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.     

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Resumen

El artículo comenta el trabajo previo de revisión teórica realizado por López acerca de la estabilidad y el cambio en los vínculos de apego a lo largo del ciclo vital, publicado en este mismo número de la revista. El autor, que en líneas generales se muestra de acuerdo con los argumentos expuestos por López, analiza en primer lugar los conceptos de estabilidad vertical versus horizontal, añadiendo detalles en los que queda patente la complejidad del tema tanto en lo que respecta a su abordaje teórico como metodológico. En este sentido, se plantean las limitaciones de los datos disponibles hasta el momento (fundamentalmente en lo que atañe a instrumentos fiables, válidos y comparables de unas edades a otras, las muestras empleadas, la escasez de buenos diseños longitudinales) y se introduce una reflexión crítica acerca de cuánta estabilidad sería esperable para confirmar los postulados básicos de la teoría clásica de Bolwby. Por último, se completa el análisis de López añadiendo una consideración acerca de las teorías del apego “de banda ancha” versus las “de banda estrecha” en la predicción del ajuste social posterior del individuo.     

Kindergarten students’ and parents’ perceptions of science classroom environments: Achievement and attitudes

This study, involving the modification, validation and use of a learning environment questionnaire for both kindergarten students and their parents, is significant because prior learning environment research has normally involved neither parents nor such young students. A questionnaire, which was based on the What Is Happening In this Class? and assessed actual and preferred teacher support, involvement, cooperation and equity, exhibited sound factorial validity, internal consistency reliability and the ability to differentiate between classrooms. Parents perceived a more favourable actual classroom environment than students, but students preferred a more favourable environment than parents. Associations were found between kindergarten students’ achievement and attitudes and the nature of the learning environment.     

Child AD/HD severity and psychological functioning in relation to divorce,remarriage, multiple transitions and the quality of family relationships

Both Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (AD/HD) and divorce are very prevalent in western societies, and they may occur together. AD/HD is generally viewed as a neurobiological disorder, which has led to a commonly held belief that social-environmental factors play little role in the symptom profile of children diagnosed with the disorder. This study investigated the association between parental divorce, remarriage, multiple transitions, the quality of relationships with family members and the psychological well-being of children and adolescents with AD/HD. First, differences in children’s AD/HD symptom profiles in relation to parents’ divorce status (single/multiple divorce) and family composition (single parent/stepfamily) were examined. Second, the association between the quality of children’s relationships with each family member and parents’ marital status (divorced/non-divorced) and family composition was investigated. In addition, age, gender and AD/HD subtype differences were assessed. Third, the association between the quality of children’s interactions with family members and children’s AD/HD symptom profile was explored. No significant differences in children’s behavioural profiles were found in terms of parents’ divorce status. Living in stepfamilies was associated with greater AD/HD severity and social malfunctioning. Disruptive parent–child and sibling relationships were found to be related to children’s age, gender, AD/HD subtype and parents’ marital status. Further, poor interactions with family members correlated with children’s AD/HD severity and psychological well-being. In summary, divorce, remarriage and the quality of relationships with family members are important correlates of the symptom profile of children with AD/HD, and this emphasises the need for special treatment modules for these families.     

Changes in Advertising Strategies During an Economic Crisis: An Application of Taylor's Six-Segment Message Strategy Wheel

Between 2005 and 2009 financial service organizations in the United States altered their advertising messages in response to changing economic conditions brought about by a sustained recession. This analysis of print magazine advertisements for banks, credit cards, investment firms, and insurance providers demonstrates that financial service advertisers shifted away from transformational approaches in favor of informational approaches. Credit card companies were slower to change their strategies than were bank, investment, and insurance companies. The results of this analysis support the argument that advertising serves the role of providing market information and that the nature of such information is determined by economic conditions.     

Out‐of‐school learning: The uneven distribution of school provision and local authority support

A significant volume of research demonstrates that out‐of‐school learning activities enhance student development in terms of cognitive, affective and social outcomes. However, there is also evidence that the opportunity to engage in these activities has been severely reduced in recent years. This paper explores the extent to which the provision of such opportunities is unevenly distributed—spatially and institutionally. The paper draws on research from two recently completed projects: one charting the distribution, attributes and vulnerability of local authority outdoor education centres across England and the other exploring variations in provision and participation in out‐of‐school learning within secondary schools throughout the UK. The paper highlights the uneven, precarious and uncertain nature of such activities and demonstrates that important regional and structural variations in the support and provision of opportunities for such activities by local authorities appear to have an important role in determining the provision of activities at the level of the schools.     

Does the choice of reference levels of education matter in the ORU earnings equation?

This paper examines whether the results of the earnings equation developed in the over-education/required education/under-education (ORU) literature are sensitive to whether the usual or reference levels of education are measured using the Realized Matches or Worker Self-Assessment methods. The analyses are conducted for all male native-born and immigrant workers in the US, by level of skill, and by occupation. While point estimates differ, particularly when earnings equations are estimated for the smaller samples of sub-groups of the workforce, the general findings are robust to this measurement issue. Thus, the answers provided to the typical research questions in the ORU literature on the productivity of schooling are independent of the measure of the usual or reference level of education used in the analyses.