Some aspects of broadcast news coverage and riot participation

It has often been said that the commercial rating services are “the only game in town.” Thus far, the academic researchers usually have left it up to the operators of the “game” to test and refine their methods. The following article is one of the exceptions: an interesting methodological study of how people respond when queried in different ways about their viewing. Dr. Green‐berg is associate professor of communication at Michigan State University; Miss Dervin and Mr. Dominick are graduate students in the same department.     

Changers and the Changed: Moral Aspects of Coming Out in Physical Education

In this paper we draw from interviews with four lesbian sportswomen and physical educators whose personal journeys inform us about the difficulties and rewards of challenging homophobia and heterosexism. Our co-participants discussed their life stories in terms of the interrelationships among sport, moral, and lesbian identities and their coming out process. Analyses of these narrations revealed three major themes associated with coming out in sport and physical education settings: integrity, compassion, and community. Each of these themes is discussed in terms of our co-participants' experiences and interpretations of moving from fear and isolation to a sense of community and empowerment.     

Undergraduates' Work Based Learning and Skills Development

Research findings on graduate employment inthe UK continue to highlight the importance thatemployers attach to the general knowledge, attitudesand social skills that graduates possess in additionto specific disciplinary knowledge and expertise. Additionally, work based learning is increasinglybeing viewed as an important vehicle by whichundergraduates can develop personal and social skills,as well as gaining knowledge of how organisationswork. In this paper I will argue that although developments in undergraduate work based learning doraise a number of issues for higher educationinstitutions and for employers, such developments havemuch to offer the broader education policy of lifelonglearning.     

Cheating or cheated? Surviving secondary exit exams in a neoliberal era

Cheating on exams is a rampant and highly developed practice among youth in the Arab world, often involving elaborate networks, advanced technology and adult authorities. Rather than viewing cheating as mere laziness or immorality, this article interrogates the social meanings of cheating by comparing the practices and discourses of cheating on high-stakes high school exit exams – the tawjihi in Jordan and the Baccalauréat in Morocco. Using informal networks to obtain higher grades, and thereby better futures, cheating is one way youth contest the putative meritocracy of the state to reclaim a sense of control over their lives. Ironically, cheaters develop twenty-first century skills of collaboration, networking and creativity outside the school in order to evade the nation’s formal system of educational sorting. We argue that cheating illuminates the declining effectiveness of the public school in the nation-building project and the simultaneous emergence of the outcomes-oriented ‘neoliberal student’.     

Look who's being left behind: educational interpreters and access to education for deaf and hard-of-hearing students

For many deaf and hard-of-hearing students, access to the general education curriculum is provided, in part, by using the services of an educational interpreter. Even with a highly qualified interpreter, full access to the content and social life in a hearing classroom can be challenging, and there are many aspects of the educational placement that can affect success. The skills and knowledge of the educational interpreter are one critical aspect. This study reports results from a study of approximately 2,100 educational interpreters from across the United States. All the interpreters were evaluated using the Educational Interpreters Performance Assessment (EIPA), an evaluation instrument used to assess and certify classroom interpreters (see Schick, Williams, & Bolster, 1999). The results show that approximately 60% of the interpreters evaluated had inadequate skills to provide full access. In addition, educational interpreters who had completed an Interpreter Training Program had EIPA scores only .5 of an EIPA level above those who had not, on average. Demographic data and its relationship with EIPA ratings are explored. In general, the study suggests that many deaf and hard-of-hearing students receive interpreting services that will seriously hinder reasonable access to the classroom curriculum and social interaction.