School Choice: The Personal and the Political

Enrollment in school choice programs is growing, so is overall support for school choice. Many have analyzed what demographic characteristics impact attitudes towards school choice. This article adds to the literature by exploring the interaction between personal decisions regarding school choice and broader support for school choice programs. Focus groups were conducted in St. Louis and Kansas City with 35 parents of school-age children. Participant responses indicate that school choice programs illicit mixed emotions from parents. Most participants personally support school choice and exercise choice themselves by sending their children to magnet, charter, or private schools. At the same time, they have reservations about broader school choice programs. As Schelling (1978) suggests, these individuals act in their own self-interest despite the impact it might have on the aggregate. More to the point, they are willing to express choice themselves, but deny it to others.     

中小学生肥胖问题研究：校际差异及时间分配表征

学校是否会形塑学生身体?为回答这一问题,基于"中小学生学习情况及学习环境调查(2020)"数据,通过"以个体为中心"的研究视角,运用潜在剖面分析、多层次次序Logistic回归,探讨基础教育阶段学校层面的校际差异与个体层面的时间分配模式是否对中小学生的肥胖程度产生影响。研究发现:(1)在小学阶段和初中阶段,学校评级与学校性质分别会对小学生与初中生的肥胖程度造成影响;高中阶段学校因素的影响不显著。(2)肥胖程度在时间分配模式上呈现出两种不同表征并随学段发生变化。在小学与初中阶段,作业型、均衡型与游戏型3种较多静态时间分配模式的学生更容易发胖。(3)中小学生肥胖的时间分配随着校际差异存在异质性表征,初中阶段尤为明显。相较于民办初中,公办初中的学生更容易因时间分配的不均衡而"致胖"。因此,在学校及学生健康政策制定中应当充分考虑中小学生肥胖的结构性特征,通过对作业、手机(游戏)、运动以及睡眠的时间进行政策性干预,进而从影响肥胖的外部因素角度有效遏制超重、肥胖现象的发生。     

中学生学校生活质量特点研究

文章运用问卷法对431名中学生的学校生活质量进行测量,考察中学生学校生活质量的特点并比较了不同亚群中学生学校生活质量的差异。结果发现:(1)中学生在七个学校生活质量维度的均值排列顺序由高到低依次为:师生关系、机会、社群关系、整体满足感、经历、成就感、负面情感;(2)学习成绩为下等的学生负面情感显著多于学习成绩为上等的学生;人缘越好的中学生负面情感越少;中学生在除负面情感以外的各学校生活质量维度上呈现出人缘越好生活质量越高的特点;(3)不论在何种家庭类型的学生亚群体中,均呈现出负面情感随家庭关系融洽程度的提高而减少,其他维度的生活质量随家庭关系融洽度的提高而提高的总体趋势。在家庭关系为不融洽、一般和融洽的学生亚群体中,核心家庭的学生都倾向于对其学校生活质量做出较高的评价。在家庭关系很融洽的学生亚群体中,几代同堂家庭的学生倾向于对其学校生活质量做出较高的评价。     

School grades,school context and university degree performance: evidence from an elite Scottish institution

This paper investigates degree classification outcomes for students with SQA Higher qualifications at an elite Scottish university. Students are characterised according to a new indicator based on their secondary school’s academic performance relative to the national (Scottish) average. The results show that our school context indicator provides valuable information for interpreting school qualifications with respect to a student’s potential to benefit from their university studies. If school context is ignored, raw school grades alone may be an incomplete measure of academic ability and the probability of success at university.     

新课改后中小学生学校生活满意度调查

主要运用问卷调查法,在某中等发达城市的四所学校采用分层随机抽样抽取440名小学生、500名初中生、500名高中生共1 440人对其学校生活满意度进行调查。结果表明：（1）总体上看,中小学生生活满意度成负偏态分布,整体水平较高;（2）学业成绩依然是影响学生学校生活满意度最重要的因素;学生在学校普遍缺乏自我展示的机会;自由度较低;（3）中小学生的校内人际关系自我评价较高,但师生关系和同伴关系对中学生和小学生的学校生活满意度影响呈现出明显差异。     

A comparison of regular program and vocational program junior high school students on affective dimensions

