The Civil Rights Commission Must Persist

Columnist George Will and others have questioned the continuing need for a federal civil rights commission, because civil rights protections have been on the books since 1964. The chairman of the Commission, Gerald Reynolds, here responds that practitioners of critical legal theory, advocates of the Akaka-Secession bill, some proponents of diversity, and others like them may make the continued existence of his commission a necessity.     

Creative Arts Personal Pedagogy vs Marketised Higher Education: A battle between values

The ongoing marketisation of higher education in England can be understood both conceptually – in terms of its ideological commitment to competition and accountability; and practically – in terms of the way that it has altered higher education structurally in a variety of ways. Methods of standardisation and quantification offer validation and reward to institutions through criteria aligned with marketised principles, leading to institutions shaping their operations to suit these forms of justification. Historically, many arts subjects have operated conceptually and organisationally outside the traditional higher education paradigm, and pedagogic approaches and values that are attributable to this subject area could clash with marketised understandings of education, which are becoming more prevalent and influential. This article presents analysis of reflections from creative arts educational practitioners working within higher education institutions in England on explorations of an ontology of the creative arts, as well as experiences of the marketisation process. A series of values relating to the concept of ‘the personal’, inherent to the creative arts are discussed and an exploration of how these principles clash with the priorities of the marketised educational economy are articulated. The values and principles that are inherent to educators and practitioners working in the creative arts are competing with ‘marketised’ motives imposed on them by the institutions in which they work.     

Predicting who will major in a science discipline: Expectancy–value theory as part of an ecological model for studying academic communities

Research on factors that shape recruitment and retention in undergraduate science majors currently is highly fragmented and in need of an integrative research framework. Such a framework should incorporate analyses of the various levels of organization that characterize academic communities (i.e., the broad institutional level, the departmental level, and the student level), and should also provide ways to study the interactions occurring within and between these structural levels. We propose that academic communities are analogous to ecosystems, and that the research paradigms of modern community ecology can provide the necessary framework, as well as new and innovative approaches to a very complex area. This article also presents the results of a pilot study that demonstrates the promise of this approach at the student level. We administered a questionnaire based on expectancy-value theory to undergraduates enrolled in introductory biology courses. Itself an integrative approach, expectancy-value theory views achievement-related behavior as a joint function of the person's expectancy of success in the behavior and the subjective value placed on such success. Our results indicated: (a) significant gender differences in the underlying factor structures of expectations and values related to the discipline of biology, (b) expectancy-value factors significantly distinguished biology majors from nonmajors, and (c) expectancy-value factors significantly predicted students' intent to enroll in future biology courses. We explore the expectancy-value framework as an operationally integrative framework in our ecological model for studying academic communities, especially in the context of assessing the underrepresentation of women and minorities in the sciences. Future research directions as well as practical implications are also discussed.     

In-Service Education of Counseling Supervisors

The literature indicates that little attention has been given to the in-service education of counseling supervisors. This article describes such a program carried out by the New York State Employment Service and the University of Rochester. Three small groups (total N = 25) met periodically during one year. The group leader helped the members deal with practical, existing problems. He also related these to the theoretical concepts presented in prior institutes. Initial evaluation indicated very positive reactions by the supervisors. Discussion points out the utlization of this model for various types of counseling supervisors.     

Nondisclosure in Triadic Supervision: A Phenomenological Study of Counseling Students

Triadic supervision is common within counselor training; however, limited research in professional counseling literature exists describing counseling students' experiences of choosing what to disclose within triadic supervision. Using transcendental phenomenological research, the authors investigated supervisees' nondisclosure within triadic supervision. Critical nondisclosure themes were relationships, presence of peer, and sharing time.     

The effect of inquiry teaching and advance organizers upon student outcomes in science education

Two areas of research were explored in this meta-analysis: comparison of inductive versus deductive teaching approachs, and the use of advance organizers. This study involved the coding of 128 characteristics for 39 studies which spanned the period from 1957 through 1980. The coding variables included 57 which were concerned with features of the treatment while 12 were concerned with outcome attributes. Aspects such as research methodology, sample characteristics, and instructional experiences were examined quantitatively in terms of their relationships to the treatment effects through the use of a common metric for all studies. Mean effect sizes were calculated and reported.     

Selected characteristics,roles, goals,and satisfactions of department chairmen in state and land-grant institutions

Chairmen at 38 state and land-grant institutions were found to be involved in three major roles: academic, administrative, and leadership. The academic role consists of duties of student involvement and research activities. Chairmen enjoy this role and report high emphasis on concurrent goals but feel frustrated in terms of time to pursue commensurate activities. The administrative role requires the majority of time and also contains some of the less desirable duties. In addition, administrative goals are seen as over-emphasized. The leadership role involves tasks related to academic personnel and program development. It is a major satisfaction realized by accepting the position of chairman. Developing abilities of faculty members and maintaining academic freedom are the two most important goals in this role. The respondents also made suggestions on changes and development programs which would improve their effectiveness.     

Teacher Beliefs about Adolescent Development: Cultural and organizational impacts on Japanese and US middle school teachers' beliefs

Teacher beliefs can greatly influence the school experiences of young adolescents. In this study, the authors analyze a bi-national survey about teacher beliefs surrounding puberty, adolescence and academic items. The authors find significant differences between Japanese and US teachers of young adolescents with regard to the onset and duration of puberty, adolescence and rebellious attitudes. Items concerning teachers' impact on students reflect a pattern that shows both cultural differences and cross-national trends. The authors discuss the survey results in light of previous qualitative studies of Japanese education, and suggest directions for future research.