A Longitudinal Study of Parental Stress and Support: From Diagnosis of Disability to Leaving School

Parental stress attributed to both a child with an intellectual disability and their youngest child without a disability was examined over a seven year period. Stress and support were also examined in relation to the life stages of disability diagnosis, starting school and completing school. Stress attributed to the child with a disability was greater than stress attributed to the youngest child without a disability and remained high over the seven year period, however, an increased level of stress was attributed to the child without a disability. In terms of life stages, diagnosis of intellectual disability in a child remained as the most stress‐inducing of the life events included in the study, however, most parents had also experienced heightened stress at the time their child started school, and also during the transition from school to work. The support parents found most helpful reflected their changing focus of worry over time. The implications and limitations of this study arc discussed.     

Editorial: conceptualising Early School Leaving

Early school leaving has been identified as a key policy priority across Europe. In this article, we critically discuss the underpinning assumptions and rationale for this policy focus, challenging the association that is made between early school leaving, economic growth and employment. We suggest that ESL is important, not because it is inhibiting growth or that it is responsible for high levels of youth unemployment, but because it helps to sustain and reproduce inequalities. We problematise the utilitarian conceptualisation of education and linear models of educational pathways that are embedded in this policy framework and critically discuss strategies that are proposed to address early school leaving. We argue that the key criteria for assessing such strategies should be the extent to which they meet social equity and social inclusion goals.     

Continuity of School Effects: A Longitudinal Analysis of Primary and Secondary School Effects on GCSE Performance

Multilevel analyses of students' GCSE examination results (taken at age 16) are used to investigate both primary and secondary school effects on students' total performance scores and the issue of continuity of schools' effects over time. Follow‐up data for the Inner London Education Authority's Junior School Project sample, including attainment at secondary transfer (age 11) and at GCSE and details concerning students' background characteristics are analysed.

Significant school effects at both primary and secondary level and small but significant continuing effects of primary schools on later GCSE attainment are identified. The theoretical and practical significance of the results are discussed.     

就近入学与择校:两难问题何去何从

就近入学与择校是一个两难问题,尽管多数西方国家和少数发展中国家在20世纪80年代后尝试推行择校政策,但择校带来的问题也不少,引起的争议依然存在,没有一个国家找到了比较好的方法解决。在我国,就近入学是我国义务教育阶段的主要政策,但现实中择校广泛存在。解决这个两难问题,可以让部分地区先制定择校政策,待成熟后逐步推广。     

Severe Learning Difficulties in Northern Ireland: Leaving School

Responsibility for pupils with severe learning difficulties in Northern Ireland was only recently taken by the education authorities. The findings of research into the school leaving arrangements are described by Dr Ian Wells, senior research officer with the Northern Ireland Council for Educational Research (NICER), Belfast.     

A Longitudinal Hierarchical Linear Model for Estimating School Effects and Their Stability

This paper presents a general longitudinal model for estimating school effects and their stability. Previous research on the stability of school performance over successive years has produced inconsistent findings. We argue that the findings have been inconsistent for at least two reasons: researchers have estimated different types of school effects, and they have not distinguished between instability due to true changes in school performance and instability due to measurement and sampling error. We describe two different types of school effects, each relevant to a different policy audience, and we present a longitudinal model that is capable of separating true changes in school effects from sampling and measurement error. The model also provides a means for estimating the effects of school policies and practices while controlling statistically for the effects of factors exogenous to the schooling system. This paper provides an example of the approach based on data describing two cohorts of students from one Education Authority in Scotland. It concludes with a discussion of the limitations of the model and implications for those collecting indicators of school performance for planning and evaluation purposes.     

学校效能:职业学校评价的新视角

对学校效能理论的起源及发展,学校效能的内涵、特征及功能等问题进行梳理,在此基础上提出以学校效能理论为基础,构建职校效能理论,评价职业学校效能的观点。认为将学校效能理论应用于职业学校评价,研究职业学校教育净影响所产生的增值情况,对于科学分析、评价职业学校具有重要意义。     

学校文化建设:一种专业的视角

随着教育改革的不断深化,学校文化已成为当下人们关注的热点之一.如何建设学校文化,如何理解、提炼与表达学校文化,已成为每所学校现实而又具体的问题.本文针对当前学校文化热中出现的种种问题,试图以一种学校文化建设的专业视角,探讨学校文化应"如何理解"、"如何提炼"、"如何表达"这三个核心问题,旨在提供一种研究思路.     

Bidirectional Relations Between Text Reading Prosody and Reading Comprehension in the Upper Primary School Grades: A Longitudinal Perspective

The purpose of this study was to examine the directionality of the relationship between text reading prosody and reading comprehension in the upper grades of primary school. We compared 3 theoretical possibilities: Two unidirectional relations from text reading prosody to reading comprehension and from reading comprehension to text reading prosody and a bidirectional relation between text reading prosody and reading comprehension. Further, we controlled for autoregressive effects and included decoding efficiency as a measure of general reading skill. Participants were 99 Dutch children, followed longitudinally, from 4th to 6th grade. Structural equation modeling showed that the bidirectional relation provided the best fitting model. In 5th grade, text reading prosody was related to prior decoding and reading comprehension, whereas in 6th grade, reading comprehension was related to prior text reading prosody. As such, the results suggest that the relation between text reading prosody and reading comprehension is reciprocal but dependent on grade level.     

