Community and Collectivism: the role of parents’ organisations in the education system

This paper outlines the theoretical and empirical starting‐points for a research project addressing the role of parents’ organisations in the education system. It argues that a study of relationships conducted between homes, schools and parents’ groups and organisations has the potential to illuminate key concepts in education, considering as examples ‘citizenship’ and ‘community’. The paper is divided into three main sections. The first briefly describes the study's background, its scope and methodology. The second section considers the use of some of Antonio Gramsci's work in providing a theoretical starting‐point with which to explore the construction and maintenance of hegemonic discourses surrounding parenting. The concluding section of the paper widens the discussion to consider two key concepts, community and citizenship. It is argued that the discursive positioning of these concepts, in other words, how they are understood and defined, influences the ways in which relationships between parents and the education system are perceived and construed. This is illustrated with reference to readings of'citizenship’ and ‘community’ which emphasise, not consensus and homogeneity as in traditional definitions, but conflict, difference and multiplicity. The paper concludes that there is a continued need for empirical data focusing on everyday citizen and citizen‐state interactions which reveal how individuals live within, and understand and experience these relationships.     

Young Children''s Vulnerability to Self-Blame and Helplessness: Relationship to Beliefs about Goodness

Motivational helplessness, linked to conceptions of intelligence, has been well documented in older children. While some researchers have reported that children just starting school are motivationally invulnerable, others have found evidence of helplessness when these children encounter failure. The present study seeks to determine whether the reactions associated with helplessness can be identified in a new context, that of criticism, and whether any such responses are related to the child's conceptions of goodness. Subjects were 107 5- and 6-year-old children who enacted achievement situations in which teacher criticism was presented. The 39% of children whose own assessments were undermined by criticism exhibited the affect, task choices, and nonconstructive problem-solving strategies characteristic of helplessness. They were also more likely to make global negative self-judgments following criticism, including negative judgments of their goodness. Finally, these children were more likely to endorse stable and global beliefs about goodness.     

Concerns of teachers about technology integration in the USA

This study was designed to examine the current trend and pattern of teachers' concerns about technology integration. Eighty‐six in‐service teachers in a graduate course participated in the study at a midwestern state university during the summer semester of 2002. The Stages of Concerns (SoC) Questionnaire was used to assess teachers' seven stages of concern: awareness, informational, personal, management, consequence, collaboration and refocusing. This study found that: (1) teachers' concerns as a whole were very intense in these stages informational, personal and refocusing; (2) there were significant statistical differences in teachers' concerns in most stages of concern among teachers with three levels of perception of their implementation status; (3) the concern profile for each of the three subgroups supported the hypothesis of Hall, George & Rutherford (1977) regarding the development of stages of concern for the three different user groups: inexperienced, experienced and renewing. International implications for teacher technology integration are proposed.

Cette étude a été conçue pour examiner la tendance courante et le modèle suivi par les professeurs qui s'intéressent à l'intégration de la technologie. Quatre‐vingt‐cinq professeurs d'un cours universitaire ont participé à cette étude provenant d'une université d'un état du midwest pendant le semestre d'été de 2002. Les Étapes du Questionnaire des Préoccupations (Hall, George, & Rutherford, 1977) ont été utilisées pour évaluer les 7 étapes: prise de conscience, informelle, personnelle, gestion, conséquence, collaboration et concentration. Cette étude a conclut que: (1) l'intérêt des professeurs dans son ensemble était très intense pendant les étapes suivantes, information, personnelle et concentration; (2) il existe des différences statistiques considérables dans la plupart des étapes parmi les professeurs des trois niveaux de perception de leur situation; et (3) le profil de préoccupation pour chacun des trois sous‐groupes supporte l'hypothèse d'Hall concernant le développement d'étapes de préoccupation pour les trois utilisateurs des différents groupes–inexpérimenté, expérimenté et en renouvellement. Des implications internationales pour les professeurs qui s'occupent de l'intégration de la technologie sont proposées.

