Classroom Age Composition and Vocabulary Development Among At-Risk Preschoolers

Research Findings: The purpose of this exploratory study was to examine the relationship between classroom age composition and preschoolers’ vocabulary gains over an academic year and also to examine whether these relations were moderated by classroom quality. In this study (N = 130 children in 16 classrooms representing a subset of all children enrolled in these classrooms), results showed a significant cross-level interaction between classroom age composition and children's age, suggesting positive effects of greater variance in classroom age composition for younger but not older children. The interaction between behavior management (1 dimension of classroom quality) and classroom age composition was also significant, indicating that a wider distribution of classroom age composition was positively related to children's vocabulary gains within classrooms characterized by better behavior management. Practice or Policy: Findings underscore the importance of children's social interactions with more knowledgeable conversational partners in promoting their vocabulary development and signify the need to help teachers learn how to manage children's behaviors so as to provide a classroom that is optimal for child learning.     

National qualifications in Scotland: A lightning rod for public concern about equity during the pandemic

Scotland, traditionally, has high levels of confidence in teachers. Fairness and justice are key concepts in policy and practice in Scottish education. For more than 100 years, the high-stakes assessment system in Scotland, with the Scottish Higher qualification at its heart, has been crucial to that sense of opportunity and justice. However, in 2019–2020, public confidence in high-stakes assessment in Scotland, as in other United Kingdom countries, was dented. In Scotland, the Covid-19 pandemic meant that schools were closed, teachers provided online learning opportunities for pupils working at home and, for the first time in 130 years, it was not possible to run national examinations. To ensure that learners were not further disadvantaged, alternative approaches to gathering evidence for qualifications were instigated. However, these results were challenged as socially unjust and the results that had been nationally moderated were replaced by results based on locally moderated teachers' professional judgement. As Scotland looks to qualifications beyond Covid-19, trust must be re-built. This article reports on a participative research project that sought to understand public perceptions of standards and fairness across a range of key communities following this experience. Drawing on both qualitative and quantitative data, we analyse factors which affected trust in National Qualifications under the pandemic. The evidence suggests that when considering what matters for qualifications to be trusted, technocratic solutions are likely to be rejected by stakeholders. Understanding and responding to what led to the mistrust of qualifications in Scotland will be crucial to inform its future qualifications system.     

Differential impacts of academic and social experiences on college-related behavioral outcomes across different ethnic and gender groups at four-year institutions

The results of the study indicated that institutional experiences, academic achievement, and environmental pull factors contributed the most to persistence decisions. Furthermore, analyses revealed that differences in the effects of these factors for different ethnic and gender groups were important in explaining persistence decisions. No precollege factors (educational aspirations, prior academic achievement, attitudes toward learning, and support and encouragement to attend college) were found to improve the overall fit of the models for any of the groups in the study. For minorities, the biggest detrimental effects on dropout behavior were derived from pull factors in the form of family responsibilities and working off-campus. No significant positive effects from informal and formal interactions with faculty, close personal relationships with peers, and academic experiences during their first year in college were found to negate the large negative influences from the pull factors. For females, the most significant positive effect on college persistence came from mentoring experiences in the form of nonclassroom interactions with faculty.     

On Scholars and Pragmatists and Fitting It All In

The author looks back on his career as an academic in Australia, tracing both his own and higher education's descent into pragmatism. In particular, he re‐examines 25 years later the AVCC working party report on Teaching Methods in Australian Universities of which he was a co‐author.     

大海诗人与朗费罗

把大海当作知音,当作既不能摆脱的心中的哈姆雷特又不能使之拥有一刻平静的累尔提斯,这是现代人的理念。拜伦和雪莱在诗中创造了大海;海涅把大海当作知音,向它诉说自己的爱情;华兹华斯将大海当作道德感化的力量;伯朗宁一反诗人们的常态,以自己的方式热爱着大海;在马休·阿诺德心中,大海是命运之声,传达的是失意和绝望;雨果与大海交流就像跟谦卑的朋友说话一样,发出的高谈阔论是前所未有的。那些抒情诗人们也都无不如此……但唯独在朗费罗心中,大海呈现给他的是康特·阿诺德斯眼中那威武的战舰;听到的只有水手们豪放而美妙的歌声,这歌声让人…