The Interfacing of Preservice and Inservice Experiences of Reform-Based Teaching: A Longitudinal Study

This article contrasts four elementary teachers who were graduates of a teacher education program that incorporated a reform-based mathematics methods course. The report provides results from a four-year longitudinal study that extended from the time that the participants were preservice teachers until the end of their second year of teaching. The article provides background information of each teacher, vignettes from her teaching, excerpts from interviews, and an analysis of each teacher's case. Results from the case studies indicate that two of the four teachers sustained their cognitively-based conceptions about mathematics teaching and learning, and implemented these conceptions into practice. The analysis suggests that there were several factors that influenced the teachers' conceptions and the choices they made in their teaching: personal commitment, professional strength, curriculum, planning, assessment, beliefs, knowledge, and support from school administration. The article concludes with implications for teaching and questions about the nature of what might be required in the beginning years of teaching if new teachers are expected to implement reform-based mathematics teaching practices. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Achieving Legal Viability in Personnel Evaluations

Legal viability of an evaluation means that the evaluator can successfully address pertinent legal issues and avoid debilitating legal difficulties in conducting an ethical personnel evaluation and applying its results. While the 1988 Personnel Evaluation Standards contain no specific standard on legal viability, following the documents twenty-one standards substantially aids evaluators to avoid legal difficulties. Nevertheless, meeting legal viability requirements is becoming increasingly complex and difficult in the face of the expanding role of personnel evaluations in high-stake decisions, including initial and advanced certification, sanctions and rewards, and terminations. Evaluators increasingly need sound, definitive guidance to meet procedural and substantive due process requirements and, in general, to keep their evaluations legally defensible. Eight years of experience in applying the 1988 Standards provides a foundation for developing a specific legal viability standard. This article argues for the inclusion of such a standard in the next edition of The Personnel Evaluation Standards. A prototype standard is presented to help the Joint Committee and its constituents deliberate on this matter.     

Prevalence and psychological sequelae of self-reported childhood physical and sexual abuse in a general population sample of men and women

OBJECTIVE: This study examined the prevalence and psychological sequelae of childhood sexual and physical abuse in adults from the general population. METHOD: A national sampling service generated a geographically stratified, random sample of 1,442 subjects from the United States. Subjects were mailed a questionnaire that included the Traumatic Events Survey (TES) [Traumatic Events Survey, Unpublished Psychological Test, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles] and the Trauma Symptom Inventory (TSI) [Trauma Symptom Inventory Professional Manual, Psychological Assessment Resources, Odessa, FL]. Of all potential subjects, 935 (64.8%) returned substantially completed surveys. RESULTS: Sixty-six men and 152 women (14.2% and 32.3%, respectively) reported childhood experiences that satisfied criteria for sexual abuse, and 103 males and 92 females (22.2% and 19.5%, respectively) met criteria for physical abuse. Twenty-one percent of subjects with one type of abuse also had experienced the other type, and both types were associated with subsequent adult victimization. After controlling for demographics, adult history of interpersonal violence, and other child abuse, childhood sexual abuse was associated with all 10 scales of the TSI, and physical abuse was related to all TSI scales except those tapping sexual issues. Sexual abuse predicted more symptom variance than did physical abuse or adult interpersonal victimization. Various aspects of both physical and sexual abuse experiences were predictive of TSI scores. Abuser sex, however, both alone and in interaction with victim sex, was not associated with additional TSI symptomatology. CONCLUSIONS: Childhood sexual and physical abuse is relatively common in the general population, and is associated with a wide variety of psychological symptoms. These relationships remain even after controlling for relevant background variables.     

Deciphering the dynamics of segregation: The role of schools in the housing choice process

This paper examines the ways in which segregation in schools contributes to the perpetuation of residential segregation, and the ways in which metropolitan-wide school desegregation supports housing integration. An empirical analysis of real estate advertising practices in fourteen American cities is outlined, and supplemented by a discussion of the character of real estate agent advice to homeseekers. Conclusions are drawn about the differences in the housing choice process in communities with segregated as opposed to desegregated schools. Finally, implications for urban policy are presented.The research reported here was supported by the National Institute of Education, Grant HEW-NIE G-78-0125/1.     

How are the Perceptions of Learning Networks Shaped Among School Professionals and Headteachers at an Early Stage in their Introduction?

This paper draws on the findings of a research project funded by the Liverpool City of Learning consortium in the UK. The aim is to explore the process of introduction of ten authority wide learning networks, the impact these have on school professionals practice, the opportunities they offer for CPD and the extent to which they may impact on pupil learning. The research presented here draws on findings from a questionnaire distributed to school professionals and key issues emerging from their analysis point to the influence of national government agendas on school professionals’ interpretation of the purpose of the networks. They also point to the views of staff regarding the impact of the attainment agenda as well as the extent to which an increased emphasis on social inclusion and wider understandings of learning and achievement (which are less well represented by results-based performance monitoring) are having on their hopes for what Learning Networks might deliver. The expectations of staff of the opportunities offered by learning networks for long term professional development provide some interesting insights, and perhaps, some useful pointers as to how networks of this kind might develop in the future.     

The ingestion of a caffeinated energy drink improves jump performance and activity patterns in elite badminton players

The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of a caffeine-containing energy drink to enhance physical and match performance in elite badminton players. Sixteen male and elite badminton players (25.4 ± 7.3 year; 71.8 ± 7.9 kg) participated in a double-blind, placebo-controlled and randomised experiment. On two different sessions, badminton players ingested 3 mg of caffeine per kg of body mass in the form of an energy drink or the same drink without caffeine (placebo). After 60 min, participants performed the following tests: handgrip maximal force production, smash jump without and with shuttlecock, squat jump, countermovement jump and the agility T-test. Later, a 45-min simulated badminton match was played. Players’ number of impacts and heart rate was measured during the match. The ingestion of the caffeinated energy drink increased squat jump height (34.5 ± 4.7 vs. 36.4 ± 4.3 cm; P < 0.05), squat jump peak power (P < 0.05), countermovement jump height (37.7 ± 4.5 vs. 39.5 ± 5.1 cm; P < 0.05) and countermovement jump peak power (P < 0.05). In addition, an increased number of total impacts was found during the badminton match (7395 ± 1594 vs. 7707 ± 2033 impacts; P < 0.05). In conclusion, the results show that the use of caffeine-containing energy drink may be an effective nutritional aid to increase jump performance and activity patterns during game in elite badminton players.     

School climate in Mongolia: Translation and validation of the What’s Happening in This School

Learning Environments Research - School climate measures are important tools that assist educators in evaluating the “norms, values, and expectations that support people feeling socially,...