Diese Studie wurde entworfen, um die gegenwärtigen Trends und das Profil der Lehrermeinungen zu Technologieintegration zu untersuchen. Im Sommer Semester 2004 nahmen fünfundachtzig Lehrer an einer Studie in einem fortgeschrittenen Kurs an einer staatlichen Universität im Mittelwesten der USA teil. Die Stufen des Besorgtheitsfragebogen (Stages of Concern Questionnaire (SoC)) wurde verwendet, um die 7 Stufen der Lehrerbedenken festzustellen: Bewusstheit, informatorisch, persönlich, Management, Konsquenz, Zusammenarabeit. und Wiederfokusieren. Die Ergebnisse waren: (1) In den Stufen informatorisch, persönlich, und Widerfokusieren, waren die Lehrerbedenken sehr intensiv; (2) Unter Lehrern mit drei Stufen der Perzeption ihrer Implementationsstatus gab es significkante statistische Unterschiede in fast allen Stufen der Besorgtheit der Lehrer in fast allen Stufen der Besorgtheit; und (3) Die Besorgtheitsprofil für jede der drei Untergruppen unterstützte Hall et al's Hypothese hinsichtlich der Entwicklung der Besorgtheitsstufen für die drei verschiedenen Verbrauchergruppen--unerfahren, erfahren, und immer Erneuernde. Internationale Implikationen für die Integration der Lehrer bezogenen Technologie werden angeboten.

Este estudio fue diseñado para examinar la tendencia actual y el modelo de los maestros involucrados en la integración de la tecnología. Ochenta y cinco maestros de un curso graduado participaron en este estudio en una universidad de un estado del midwest durante el semestre del verano de 2002. Las Fases de la Encuesta de Preocupaciones (Hall, George, & Rutherford, 1977 Hall GE George AA Rutherford WL 1977 Measuring stages of concern about the innovation: a manual for use of the SoC questionnaire Austin TX Southwest Educational Development Laboratory  [Google Scholar]) fueron usadas para evaluar las 7 fases de preocupación de los maestros: conocimiento, informativo, personal, gestión, consecuencia, colaboración y enfoque. Este estudio concluyó en lo siguiente: (1) los maestros en conjunto estaban involucrados intensamente en las fases siguientes: informativo, personal y enfoque; (2) había diferencias estadísticas significativas en la mayoría de las fases de preocupación entre los maestros con tres niveles de percepción de su situación; y (3) el perfil de preocupación para cada uno de los tres subgrupos corroboró la hipótesis de Hall con respecto al desarrollo de las fases de preocupación para los tres usuarios diferentes–inexperto, experimentado y renovado. Conclusiones internacionales para los maestros que se interesan en la integración de la tecnología han sido propuestas.     

A cross-national survey of cultural expectations and sex-role standards in reading

Cultural expectations and sex-role standards about reading in Canada, Denmark, England, Finland, Israel, Japan, and U.S.A. were investigated. A picture test showing various activities and objects including reading and books was administered in each country to six sub-samples that approximated to the levels: students in grades I, IV, VIII, and XII, college students, and adults. Subjects had to ascribe the activity or object as being appropriate for either a boy or a girl. The results were consistent with the hypothesis that cultural expectations and sex-role standards about reading are congruent within one country but that they differ between countries. In particular, boys in Canada and the U.S.A. rapidly learn to perceive reading as a feminine activity, whereas Danish and Japanese males at all ages consistently view reading as acceptable masculine behaviour.     

Computer-mediated communication and the Gallaudet University community: a preliminary report

The study examined the use of computer-mediated communication (CMC) among individuals involved in a conflict sparked by the appointment of an administrator as president-designate of Gallaudet University in 2006. CMC was defined as forms of communication used for transmitting (sharing) information through networks with digital devices. There were 662 survey respondents. Respondents reported overwhelmingly (98%) that they used CMC to communicate. Students and alumni reported CMC use in larger proportions than any other group. The favorite devices among all respondents were Sidekicks, stationary computers, and laptops. Half of all respondents also reported using some form of video device. Nearly all reported using e-mail; respondents also identified Web surfing, text messaging, and blogging as popular CMC activities. The authors plan another article reporting on computer and electronic technology use as a mechanism connecting collective identity to social movements.     

