recommendation is to free coordinators from bureaucratic demands on their time to enable them to exemplify a new ‘professional multilingualism’.     

Early Childhood Education in Poland — Changes and Threats

The article presents:

• first, the most important characteristics of the totalitarian educational system which influence current situations in many fields of education, eg.: teacher education and training, philosophy and practice of education, management of the educational system, etc.

• first, the most important characteristics of the totalitarian educational system which influence current situations in many fields of education, eg.: teacher education and training, philosophy and practice of education, management of the educational system, etc.

• second, hopes and expectations towards various institutions connected with early childhood education in a new political and social situation and in the time of implementation of free market rules which caused unfavourable phenomena in early childhood education, eg. closures of settings and increase of fees paid by parents who take children away for financial reasons,

• finally, I present my own image of early childhood setting as an institution supporting parents in fulfilling their educational and care duties and involving them in the growth process of a child.

     

Examining Effects of Poverty,Maternal Depression,and Children’s Self-Regulation Abilities on the Development of Language and Cognition in Early Childhood: An Early Head Start Perspective

Early childhood poverty is a prevalent social issue, both in the United States and in the wider international community. It has been well established that factors associated with poverty, including familial income and parental education level, can negatively affect children’s language and cognitive development, which can result in academic achievement deficits that compound across the lifespan. Additional environmental factors, specifically maternal and children’s own social–emotional development, have also been shown to impact these sensitive early childhood developmental processes. Although individual components that relate to language and cognitive development in young children have been identified, additional examination of potential associative relationships between these components is warranted. Therefore, this study explored socio-economical, health, and developmental relationships between 122 caregiver–child dyads enrolled in an Early Head Start Program where children were 1–36 months old. Results indicated strong bidirectional correlations between children’s cognitive and language development. Multiple linear regression path analysis indicated that children’s cognition and social–emotional wellbeing have a significant direct effect on their language development. Additionally, language and fine motor development were found to have a significant direct effect and social–emotional wellbeing mediated an indirect effect through language on children’s cognitive development. In light of socioeconomic and sociocultural challenges, the importance of nurturing children’s social–emotional development in relation to language and cognitive development is discussed.     

Teachers’ Literal and Inferential Talk in Early Childhood and Special Education Classrooms

Research Findings: This study examined preschool teachers’ literal talk (LT) and inferential talk (IT) during shared book readings in early childhood education (ECE) and early childhood special education (ECSE) classrooms. We aimed to characterize and compare teachers’ LT and IT in these 2 classroom contexts and determine whether differences in LT and IT are predicted by classroom type, teachers’ educational background, or children’s average language skills. We examined the shared book reading activities of 52 teachers (26 ECE classrooms, 26 ECSE classrooms). Results revealed that ECSE teachers used significantly more LT and showed more variability in their LT and IT than ECE teachers. ECSE classroom type predicted teachers’ use of LT when we controlled for teacher education and children’s language skills, whereas teacher education predicted teachers’ use of IT when we controlled for classroom type and children’s language skills. Practice or Policy: These findings have implications for best practice guidelines and policies, particularly for ECSE environments.     

Profiles of Organizational Culture and Effective Schools∗

This study intends to investigate how school organizational culture is related to important organizational characteristics and observe how the profiles of strong culture‐effective schools are different from those of weak culture‐ineffective schools in terms of organizational variables (such as principal's leadership, organizational structure, and teachers’ social interactions), teachers’ job attitudes, and school effectiveness criteria. It is a cross‐sectional survey research involving 54 randomly sampled Hong Kong secondary schools and 588 teachers. The unit of analysis is the school.

Organizational ideology index was found to be substantially correlated with schools’ perceived organizational effectiveness. Among the 10 measures of these organizational variables, teachers’ esprit and principal's charismatic leadership can contribute substantially to the prediction of school's strength of organizational culture. The organizational profile of perceived strong culture‐effective schools is contrastingly different from that of perceived weak culture‐ineffective schools. The findings suggest that difference in organizational culture can be reflected at least in three overt levels: 1. organizational level in terms of principal's leadership behaviors, organizational formalization and participation, and teachers’ social norms; 2. teachers’ attitudinal level in terms of organizational commitment, social job satisfaction, intrinsic job satisfaction, and influence job satisfaction; and 3. school effectiveness level in terms of perceived overall organizational effectiveness and academic achievements in public examinations.

The findings reinforce the importance of organizational culture to the ongoing effort and discussion of school improvement and school effectiveness.