Introducing Open Government Data

This article provides an overview of open government data. It outlines what it is, provides examples, and summarizes library engagement with these data. The professional and academic literature and other web sources were examined along with government policies and portals. Open government data is a fairly recent and evolving phenomenon that promotes government transparency and invites citizen participation and innovative reuses of public data. Libraries have been responding to this release of data in a number of ways including offering data literacy instruction and special services and programs.     

Gender roles and the American academe: a case study of graduate student mothers

Studies have found that motherhood is significantly associated with attrition for female graduate students in the United States. Few, however, have examined this phenomenon from the point of view of current students. Utilizing data from 30 in‐depth interviews with student mothers from a number of academic fields, this study details both the structural environments and the socio‐cultural constructs that affect the women’s daily experiences. The data highlight the fact that the symbolic nature of both roles – mother and student – is often in conflict with the structural elements around which each role is performed. Student mothers confront this dilemma through a number of strategic practices including ‘maternal invisibility’, ‘academic invisibility’, luck, and reliance on the more traditional means of economic and emotional support that come from spouses and parents. In detailing these practices, the study offers both important clues about the factors that may contribute to attrition for graduate student mothers as well as suggestions for institutional improvement.     

丹尼的礼物

一份饱含真情的圣诞节礼物,虽然在金钱上非常微薄,却让班主任感动得热泪盈眶,久久不能忘怀。丹尼的礼物可谓是"礼轻情意重"。     

Interventions for reading difficulties: a comparison of response to intervention by ELL and EFL struggling readers

This article explores whether struggling readers from different primary language backgrounds differ in response to phonologically based remediation. Following random assignment to one of three reading interventions or to a special education reading control program, reading and reading-related outcomes of 166 struggling readers were assessed before, during, and following 105 intervention hours. Struggling readers met criteria for reading disability, were below average in oral language and verbal skills, and varied in English as a first language (EFL) versus English-language learner (ELL) status. The research-based interventions proved superior to the special education control on both reading outcomes and rate of growth. No differences were revealed for children of EFL or ELL status in intervention outcomes or growth during intervention. Oral language abilities at entry were highly predictive of final outcomes and of reading growth during intervention, with greater language impairment being associated with greater growth.     

Logit estimation of a gravity model of the college enrollment decision

A set of students who had been accepted at a particular university was examined to determine the factors influencing a student's decision to enroll at that school. A gravity model predicted that distance is an important determinant of the enrollment decision. The student's ability level, by influencing the student's other options, also was expected to have an impact on the decision. Logit analysis confirmed these predictions. While other variables, such as family income and program of study, may have an impact on earlier stages of the college selection decision, those variables do not influence the final stage of that decision.     

Differences in College Access and Choice Among Racial/Ethnic Groups: Identifying Continuing Barriers

This study focuses on the college application behaviors of students from various racial/ethnic groups in order to understand differences in access and college choice. Student characteristics, predispositions, academic abilities, and income levels were taken into account in our analyses. We analyzed data from the National Education Longitudinal Study (NELS) and the Beginning Postsecondary Student Longitudinal Study (BPS) and found significant group differences in preparation behaviors, college application behavior (number of colleges to which students applied), and attendance at their first choice of institution. The results of this study call attention to the need for campuses to evaluate the potential effects of policy decisions that may impact student choice for different populations of students.