Patterns in Student Perceptions of Start-Up and Conversion Small High Schools

Schools created as part of the small schools movement have been in operation for almost a decade, allowing identification of patterns in their growth. This study examines 4 years of survey data on 12 start-up and 13 conversion small high schools. Start-up small schools, almost all of which began with one grade level and grew by one grade per year, were highly rated in Year 1, relative to students’ previous schools and to a set of established effective schools. A Year 2 dip was followed by a rebound in Years 3 and 4. Conversion schools’ growth trajectory appeared dependent on the school's level of desired autonomy, defined as the amount of decision making the school ideally would have. Schools with higher desired autonomy showed the most growth as measured by student perceptions.     

Blogging as public pedagogy: creating alternative educational futures

In this study, I explore ‘blogging’, the use of a regularly updated website or web page, authored and curated by an individual or small group, written in a conversational style, as a form of public pedagogy. I analyse blogs as pre-figurative spaces where people go to learn with/in a public sphere, through collaboration with interested others. However, my intention is not to conceptualize blogging spaces as such, but rather—having framed them in a particular way—to explore the extent to which they globalise dissent. My argument is that the blogs I explore, understood as public pedagogic spaces, cultivate voices of educational dissent. Positioning itself within the global research imagination, the study draws extensively on data generated by two blogging communities with a combined international readership in excess of 40,000 people; one of the blogs is based in the UK, written by a group of adult educators. The other is based in Canada written by a group of adult literacy practitioners. Whilst both blogs are authored, curated and carried by a named individual, as public pedagogic spaces, they are implicated in the creation of a dialogic self: a self which is developed collaboratively with/in the interests of and through a public that coalesces around them. The pedagogies associated with these spaces are argued as explicit and intentioned. The public that coalesces around them learns how to survive a global neoliberal policy nexus that is unsympathetic towards the ideals they pre-figuratively embody. In so doing, they call into being the creation of alternative educational understandings of themselves and each other in relation to policy, pedagogy and the purposes of education.     

Knowledge, writing, and language outcomes for a reading comprehension and writing intervention

Many students struggle with gaining knowledge and writing about content text material and therefore require effective intervention. In a randomized controlled trial study, 77 low-achieving fourth-grade students received reading comprehension instruction or reading comprehension plus writing instruction or were assigned to a no-treatment control. Knowledge outcomes were evaluated through students’ retelling and performance on a standardized reading test. Written language-based outcomes were analyzed using a computer software program for semantic and syntactic measures. Analyses indicated that students in reading comprehension instruction and reading comprehension plus writing instruction outperformed the control group on oral and written retelling, a standardized reading test, and semantic measures. Syntactic measures, however, did not show statistically significant differences by treatment or control group. Implications for including language instruction and assessments within multi-component instruction are suggested.     

The development and implementation of a teaching unit on the immune system for secondary schools in Israel

In an attempt to widen the scope of school chemistry teaching, the authors have developed an interdisciplinary unit on the immune system. The main features of this unit are described, covering both its content and the pedagogical strategies employed in it. A brief summary of the results of the trial implementation of the unit is also presented.     

The Effects of Special Curricular Study of Mexican Culture on Anglo and Mexican-American Students’ Perceptions of Mexican-Americans

Anglo and Mexican-American students in six sixth-grade classrooms were randomly assigned to control or experimental conditions (four weeks of special curricular study of Mexican culture). The effect of the treatment on perceptions of MexicanAmericans was studied by having students respond anonymously to an attitude inventory. The posttest means were significantly lower than the pretest means for all groups, apparently as a consequence of greater honesty in responding. There were significant differences in the ethnic group means, but no sex difference. The length and intensity of the treatment were not sufficient to cause changes in the ethnic attitudes and stereotypes.     

Analyzing Quasi-Experiments

There is a large body of literature devoted to critiquing the adequacies of various approaches to analyzing data from quasi-experiments. It has slowly become clear that any discussion of approaches to analysis of quasiexperiments is incomplete unless certain assumptions are made about data resulting from growth in the absence of treatment effects. One popular assumption, and for which there exists appropriate analyses, is the fan spread hypothesis. The utility of the fan spread hypothesis for educational data is explored through relationships to a large class of continuous growth models. It is shown that the fan spread hypothesis is both more and less restrictive than past literature would suggest. Implications for data analysis are also discussed.     

REFORM AND REDEMPTION: THE MAHARAL OF PRAGUE AND JOHN AMOS COMENIUS

What is the legitimate use of power in religious education? Laughter can help us answer this question. First, we will look at the history of laughter and its relation to freedom. Second, four models of laughter will be described and evaluated. Third, we will discuss how it feels for order to emerge out of chaos in human beings and what kind of laughter emerges from that experience. Finally, the rediscovery of intrinsic motivation will be narrated and implications drawn to guide our teaching and learning.

     

Interactive statistics for a diverse student population

Students from many different subject areas are required to study statistics as part of their qualification. The Open University developed a statistics module which could simultaneously be studied by students from a variety of different disciplines, by engaging them with topics which are of interest to everyone, namely money, education and health, rather than being based in the student’s own discipline. The module attracts students from a wide variety of backgrounds and has one of the highest retention and pass rates of any OU module at level one. In addition, it has succeeded in successfully teaching a highly visual subject, which includes a wide range of online resources, to all students, including widening participation priority groups. It is hoped this can provide a model for other large service teaching courses, together with providing career and professional development for professional bodies.     

Expanding Talent Search Procedures by Including Measures of Spatial Ability: CTY's Spatial Test Battery

The importance of spatial ability for success in a variety of domains, particularly in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), is widely acknowledged. Yet, students with high spatial ability are rarely identified, as Talent Searches for academically talented students focus on identifying high mathematical and verbal abilities. Consequently, students with high spatial abilities who do not also have high math or verbal abilities may not qualify. In an effort to identify students with spatial talent, the Center for Talented Youth developed a Spatial Test Battery to supplement its mathematical and verbal Talent Searches. This article traces the development of the battery; describes its components, important psychometric properties, and continuing development; and encourages its use by researchers and educators interested in developing spatial talent.