Davis Street Magnet School: Linking Child Development With Literacy

The School Development Program Essentials of Literacy process uses a number of strategies to develop literacy among students who have been identified by their teachers as being "problem readers." At Davis Street Magnet School, this Comerian approach has worked not only to develop students' literacy skills but also to support and enhance their growth along six developmental pathways. This process also serves the important function of strengthening the connection between school and home.     

Site-Based Transdisciplinary Educational Partnerships: Development,Implementation, and Outcomes of a Collaborative Professional Preparation Program

In this article, we describe the conceptual framework, development, implementation, and outcomes of an experimental professional preparation program. University students from preparation programs in general education, educational administration, school psychology, and special education formed transdisciplinary cohorts that were placed in school settings to complete a variety of activities designed to foster greater collaboration among disciplines in serving children and youth at risk. We describe what was learned throughout the project as well as its operational structure, outcomes, and future directions for transdisciplinary professional development.     

Development,Implementation, and Outcomes of an Equitable Computer Science After-School Program: Findings From Middle-School Students

Current policy efforts that seek to improve learning in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) emphasize the importance of helping all students acquire concepts and tools from computer science that help them analyze and develop solutions to everyday problems. These goals have been generally described in the literature under the term computational thinking. In this article, we report on the design, implementation, and outcomes of an after-school program on computational thinking. The program was founded through a partnership between university faculty, undergraduates, teachers, and students. Specifically, we examine how equitable pedagogical practices can be applied in the design of computing programs and the ways in which participation in such programs influence middle school students' learning of computer science concepts, computational practices, and attitudes toward computing. Participants included 52 middle school students who voluntarily attended the 9-week after-school program, as well as four undergraduates and one teacher who designed and implemented the program. Data were collected from after-school program observations, undergraduate reflections, computer science content assessments, programming products, and attitude surveys. The results indicate that the program positively influenced student learning of computer science concepts and attitudes toward computing. Findings have implications for the design of effective learning experiences that broaden participation in computing. (Keywords: computational thinking, programming, middle school, mixed methods)     

The ICAP Framework: Linking Cognitive Engagement to Active Learning Outcomes

This article describes the ICAP framework that defines cognitive engagement activities on the basis of students’ overt behaviors and proposes that engagement behaviors can be categorized and differentiated into one of four modes: Interactive, Constructive, Active, and Passive. The ICAP hypothesis predicts that as students become more engaged with the learning materials, from passive to active to constructive to interactive, their learning will increase. We suggest possible knowledge-change processes that support the ICAP hypothesis and address the limitations and caveats of the hypothesis. In addition, empirical validation for the hypothesis is provided by examining laboratory and classroom studies that focus on three specific engagement activities: note taking, concept mapping and self-explaining. We also consider how ICAP can be used as a tool for explaining discrepant findings, dictate the proper choice of a control condition, and evaluate students’ outputs. Finally, we briefly compare ICAP to existing theories of learning.     

School Conditions Affecting Implementation of the Primary Program in Kentucky

The Depression is over, displaced by Recession. Newspapers are more concerned over the number of slaughtered Chinese than the number of unemployed, and capitalists emerge from their retreats to proclaim that all is (really) right with the world. But, as a footnote to an era, it may be remarked that scientists, who largely created the machine which our capitalists failed to control, staunchly stood their ground through the darkest years. Even in I 932 Professor Bergen Davis could say, “It is unphilosophical to set a limit to the conquests of physical science. Man has not exhausted the secrets of nature in a few centuries…. I would say that it is a great thing to be young in this year….”     

The Effects of Student Composition on School Outcomes

This article explores the concept of compositional effects in school effect studies, their generation and some of the difficulties that arise in their interpretation. Some basic issues are addressed using data from a New Zealand study of secondary schools, and further illustration of some of the “pitfalls” is provided from an English study of primary school performance indicators. The importance of model specification, predictor reliability, and cautious interpretation are highlighted.     

