Beyond an “Either–Or” approach to home- and center-based child care: Comparing children and families who combine care types with those who use just one

Most research focuses on preschoolers’ primary non-parental child care arrangement despite evidence that multiple arrangements are relatively common. Using the nationally-representative Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort, we compare characteristics and outcomes of families whose 4-year olds attend both home- and center-based child care with those who attend either home- or center-based care exclusively or receive no non-parental care at all. We find that about one fifth of 4-year olds attend both home- and center-based child care. Mothers’ priorities for care (getting their child ready for school, matching their families’ cultural background) and perceptions of good local care options predict their combining home- and center-based care. Preschoolers score higher on reading and math assessments, on average, when they attend centers, alone or in combination with home-based child care, than when they are cared for only in homes, either by their parents or by others. Preschoolers’ average socioemotional outcomes generally do not differ between families who do and who do not combine care types. Implications for research and policy are discussed.     

On the Dangers of Antiquarian Investigations: Nietzsche,the Excesses of History,and the Power of Forgetting

Drawing on Nietzsche’s insights as well as those of his critics, this article explores the dangers and limitations of the antiquarian type of historical investigations. The author begins his analysis by closely examining Nietzsche’s conception of antiquarian history and explaining why he finds this mode of historical investigation so troubling. Next he shows that the problem that Nietzsche associates with the antiquarian type of historicizing can be seen in a contemporary genealogical investigation: Daniel Mendelsohn’s book The Lost. Returning to Nietzsche, he then analyzes the meaning and value of his notion of the ‘power of forgetting’ and argues that it can serve as an antidote to some of the dangers of antiquarian history. In the final part of this article the author examines how the power of forgetting might be educationally valuable.     

Lemons to Lemonade: How Five Challenges in Teaching Macro Practice Helped to Strengthen Our Course

Teaching macro practice can be challenging. While students have some concepts of what macro practice entails, their knowledge may be limited and sometimes inaccurate. Moreover, students may be reluctant to engage in macro change efforts. Given the scarcity of literature regarding teaching macro practice and the growing importance of it in social work, this article addresses major issues that we encountered in teaching macro practice at a large Midwestern school of social work. In our institution only 6% of students are enrolled in macro concentrations and we wish to encourage students to expand their interests in macro practice even if they do not wish to pursue a macro concentration. We describe a macro practice course we designed to meet the challenges of teaching community, organization, and policy practice skills to master's level and advanced undergraduate students. Our goal is to expand the macro practice pedagogy literature and encourage social work faculty to consider both established and innovative ways of introducing the planned change process in community, organization, and policy practice to their students.     

Building Relationships through Communities of Practice: Museums and Indigenous People

Abstract This paper explores the theory of “communities of practice” and how the ideas contained in it could be applied to museums, by demonstrating how a key stakeholder group, Indigenous people, have been involved with and engaged in the work of the Australian Museum, Sydney, over the past 30 years. It is suggested that the processes museums have developed in building relationships with Indigenous people, particularly at the practitioner level, could form a template for how museums make themselves relevant to broader communities through active engagement with multiple communities of practice.     

New Faculty Roles in Learning Outcomes Education: The Experiences of Four Models and Institutions

Innovative models that focus on learning outcomes engage faculty in new ways of facilitating and assessing learning, while their institutions seek to support and reward their participation. Innovators from four different institutions provide an overview of their approaches to implementing principles of outcomes-based education, compare their models, and explore the changes that are precipitated in the roles, rewards, resources, structures, and models. While the four institutions and models differ on several significant variables, the innovators identify common key elements and issues that the academy must address in order to transform the educational experience and culture to a more learning-centered enterprise.