School libraries fostering children's literacy and literature learning: mitigating the barriers

While qualified school librarians can have a positive influence on children's literacy attainment, very little consideration is given to the educative role of librarians in schools. Lack of attention on these librarians' educative capacity may be due to a devaluing of the educational contribution of school librarians, and it can be argued that school libraries are poorly valued in current times, as evidenced in cuts to budgets and staffing. While school librarians may foster literacy and literature learning through a range of strategies, and for diverse purposes, perhaps their most expected contribution relates to the fostering of literacy and literature learning through wide reading and reading engagement in students. However, little is known about the specific barriers that librarians in schools may encounter in achieving these goals in the current school environment. Research from teacher librarians at 30 Australian schools is drawn upon to explore barriers to children's literacy and literature learning in school libraries. Recurring barriers were limited time and competing demands, crowded curriculum, low teacher valuing, low student engagement, skills and motivation, issues with parental support, limited space and constrained budget. These findings provide a valuable foundation for future inquiry in this under‐researched space.     

An evaluation of secondary school studies as predictors of performance for accounting majors

This study examines the impact that secondary school studies have on university accounting courses. Multiple regression analysis has been used to determine the significance of various academic factors. Secondary school accounting and mathematics were found to have far greater effectiveness in predicting results in the initial university accounting course than did other variables, but this benefit diminished in the second year and vanished in the third year of the accounting programme.     

Trade-offs in the study of culture and development: theories, methods, and values

The commentators are unanimous in their support for our general orientation to culture and development, and for the pathways we have identified, and they suggest ways to enrich our approach to theory, methods, and values. We view their main suggestions as relating to trade-offs: between theories that highlight generalizations or exceptions; between methods that rely on one-, two-, or multiculture studies; and between values involving individuation or accommodation. Here, we describe ways to find an optimal balance in each instance.     

Unraveling the Slut Narrative: Gender Constraints on Adolescent Girls' Sexual Decision-Making

Limited research exists on the slut labeling process, a key means of enforcing rules around appropriate female sexuality. This study explores that process through qualitative interviews with 44 adolescent girls in Travis County, Texas. Labeling girls as sluts or hos was pervasive and was based on a number of factors beyond sexual behavior, including dress, friendships with boys, or jealousy from other girls. Responses depicted a narrow space in which girls functioned, bound at one end by limited agency and at the other by pervasive vulnerability. There was consensus about the negative consequences of being labeled. Most girls held mixed opinions about the slut labeling process: this may reflect their attempts to push back against a system that entraps them. These findings suggest that prevention and sex education programs must explicitly address slut labeling as well as other gender narratives that impede healthy sexual development.     

The process of supervision in the turkish educational system: purpose, structure, operation

The aim of this study is to provide information on the purposes, structure and operation of the process of supervision in the Turkish educational system. In this paper, the historical development of supervision services in the Turkish educational system, as well as the purposes and principles of educational supervision in Turkey and the structure of supervision in the Turkish educational system are defined. Moreover, the organization of sub-systems of the Ministry of National Education and that of supervision at elementary schools, hiring supervisors, their training, duties and responsibilities as well as working principles are presented. In addition, a detailed analysis of the supervision of institutions and teachers by supervisors is included.     

The role of ethnic school segregation for adolescents’ religious salience

Public concerns over the possible effects of school segregation on immigrant and ethnic majority religiosity have been on the rise over the last few years. In this paper we focus on (1) the association between ethnic school composition and religious salience, (2) intergenerational differences in religious salience and (3) the role of ethnic school composition for intergenerational differences in religious salience. We perform analyses on religious salience, one five-point Likert scale item measuring religious salience among 3,612 16-year-old pupils in Belgian secondary schools. National origin was used as a proxy for ethnicity. Ethnic minority pupils in schools with a higher share of ethnic minorities tend to be more religious. This relation holds for Muslim as well as other religious and ethnic minorities. Ethnic school composition also moderates the relationship between migrant generation and religious salience: second generation migrants tend to be more religious in ethnic minority dominated schools. For ethnic Belgians the association is moderated by their religious affiliation: Catholics tend to be more religious, while non-affiliated ethnic Belgians are less religious in schools with a higher share of ethnic minority pupils.     

Developing a Personal Grading Plan

The purpose of this instructional module is to assist teachers in developing defensible grading practices that effectively and fairly communicate students' achievement status to their parents. In formulating such practices, it is essential that teachers first consider their personal grading philosophy and then create a compatible personal grading plan. The module delineates key philosophical issues that should be addressed and then outlines the procedural steps essential to establishing a grading plan. Finally, the features of several common methods of absolute and relative grading are compared.     

Male university attrition: A discriminant analysis

Ability and personality test scores of 256 males, categorized by college persistence seven semesters after matriculation, were subjected to stepwise discriminant analysis. A combination of personality and ability variables distinguished between groups (p<.001); personality variables alone did not. The most powerful discriminator was overall ability. Authoritarianism, natural science ability, and nonconformity also entered into the discrimination. Results indicate: (a) the most able, most autonomous group included those who withdrew; (b) the most authoritarian, those who became seniors; (c) the most nonconforming, those who continued without becoming seniors, and (d) the highest in ability to think abstractly and scientifically and to solve problems, the academic dismissals who with difficulty succeeded in gaining reinstatement.