Three Contemporary Dilemmas for Rural Superintendents

The school district is the fundamental administrative unit of schooling in the United States and the superintendent the lead official. The nature and the challenges of this position, however, vary across the landscape. Because most superintendents lead rural districts, the challenges facing those districts are the ones that typically bedevil the superintendency overall (perhaps a surprising thought to many readers). From this vantage, we theorize such challenges overall, and illustrate the theory with three episodes: (1) the continuing threats of school and district consolidation; (2) the arrival of ethnic diversity in previously all-White rural places; and (3) the leasing of school lands for mining, with a focus on hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”).     

Toward Intentional,Reflective, and Assimilative Classroom Practices with Students with FASD

The value of research-informed classroom practices is well recognized and thus this qualitative study was designed to explore, from multiple perspectives, the experiences and influences of classroom practices for students with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD). The inductive analysis of 11 focus groups and three interviews involving 60 individuals working closely with this student population—31 teachers, seven administrators, 16 allied professionals, and six caregivers—generated three themes: understanding the whole student, responding within dynamic environments, and optimizing student-centered programming. This study provides an essential step toward better-prepared educators for meeting the learning and developmental needs of students with FASD as well as other complex populations. The implications for developing professional learning opportunities reflective of intentional, reflective, and assimilative classroom practices are discussed.     

The submergence and re-emergence of gender in undergraduate accounts of university experience

Gender distinction has been shown to characterise both undergraduate experiences and outcomes. Yet research recounted in this article supports work that shows that young people are often unaware of such trends, subscribing instead to individualist perspectives that foreground equality of opportunity and agency. This article examines the gender continuities and divergences in 64 undergraduate students' accounts of their experiences, and constructions of peers and lecturers, in higher education. Concepts of heteroglossia and monoglossia are applied to gender to explain how students submerged ‘structure’ and inequality in their accounts, but how discourses that presented the genders as distinct (and in which the masculine is elevated over the feminine) nevertheless ‘bubbled up’ in their articulations. The students tended to reject the notion that gender and other structural differences impact their experiences and outcomes; yet their broader discussions frequently reflected (often stereotypical) monoglossic constructions of gender difference. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications of these findings for the sociology of education and for higher-education pedagogy.     

An analysis of the effectiveness of feedback to students on assessed work

This paper presents the views of students, from a range of schools and disciplines, on the effectiveness of current assessment feedback practices at Flinders University. We also report on a workshop on feedback with teachers. Overall, individual written comments were found to be the most useful form of feedback. However, there was significant variation with the level of satisfaction with feedback and the relative usefulness of different forms of feedback across the different schools and disciplines. This research suggests both the need to improve the effectiveness of such feedback and to tailor the forms of feedback offered to students according to the distinctive teaching and learning environments in different schools and disciplines. To that end, innovation and further research on feedback are justified, and some suggestions are offered.     

General Mass Communications

Harold A. Innis' Empire and Communications (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1972---$12.50/2.75)

The Bias of Communication (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1964---$8.50/3.50)

John Gordon Burke (ed.) Print, Image and Sound: Essays on Media (Chicago: American Library Association, 1972---$6.95)

Mark Slade, Language of Change: Moving Triages of Man (Toronto: Holt, Rinehart & Winston of Canada Ltd, 1970 (available in this country.from Winston Press, 25 Groveland Terrace, Minneapolis 55403)---price not known, paper)     

General Communications

MASSCOM: MODULES IN MASS COMMUNICATION, (Chicago: Science Research Associates, 1984—series of seven booklets, price not given, paper)

COMPARATIVE BROADCASTING SYSTEMS, by Richard C. Burke (43 pp.)

MASS MEDIA AND POPULAR CULTURE, by Kathleen J. Turner (38 pp.)

MASS MEDIA HISTORY, by Don Pember (57 pp.)

MASS MEDIA AND FUTURE TECHNOLOGIES, by Loy Singleton (43 pp.)

MASS MEDIA LAW, by William L. Rivers (43 pp.)

MASS MEDIA CAREERS, by Joseph Turow (60 pp.)

WRITING TELEVISION CRITICISM, by Bruce E. Gronbeck (44 pp.)

FUNDAMENTALS OF COPY AND LAYOUT, by Albert C. Book and C. Dennis Schick (Chicago: Crain Books, 1984—$14.95)

THE BENEVOLENT DICTATORS: INTERVIEWS WITH ADVERTISING GREATS, by Bart Cummings (Chicago: Crain Books, 1984—$24.95)     

Removal of Gay‐Themed Materials from Public Libraries: Public Opinion Trends, 1973–2006

Gay images have slowly become integrated into mainstream cultural venues over the last forty years, including publishing. Studies show that gay‐themed materials in libraries are targets of censorship attempts. Are these attempts reflections of the opinions of the majority of the population or of a vocal minority? The information in this study contributes over thirty years of trend data on the general public's views of the censorship of gay‐themed materials in libraries. This information can be useful to library policy makers and those faced with materials challenges.     

Teaching Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) in an MSW Clinical Course

Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) is a relatively brief psychodynamic intervention of approximately 12 sessions focusing on how current interpersonal relationships have contributed to a person’s mental health symptoms. Areas targeted for work involve significant role transitions, grief and loss, and interpersonal disputes. IPT is an evidence-based treatment for depression, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating disorders. Despite these advantages, social work students rarely receive instruction on the delivery of IPT in their graduate programs. The purpose of this project, therefore, was to begin to address this gap by implementing an IPT component in a clinical practice course and testing student knowledge pre- and post-test. An example of sample assignments involving application of IPT to student fieldwork is provided. The sample in this study involved a small number of students enrolled in a clinical course taught in the first semester of the second year of training. Students improved their knowledge score at a statistically significant level. Implications of the study are explored, with the main conclusion being that more clinical majors in MSW programs be exposed to IPT.     

Upper Secondary Chemistry Students in a Pharmacochemistry Research Community

This study deals with the participation of 10 upper secondary chemistry students, aged 16–17, and their chemistry teacher in a pharmacochemistry research community on anti-allergy medicines at VU University, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Participation of students in scientific research raises the question of how to bridge the gap between an upper secondary school inquiry practice and a scientific research practice. To bridge this gap, a design based on 6 principles derived from an educational model of a community of learners was proposed. The study first aimed at revealing whether the proposed principles were necessary according to the students, their teacher and three pharmacochemistry researchers for successful participation of the students in the research community. Second, the study examined whether the students' understanding of discipline-specific content knowledge, interest in scientific research and knowledge about the nature of science changed during the course of the study. Data were obtained from questionnaires, interviews and video tapes. The results indicated that according to the teacher all 6 principles were necessary to bridge the gap, whereas according to the students 1 principle and according to the pharmacochemistry researchers 2 principles were necessary but difficult to achieve. Furthermore, all students gained discipline-specific content knowledge. Their interest in scientific research exhibited a positive change and their knowledge about the nature of science increased. The implications for further research and practice are discussed.