Life Experiences among Urban Adolescents: Examining the Role of Context

Interest in the influence of context on the psychosocial development of adolescents led to the examination of neighborhood effects on the experience of adolescent life stress. Because of concerns regarding the population and ecological validity of existing measures of adolescent life events, the research group developed a scale for the measurement of life events among urban adolescents based on data from focus group interviews in the community of interest. Investigators utilized three strategies to examine the impact of neighborhood on adolescents' perceptions of life stress in a sample of 114 adolescents (mean age = 15). Results indicated that life stress in the peer domain varied by the adolescent's neighborhood of residence. In addition, family/community stress was linearly related to neighborhood indices of economic resources.     

The Role of Nostalgia in School Choice

This paper looks in some detail at the strength and diversity of factors which influence choice of a new school in the present generation, but which stem from a previous age. The stories presented to the researcher about the process of choosing show clearly that the 'domino' effect sometimes covers three generations, and that decisions made today reflect, but are not identical to, those made in the past. Simple reproduction cannot explain the diversity found here, while responding to 'consumers' and their influences from the past is likely to lead today's schools to conservatism and restorationism. These findings have implications for the study of the micro-politics of choice at the family level, and for the validity of any form of public choice theory based upon current performance indicators.     

Examining the Role of Professional Development in a Large School District's iPad Initiative

This study examined 342 teachers' views of professional development (PD) provided by a large school district to support its iPad initiative. We were interested in investigating teachers' perceptions of this district-provided PD, any change in teachers' views, and how they used iPads in their instruction while/after receiving PD. The findings, using a mixed-methods design, showed although teachers held overall positive views regarding PD, their perceptions did not change over the 1-year implementation. Rather, certain teacher characteristics such as teachers' beliefs, technology self-efficacy, and school levels influenced their views. This study also provided an in-depth analysis of teachers' use of iPad to support their instruction. Findings revealed teachers used the iPad for a variety of purposes. From mid-year to end-year, there was a decrease in using iPads for class management and basic uses, but an increase in using the iPad to create instructional materials by the teachers and creating artifacts by their students. Such findings suggested a connection between the PD teachers received and their practices, indicating a shift to more interactive uses during the second half of the year. The findings highlighted the importance of providing situated PD and considering teacher characteristics when designing PD. (Keywords: professional development, mobile teaching and learning, iPad use, K–12 education, large suburban schools, technology integration)     

Social Inequalities in Early School Leaving: The Role of Educational Institutions and the Socioeconomic Context

Reducing the number of early school leavers, those who quit education without at least a high school degree, is a key objective of educational policy throughout Europe. Previous research has shown that in particular youngsters from disadvantaged families face relatively high risks of school dropout. In this paper we use data from the 2009 ad hoc module of the Labour Force Survey to examine how macro-level determinants influence school dropout risks among different social groups. Our results indicate that both the design of the educational system (tracking age, extent of vocational education) and characteristics of the socioeconomic context (poverty rate, unemployment patterns) have an impact on the social distribution of school dropout risk.     

论课程改革背景下学校管理者角色的调适

当前的课程改革不同于以往的渐进式变革,它给学校及教师带来的是一场深刻的适应性挑战,直接对教师的生存状态构成威胁,极易遭到教师的抵制甚至抗拒,从而导致改革的成效低下。在此不确定的变革情境中,关注教师的情感体验成为学校管理者角色调适的出发点。     

Examining Mexico's Values Education in a Globally Dynamic Context

Discussion about values education has begun to dominate the educational policy agenda in a number of countries over the last 5 years. Of particular relevance are questions on what to teach, how and why. This discussion seems to be more prominent among those countries undergoing vigorous political, economic and social change. In the last few years, Mexico has intensified its active search for democracy and invigorated its march toward modernisation. Both of these intentions have proven to have important influences on the values the Mexican state and educational policy makers see as necessary to be transmitted via education. Simultaneously, Mexican identity, which has evolved relatively consonant with the aims of a centralised and hierarchical state and in line with the principles of the 1910 Revolution, is being continuously challenged by internal as well as external forces. In this article we describe a study designed to understand the approaches to Mexico's values education as a particular instance of a larger comparative project to explore values education in a globally dynamic context. After describing Mexico's political economy, we present the current policy and approaches to values education in general and in the regions included in the Mexican study in particular. We present the findings from a survey to policy makers and educational élites and show regional differences and similarities. We discuss findings from other country contexts to contrast them with the Mexican findings in selected areas. We conclude with a discussion on how this study may help initiate a policy dialogue on values education in Mexico.     

High School Dropout in Proximal Context: The Triggering Role of Stressful Life Events

Adolescents who drop out of high school experience enduring negative consequences across many domains. Yet, the circumstances triggering their departure are poorly understood. This study examined the precipitating role of recent psychosocial stressors by comparing three groups of Canadian high school students (52% boys; M_age = 16.3 years; N = 545): recent dropouts, matched at‐risk students who remain in school, and average students. Results indicate that in comparison with the two other groups, dropouts were over three times more likely to have experienced recent acute stressors rated as severe by independent coders. These stressors occurred across a variety of domains. Considering the circumstances in which youth decide to drop out has implications for future research and for policy and practice.     

