Referring and Reporting Research Participants at Risk: Views from Urban Adolescents

Researching developmental risks of urban youth raises ethical concerns when an investigator discovers a participant is in jeopardy. This study collected data on 147 seventh, ninth, and eleventh graders' views of 3 investigator options: (1) taking no action and maintaining confidentiality, (2) reporting the problem to a concerned parent or adult, and (3) facilitating adolescent self-referrals. Participants judged these options within the context of 5 risk domains: substance abuse, child maltreatment, life-threatening behaviors, delinquency, and shyness. Judgments of reporting options were related to grade and ratings of risk severity, but not to moral reasoning. Confidentiality was viewed favorably for risk behaviors of low perceived severity or for which the consequences of adult discovery might introduce greater risk. Confidentiality was viewed unfavorably and reporting to adults favorably for child maltreatment and threats of suicide. Self-referral was viewed favorably across all grades and risk behaviors. Implications of adolescent perspectives for research ethics are discussed.     

Peer Social Skills in Toddlers: Competencies and Constraints Illustrated by Same-Age and Mixed-Age Interaction

One important aspect of social competence is the ability to accommodate social behavior to different contexts. Can children who are just beginning to acquire peer interactional skills adjust their social behavior to the age of their partner? 18- and 24-month-old children were paired in same-age or mixed-age dyads, and their spontaneously occurring peer interactions were observed. Previously documented age differences in peer skills were replicated. Additionally, toddlers in mixed-age dyads adjusted both the behavioral content and the complexity of their social behavior to the age of their partners. For initiations the effects were interactive. That is, children's adjustments in social behavior were a function of both the child's age and the partner's age. There also were age-related constraints on the accommodations that children made to one another. Speculations are offered about potential contributions to these developments during the second year. Results support arguments for the uniqueness of the mixed-age context, and show that by the second year children possess rudimentary skills to permit functional accommodations to this context.     

Building strategy

This issue's editorial is by Tony Rich, Registrar and Secretary of the University of Essex and a long‐time supporter of AUA. He draws out themes arising from the major funding and policy changes affecting higher education, and implications for the services provided by administrators and managers to the academic community. Ed.     

“I Fell into Librarianship”: Experiences of Post-Soviet Librarians at the National Academic Library in Astana,Kazakhstan

ABSTRACT

This paper explores the attitudes of librarians in post-Soviet Kazakhstan regarding their roles at the new National Academic Library of the Republic of Kazakhstan (NAL). Using ethnographic observation, interviews, and surveys of library staff (n = 24), we find that Kazakhstani librarians either sensed a “calling” to librarianship or “fell into” library careers given life circumstances, and value their library for its contribution to cultural preservation and digital access on a national scale. This pilot project presents NAL to an international community, sharing the voices of Russian- and Kazakh-speaking librarians to highlight the role of libraries in the development of the post-Soviet nation.     

“An inescapable network of mutuality”: Building Relationships of Solidarity in a First Grade Classroom

This case study of a first grade teacher enacting a social action curriculum is based on the understanding that schools can be sites where even young children can work toward the common good. This paper examines the way a first grade teacher (Paula Rogovin Rogovin, P. 2004. Why can't you behave? The teacher's guide to creative classroom management, K-3, Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.  [Google Scholar]) and her students built solidarity with a community member and in turn adopted a new social concern as their own. We identify, detail, and analyze the building of ties of solidarity as a practice enacted within a social action curriculum.     

A model of assessment and intervention for Non-Verbal Learning Disability (NVLD) in the Australian education system: an educational and developmental psychologist perspective

Non-Verbal Learning Disabilities (NVLD) have a relatively rare incidence, estimated to be approximately 1.7% of all learning disabilities. Symptoms of the disorder are perceptual, social and emotional. These symptoms differ according to the developmental age, with 85% of cases being diagnosed in secondary school when education becomes more complex. In Australia the intricate arrangements between funding for intervention within the school and the requirements from the assessment authority in each state for special provision mean that a cohesive model is required for school professionals to guide education for NVLD students. This is particularly important to enable access to tertiary education. A flow-chart model of assessment and intervention for the Australian education system is demonstrated, which draws on two case studies (“Katie” currently attending university and “Jamie” currently in year 8) with the provision of Australian and International research and literature to validate the model.     

Where are We? Critical Race Theory in Education 20 Years Later

This article explores the territory that has been covered since the publication of Ladson-Billings and Tate's 1995 article, “Toward a Critical Race Theory in Education.” We organize our review of the CRT literature is organized around what we are calling CRT “boundaries.” We identify six boundaries for CRT and education: 1) CRT in education argues that racial inequity in education is the logical outcome of a system of achievement presided on competition; 2) CRT in education examines the role of education policy and educational practices in the construction of racial inequity and the perpetuation of normative whiteness; 3) CRT in education rejects the dominant narrative about the inherent inferiority of people of color and the normative superiority of white people; 4) CRT in education rejects ahistoricism and examines the historical linkages between contemporary educational inequity and historical patterns of racial oppression; 5) CRT in education engages in intersectional analyses that recognize the ways that race is mediated by and interacts with other identity markers (i.e., gender, class, sexuality, linguistic background, and citizenship status); 6) CRT in education agitates and advocates for meaningful outcomes that redress racial inequity. CRT does not merely document disparities. We suggest that these core ideas provide a framework for analyzing the work that has been done in education in the past and a way to determine what might be left to do.     

Making the School Environment Safe: Red Rose's Formula

The purpose of this study was to assess the school environment of an urban school to illuminate what teachers felt to be important factors in developing a safer school environment. Responses to the School Level Environmental Questionnaire (SLEQ) suggested that teachers wanted more student support, more resources and less work pressure. To decrease work pressure, teachers adopted the work conservation strategies of working without reserves of time and energy, processing curriculum, and working in isolation in order to survive. Yet, when work conservation strategies were used, especially safeguarding time, student aggression surfaced. A School Improvement Committee developed a three-step plan to decrease work pressure. Teachers were concerned with lack of resources and used personal income to buy supplies and shared materials with students, using three styles of sharing. While some teachers were reluctant to share, others shared freely and still other teachers developed responsible sharing systems. Those who shared reluctantly had more behavior problems. Teachers' gravest concerns were students' aggressive behaviors. Teachers thought that student aggression was coming from home and the community. Observations showed that students often came to school angry. Yet, interviews verified that students at Rose more frequently became angry once they were at school. Red Rose's school environment was in the midst of change, but no attention was given to how change affects teachers. Many teachers were not prepared for the amount of change that they were experiencing and they had mixed feelings and opinions and became resistant.