PROFESSOR “X”: HOW EXPERTS RATED HIS STUDENT RATINGS

This paper attempts to place the reader in the situation of interpreting data on the evaluation by students of a fellow member of faculty (staff). The comments of the evaluators reveal a widespread divergence of views, but they rarely seem to question the purpose of the exercise.     

Effects of small-group reading instruction and curriculum differences for students most at risk in kindergartenL: two-year results for secondary- and tertiary-level interventions

This article describes the implementation of small-group reading instruction as secondary- and tertiary-level components of a three-tier model of prevention and intervention. The study consisted of 83 students who were targeted in the winter of kindergarten as being at high risk for reading failure. Intervention consisted of evidence-based curriculum delivered in groups of one to six students during 30- to 40-min sessions a minimum of three times per week over a 2-year period. Outcome data were collected for early literacy skills, using the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills and Woodcock Reading Mastery Test, with comparisons across the different curricula. Results indicated that students in the more directed, explicit intervention groups generally out-performed students in the comparison group. Implications for future research and practice implementing schoolwide three-tier prevention models are discussed.     

Primary humanities – a perspective from Northern Ireland

ABSTRACT

The word ‘humanities’ does not appear in the current Northern Ireland Curriculum (NIC). Geography and history are taught within an Area of Learning called ‘The World Around Us’ which also contains science and technology. The curriculum has a strong emphasis on an integrated, ‘connected learning’ way of teaching and learning. Religious Education is a separate subject that stands alongside, rather than within, the NIC, and the curriculum also includes a new Area of Learning – ‘Personal Development and Mutual Understanding’. The distinctive content and modes of teaching which the humanities subjects tend to encourage ought to be seen as particularly important in Northern Ireland – a part of the UK which has endured a complicated past and remains to a large extent segregated, both socially and educationally. This complicated past means that there is often wariness and reluctance on the part of teachers towards tackling controversial personal and social issues in the primary school.     

The BASES expert statement on exercise therapy for people with chronic kidney disease

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is becoming a serious health problem throughout the world and is one of the most potent known risk factors for cardiovascular disease, which is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in this patient population. Physical inactivity has emerged as a significant and independent risk factor for accelerated deterioration of kidney function, physical function, cardiovascular function and quality of life in people in all stages of CKD. CKD specific research evidence, combined with the strong evidence on the multiple health benefits of regular and adequate amounts of PA in other cardiometabolic conditions, has resulted in physical inactivity being identified by national and international CKD clinical practice guidelines as one of the multiple risk factors that require simultaneous and early intervention for optimum prevention/management of CKD. Despite this realisation, physical inactivity is not systematically addressed by renal care teams. The purpose of this expert statement is therefore to inform exercise and renal care specialists about the clinical value of exercise therapy in CKD, as well as to provide some practical recommendations on how to more effectively translate the existing evidence into effective clinical practice.     

Environmental education in a neoliberal climate

This introduction to a special issue of Environmental Education Research explores how environmental education is shaped by the political, cultural, and economic logic of neoliberalism. Neoliberalism, we suggest, has become the dominant social imaginary, making particular ways of thinking and acting possible while simultaneously discouraging the possibility and pursuit of others. Consequently, neoliberal ideals promoting economic growth and using markets to solve environmental and economic problems constrain how we conceptualize and implement environmental education. However, while neoliberalism is a dominant social imaginary, there is not one form of neoliberalism, but patterns of neoliberalization that differ by place and time. In addition, while neoliberal policies and discourses are often portrayed as inevitable, the collection shows how these exist as an outcome of ongoing political projects in which particular neoliberalized social and economic structures are put in place. Together, the editorial and contributions to the special issue problematize and contest neoliberalism and neoliberalization, while also promoting alternative social imaginaries that privilege the environment and community over neoliberal conceptions of economic growth and hyper-individualism.