The hypothesis that young adolescents in vocational education programs would differ from young adolescents in a regular program along several affective dimensions was examined. The Today Form of the Multiple Affect Adjective Check List (MAACL) was administered twice during the school year to 111 students in a vocational program and to 50 students in regular classrooms. Dimensions of Anxiety, Depression, and Hostility were examined. Significant main effects for all three dimensions were noted for school program (regular vs. CVAE) and for grade (seventh vs. eighth). Students in the vocational program and those in seventh grade scored higher on Anxiety, Depression, and Hostility. These differences persisted across time, with the exception of Depression, for which there was a significant interaction between time (pretest vs. posttest) and school program (regular vs. CVAE), with regular students reporting increased depression at the second testing.     

初中生学校适应及其与一般生活满意度的关系

运用《学生在校生活状况问卷-在校行为子量表》和《多维学生生活满意度量表》对431名初中生的学校适应和一般生活满意度进行测量。结果表明:(1)女生在课业、常规和同学关系三方面的适应状况均好于男生;(2)初一学生的课业、常规、师生关系、同学关系四方面的适应状况在初一至初三的三个年级中均最差;(3)学习成绩为下等学生的课业适应最差,初中生的师生关系适应随学习成绩的提高而提高;(4)学习成绩为上等学生的自我接纳程度最高;(5)在三种人缘状况的学生中,人缘差的学生的课业适应和常规适应最差,人缘很好学生的师生关系和同学关系适应最好;(6)初中生的五种学校适应均与其一般生活满意度存在显著正相关,五个学校适应维度对一般生活满意度的预测率为41％。     

Creating a Culture of Peaceful School Communities

Peace Learning Center implements conflict resolution and peace education programs for a large urban school district in the United States of America. Learn ways the center teaches conflict resolution skills to youth and school staff members while creating peaceful school cultures through peer mediation programs.     

Private School Diversity in Denmark's National Voucher System

The voucher system in Denmark combines unrestricted generous subsidies with substantial autonomy of private schools as to schedule and teaching methods. This has produced a private school sector with a wide variety of school types. This paper uses data on eight cohorts of students (over 510,000 individuals) to compare educational attainment in public and private voucher schools, including religious schools (Catholic and Protestant) and various types of non‐religious schools. The findings suggest that, after controlling for individual and peer characteristics, the average public student would attain moderately higher levels of education if he/she attended grammar or Catholic school, relative to the public alternative. Attainment of students at Protestant, international and German minority schools is not different from public schools. However, attending free, boarding and, particularly, little and Waldorf schools is associated with substantially lower completion rates at the upper secondary level, which is probably at least partly due to the clustering of special education students in these school types, which cannot be controlled for. At the tertiary level, differences between private and public schools generally vanish.     

Rural Communities Lacking Multi-Sector Schooling Options: Indiana’s School Choice Deserts

ABSTRACT

Despite Indiana’s school choice landscape – including private school vouchers, tax-credit scholarships, inter-district and intra-district enrollment, magnet schools, and charter schools – not all Indiana communities have reasonable access to options outside of their traditional public schools. This research explores what lack-of-reasonable access differences – defined as greater than a 30-minute one-way drive time to a choice school – exist by locale, with a focus on rural communities. Geospatial analysis is used to identify “school choice deserts” lacking multi-sector schooling options in various communities. These deserts tend to exist wholly or mostly in rural areas, although Indiana students in grades K–8 exhibit greater access levels to non-traditional schools than those in high school.     

Examining Prediction Models of Giving Up within a Resource-based Framework of Coping in Primary School Students with and without Learning Disabilities

This study tests a proposed model of coping outcomes for 290 primary school students in Years 5 and 6 (mean age = 11.50 years) with and without learning disabilities (LDs) within a resource-based framework of coping. Group-administered educational and intelligence tests were used to screen students for LDs. Students also completed a questionnaire measuring coping resources, namely student engagement and internal control as well as outcome measures of coping styles and inability to cope. Structural equation modelling revealed that student engagement promoted the use of productive coping strategies for both groups and that this relationship was partially mediated by internal control. Internal control also partially mediated the relationship between student engagement and non-productive coping for students without LDs. Furthermore, less reliance on productive and greater reliance on non-productive coping strategies, respectively, predicted more of a tendency to not cope or give up in both groups.     

