Facilitators and barriers to African American high school students' self-determination skill expression

We conducted four focus group interviews with 24 high school youth to examine facilitators and barriers to African American high school students' expression of various self-determination skills (e.g., choice/decision making, self-advocacy, goal setting, and attainment etc.). The majority of our research participants were African American, with one student identifying as multiracial (African American and White). Key findings revealed that personal (e.g., desire to graduate from school) and contextual factors (e.g., school counselor and teacher support) influenced the participants' expression of multiple self-determination skills. We also found that some of the participants' motives for utilizing or not utilizing specific skills were influenced by what they perceived as racist, punitive, and restrictive school practices (e.g., teachers holding negative perceptions about African American students and school counselors restricting their access to advanced courses). Findings from this study support ongoing calls for educators to consider students' cultural backgrounds and lived experiences when promoting their expression of self-determination skills.     

Analysis and behaviour of FRP-confined short concrete columns subjected to eccentric loading

Fibre-reinforced polymer （FRP） composites were widely utilized in civil engineering structures as the retrofit of reinforced concrete （RC） columns. To design FRP jackets safely and economically, the behaviour of such columns should be predicted first. This paper is concerned with the analysis and behaviour of FRP-confined RC circular and rectangular short columns subjected to eccentric loading. A simple design-oriented stress-strain model for FRP-confined concrete in a section analysis was first proposed. The accuracy was then proved by two test data. Following that, a parametric study including amount of FRP confinement, FRP strain capacity, unconfined concrete strength and shape of column section is provided. Some conclusions were obtained at the end of the paper. The work here will provide a comprehensive understanding of the behaviour of FRP-confined concrete columns. The simplicity of the model also enables a simple equivalent stress block to be developed for direct use in practical design.     

Scaling up of Continual Professional Development for Mathematics Problem Solving in Singapore Schools

The more ambitious an educational innovation, the greater the challenge in scaling up. In this paper, we focus on the scaling up of an ambitious pedagogical practice—mathematics problem solving as a regular feature in the classroom. We adopt a long-term approach to continual professional development (CPD) that began with intensive work with one school before we broadened the programme to four other schools which span the spectrum of schools in Singapore. To evaluate this overall design, we examine the current state of each school’s capacity in sustaining mathematics problem-solving instruction. In particular, we study and report findings on these areas: the readiness of teachers, the instructional materials and supporting structures. Based on the findings, we reflect on our CPD strategies and our theory of action which guided the CPD programme.

     

Delay-dependent stochastic stability and H∞ analysis for time-delay systems with Markovian jumping parameters

This paper studies the problem of the stochastic stability and H_∞ disturbance attenuation for linear continuous-time time-delay systems that possess randomly Markovian jumping parameters. A delay-dependent sufficient condition on the stochastic stability with given H_∞ performance is proposed using the stochastic Lyapunov–Krasovskii stability theory. The conditions are formulated as a set of coupled linear matrix inequalities.     

African-American women who use crack cocaine: a comparison of mothers who live with and have been separated from their children

OBJECTIVE: This study examined factors that influenced caregiver status for African-American mothers who use crack cocaine but are not receiving drug treatment and participated in an HIV prevention study in North Carolina. METHOD: Caregiver mothers who were living with at least one of their children at intake (n = 257) were compared with non-Caregivers who were separated from all of their children (n = 378). Bivariate analyses and logistic regression were used to compare these mothers at intake on current drug use, risky sex practices, psychological symptoms, victimization, and aggression. RESULTS: Compared with Caregiver mothers, non-Caregivers reported higher frequencies of drug use, risky sex practices, psychological distress, and victimization experiences. Caregiver mothers were more likely than non-Caregiver mothers to have health insurance, but were less likely to have received drug treatment. Logistic regression found that non-Caregiver mothers were significantly more likely than Caregiver mothers to be older, to have been physically abused as children, to trade sex more frequently, to be homeless, and to have no health insurance. Recent crack use, psychological symptoms, and victimization were not significantly related to caregiver status. CONCLUSIONS: Findings that socio-environmental factors were more strongly associated with caregiver status than crack use underscore the importance of contextual issues such as housing, victimization history, and resources in serving maternal crack users. Community outreach and interventions that engage mothers who use drugs and live with their children may be more effective strategies than formal office-based services to link mothers who use crack and their children to needed drug treatment and family and child services.     

Analyzing the use of Facebook among university libraries in Hong Kong

In recent years, many academic libraries have started adopting social media by, for example, establishing their own Facebook pages. Our research investigates the current Facebook usage among seven university libraries in Hong Kong. Using a mixed-method research approach, we examined the characteristics of academic libraries Facebook usage and its effectiveness to engage with their patrons, based on online observations and Web content analysis from the publicly available data of the Facebook pages.Our results indicated that most libraries in Hong Kong adopted Facebook as a marketing tool, yet the user engagement level in these pages is low. In addition, we also discovered that communication-related posts and video-type posts can attract the most attention of patrons. Based on these outcomes, we provided some recommendations on the application of Facebook for academic libraries.     

Are success and failure experiences equally motivational? An investigation of regulatory focus and feedback

The present study extended regulatory focus theory (Idson & Higgins, 2000) to an educational setting and attempted to identify individuals with high motivation after both success and failure feedback. College students in Hong Kong (N = 180) participated in an experiment with a 2 promotion focus (high vs. low) × 2 prevention focus (high vs. low) × 2 feedback (success vs. failure) design. The results showed that after success feedback, the students with promotion focus were more motivated than their counterparts with prevention focus. This pattern was reversed after failure feedback. However, the results failed to show that students high in both regulatory focuses were motivated after success as well as failure feedback. The findings are discussed with reference to the literature on flexibility of regulatory focuses. Practical and theoretical implications of feedback are also discussed.     

Students’ engagement across a typology of teacher feedback practices

Educational Research for Policy and Practice - The provision of feedback is widely practised as part of formative assessment. However, studies that examine the impact of feedback are usually from...     

Exploring the Sources and Relationships that Propel Organisational Learning: An Investigation of Some Western Australian Schools

In exploring intricate relationships among environmental factors, internal school conditions and contextual variables that facilitate organisational learning, 90% of staff in six Western Australian secondary schools provided data for this exploratory study. Findings from the study not only shed light on the decade-old debate about the basic momentum for organisational change, but they also help rank-order the sources which initiate change. Additional analyses reveal factors from external environmental and internal school conditions that interact in bringing about organisational learning processes and outcomes in different contextual situations.     

A tale of two countries: comparing civic education in the Philippines and Singapore

This article provides a comparative analysis of citizenship education in the Philippines and Singapore. Through an analysis of historical contexts, citizenship education policy and curriculum, it examines Makabayan in the Philippines and National Education in Singapore. It identifies particular policy and curriculum trajectories as responses to national and global imperatives to demonstrate how countries are redefining the kinds of knowledge, skills and values deemed necessary for national citizenship in global contexts. This comparative case study illustrates some of the tensions and contradictions facing citizenship education in new global contexts and highlights the different ways countries try to manage these tensions through citizenship education policies and curricula. Findings point to different factors that shape and constrain the implementation of citizenship education programmes in both countries.