Jefferson,The Road to Glory: 1743 To 1776 by Marie Kimball. Coward-McCann,Inc. 335 p. $4.00

As state legislatures and noneducation agents become increasingly involved in regulating the preparation of teachers, the long-term consequences of the resulting policies—which prioritize economic efficiency over investments in the cultivation of a stable, professionalized workforce—are of concern. This article uses insights from political economy to examine the model of teacher preparation that derives from these sources, with particular attention devoted to Indiana's Rules for Educator Preparation and Accountability.     

Long-run effects of public-private research joint ventures: The case of the Danish Innovation Consortia support scheme

Subsidized research joint ventures (RJVs) between public research institutions and industry have become increasingly popular in Europe and the US. We study the long-run effects of such a support scheme that has been maintained by the Danish government since 1995. To cope with identification problems we apply nearest neighbor matching and conditional difference-in-difference estimation methods. Our main findings are that (i) program participation effects are instant for annual patent applications and last for three years, (ii) employment effects materialize first after one year and (iii) there are no statistically significant effects on value added or labor productivity. We further show that these overall results are primarily driven by firms that were patent active prior to joining the RJV and that there are no statistically significant effects for large firms. The insignificant results we document for large firms coupled with the fact that these type of firms are over-represented in many support programs, including the one considered here, leads us to suggest a rethinking of support policies that often aim at large firms.     

The development of argument skills

This work sought to obtain experimental evidence to corroborate cross-sectional patterns of development in argument skills and to evaluate the effectiveness of an intervention designed to foster development of these skills in academically at-risk 13- to 14-year-olds. Students participated in 16 sessions of a collaborative, goal-based activity providing dense exercise of argumentive thinking. One condition included peer dialogues; another did not. The former was the more effective, although both groups progressed. Participants showed increased frequency of usage of powerful argumentive discourse strategies, such as counterargument, and decreased frequency of less effective strategies. Quality of individual arguments (for or against a claim) also improved, supporting the existence of a close relation between these two kinds of argument skills.     

Barriers to the implementation of career education for special education

The LCCE Employability Enhancement Project was funded by the U.S. Office of Special Education Programs. Address reprint requests to Donn Brolin, 111 Townsend Hall, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri 65211. Contact Richard Roessler, Rehabilitation Department, 346 N. West Avenue, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701 for a copy of the 48 barriers and their respective importance, agreement, and rank scores.     

Using Smartphones as Experimental Tools—a Follow-up: Cognitive Effects by Video Analysis and Reduction of Cognitive Load by Multiple Representations

Journal of Science Education and Technology - Mobile devices (smartphones or tablets) as experimental tools (METs) offer inspiring possibilities for science education, but until now, there has been...     

Childhood sexual assault victims: long-term outcomes after testifying in criminal court

We report a longitudinal study of long-term outcomes of participating in criminal cases following child sexual abuse (CSA). In the 1980s, 218 child victim/witnesses took part in a study of short-term sequelae of legal involvement. Approximately 12 years later, 174 of them, as well as a comparison group of 41 matched individuals with no CSA history, were interviewed about their mental health and legal attitudes. Being young when the legal case started was associated with poorer later adjustment. Additionally, even when controlling for psychological problems at the start of the legal case and other familial, CSA, and life stressors, testifying repeatedly in childhood predicted poorer current functioning. These associations were often moderated by the severity of both the CSA and the perpetrator's sentence: Testifying repeatedly in cases involving severe abuse, and not testifying when the perpetrator received a light sentence, predicted poorer current mental health. In partial contrast to the mental health results, being older when the case began and the perpetrator receiving a lenient sentence predicted more negative feelings about the legal system. In addition, not having testified when the perpetrator received a light sentence predicted more negative legal attitudes. Individuals' emotional reactions while waiting to testify and while actually testifying were also associated with their current mental health and attitudes toward the legal system: Greater distress predicted poorer adjustment, especially in individuals who were adolescents when they went to court. Greater distress also predicted more negative attitudes. Finally, when the former CSA victim/witnesses were compared with individuals with no CSA history, the former reported poorer adjustment and more negative feelings about the legal system. Results have implications for multilevel-transactional models of development, for understanding developmental sequelae of legal involvement following childhood trauma, and for social policy concerning the treatment of child victim/witnesses.     

A place to learn: cultivating engaging learning environments for young rural Aboriginal Australians

Rural Aboriginal Australians experience disadvantage across a number of significant social and economic outcomes, including educational engagement and achievement. Current debate postulates that educational environments and systems perpetuate this disadvantage. This qualitative study aimed to contribute to the debate by taking a broader ecological view to consider the aspects of the learning environment that may promote engagement with learning. This paper reports on research conducted in a community-based programme designed to support the engagement of young rural Aboriginal students. A total of 32 participants (including children, parents/carers, tutors, managers, and local teachers) were interviewed to explicate their perspectives on the key aspects of the learning environment that fostered student engagement. An analysis of the interview data identified core characteristics that could be employed to foster engagement and thus contribute to developing equity and self-determination for young rural Aboriginal Australians. Core characteristics that were valued included: a focus on learning and individualised pace; a flexible and relaxed atmosphere; individualised assistance; having an adult who showed interest in the child and their learning; providing a culturally secure learning environment; provision of food; supplying transportation; and staff being part of the same community. This paper contends that these characteristics are valued by the community and thus should inform the practices within the community-based programme as well as mainstream education to facilitate future engagement in learning.     

Campus Sexual Assault,Institutional Betrayal,and Title IX

The problem of campus sexual assault is viewed through the theoretical construct of institutional betrayal and the legal construct of Title IX.     

A Study of the Effects of a LSC Project on Scientists’ Teaching Practices and Beliefs

The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of a local systemic change (LSC) project on scientists’ practices and beliefs about teaching and learning. A mixed-method design was implemented that consisted of a series of interviews and the administration of the Classroom Learning Environment Survey (paper presented at the annual meeting of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching, Anaheim, CA, 1994). Results from this study suggest that collaborative opportunities afforded by this model program have positively influenced scientists’ beliefs about teaching elementary science and may be impacting some of the scientists’ pedagogical and curricular practices in their general education courses. Many scientists have developed new collaborative projects, all intended to improve science education at the graduate and undergraduate level, and are beginning to understand the complexity of science education reform.     

Out-of-school care and problem behavior trajectories among low-income adolescents: individual, family, and neighborhood characteristics as added risks

Using a developmental systems approach, this study considered longitudinal links between adolescents' out-of-school care experiences and behavioral trajectories within a random sample of 819 adolescents ages 10 to 14 years at Wave 1 from low-income, urban families. Multiple aspects of context were considered, including the location, supervision, and structure of adolescents' care arrangements, as well as parenting practices and perceived neighborhood environments. Regression models indicated that out-of-home care, whether supervised or unsupervised, showed modest longitudinal relations with heightened rates of delinquency, drug and alcohol use, and school problems. Out-of-home care was linked with particularly deleterious outcomes for adolescents with high earlier rates of behavior problems, low parental monitoring, and low perceived neighborhood collective efficacy.