Linking Home and Residential School

Dean Colledge headteacher, Town Thorns School, and Cecilia Wood, Rathbone home/school worker, describe a pioneering project designed to improve home/school links in this residential ESN(M) school in Easenhall, Rugby     

横断历史研究:以元分析考察社会变迁中的心理发展

在心理学中，传统的元分析方法主要用于定量考察同类研究的典型结果，但是历年研究的结果可能有很大变异，这种变异经常被研究者视为随机误差而忽略掉。本文所要介绍的横断历史研究这种特殊的元分析恰恰以此为起点，当发现心理变量在年代上的变异后进而探究它与社会变迁因素的关联。这种新的元分析方法对于研究当代中国急剧社会变迁背景下个体的心理发展特点具有重要价值。     

Linking School Effectiveness Knowledge and School Improvement Practice: Towards a Synergy

A survey is undertaken of the ‘paradigms’ of the academic communities of school effectiveness and school improvement researchers, practitioners and scholars. It is argued that the two ‘paradigms’ are very different, and that this has hindered the improvement of educational practice. Examples are given of programmes which are a ‘blend’ of the two different approaches, and detail is given as to how the school effectiveness and school improvement communities can meet the knowledge needs necessary for improving the quality of schooling.     

论回到“学校”“教育”本身的学校发展

学校发展不只意味着作为一个组织的学校的发展,学校发展必须以学校这一类组织的性质与目标的实现为前提与旨趣。目前学校发展中出现了发展与目的的分离、好学校与好教育的分离。问题解决的关键在于专业精神与教育精神的重建,如此,教师才能不仅成为学校发展与变革的代理人,更是学校变革的自觉发起者。     

Secondary Education: The School Development Program at Work in Three High Schools

This article brings together stories of how the School Development Program (SDP) is working at three different high schools. West Mecklenburg and Myers Park in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Timberland High School in Berkeley County, South Carolina, all had to reexamine their educational programs as well as the entire school environment when new groups of at-risk students transferred into the schools. The SDP provided a means of bringing all members of the various school communities together--parents, students, teachers, and administrators--to manage appropriate changes. The processes of team formation, committee work, and collaboration with the community are described as well as the various scheduling changes and new academic programs that were created to address student needs. The cumulative growth of experience with the SDP through personal contacts, national training events, and interdistrict consultation is also emphasized.     

Meta-Assessment: Assessing the Learning Outcomes Assessment Program

Assessing the effectiveness of an assessment program is essential and can be accomplished through analysing the quality of closing the loop actions and through gathering faculty feedback. In this article we present closing the loop data from over 3 years of learning assessment reporting and from findings garnered through a faculty survey. Results indicated that moving from deciding on closing the loop actions to actually taking meaningful actions remains a challenge and that faculty members are aware of this challenge. We use these findings, along with findings and recommendations found in the existing literature, to suggest assessment program improvements and demonstrate the effectiveness of this method of meta-assessment.     

Assessing Early Intervention Outcomes: Beyond Program Variables

THE EARLY INTERVENTION field is witnessing some major shifts in the focus of efficacy research. The traditional preoccupation with the question as to whether early intervention works is giving way to greater concern with understanding how programs make their impact. While this is seen as a progressive shift, much of the focus has so far been placed on how specific dimensions of the intervention process contribute to outcomes. Little attention has been paid to extra‐program variables which impinge upon or interact with the intervention process to shape outcomes. This paper presents the perspective that an intervention program is only one of many factors with potential influence on child and family functioning. Consequently program efficacy must be assessed in relation to both program and extra‐program variables. A framework outlining five classes of “independent” variables and two classes of outcomes to be considered in efficacy research is presented. Regression and path analytic techniques are presented as two potentially useful tools for addressing the different kinds of efficacy questions currently being raised in the literature.     

Achievement and Climate Outcomes for the Knowledge is Power Program in an Inner-City Middle School

This study was designed to examine the effects of a whole school reform, the Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP), specifically designed to raise academic achievement of at-risk urban middle school students by establishing an extended school day and year, a rigorous curriculum, after-school access to teachers, and increased family-school connections. In our mixed-methods design, qualitative (interview and observation) and quantitative (survey and achievement test) measures are employed to determine first-year program implementation and student outcomes for the KIPP:DIAMOND (Daring Individual Achievers Making Outstanding New Dreams) Academy (KIPP:DA), an inner-city school in a large, high-poverty urban district. For the achievement analyses, 49 KIPP:DA students were individually matched to highly comparable control students of the same ethnicity, socioeconmic status, gender, and ability, who attended different district schools in the same neighborhood. Statistically significant and educationally meaningful advantages for KIPP:DA students were found on 4 out of 6 standardized tests. The achievement results are interpreted in relation to the key program elements, the positive school climate established, and the quality of the 1st-year implementation.