De-Mystifying the U.S. News Rankings: How to Understand What Matters,What Doesn't and What You can Actually Do About It

College rankings present challenges and opportunities for higher education marketers. Statistical analysis of data on the national universities reveals which measures are associated with peer assessment scores, whether it is possible to influence the score, and what underlying factors are present. Marketers can use the findings to counsel senior leaders and position their institutions more effectively with key constituencies.     

思想政治理论课在高职学生全面发展中的地位和作用

在经济全球化和中国经济快速发展的情况下，人才的思想政治素质的培养尤为重要。本文通过论述思想政治素质在人的全面发展中的地位，进一步论证思想政治理论课在高职学生全面发展中的地位和作用。     

Examining the Impact of Pedagogy on Student Application of Learning: Acquiring,Sharing, and Using Knowledge for Organizational Decision Making

In this pilot research we examine the impact of two leadership development training programs on the ability of students to acquire knowledge, share knowledge, and apply knowledge for organizational decision making. One program emphasized concepts and case‐based application based on a technical learning paradigm. The other program used a game‐based computer simulation, Virtual Leader, grounded in an experiential or situated learning paradigm. After training, students from both programs engaged in a complex in‐basket exercise to examine the quality of their leadership and managerial abilities. In this exercise, participants from each training intervention worked with their trained cohort to accomplish a day of managerial work. Participants were observed and their individual and collective actions and decisions on behalf of the organization were evaluated. Using qualitative research we compared the organizational decisions associated with each group to determine which pedagogical technique resulted in the most effective application of student learning. While technical learning pedagogy was associated with greater information acquisition, the game‐based computer simulation (an experiential, social‐interaction oriented pedagogy) was associated with better decision quality and more shared cognition. Evidence suggests that students taught with the game‐based computer simulation collectively demonstrated a greater ability to apply what they learned.     

英汉思维模式差异对英语写作中语篇组织的影响——一项基于大学英语写作的案例分析研究

英汉思维模式存在差异,而这种差异又影响了语言的表达方式。本文结合大学英语写作案例,分析了英汉两个方面的思维模式差异对英语写作中语篇组织的影响,并简要提出了在大学英语写作教学中培养学生对思维模式差异的敏感性,提高学生的写作水平的策略。     

Matters of Form: Questions of Race,Identity, Design,and the U.S. Census

This case examines how functionalist approaches manifest culturally based on users’ contexts. The authors conduct a critical visual semiotic analysis of the race and Hispanic origin questions on the 2010 U.S. Census form, demonstrating how incongruities in design potentially harm people. This demonstrates a need for adding critical analyses to design and research and it refocuses the Society for Technical Communication’s value of promoting the public good on to design and documentation in order to fight injustice.     

Statement of American Social Scientists of Research on School Desegregation to the U.S. Supreme Court in Parents v. Seattle School District and Meredith v. Jefferson County

In June 2006, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to review two related cases originating from school districts in Louisville, Kentucky and Seattle, Washington that involved voluntarily adopted racial integration plans. Concerned about the outcome of these cases, 553 social scientists submitted a social science statement to the Supreme Court summarizing the large body of social science research supporting the school districts’ policies relevant to the Court’s determination. The statement, reprinted here, supports three interrelated conclusions: (1) racially integrated schools provide significant benefits to students and communities; (2) racially isolated schools have harmful educational implications for students; and (3) race-conscious policies are necessary to maintain racial integration in schools. Because of the overwhelming amount of scholarly data, social scientists argued, as the lower courts had found, that the schools boards have a compelling interest to promote racial integration and prevent racial isolation through choice-based school assignment policies that consider race as a factor. On June 28, 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the school assignment plans on the grounds that the plans were not narrowly tailored to the interests that the school districts had asserted. In addition to affecting the ability of school districts to maintain racially diverse schools, the decision has broad implications for researchers who seek to help school districts in these efforts.

Title IX and Retaliation: The Impact of Jackson v. Birmingham Board of Education on Higher Education

In 2005, the United States Supreme Court rendered a closely divided opinion that extends the protections against discrimination provided by Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 to include a private cause of action for retaliation in Jackson v. Birmingham Board of Education. Therefore, “whistleblowers,” or employees who report allegedly discriminatory practices, can file suit against employers who retaliate against them on the basis of their complaints under the auspices of Title IX, which prohibits discrimination “on the basis of sex” by recipients of federal education funds. Unlike other federal anti-discrimination laws such as Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, retaliation is not expressly mentioned within the text of Title IX, and the Supreme Court reasoned that the broad language of the statute encompasses implied protections against retaliation, regardless of the gender of the employee who alleges retaliatory action. As a result of Jackson, the first generation of litigation against colleges and universities under this expanded standard has begun to navigate the federal courts. This article analyzes the Supreme Court’s opinion in Jackson and the related cases representing the first application of the retaliation standard articulated therein to colleges and universities. The article concludes with suggestions for insulation from liability associated with alleged retaliation claims against administrators and educational institutions.     

