Academics and practitioners: Partners in generating knowledge or citizens of two different worlds?

The research reported in this paper explores aspects of the relationship between academics and practitioners in the context of a professional development programme. It is illustrated by qualitative data from a case study of university teachers’ and secondary teachers’ experiences and perceptions of a university-led in-service training course in Greece. Three antithetical pairs: theory versus practice, propositional versus procedural and knowledge producers versus knowledge translators are used heuristically to guide data analysis and presentation, seen as constituting a continuum between two poles. It is indicated that rather than focusing on the ‘gap’ between academics and practitioners, the discussion should be about ‘space’ between the two groups, and that both should inhabit this space and work mutually its boundaries and its purpose, so that a vital partnership will emerge, which in turn can assist university-provided in-service training.     

Role of reading engagement in mediating effects of reading comprehension instruction on reading outcomes

The engagement model of reading development suggests that instruction improves students' reading comprehension to the extent that it increases students' engagement processes in reading. We compared how Concept‐Oriented Reading Instruction (CORI) (support for cognitive and motivational processes in reading), strategy instruction (support for cognitive strategies in reading), and traditional instruction in fourth‐grade classrooms differentially influenced students' reading comprehension, strategy use, and engagement in reading. Students experiencing CORI were significantly higher than both comparison groups on reading comprehension, reading strategies, and reading engagement. When students' level of reading engagement was statistically controlled, the differences between the treatment groups were not significant. We infer that the level of students' reading engagement during classroom work mediated the instructional effects on reading outcomes. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Early Histories of School‐Aged Children With Attention‐Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder

In a prospective study of developmental outcomes in relation to early‐life otitis media, behavioral, cognitive, and language measures were administered to a large, diverse sample of children at 2, 3, 4, 6, and 9–11 years of age (N = 741). At 9–11 years of age, 9% of the children were categorized as having attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) based on parent report. Compared to the non‐ADHD group, the ADHD group had higher (i.e., less favorable) scores on parent and teacher versions of the Child Behavior Checklist at all ages. Children in the ADHD group also had lower scores on cognitive and receptive language measures in preschool. The findings support the concept that ADHD is a cognitive as well as a behavioral disorder.     

The association between mathematical word problems and reading comprehension

This study aimed to investigate the interplay between mathematical word problem skills and reading comprehension. The participants were 225 children aged 9–10 (Grade 4). The children’s text comprehension and mathematical word problem‐solving performance was tested. Technical reading skills were investigated in order to categorise participants as good or poor readers. The results showed that performance on maths word problems was strongly related to performance in reading comprehension. Fluent technical reading abilities increased the aforementioned skills. However, even after controlling for the level of technical reading involved, performance in maths word problems was still related to reading comprehension, suggesting that both of these skills require overall reasoning abilities. There were no gender differences in maths word problem‐solving performance, but the girls were better in technical reading and in reading comprehension. Parental levels of education positively predicted children’s maths word problem‐solving performance and reading comprehension skills.     

Perceived rates of return to higher education: Further evidence from Cyprus

The paper provides new estimates of the perceived rates of return to higher education in Cyprus and compares them to previous estimates for the year 1994 in the same country. Both the elaborate and the short-cut methods are used in the estimation of rates of return. The estimated rates are entered as independent variables in logistic regression analysis in order to study the effect of economic considerations on the decision of secondary school students to pursue higher education. The findings show an increase in the perceived rate of return for both higher education and labour market entrants. In agreement with human capital theory, the mean rate of return to higher education expected by higher education candidates is considerably higher than that expected by labour market entrants. In two logistic regression models, the perceived rate of return to higher education, as estimated by both the elaborate and the short-cut methods, has a significant effect on the students’ intention to pursue higher studies.     

A questionnaire for listening to students’ voices in the assessment of teaching quality in a classical medical school

The purpose of this study was to develop a teaching quality assessment questionnaire and assess its reliability by using it with a sample of first‐year medical students. Principal components analysis with varimax orthogonal rotation resulted in the development of a 12‐item, two‐component tool, adequate for use in lectures and small‐group sessions. The two components were named ‘curriculum’ and ‘relationship’. The Cronbach coefficient alpha values indicated high reliability and internal consistency. According to the results obtained this teaching quality scale is a reliable measure and may be useful in identifying themes in disciplines and among teachers that may benefit from some professional development. Amongst its advantages is that it can be used with an optical reading tool.     

Exploring teachers’ value orientations in literature and history secondary classrooms

This study explores teachers’ observable value orientations in literature and history classrooms, wishing to investigate how teachers infuse their values into instructional settings through their conceptions of the taught subject, the process of making meaning, and their involvement in the process of value communication.Through consideration of observation, interview and additional data, the common features underlying teachers’ value orientations are identified. One may conclude that although participants avoid the clear involvement in value communication, they search for a balance in defending the humanistic tradition and enacting a more critical and multi-perspective development of students’ sense about values. The taught subject seems to affect the displayed value orientations.     

The Female Stranger in a Male School

A questionnaire was issued to 18 girls undertaking their Year 12 studies at an Australian private Catholic boys’ day school of 700 students. The questionnaire encompassed several factors in regard to gender issues and differentiation in education — subject choices, career ambitions, interaction between the sexes, female friendships, perception of gender differentiation and stereotyping in teaching styles and school structures. The girls were also asked to consider various feminist principles in relation to personal future goals. The theoretical framework within which the study was conducted was Schutz's notion of the “stranger” attempting to interpret and accommodate to the “cultural patterns” of the “approached group”; of the “thinking‐as usual” of the “foreign group” confronting that of the “approached group” and its “unquestioned and unquestionable reality”. The results indicate the girls’ high level of awareness of gender differentiation amongst peers, teachers and in‐school structures; criticism of and unwillingness to accept the new “cultural pattern”; and a modelling of their future lives along liberal feminist principles.     

Dimensions of digital literacy based on five models of development / Dimensiones de la alfabetización digital a partir de cinco modelos de desarrollo

Abstract

Digital literacy has been an emerging and increasing priority in many governments’ educational and assessment policies since the first decade of the twenty-first century because it is a priority in citizenship training. The difficulty with understanding and developing it comes from its changing, transversal and flexible nature; for this reason, the fundamental objective of this research is to offer an exhaustive study of the concept by analysing the main models of digital literacy in the international context in order to offer a holistic model that incorporates the contributions from all of these initiatives. The theoretical study presented herein provides an objective, rigorous perspective on the main models of development of digital literacy: the DIGCOMP Project (European Commission), the Krumsvik model (Norway), the TPACK model (USA), the JISC model (UK), the ISTE Standards (USA) and the P21 model (USA). The conclusion offers an innovative proposal of four dimensions that should define digital literacy today, taking into account the five initiatives studied, which could be very worthwhile for researchers, educators and policymakers.     

School failure and cultural mismatch: Another view

Recently, the school failure of minority students has been explained in terms of incompatibilities in the ways that language is used at home and in school. This theory has stimulated numerous studies. The research shows in detail how teachers and minority students often misinterpret each other due to different assumptions about the appropriate ways of using language in the classroom. This paper reviews the literature dealing with home-school disjunctures in language use, and examines the theory critically. It argues that the approach to school failure prevalent throughout the research in this area is seriously flawed. By narrowing the focus of analysis to home-school connections, this line of investigation diverts attention away from existing social inequalities that sustain the widespread academic failure of minority students. Attention is given to the relationship between school and society—a missing link in much of the sociolinguistic literature. The paper further argues that culturally sensitive solutions to the school problems of minority students that ignore the political link between school and society are doomed to failure.