Neighborhoods Matter: The Role of Universities in the School Reform Neighborhood Development Movement

Where you find distressed neighborhoods, you will also find poorly performing public schools. Yet many contemporary school reform efforts ignore neighborhood-level factors that undeniably impact school performance. The purpose of this study is to use a case study approach with social institutional and urban school reform regime frameworks to demonstrate why school reform and the re-creation and redevelopment of distressed neighborhoods should occur simultaneously. At the same time, researchers will examine the role of higher education in catalyzing partnerships with so-called anchor institutions for the explicit purposes of simultaneously improving neighborhoods and reforming schools. By focusing on a federal Choice neighborhood initiative, the study will not only make the case for connecting school reform and neighborhood development but also present a model that demonstrates how this can happen. The study will also make a strong case for the university's unique role in fostering neo-collaborative structures fit to take on wicked problems of neighborhood distress and urban decline.     

Understanding Clients and Their Environments: A Simulation

Counselors must be made fully aware of the impact of environmental and societal forces on their clients. Counselor education students need knowledge and skill to attend to the pressures and problems of minority groups. The simulation method described in this article encourages students to experience powerlessness, isolation, and few if any options in order to develop a clearer understanding of their clients and environments. The authors discuss applicability of the simulation beyond counselor education programs.     

School Choice Policies Shaping Neighborhoods,School Locations,and Destinies

ABSTRACT

In this article, we introduce a special collection of research articles that consider the processes and consequences of school choice across different social and spatial contexts in order to better understand the relationship between school choice and stratification in educational opportunity. This special issue presents a wide range of studies that examine geographical configurations, locations, scales, and relationships, all of which shape and are shaped by school choice. We summarize the diverse theoretical perspectives and themes. We also highlight the articles’ key results and new contributions related to issues such as inter-district school choice, open enrollment school choice programs, diversification of curricular-related activities among EMO-operated schools, and geographic variation in achievement of the charter school sector     

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.     

Perceptions of Community and Experiences in School: Understanding the Opportunities, Resources, and Education Within one Neighborhood

The purpose of this study is to consider how mothers of kindergartners navigate their families’ experiences within a community and how their children’s school experiences affect their interactions and investment in a place. The questions this research asks is: How do mothers define and describe their neighborhood? What role does the school play as mothers navigate their children’s experiences in the community? Findings indicate that the way that families conceptualize and manage their context indicates that their values, needs, and life aspirations, which are clearly connected to their experiences and perceptions of the school.     

就近入学政策下学区意识的影响及对策

学区意识,是由中小学就近入学政策及有限教育资源的严重分配不均而引发的对拥有优质教育资源的学区的选择与认同.学区意识导致并激化了教育中的功利意识、阶层意识、"门第"意识、形式主义等诸多负面效应,进而背离了教育公平与社会和谐.针对学区意识,文章提出了相应的消解对策.     

如何看待高校教师校外兼职

加强师德建设和师资队伍管理，重视教师的培养和提高，创造条件、发挥高校人力资源优势，有利于端正教师的教育思想和正确处理教学与校外兼职的关系。     

Ethnic Diversity and Inclusive School Environments

Inclusive school contexts can promote psychological and social adjustment and enhance learning among students. Changing demographics and 21st-century workplace needs suggest that ethnic diversity is one important dimension of inclusion to consider. This article presents 4 suggestions for how schools can facilitate inclusivity for ethnic diversity that are recommended to be employed in conjunction with one another: (a) school and classroom ethnic composition (i.e., increased ethnic diversity), (b) positive ethnic identity for ethnic minority students, (c) multicultural/diversity training and cooperative learning, and (d) the promotion of social competence and prosocial behaviors. Developmental considerations are discussed and a case is made that improving individual students’ functioning can ultimately promote inclusivity for all students. Assisting students to be ready and able to form friendships with peers from ethnically diverse backgrounds provides them with valuable experience and skills that they can carry forward to new educational, community, and workplace settings.     

新形势下高职院校领导能力对学校发展的影响分析

随着近年来经济的发展和国家对高职教育的逐步重视,高职教育开始进入新的发展时期,高职院校发展也开始面临机遇与挑战并存、竞争日趋激烈的新形势。高职院校领导能力对学校发展影响重大,新形势也对高职院校领导能力提出了更高的要求。     

提升高校校报影响力初探

信息时代，高校新闻媒体由传统的纸质媒体——校报一枝独秀到眼下的校报、广播台、电视台、新闻网站四驾齐驱，校报主流媒体的地位已受到严峻挑战，尤其是与网络新闻相比，校报往往扮演着“迟到的重复者”的角色。在如是新形势下，校报要生存发展，继续起到主流媒体的主导作用，惟有改革创新，提升自身影响力。     

School Leaving: A Longitudinal Perspective Including Neighborhood Effects

Using 1970 and 1980 census data from 202 tracts in the Chicago metropolitan region, we examine whether neighborhoods influence the likelihood of high school graduation for a cohort of African-American children followed from 1966 to 1993. Neighborhood-level variables included percent living below poverty and percent in white-collar occupations. We test for the possible direct, indirect, and interactive effects of these neighborhood indicators on the likelihood of school dropout. Our examination found the advantage of living in a neighborhood characterized by a high percentage of residents who work in white-collar occupations. Male adolescents who lived in a middle-class neighborhood were more likely to graduate from high school, even with family background, early school performance, adolescent family supervision, and adolescent marijuana use controlled. These findings are consistent with findings from three other studies. However, living in a poverty census tract did not seem to influence the likelihood of high school graduation or school leaving over and above the impact of family and individual characteristics. There also were no neighborhood effects for females.     

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。     

Nonresponse and Online Student Evaluations of Teaching: Understanding the Influence of Salience, Fatigue, and Academic Environments

Technological advances have enabled institutions of higher education to administer course evaluations online, forgoing the traditional paper-and-pencil methods. Consequently, many of these institutions suffer from low response rates, but little research is available on this topic. To increase understanding about course evaluation participation in the online environment, this study examined over 22,000 undergraduates to whom the university administered about 135,000 evaluations. Multilevel models were constructed to analyze the data, and several variables emerged as significant predictors of participation. The results were mostly consistent with previous research and aligned with theories of survey nonresponse. However, the integration of uncommon variables provided new perspectives about course evaluations in particular. Implications for research and practical applications for institutions are also addressed, including ways to combat survey fatigue, increase the salience of the survey, and increase participation in online course evaluations.     

我国学校心理教育的误区及其匡正

我国学校心理教育发展目前尚处于初级阶段,存在着许多理论与实践问题.本文主要就我国学校心理教育存在的主要误区作出理性分析和匡正,以防心理教育本质被曲解和"异化".     

Taylor's Story: Full Inclusion in Her Neighborhood Elementary School

During this 3-year field study, we examined the experiences of educators and children as they participated in the full educational inclusion of one child with severe disabilities. Data from interviews, sociometric measures, videotapes, and field notes were used to present the perspectives of administrators, general and special educators, students, and Taylor's parents. Benefits to Taylor and her classmates are discussed as well as recommendations for support of schools beginning full inclusion efforts.     

School Leadership in International Schools: Perspectives and Practices

This commentary reviews the papers in this special issue, highlights the importance of understanding the nature, prevalence, and potential impact of leadership in international schools, and provides a set of guiding questions for the reader to reflect upon the relevance and implications of the findings.     

浅谈如何搞好初中英语学年教学

根据初中英语各阶段的教学任务，教师要狠抓基础训练，针对不同年级学习英语的方法和特点，认真地完成每个学年的教学任务，确集各学年教学质量。