Young offenders in New South Wales,Australia and the need for remedial sexual health education

The 2005–2008 Australian National Sexually Transmissible Infections Strategy identifies young people as a key target group in need of sexual health education, screening and management. For young people who are in contact with the New South Wales (NSW) juvenile justice system, a dire need for remedial sexual health education exists. NSW young offenders indicate initiation of sexual activity at a younger age than their peers, higher numbers of sexual partners, infrequent condom use and higher rates of sexually transmitted infections. They also report family instability, poor accessing of health services, and low school attendance: all factors that result in poor sexual knowledge and health outcomes. An examination into the cognitive profile of these young offenders indicates remedial education for this group may require a dual approach in order to redress their specific circumstances and needs. The first approach should target young offenders who simply missed out on stages of sexual health information in the school curriculum. The second approach requires a tailored teaching methodology more appropriate for a group with atypical cognitive profiles. Both approaches need to engage an educative model that acknowledges that these disadvantaged young people are already sexual active; and that many did not have the benefit of an informed or consensual decision making processes. More importantly, the tailoring of a sexual health education program to these young people needs to resonate with teaching to a cognitively distinctive population who have experienced higher than usual rates of alcohol and other drugs abuse, and higher than usual episodes of physical and emotional abuse and neglect.     

Using information and communications technology as a pedagogical tool: a survey of initial teacher education in Scotland

Abstract

In common with other parts of the United Kingdom, teacher education in Scotland is facing a period of rapidly changing demands with respect to the use of information and communications technology (ICT), together with high levels of investment, rising expectations, and increased scrutiny and accountability. In this article, we present an account of a national survey of the ICT skills and attitudes of students entering and exiting from the teacher education institutions in Scotland in the session 1996-97. The students are extremely positive in their attitudes, their enthusiasm for ICT use in education is high and their aspirations clear – they expect ICT to permeate their professional work now and in the future. Their experiences during their period of training fall considerably short of their expectations. We discuss the reasons for some of the difficulties and consider the challenges faced by tutors in initial teacher education courses who must now ‘model the message’ of a learner-centred approach to the education of their students.     

Discrepant SAT Critical Reading and Writing Scores: Implications for College Performance

Despite the similarities that researchers note between the cognitive processes and knowledge involved in reading and writing, there are students who are much stronger readers than writers and those who are much stronger writers than readers. The addition of the writing section to the SAT provides an opportunity to examine whether certain groups of students are more likely to exhibit stronger performance in reading versus writing and the academic consequences of this discrepant performance. Results of this study, based on hierarchical linear models of student performance, showed that even after controlling for relevant student characteristics and prior academic performance, an SAT critical reading–writing discrepancy had a small effect on 1st-year grade point average as well as English course grades in college. Specifically, students who had relatively higher writing scores as compared to their critical reading scores earned higher grades in their 1st year of college as well as in their 1st-year English course(s).     

Invisible and Indispensable: Parttime Teachers in California Community Colleges

Abstract

Although parttime instructors constitute a substantial portion—often a majority—of community college faculties, they are accorded a low status on campus, with less than half the salary and none of the benefits of fulltime faculty members. This study points up a number of misconceptions that administrators have been using to justify discriminatory treatment of parttime teachers.     

Technology User Groups and Early Childhood Education: A Preliminary Study

This article presents a preliminary examination of the potential of Technology User Groups as a professional development venue for early childhood education professionals in developing operational and functional competence in using hardware and software components of a Technology toolkit. Technology user groups are composed of varying numbers of participants having an interest in technology, and are led by one or more skilled facilitators who meet with participants across time to help them acquire and demonstrate new technology skill sets. A series of these groups were conducted with seven early education professionals serving young preschool children who were at risk or who had disabilities. The impact of these technology user groups was examined using self-reports subsequent to individual participation. Specific data were collected regarding the types of technologies that had been used, and the types of classroom instructional products that had been created and implemented in classrooms using the technologies. A discussion of the value of technology user groups is presented.     

Peter Effect in the Preparation of Reading Teachers

The Peter Effect (Applegate & Applegate, 2004 Applegate, A. J. and Applegate, M. D. 2004. The Peter Effect: Reading habits and attitudes of teacher candidates. The Reading Teacher, 57: 554–563. [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) claimed that one cannot be expected to give what one does not possess. We applied this notion to reading teacher preparation and hypothesized that teacher educators who do not possess an understanding of basic language constructs would not prepare teacher candidates with an understanding of these constructs considered essential for early reading success. Results from a survey of basic language constructs revealed similar patterns in performance between teacher educators and their respective teacher candidates, which served as initial validation of the Peter Effect in reading teacher preparation.     

An Interpersonal Psychotherapy Approach to Counseling Student Athletes: Clinical Implications of Athletic Identity

Research has shown that disruptive circumstances in an athlete's career (temporary injury, permanent injury, retirement) can pose significant difficulties, especially if the athlete has developed a salient athletic identity at the expense of a multidimensional self‐concept. The authors present an interpersonal psychotherapy approach to case conceptualization with student athletes that can be effective because of its brief nature and focus on grief, role transitions, interpersonal deficits, and interpersonal disputes.     

SPECIAL ISSUE COMMENTARY: Cross-Disciplinary Perspectives on Consultation in Gifted Education: Focusing on Practice Issues

This article provides a response from the perspectives of a teacher of the gifted and a trainer of teachers of the gifted. Following a brief summary of the authors' collective experience, the article highlights major issues represented by the four articles and identifies common themes across the various disciplines with respect to consultation and gifted education. A call for needed research and more collaborative work among gifted educators and school support personnel is made.     

Summer School and Summer Learning: An Examination of the Short- and Longer Term Changes in Student Literacy

Research Findings: Multiple student cohorts were longitudinally tracked and student participation in a summer program bridging the 1st- and 2nd-grade academic years was recorded to examine selection and efficacy issues related to a summer school implementation in the Pacific Northwest. The estimation of regression discontinuity models uncovered evidence of a local average treatment effect. At the cutscore for program admission, participating students had estimated summer oral reading fluency gains approximately 0.40 SD larger than those of nonparticipants. Further examination of the literacy outcomes among the sample of cutscore eligible students revealed that struggling readers who participated in the summer program increased their level of reading fluency relative to struggling readers who declined an invitation to participate. However, the advantage gained by cutscore eligible participants was not sustained over the subsequent academic year. Practice or Policy: These results suggest that supplemental summer instruction delivered to at-risk students may promote literacy gains during the otherwise challenging summer months and thereby serve as a useful intermediary tool for K–12 stakeholders seeking to keep struggling readers on track toward proficiency.