Promoting gun trigger-lock use: insights and implications from a radio-based health communication intervention

A radio public service announcement (PSA) focusing on the danger to children from an unlocked and loaded gun was designed and aired 340 times on three radio stations in one Michigan county. At the end of the message, individuals were given a toll-free number to call to receive a free gun trigger-lock. Three surveys were used to assess the effectiveness of this intervention: a general population telephone survey, an automated telephone survey, and a follow-up mail survey. Approximately 20 percent of individuals in the general population heard the PSA. There was a significant increase in uncued knowledge of the locking-related gun-safety practices in the treatment county between time one and time two. Further, individuals in both counties had very high levels of self-efficacy and response efficacy, moderate levels of perceived severity, and very low levels of perceived susceptibility at both points in time. Seven-hundred and ninety-nine individuals called the toll-free number to receive a free gun trigger-lock; or approximately 17 percent of gun-owning households exposed to the message. The majority of callers were males who owned guns primarily for hunting purposes and who planned to use the lock themselves. Follow-up survey results indicated that individuals were using the gun trigger-locks, and that they believed using gun trigger-locks was an easy and effective way to prevent gun injuries. Insights and practical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Reconceptualizing the School Administrator's Role: Socialization at Mid‐Career

School reform strategies involving restructuring require that administrators redefine their roles. Most of the research in this area has emphasized new rather than veteran administrators. However, if these reform strategies are to be implemented, school administrators at mid‐career stages will need to change their conceptions of the role.

This article identifies and examines literature concerning the major issues of socialization to a role conception, including definitions, sources, and socialization mechanisms for changing conceptions of the role. The article also presents a research agenda based on this theoretical examination that delineates research questions, relevant variables, and possible findings regarding changing role conceptions. The research agenda focuses on two major strategies of educational reform: shared decision making and schools of choice.     

Sensing the realities of English middle-class education: James Bryce and the Schools Inquiry Commission, 1865–1868

This paper explores the contribution of James Bryce as an Assistant Commissioner to the Taunton Commission from 1965 to 1868. It highlights his criticisms of the English middle class and of middle-class education represented in the endowed grammar schools of Lancashire, England. These criticisms were based partly on finely detailed observation of the buildings of these schools in their local and geographical settings. They also drew on acutely developed responses of a sensory and emotive nature relating to a broad sensory register of sight, sound, taste, touch and smell. The paper therefore helps to develop the potential value of sensory history in the history of education well as to provide a detailed examination of middle-class education in England in the 1860s. It also suggests that the realism characteristic of mid-Victorian writing and art may help to shed further light on the nature and experience of schooling in this period.     

Boys and Girls Together: A Case for Creating Gender-Friendly Middle School Classrooms

In many states, the rapidly increasing number of English language learners (ELLs) presents new challenges for undergraduate education programs. In addition, because areas with the most rapid growth generally have little history of educating the ELL population, there may be a corresponding lack of understanding of and empathy for ELLs. The author describes a language shock class that develops empathy for ELLs among preservice teachers, develops strategies for teaching ELLs, and promotes understanding of second language acquisition. Analysis of preservice teachers' reactions to the shock class helped them brainstorm strategies for working effectively with ELLs.     

NSSE Benchmarks and Institutional Outcomes: A Note on the Importance of Considering the Intended Uses of a Measure in Validity Studies

Surveys play a prominent role in assessment and institutional research, and the NSSE College Student Report is one of the most popular surveys of enrolled undergraduates. Recent studies have raised questions about the validity of the NSSE survey. Although these studies have themselves been criticized, documenting the validity of an instrument requires an affirmative finding regarding the adequacy and appropriateness of score interpretation and use. Using national data from NSSE 2008, the present study found that the NSSE benchmarks provided dependable means for 50 or more students and were significantly related to important institutional outcomes such as retention and graduation rates.     

Launching the Virtual Academic Center: Issues and Challenges in Innovation

In October 2010, the University of Southern California School of Social Work entered the online education environment with the launch of the first national web-based MSW program. After an initial enrollment of 80 students, in just 3 years this state-of-the-art MSW, offered in a technology-advanced synchronous and asynchronous format, has generated an enrollment of 2,000 students residing in 38 states. The development and rapid growth of the Virtual Academic Center has not been without significant challenges, the most substantial of which has been the creation of a national field education program. This paper describes the MSW courses taught in the online environment, and pedagogical hurdles faced in order to maintain the educational quality that is the hallmark of the School's campus-based MSW program.