Perceived School and Neighborhood Safety, Neighborhood Violence and Academic Achievement in Urban School Children

Community and school violence continue to be a major public health problem, especially among urban children and adolescents. Little research has focused on the effect of school safety and neighborhood violence on academic performance. This study examines the effect of the school and neighborhood climate on academic achievement among a population of 3rd–5th grade students in an urban public school system. Community and school safety were assessed using the School Climate Survey, an annual City-wide assessment of student’s perception of school and community safety. Community violence was measured using the Neighborhood Inventory for Environmental Typology, an objective observational assessment of neighborhood characteristics. Academic achievement was measured using the Maryland State Assessment (MSA), a standardized exam given to all Maryland 3rd–8th graders. School Climate Data and MSA data were aggregated by school and grade. Objective assessments of neighborhood environment and students’ self-reported school and neighborhood safety were both strongly associated with academic performance. Increasing neighborhood violence was associated with statistically significant decreases from 4.2 to 8.7% in math and reading achievement; increasing perceived safety was associated with significant increases in achievement from 16 to 22%. These preliminary findings highlight the adverse impact of perceived safety and community violence exposure on primary school children’s academic performance.     

Philosophy in Schools: A Catholic School Perspective

This article builds on the recent Special Interest issue of this journal on ‘Philosophy for Children in Transition’ (2011) and the way that the debate about philosophy in schools has now shifted to whether or not it ought to be a compulsory part of the curriculum. This article puts the spotlight on Catholic schools in order to present a different argument in favour of introducing compulsory philosophy lessons into the curriculum. It is explained that in faith schools, such as Catholic ones, there is an additional need or imperative to have compulsory philosophy as part of the curriculum. This is because it serves as an effective way of avoiding the inherent dangers of confessional education, particularly the indoctrination challenge. It is argued that Catholic schools also have some intriguing theological reasons that can be used to justify the inclusion of compulsory philosophy in the school curriculum. It is proposed that when it comes to philosophy in schools there is a distinctive Catholic school perspective. As part of this it is explained why Catholic schools, perhaps more than others, need philosophy to be a compulsory part of the curriculum.     

Comparative Mathematical Language in the Elementary School: A Longitudinal Study

This paper examines the change in young children’s understanding of ‘equal’, ‘more’, ‘less’, and ‘between’, words commonly used in equivalent and non-equivalent situations, over a 3-year period. Seventy-six children participated in the longitudinal study. Each year they were asked to share their understanding of these four words. Past research has indicated that many children have limited understanding of ‘equal’ as quantitative sameness. The results of this research suggested that many children also have limited understanding of ‘more’ and ‘less’ and that these understandings did not significantly change over the 3-year period.     

Early Relationship Quality From Home to School: A Longitudinal Study

The aim of this investigation was to examine the role of social relationships in the home as predictors of social functioning in the first years of school. Longitudinal data gathered on 156 children from urban, low-income families were used to examine the unique contributions of mother-child attachment classification at ages 1 and 2 years, the child's relationship with another adult caregiver, the child's closeness to a sibling, and the child's status in the family relative to siblings between ages 3 and 4 years, to teacher reports of their own relationship to the child and the child's social skills in the classroom and peer relations. The role of family-based relationships as possible protective factors for children at social or demographic risk for problems in school was also tested. Results indicate that quality of different family relationships provides relatively independent and complementary information about early social functioning in school, with more limited evidence for compensatory or protective processes at work.     

Early Relationship Quality From Home to School: A Longitudinal Study

The aim of this investigation was to examine the role of social relationships in the home as predictors of social functioning in the first years of school. Longitudinal data gathered on 156 children from urban, low-income families were used to examine the unique contributions of mother-child attachment classification at ages 1 and 2 years, the child's relationship with another adult caregiver, the child's closeness to a sibling, and the child's status in the family relative to siblings between ages 3 and 4 years, to teacher reports of their own relationship to the child and the child's social skills in the classroom and peer relations. The role of family-based relationships as possible protective factors for children at social or demographic risk for problems in school was also tested. Results indicate that quality of different family relationships provides relatively independent and complementary information about early social functioning in school, with more limited evidence for compensatory or protective processes at work.     

Characteristics of Children with Moderate Mathematics Deficiencies: A Longitudinal Perspective

The reading and mathematics achievement and specific mathematical competencies of 74 children were followed over four time points during second and third grades. At the beginning of the study, children were classified into one of four groups: moderate mathematics deficiencies but normal reading (MMD‐only); moderate mathematics and reading deficiencies (MMD/MRD); moderate reading deficiencies but normal mathematics (MRD‐only); and normal achievement in reading and mathematics (NA). Although the MMD‐only and the MMD/MRD groups started out at the same level in mathematics, the MMD‐only group surpassed the MMD/MRD group over time. A parallel pattern in reading was not observed for the MRD‐only and MMD/MRD groups, with children in both groups performing at consistently low levels. Weaknesses in fact retrieval and estimation characterized children with MMD, with or without RD. The MMD‐only group showed an advantage over the MMD/MRD group in problem solving. Reading and language strengths help children compensate for deficiencies in selected areas of mathematics.