Career Decision-Making Skills of High School Students in The Bahamas

The purpose of the study was to examine the confidence level in career decision-making of Bahamian adolescents in the high schools in Nassau, Bahamas, investigating factors that influence one's level of confidence in career decision-making. The Career Decision Scale along with a demographic survey were administered to 385 11th and 12th graders to examine six factors which measured the effects and/or interaction effects of influences on confidence in career decision-making. Two MANOVAs and the appropriate follow-up statistics (Tukey's Honestly Significant Difference post hoc tests) were used to determine differences and interaction effects among the variables measuring the level of career decision-making skills. Based on the findings of the study the researcher concluded that for Bahamian adolescents, the type of school, the grade level, and a visit to the school guidance office were significant factors that influenced one's level of confidence in career decision-making.     

Effects of different balance interventions for primary school students

Abstract

This study examines the effects of two different 8-week balance intervention programs for students of primary school age. Static and dynamic balance were assessed in 380 students (6–12?years) before and after an 8-week balance intervention program. Students were divided and assigned into a no intervention control group, a direct instructional model (DIM) or a tactical games model (TGM). Static and dynamic balance improved after both intervention programs, but results differed by grade (age). DIM was the most effective for G2 (7–8?years), and TGM was most effective for G4-G6 (9–12?years) students. Thus, at the youngest ages of primary school DIM balance programs in which skills are taught and practised in isolation and students work individually are more effective, but for improving balance. At more advanced ages (>8?years), TGM balance programs may be more effective.     

民族高中和普通高中学生职业兴趣比较研究

本研究采用巴雷特(Jim Barrett)的职业调查测验量表,对青海民族地区的618名高中生进行了职业兴趣问卷测查。结果显示:(1)民族地区高中生的职业兴趣特征倾向依次是:实验型→文字型→组织型→艺术型→商业型→社会型→自然型;(2)民族高中和普通高中同一年级的学生、同一学校不同性别的学生、同一民族而不同学校的藏族学生,均在职业兴趣类型上具有显著性差异,但差异性程度不同。文章还分析了民族地区高中生的职业兴趣类型差异及其成因。     

高中学生人格与主观幸福感关系的研究

为了揭示高中学生人格与主观幸福感的关系,采用量表法,对分层随机抽取的全国1968名高中学生进行测查,结果表明:(1)高中男生的主观幸福感明显高于女生,而且在正性情感、学习满意感和身体满意感上有显著差异;省级达标校的高中学生学习满意感优于市级达标校,市级达标校的高中学生学习满意感优于普通校,省级达标校的高中学生身体满意感优于市级达标校和普通校.(2)人格特质是高中学生主观幸福感的有效预测量变,神经质与高中学生主观幸福感呈负相关的关系;外倾与高中学生主观幸福感呈正相关的关系.(3)人格对高中学生主观幸福感的情感成份预测效应最大,对一般生活满意感预测效应高于特殊生活满意感.     

The effect of formal teacher education on reading achievement of 3rd‐grade students in public and independent schools in Sweden

This study investigates the influence of teacher competence on 3rd‐grade students’ reading achievement in public and independent schools in Sweden. The data come from the Swedish participation in PIRLS 2001 (Progress in Reading Literacy Study 2001) and comprise some 10,000 students. Students in independent schools achieved better on the reading test than did students in public schools, but when parents’ education was controlled for, the effect on students’ achievement of school type disappeared. Teacher certification for teaching in the early grades had a strong effect on students’ mean reading test scores in both school types, while no significant effects of teacher experience, age, gender, in‐service training or cooperation could be established. Though school type had no influence of itself, it was a mediating factor for both parents’ education and teachers’ education. These effects, however, worked in opposite directions.     

