Perspectives on gender and sexual diversity (GSD)-inclusive education: comparisons between gay/lesbian/bisexual and straight educators

This paper presents findings from a national study on the beliefs and practices of K-12 educators regarding lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) issues in schools. Over 3400 Canadian educators participated in the study, which took the form of a bilingual (English/French) online survey. Respondents answered questions about their values regarding human rights and LGBTQ-inclusive education, their practices in the classroom, experiences with homophobic and transphobic harassment, and perceptions of support for LGBTQ-inclusive practices. Results indicate that there is a high level of in-principle support for LGBTQ-inclusive education (84.9%); however, actual practice is much lower (61.8%) and there are significant differences in the perspectives and experiences of gay, lesbian, and bisexual identified educators compared with their straight colleagues in terms of curriculum integration and bullying interventions. Findings offer important insights for teacher preparation, curriculum development, and law and policy implementation and reform.     

Making a point of difference: the glocalised ecology of the International Baccalaureate Diploma in Australian schools

The International Baccalaureate Diploma (IBD) is an independent, globally available curriculum currently enjoying rapid uptake in government systems as an alternative curriculum. This paper explores the logic of its consumption in three case study schools across different states of Australia, and the relational ‘points of difference’ it creates in each local context and its curricular market. The analysis uses a typology of goods to describe the nature and dynamics of the IBD's glocalised ecology in each site. The conclusion argues that the success of the IBD as a curricular alternative risks eroding its appeal as a positional good.     

Crafting policies about controversial values: How wording disputes manage a group dilemma

Over a six-month time period a school board and its community discussed their district's strategic plan goals about diversity. This article analyzes that discussion within the practical theory frame articulated by Craig. Meeting talk and documents were analyzed to determine how the group's policy deliberation became an argument over what words to have (or avoid) in the strategic plan document. Proposals about document language were framed as technical editing, as inadvertent changing of a policy, and as wordsmithing. In addition to each frame being used, each was also challenged as to its being used to advance some group members' interests at the expense of others. Moving back and forth between using and resisting wording proposal frames, we suggest, is a reasonable way for groups to manage a dilemma they face in crafting policies about controversial, abstract issues. The paper concludes by identifying implications for dilemma theorizing and future study of groups.     

Public and Academic Library Cataloging Collaboration in Ohio's NACO Funnel Project

Catalogers at The Ohio State University (OSU) Libraries, Columbus Metropolitan Library (CML), and Cleveland Public Library (CPL) are collaborating through the Ohio Name Authority Cooperative (NACO) funnel to create personal name authority records that directly benefit library patrons. Although OSU provides training and review, all three libraries receive value from the collaboration. There have been obstacles, however, such as cataloging training and workflow differences between public and academic libraries. This article will discuss the challenges and benefits of this inter-library cataloger collaboration from the point of view of all three libraries, plans for the future, and best practices for other libraries that are interested in public/academic library collaborations of this kind.     

Efficacy of Screen-Capture Tutorials in Literature Search Training: A Pilot Study of a Research Method

This pilot study evaluated a research method for examining the efficacy of screen capture tutorials in teaching database search skills. This is not a results-oriented paper but rather describes the facets and testing of a mixed methods protocol. The lessons learned can be applied to a result-oriented study with a larger sample size and to the development of methods for similar studies. The protocol tried to balance control of variables with observing behavior in the natural setting. A combination of concept maps, an information stage questionnaire, and screen recordings provided rich information about health practitioners' research questions and search strategies.     

Supervisor Impression Management: Message Content and Channel Effects on Impressions

The current study focuses on the delivery of negative feedback and how supervisors can accomplish that delivery while maintaining their own image and their employees' face. We look at delivery of feedback with and without face-saving messages through two different channels: face-to-face (FtF) and email. Results indicate that the inclusion of face-saving messages had relatively consistent positive effects on a variety of employees' impressions of supervisors. Channel was found to interact with message content to impact perceived face threat of a message and the perception of the supervisor's appropriateness. These findings are discussed in terms of theoretical and practical applications, as are limitations and directions for future research.     

Identifying the Serials Librarian: Serials-Related Position Titles in the United States and Around the World

Serials are a familiar academic job responsibility, but serials librarians are becoming difficult to identify. While serials continue to exist, the transition from print to electronic resources contributes to a trend in which the job titles of librarians who manage serials no longer include the word “serials.” A content analysis was conducted to examine the prevalence of the word “serials,” as well as common synonyms including “continuing resources” and “periodicals,” in U.S. and non-U.S. academic library job titles. In a sample of 98 U.S. national and regional universities and colleges, 18 librarian and 98 staff job titles were found that included the word “serials” or a synonym for serials. By comparison, a sample of 71 universities from 8 non-U.S. countries revealed 17 librarian and 85 staff job titles that included the word “serials” or a synonym for serials.     

An analysis of social style among disparate cultures

Using the Assertiveness‐Responsiveness Measure, scores of Finnish, Japanese, Korean, and American university students were compared. The American scores indicated that they were significantly more assertive than were the participants from the other cultures. The Korean men scored as more responsive than the other men, the American men more assertive, and the American women as more responsive than any of the men and women.     

Specific reading difficulties in Chinese, English, or both: longitudinal markers of phonological awareness, morphological awareness, and RAN in Hong Kong Chinese children

What are the longitudinal cognitive profiles of Hong Kong Chinese children with specific reading difficulties in Chinese only, in English only, or both? A total of 16 poor readers each of Chinese (PC) and English (PE) and 8 poor readers of both orthographies (PB) were compared to a control sample (C) of 16 children; all were drawn from a statistically representative sample of 154 Hong Kong Chinese children tested at ages 5 to 9 years. PE and PB children's mothers had lower education levels than did the other groups. With children's ages and mothers' education levels statistically controlled, the PE, PC, and PB groups were significantly lower than the C group on phonological awareness. The PB and PE groups also scored significantly lower than the others on English vocabulary across years, whereas the PC and PB groups were significantly poorer than the C and PE groups on morphological awareness across years. Finally, the PB group was significantly slower than the other groups on speed naming at every age tested, underscoring the potential importance of automaticity in reading across orthographies. Findings highlight the need to consider the issue of how to identify reading difficulties in a second language.     

Chinese children's character recognition: Visuo‐orthographic,phonological processing and morphological skills

Tasks tapping visual skills, orthographic knowledge, phonological awareness, speeded naming, morphological awareness and Chinese character recognition were administered to 184 kindergarteners and 273 primary school students from Beijing. Regression analyses indicated that only syllable deletion, morphological construction and speeded number naming were unique correlates of Chinese character recognition in kindergarteners. Among primary school children, the independent correlates of character recognition were rime detection, homophone judgement, morpheme production, orthographic knowledge and speeded number naming. Results underscore the importance of some dimensions of both phonological processing and morphological awareness for both very early and intermediate Chinese reading acquisition. Although significantly correlated with character recognition in younger (but not older) children, visual skills were not uniquely associated with Chinese character reading at any grade level. However, orthographic skills were strongly associated with reading in primary school but not kindergarten, suggesting that orthographic skills are more important for literacy development as reading experience increases.