美国公立学术性高中使命陈述的文本分析——基于对《美国新闻与世界报道》排名前100位高中的研究

本研究以《美国新闻与世界报道》中排名前100位的高中为研究对象,采取文本分析的方法对其使命陈述的内容进行编码和归类。研究结果表明,美国学术性高中使命陈述的主要内容包括:关注"人"的培养和学生的学习力的培养,注重核心素养的养成,关注外部环境对学生发展的影响,注重学生的职业生涯规划教育。这启示我们在凝练学校使命陈述的时候,要注意:应准确地表述学校的发展定位;体现对学校办学传统的尊重,又突出对未来的战略性展望;同时彰显学校的特色和文化品位。     

马克思"新世界观"视域下思想政治教育的实践性审视——基于《关于费尔巴哈的提纲》的文本分析

《关于费尔巴哈的提纲》是马克思首次系统阐述科学实践观的重要著作,蕴含着"新世界观"的重要内容,集中展示了以实践为认识世界的逻辑起点,以思维的现实性力量为连接认识世界与改造世界的桥梁,以能动改造世界的实践方式为价值指向的核心要义。马克思"新世界观"的理论建构与思想政治教育"精神变物质"的实践属性具有高度契合性,在此视域下审视和分析思想政治教育的实践性,能够为深刻把握思想政治教育的实践属性,创新思想政治教育的方式方法提供重要的理论依据与现实指引。     

Voices from the Field: Perspectives of U.S. Kinesiology Chairs on Opportunities,Challenges, and the Role of Mentoring in the Chair Position

This study examined perspectives of U.S. collegiate kinesiology department chairs (n = 54/144; 37.5% response rate) relative to: (a) opportunities and most enjoyable aspects of being a department chair, (b) challenges and least enjoyable aspects of being a department chair, and (c) perspectives on mentoring. The majority of participants enjoyed their chair role (90%) and did not aspire to advance in administration (61%). Job-related opportunities included mentoring others, facilitating department success, and leading initiatives (e.g., curricula, policies, and finances). Job-related challenges included a lack of university support, personnel issues, and urgent requests for information. Many had a mentor for a long time (mean = 7.9 ± 7.6 years; range 1 to 28 years), and the majority (71%) did not consider their dean a mentor. Protégés appreciated their mentors’ experience, listening skills, and willingness to share information, advice, and empathy. Results from this study provide helpful information for serving as a kinesiology chair.     

The power of positioning: on the normalisation of gender,race/ethnicity,nation and class positions in a Swedish social work textbook

This article presents a feminist reading of a Swedish social work academic textbook as a case study. We use a discourse analytic approach and positioning theory, focusing on author positions through different story lines. The aim is to make visible how differences are created and positions of the author/reader normalised in terms of gender, race/ethnicity and class. The analysis illustrates how the organisation of the book privileges a particular story line by presenting gender research in a special section of the book and as a perspective. A neutral, unmarked author position is assumed, presented as a common ‘we’ by identifying ‘women researchers’ and ‘feminist’ points of departure as different. If the unmarked author/reader ‘we’ position appears desirable and morally superior, the clients’ gender, ethnicity and class are often openly discussed in relation to social problems, positioning them as ‘the other’. Finally there is also a story line of more critical and ambivalent knowledge positions.     

Preparing principals on the U.S.-Mexico border and beyond: A call to confront fear,uncertainty, and the marginalization of Mexican American Students

The recent presidential election and an increase in anti-immigrant rhetoric and deportations foster greater uncertainty and fear in Mexican American immigrant communities. In the border city of El Paso, Texas, teachers and principals report how fear and uncertainty negatively impact their campuses, students, and school-family relationships. The purpose of this article is to prompt a regional and national discussion about the preparation of principals who work in Mexican American and immigrant communities, because current professional standards and so-called “best-practices” in school leadership do not sufficiently address the critical social justice issues central to supporting students and families in the present and immediate future. To catalyze this dialogue, I offer five school leadership recommendations developed in collaboration with El Paso teachers and school leaders working in Mexican American immigrant communities. I hope scholars, educators, policymakers, parents, and activists will collectively consider these recommendations as well offer other viable solutions, strategies, practices, and approaches to preparing school leaders in these uncertain and unjust times.     

Impacts of adverse childhood experiences on health,mental health,and substance use in early adulthood: A cohort study of an urban,minority sample in the U.S.

Research has shown that adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) increase the risk of poor health-related outcomes in later life. Less is known about the consequences of ACEs in early adulthood or among diverse samples. Therefore, we investigated the impacts of differential exposure to ACEs on an urban, minority sample of young adults. Health, mental health, and substance use outcomes were examined alone and in aggregate. Potential moderating effects of sex were also explored. Data were derived from the Chicago Longitudinal Study, a panel investigation of individuals who were born in 1979 or 1980. Main-effect analyses were conducted with multivariate logistic and OLS regression. Sex differences were explored with stratified analysis, followed by tests of interaction effects with the full sample. Results confirmed that there was a robust association between ACEs and poor outcomes in early adulthood. Greater levels of adversity were associated with poorer self-rated health and life satisfaction, as well as more frequent depressive symptoms, anxiety, tobacco use, alcohol use, and marijuana use. Cumulative adversity also was associated with cumulative effects across domains. For instance, compared to individuals without an ACE, individuals exposed to multiple ACEs were more likely to have three or more poor outcomes (OR range = 2.75–10.15) and four or more poor outcomes (OR range = 3.93–15.18). No significant differences between males and females were detected. Given that the consequences of ACEs in early adulthood may lead to later morbidity and mortality, increased investment in programs and policies that prevent ACEs and ameliorate their impacts is warranted.