Transition to School: Developmental Trajectories and School Experiences

Because of the premium now placed on a formal education as well as the changing demographics of American society, school failure is now more costly than ever. Given that academic difficulties experienced by children are traceable to problems in underachievement that begin during the first years of early schooling, a thorough understanding of the transition-to-school process is needed. We suggest two principal assumptions in examining this transition-to-kindergarten period. First, multiple risk factors associated with certain child, family, and child care characteristics are expected to predict early school experience, both in and out of the classroom, and, thereby, social and academic success and failure in the early school years. Secondly, it is expected that day-to-day experiences in the classroom and on the playground will exacerbate or mitigate risk, resulting in some children performing better than would otherwise be expected and others functioning worse than anticipated. Thus, a critically important problem involves the identification of child, family, child care, and schooling factors and processes which account for risk being realized or not realized with regard to subsequent academic and school performance.     

The effects of dialect awareness instruction on nonmainstream American English speakers

The achievement gaps between poor and more affluent students are persistent and chronic, as many students living in poverty are also members of more isolated communities where dialects such as African American English and Southern Vernacular English are often spoken. Non-mainstream dialect use is associated with weaker literacy achievement. The principal aims of the two experiments described in this paper were to examine whether second through fourth graders, who use home English in contexts where more formal school English is expected, can be taught to dialect shift between home and school English depending on context; and whether this leads to stronger writing and literacy outcomes. The results of two randomized controlled trials with students within classrooms randomly assigned to DAWS (Dialect Awareness, a program to explicitly teach dialect shifting), editing instruction, or a business as usual group revealed (1) that DAWS was more effective in promoting dialect shifting than instruction that did not explicitly contrast home and school English; and (2) that students in both studies who participated in DAWS were significantly more likely to use school English in contexts where it was expected on proximal and distal outcomes including narrative writing, morphosyntactic awareness, and reading comprehension. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.     

Classroom Activities and Areas: Regularity of Use and Perceptions of Adaptability by General Early Educators

This report describes a mail survey of general early educators from Head Start, public school pre-kindergarten, public school kindergarten, and community preschool/child care programs. The purposes were to secure information about the availability of classroom activities and areas, and to obtain the respondents' perceptions of the ease with which activities and areas could be adapted to accommodate children with disabilities. Of the 893 mailed questionnaires, 483 (54.1%) were returned and coded. The respondents reportedly used a wide range of classroom activities and areas, and they rated those activities and areas as moderately easy to adapt. Also, respondents from mainstreamed programs used slightly more activities and perceived the activities as easier to adapt than did respondents from non-mainstreamed programs. The findings appear to indicate that placement of children with disabilities in segregated programs cannot be justified on grounds that integration will restrict the range of activities available to typically developing children, or on the grounds that the adaptations are perceived by program staff as too difficult to be accomplished.     

Examining the Efficacy of Targeted Component Interventions on Language and Literacy for Third and Fourth Graders Who are at Risk of Comprehension Difficulties

Testing a component model of reading comprehension in a randomized controlled trial, we evaluated the efficacy of 4 interventions that were designed to target components of language and metacognition that predict children’s reading comprehension: vocabulary, listening comprehension, comprehension of literate language, academic knowledge, and comprehension monitoring. Third- and 4th-graders with language skills falling below age expectations participated (N = 645). Overall, the component interventions were only somewhat effective in improving the targeted skills, compared to a business-as-usual control (g ranged from ?.14 to .33), and no main effects were significant after correcting for multiple comparisons. Effects did not generalize to other language skills or to students’ reading comprehension. Moreover, there were Child Characteristic × Treatment interaction effects. For example, the intervention designed to build sensorimotor mental representations was more effective for children with weaker vocabulary skills. Implications for component models of reading and interventions for children at risk of reading comprehension difficulties are discussed.