Ethnic Heterogeneity,Group Affinity,and State Higher Education Spending

A rich interdisciplinary literature exists exploring the determinants of state higher education funding policies. However, that work has collectively ignored an important finding from political economy literature: namely, that citizens’ preferences regarding public spending are strongly influenced by the state’s ethnic and racial context. Drawing on a unique panel of state-level data covering the years 1982–2009, we find that states demarcated by increased racial and ethnic diversity and eroding white majorities do tend to spend less on subsidies to public higher education, resulting in decreased state appropriations as well as more tepid support for financial aid programs. Critically, however, we find that the negative effects of increased ethnic and racial fractionalization can be mitigated—and in some circumstances, fully offset—by a high degree of positive social interaction between ethnic and racial groups. These results are discussed within the pragmatic context of continued state emphasis on degree attainment as a mechanism to foster economic growth as well as broader considerations about equality and social justice.     

Implementing Confidence Assessment in Low-Stakes,Formative Mathematics Assessments

Confidence assessment (CA) involves students stating alongside each of their answers a confidence rating (e.g. 0 low to 10 high) to express how certain they are that their answer is correct. Each student’s score is calculated as the sum of the confidence ratings on the items that they answered correctly, minus the sum of the confidence ratings on the items that they answered incorrectly; this scoring system is designed to incentivize students to give truthful confidence ratings. Previous research found that secondary-school mathematics students readily understood the negative-marking feature of a CA instrument used during one lesson, and that they were generally positive about the CA approach. This paper reports on a quasi-experimental trial of CA in four secondary-school mathematics lessons (N = 475 students) across time periods ranging from 3 weeks up to one academic year, compared to business-as-usual controls. A meta-analysis of the effect sizes across the four schools gave an aggregated Cohen’s d of –0.02 [95% CI –0.22, 0.19] and an overall Bayes Factor B₀₁ of 8.48. This indicated substantial evidence for the null hypothesis that there was no difference between the attainment gains of the intervention group and the control group, relative to the alternative hypothesis that the gains were different. I conclude that incorporating confidence assessment into low-stakes classroom mathematics formative assessments does not appear to be detrimental to students’ attainment, and I suggest reasons why a clear positive outcome was not obtained.

     

Estimates of the number of people in England who attain or exceed vigorous intensity exercise by walking at 3 mph

Walking is a safe, accessible and low cost activity, amenable to change and known to have great potential to increase physical activity levels in sedentary individuals. The objective of this study is to estimate the proportion of the 2009 adult population of England who would attain or exceed vigorous intensity activity (>70% maximum heart rate [HR(max)]) by walking at 3 mph. We conducted predictive impact modelling using participants' (n = 1741, aged 25-64 years) cardiovascular fitness data from treadmill walking tests. We combined this data with English population estimates adjusted for age and sex to estimate the numbers of individuals that would exceed 70% HR(max) (an intensity considered sufficient for fitness gains) when walking at 3 mph (4.8 km · h(-1)). We estimate 1.5 million men (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.9-2.2 million) (from 13.4 million corresponding to 11.6% (95% CI 7.0-16.2%)) and 3.9 million women (95% CI 3.0-4.8 million) (from 13.6 million corresponding to 28.6% (95% CI 22.0-35.1%)) in England aged 25-64 years would benefit from regularly walking at 3 mph. In total, a projected 5.4 million individuals (95% CI 3.9-6.9 million) aged 25-64 (from 26.97 million corresponding to 20.1% (95% CI 14.6-25.7%)) could benefit from walking at 3 mph. Our estimates suggest a considerable number of individuals in the English population could receive fitness and health benefits by walking regularly at 3 mph. Physical activity messages that promote walking at this speed may therefore have the potential to significantly impact national fitness levels and health in England.     

THE POSSIBLE USE OF SOCIODRAMA AS A TRAINING TECHNIQUE FOR THE MODERATELY MENTALLY HANDICAPPED IN SCHOOL,HALF ‐ WAY TRAINING CENTRE,AND SHELTERED WORKSHOP.

This is a brief inquiry into the possibility of using sociodrama as a technique for developing social skills in the moderately mentally handicapped. The acquisition of acceptable social behaviour is regarded as a central factor in the recognized aim of helping this population of the handicapped maintain independence in the end community in which they find themselves.

It is considered a serious diagnostic‐prognostic error to forecast the end community at any early period in time within the developmental cycle of any individual.

For the moderately mentally handicapped the provision of the school, the half‐way centre and the sheltered workshop must still be deemed the result of community project effort rather than the just responsibility of central political institutions.     

中国信息产业如何面对21世纪的挑战

数据库产业是现代化信息产业的基础，本文分析国内数据库和信息服务业与国外的差距，建议开发国家级的综合性大型数据库，扩大数据库的覆盖面，保证数据库质量。作者认为，我国应将数据库生产和数据库检索服务分家，由信息服务部门对数据库进行高质量的增值处理，同时建立配套的文献源服务体系。我国以ＩＮＴＥＲＮＥＴ为基础的信息服务技术起步并不算晚，应该尽快培养一批跨世纪的信息人才，首先建立我国信息服务业在亚洲的领先地位，缩小与发达国家间的差距。     

A reading policy for a comprehensive school (11–16)

Redefield School is a seven-form entry secondary modern that is in the process of developing into a senior comprehensive school. Situated on the outskirts of Oxford it serves a large council estate with a population of 10,000, half of whom are under 20. The English department consists of a team of eight specialists; English is taught in mixed-ability classes.Children's literature in education invited the Head of Department, John L Foster, who has been teaching at Redefield for six years, to describe a reading policy for a comprehensive school.