Child care quality matters: how conclusions may vary with context

Three studies examined associations between early child care and child outcomes among families different from those in the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Early Child Care Research Network study. Results suggest that quality is an important influence on children's development and may be an important moderator of the amount of time in care. Thus, the generalizability of the NICHD findings may hinge on the context in which those results were obtained. These studies, conducted in three national contexts, with different regulatory climates, ranges of child care quality, and a diversity of family characteristics, suggest a need for more complete estimates of how both quality and quantity of child care may influence a range of young children's developmental outcomes.     

Cognitive Style and Socialisation: An exploration of learned sources of style in Finland,Poland and the UK

Many educators are faced with the problem of how to handle the different ways in which students from different cultures approach learning content and processes. In management education, study has mostly considered the socio-economic, structural and organisational aspects of national differences and the external, explicit aspects of cultural differences such as managerial attitudes and values. There has, however, been less study of the differences between national groups in managerial cognition - the way managers think. If managers from one cultural group perceive, process, interpret and structure information differently from those from another, assumptions about the design and content of educational interventions based in one culture could be challenged in another. This paper reports on an exploratory study of 200 managers in Finland, Poland and the UK to investigate, firstly, whether there are national-cultural differences in cognitive style and, secondly, whether these differences are related to individual, occupational and cultural aspects of socialisation. In the latter case, the relationship between early schooling and the way people think is explored. Respondents' cognitive styles as measured by the Allinson and Hayes (1996) Cognitive Style Index (CSI) were compared with responses to two qualitative instruments assessing attitudes to early schooling and personal confidence and against predictions about national cultural differences derived from Hofstede (1984). The results, to be followed up by more extensive study, show significant differences between national groups in cognitive approaches and some aspects of socialisation. They also suggest that the constructs being measured by the CSI reveal individual characteristics that are not fixed and innate, but instead learned through processes of personal and cultural socialisation.     

An Inquiry Into the Development of Teacher Identities in STEM Career Changers

National shortages of math and science teachers have led to a variety of strategies and programs to attract second career professionals into teaching. This qualitative study explores the development of professional teaching identities in six STEM career changers in a post-baccalaureate pre-service teacher credential program in California. Findings suggest the career changers relied upon skills developed in their previous careers to navigate through a new profession; however, returning to the life of a student again was difficult. Additionally, the career changers in this study valued interacting with their traditional aged peers in the program as these relationships were beneficial to their own socialization into teaching as they developed their teacher identities.     

One-Stop Shopping: Merging Service Points in a University Library

ABSTRACT

As libraries change to meet the evolving needs of our patrons, including the development of online services, many libraries are considering consolidating physical service points to maximize staff and better serve the in-house patron. This article describes the planning, implementation, and evaluation process involved in merging the circulation and reference desks at the University of New Orleans Library. The cross-training process is described in detail, and benefits as well as problems experienced are outlined. The authors also provide advice for those considering a merge at their library.     

Early Warning Signs of Functional Illiteracy: Predictors in Childhood and Adolescence

Early childhood, middle childhood, and early adolescence determinants of functional literacy in adulthood are investigated, using 20-year longitudinal data from a sample of black children of teenaged mothers from the Baltimore metropolitan area. Document literacy was assessed by a test that consisted of a subset of items of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) adult literacy test. The Baltimore sample is compared to the NAEP sample. Family environmental factors, early childhood developmental level, and educational career factors were considered as predictors of young adulthood literacy. Preschool cognitive and behavioral functioning is highly predictive of literacy in young adulthood, even when the effects of family environmental characteristics, including living arrangements, the quality of the home environment, maternal education, and income, are controlled. Grade failure in elementary school is also associated with literacy, but this effect disappears when the measure of preschool abilities is controlled. Family environmental factors that are predictive of literacy include maternal education, family size in early childhood, maternal marital status, and income in middle childhood and early adolescence. Policy implications of these findings are discussed.     

解答生命中最难的8个问题

Love & Marriage爱情与婚姻 Q:Can love really last a lifetime? A:Absolutely-but only if you chuck the fairy tale of living happily ever after.A team of scientists recently found that romantic love involves chemical changes in the brain that last 12 to 18 months.After that,you and your partner are on your own.Relationships require maintenance.Pay a visit to a nursing home if you want to see proof of lasting love.Recently I spoke to a man whose wife of 60 years was suffering from advanced     

Mass Communication

Pearl Aldrich's The Impact of Mass Media (Rochelle Park, N.J.: Hayden Book Co., 1975—$7.99/4.75)

Alan Wells' Mass Media and Society (Palo Alto, Calif: Mayfield Publishing, 1975—price not given, paper)

Harry M. Clor (ed.) The Mass Media and Modern Democracy (Chicago: Rand McNally College Publishing Co., 1974—price not given, paper)

Joan Valdes and Jeanne Crow (eds.) The Media Reader (Dayton, Ohio: Pflaum, 1975—$11.95/7.95 with lower net costs to schools–and a teacher's guide available for $2.95, paper).

James F. Evans and Rodolfo N. Salcedo's Communications in Agriculture: The American Farm Press (Ames: Iowa State University Press 1974—price not given, paper)

Suzanne rallies' Science Fiction Primer for Teachers (Dayton, Ohio: Pflaum, 1974– $5.95, paper).

Francesco M Nicosia's Advertising, Management and Society: A Business Point of View (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1974— $10.95 with paperback available as well)     

THE AGING POPULATION AS A CHALLENGE FOR THE HELPING PROFESSIONS: SOME OBSERVATIONS ON A RECENT CONTINUING EDUCATION PROGRAM

This article reviews a recent continuing education program held at the University of Western Australia, Perth. The program addressed some of the crucial issues facing professionals in the field of aged services and comprised a one‐day seminar and a series of workshops. It was hosted by the Department of Social Work and Social Administration over a six‐week period and examined a wide range of issues in gerontological social work practice.     

The Rural School Leadership Dilemma

The idea that rural schools and communities, indeed, even rural people, are somehow substandard or second-class has deep historical roots. The goal of this essay is to reveal that history so as to render stereotypical conceptions all things rural less powerful and more easily dismissed by rural school professionals. Consequently the focus is on one dilemma every rural school leader faces: when to speak up in the face of rural denigration.     

ANNOUNCEMENTS

The authors report on a survey of services and supports provided to students with disabilities at 28 community colleges and 39 area vocational technical centers in Florida. Supports were classified into 7 categories: counseling services, equipment supports, campus environment, student‐centered supports, developmental labs, program or course flexibility, and unique programs.