构建适合我国的普通高中学生发展指导制度

学生发展指导是指学校为促进学生全面而有个性的发展而向学生提供的一系列指导服务,在众多国家与地区已成为现代学校教育的三大职能之一。最初的学生指导源于职业指导,历经几十年的变革发展,在内容、理念、模式和人员上都有很大变化和拓展。在我国,尽管也有部分地区对普通高中学生发展指导工作进行了一些探索,但普通高中学生发展指导工作存在政策法规尚未建立、科学性不够、专业性不强等诸多问题,亟待建立适合我国普通高中学生的发展指导制度。本文阐述了开展我国普通高中生发展指导工作应遵循的5条基本原则,发展指导应遵循的理论,以及发展指导的具体内容。同时,构建了相应的发展指导制度框架,制定政策法规对人员配比与资质、人员培训、时间和物质保障等方面进行规定,建立适当的管理与评估体系,通过制度化要求来保障学生发展指导工作科学、规范、有效地开展。     

Bang for the Buck: Autonomy and Charter School Efficiency in Milwaukee

Charter schools are a relatively new phenomenon in American education. Since the first charter school opened in Minnesota in 1991, they have expanded to 42 states and represent 6.2% of all public schools in the country.¹ This growth has been attributed to a number of factors, chief among them evidence that charter schools can improve performance (Lamdin and Mintrom, 1997). While there is a substantial evidence for relative performance benefits of charter schooling (e.g. CREDO, 2015) far less research been conducted on the efficiency of charter schools relative to traditional public schools. What research there is has produced both positive (e.g. Wolf et. al., 2014) and negative results (e.g. Carpenter and Noller, 2010). What can account for the disparity in these findings? In this paper, I make the case that differences in charter efficiency may be accounted for by differences in their level of autonomy from the school district. I base this argument on economic theories that the devolution of power to the lowest level possible tends to produce gains in efficiency (Johnson, 1991; Duncombe and Yinger, 1997). Those that are “on the ground” are thought to be more effective at monitoring expenditures, and allocations of resources have to pass through less ‘red tape (Hess 2006).’ In addition, more autonomous charter schools better fit the original purpose of charter schools in devolving power from centralized authorities (Budde, 1996). In order to test this theory, I take advantage of a unique situation that exists in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in which three types of charter schools with varying levels of autonomy operate simultaneously. Using school type as a proxy for autonomy, I find that more independent charter schools are more efficient than traditional public schools and charter schools with less autonomy.     

Risk and protective factors for poor school adjustment in lesbian,gay, and bisexual (LGB) high school youth: Variable and person‐centered analyses

This study examined the relations between school climate and school adjustment among 101 lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) high school students and the moderating influence of social support on those relations. Students completed surveys to assess three aspects of the school climate (the school's exclusion/inclusion of LGB people, personal victimization in school for being LGB, and social support from teachers) as well as social support from family and close friends. Criterion variables were GPA, school belonging, and discipline problems. School climate variables explained significant amounts of variance in all criterion variables, after controlling for prior GPA, and there were no moderating effects of parent or friend support. Cluster analyses revealed one small group (n = 14) of highly vulnerable youth who were the least adjusted, most victimized, and least supported. Implications for teachers, counselors, and future research are discussed. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 42: 159–172, 2005.     

Making the most of summer school: a meta-analytic and narrative review

Summer schools serve multiple purposes for students, families, educators, and communities. The current need for summer programs is driven by changes in American families and by calls for an educational system that is competitive globally and embodies higher academic standards. A research synthesis is reported that used both meta-analytic and narrative procedures to integrate the results of 93 evaluations of summer school. Results revealed that summer programs focusing on remedial or accelerated learning or other goals have a positive impact on the knowledge and skills of participants. Although all students benefit from summer school, students from middle-class homes show larger positive effects than students from disadvantaged homes. Remedial programs have larger effects when the program is relatively small and when instruction is individualized. Remedial programs may have more positive effects on math than on reading. Requiring parent involvement also appears related to more effective programs. Students at all grade levels benefit from remedial summer school, but students in the earliest grades and in secondary school may benefit most. These and other findings are examined for their implications for future research, public policy, and the implementation of summer programs. Based on these results, our recommendations to policy makers are that summer programs (a) contain substantial components aimed at teaching math and reading and (b) include rigorous evaluations, but also (c) permit local control of curricula and delivery systems. Funds should be set aside to foster participation in summer programs, especially among disadvantaged youth. Program implementers should (a) begin summer program planning earlier in the year, (b) strive for continuity of staffing and programs across years, (c) use summer school in conjunction with summer staff development opportunities, and (d) begin integrating summer school experiences with those that occur during the regular school year.