冲突与抉择:学习化社会背景下的学校教育

学习化社会的来临给制度化的学校教育带来了前所未有的冲击与挑战。正规化、阶段化、精英化、标准化的学校教育开始受到来自四面八方的指责与批评。新的时代背景要求学校教育对这些问题做出积极的回应。因此，学校教育正处在十字路口，改造与创新势在必行。     

Peer Groups as a Context for School Misconduct: The Moderating Role of Group Interactional Style

Peer group interactional style was examined as a moderator of the relation between peer group school misconduct and group members' school misconduct. Participants were 705 students (M_age = 11.59 years, SD = 1.37) in 148 peer groups. Children reported on their school misconduct in fall and spring. In the winter, group members were observed in a limited‐resource task and a group conversation task, and negative and positive group interactional styles were assessed. Multilevel modeling indicated that membership in groups that were higher on school misconduct predicted greater school misconduct only when the groups were high on negative or low on positive interactional style. Results suggest that negative laughter and a coercive interactional style may intensify group effects on children's misconduct.     

Language Choice in a Minority School

This article arises from fieldwork in a school of the German minority in South Jutland, Denmark. The minority exists as a result of frontier changes between Germany and Denmark, most recently in 1920. A referendum held in that year as a result of the Treaty of Versailles left a cultural and linguistic minority which, by today, has its own school system, political party, and cultural rights.     

School Choice in a Post-Desegregation World

In contrast to unregulated school choice, regulated choice programs oversee the assignment of students to schools with equity in mind. This article puts forth evidence for three claims with respect to unregulated and regulated school choice: (c) Unregulated choice plans tend to exacerbate the stratification of students along race, class, and achievement lines; (b) regulated choice programs have the potential to increase the integration of schools and, at the very least, to prevent further social stratification; and (c) the evidence that suggests unregulated choice programs lead to improved academic achievement or curriculum innovation is unconvincing. By influencing the racial and social class composition of schools, choice programs help determine the human capital obtained by students and families. Exposure to new cultural and social forms of human capital can lead to enhanced life opportunities for all children, but particularly to those who do not otherwise have access to such capital in a hegemonic society. Considerations of social justice suggest that policymakers should continue to search for ways to design school choice programs that promote integration.     

社会分层、文化认同与择校行为——对义务教育阶段择校行为的社会学分析

现代社会,教育是人们实现向上流动的最直接有效的途径,社会阶层结构的变化导致处于不同地位的社会阶层对于优质教育资源的争夺。中上阶层通过择校一方面证明和彰显了其社会地位和财富,另一方面通过教育资源的消费,完成了自身身份的建构和阶层的内固与排他,这是一个贯通宏观与微观的过程。在教育政策上,限制择校,实施平均化的教育政策,不如通过制定惠及中下阶层的教育政策,将有限的教育资源用在中下阶层子女教育环境的改善上。     

学校是个小社会吗?--浅析学校教育的价值选择

"学校是个小社会"似乎是一个大家习以为常的命题.但是,学校真的是个小社会吗?本文将对此命题进行辨析,揭示出它作为学术命题和大众性的命题所指向的两种不同的内涵,指出在大众话语中其所蕴涵的关于学校教育的错误价值选择,并分析其产生的深层次原因.在此基础上,笔者分析指出学校和社会是两种不同的群体模式,提倡学校采取其应有的价值选择.     

The Role of Empirical Research in Informing Debates About the Constitutionality of School Choice

ABSTRACT

Federal constitutional law currently permits choice programs that include religious schools only if they provide parents with “genuine and independent choice”; as the leading federal case demonstrates, whether this test is satisfied is an interesting and difficult empirical question. State doctrine regarding establishment of religion can be similarly empirically informed. School choice programs must also be consistent with the education clauses of state constitutions, which require state education systems to be “public” and to meet quality baselines. Determining whether these requirements are met also raises many questions that empirical school choice research can address. doi:10.1300/J467v01n03_12     

教师进修学校在区域教师教育中的引领作用

“十一五”教师教育的前瞻性、创新性、校本化与网络化,对教师进修学校的发展趋向、功能定位、特别是对研训教师的能力和水平提出了严峻的挑战。旅顺口区教师进修学校以科学的发展观为统领,下大气力,广开思路,多形式、多渠道,全方位探索队伍建设的有效模式,促进了研训教师专业引领能力和水平的快速提高。     

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.     

语境与翻译中词义的选择

篇章通常是一个有机的整体，语义连贯，语句关联。充分理解原是翻译的前提，有效落实译是翻译的关键。词是语言中可以自由运用的最小单位，而词义受语境的制约，脱离了具体语境，词义便无从确定。     

校长的使命:在学校变革中生成学校文化

学校文化是学校特色发展之根基。校长是学校变革的领导者和学校文化的缔造者,校长课程领导是学校变革和文化生成的“引爆点”,校长必须正视来自多方要求的变革任务;充分发挥课程领导的作用,引领学校变革,在学校变革中发展学校文化,使学校与时俱进。     

新课改环境下小学教师角色转换的问题与对策

基础教育新课程改革自2001年9月在全国38个国家级实验区进行了实验,后来扩大到近5 000个县(区)开展实验,一直到现在全面实行。基础教育经过十多年的新课程改革,在收获硕果的同时也发现了诸多问题,其中教师角色转换问题亟待解决。鉴于此,通过梳理小学教师在角色转换中存在的问题,探究相应的解决对策,以期推进新课程改革的深入实施。