Reproduction: the role of cultural factors and educational mediators

To understand the processes of reproduction in education one must not only take account of the resistances of subordinated groups, but also of the counter‐resistance which develops in response to these. Proponents of resistance theory have tended to ignore the responses of powerful groups to emerging resistances. Two major reasons are suggested for this, one being the failure of reproduction theorists to take cognisance of unique cultural and political contexts within which reproduction takes place, and the other being the lack of attention given to educational mediators. Taking the case of Irish second‐level education, it is shown how unique cultural, historical and political forces contribute to the development of counter‐resistance. In particular, it is suggested that the post‐colonial status of the country is central to understanding the reproduction processes within it. The paper also highlights the inadequacy of defining the parameters of the reproduction debate in terms of an interplay of interests between social classes and the State alone. While the State and social classes are key actors in the educational site, so are educational mediators, viz. those who manage and administer educational services on a day‐to‐day basis. It is proposed that educational mediators (whose character varies from one society to another) are often powerful agents of counter‐resistance.     

Perceptions of U.S. Medical Residents Regarding Amount and Usefulness of Sexual Health Instruction in Preparation for Clinical Practice

Despite patient demand for sexual health discussions with their physicians, sexuality instruction in residency is often lacking. This exploratory quantitative study assessed the amount and usefulness of sexuality instruction received by a sample of medical residents, as well as the residents' self-perceived readiness regarding addressing sexuality issues. Data were obtained through a self-administered survey with 130 resident respondents. The majority reported receiving little/no formal sexuality instruction. Many indicated that additional sexuality instruction would be useful in their practice. Although the majority reported comfort discussing sexuality, they reported rarely/never initiating these discussions. Recommendations for changes in graduate medical education programming are provided.     

Adaptation and Pilot Testing of a Sexual Health Intervention for Female Survivors of Violence

Experiences of violence and behaviors that increase the risk of acquiring a sexually transmitted infection are high among women in the United States, and they often intersect (Meyer, Springer, &; Altice, 2011 Meyer, J. P., Springer, S. A., &; Altice, F. L. (2011). Substance abuse, violence, and HIV in women: A literature review of the syndemic. Journal of Women's Health (2002), 20(7), 991–1006. doi:10.1089/jwh.2010.2328[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]; Montgomery et al., 2015 Montgomery, B., Rompalo, A., Hughes, J., Wang, J., Haley, D., Soto-Torres, L., &; Hodder, S. (2015). Violence against women in selected areas of the united states.e1-e11. Am J Public Health, 105(10), 2156–2166 [Google Scholar]; World Health Organization (WHO), 2010 World Health Organization (WHO). (2010). Addressing violence against women and HIV/AIDS: What works?. Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization. [Google Scholar]). However, there are few evidence-based HIV-prevention interventions that address the special needs and challenges faced by female survivors of violence (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, (CDC), 2017a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2017a). Compendium of evidence-based interventions and best practices for HIV prevention. Atlanta, GA: Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention, National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, Sexual Transmitted Diseases and Tuberculosis Prevention. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/research/interventionresearch/compendium/rr/index.html [Google Scholar]). To address this gap, we adapted and pilot-tested an existing evidence-based women-focused sexual risk-reduction intervention (The Future Is Ours) with 23 self-identified female survivors of violence. The intervention comprised eight-weekly, two-hour cognitive behavioral group sessions focusing on reducing sexual-risk and improving trauma-based coping skills. Using mixed-methods analyses, the adapted intervention was determined feasible and acceptable to participants, and preliminary results suggest that participation could reduce risk factors for sexually transmitted infections. Therefore, testing on a larger scale is warranted.     

Extraordinary Animals and Expository Writing: Zoo in the Classroom

A zoo outreach program led to placing animals in classrooms where those animals became foci for numerous learning activities such as writing, observing, and care. Systematic debriefings suggested uniqueness to learning outcomes connected to zoo animals. Subsequent analysis of student writing indicated that students responded to situational interest by recording more observations, made use of more science facts, and used more science vocabulary when writing about unique animals (albino hedgehog, legless lizard) than ‘ordinary’ animals (rabbit, dove). The results are interpreted in terms of motivation, creating situational interest, and the familiarity of the schema available to the students. Policy implications are discussed.     

Education for literacy

This paper begins by tracing the development of critical scholarship in the sociology of education, focusing on its attempts to explain academic failure for low-income youth. Next, it examines contemporary theoretical work in “critical” literacy—work that appears to have benefited from this sociological scholarship. Third, a brief account is offered of three historical instances of when critical literacy was practiced. Finally, the author concludes by arguing that the needs of culturally diverse and low-income students will be met to the extent that educators and students actively challenge the societal power structure within which they live.     

Family Engagement Practices as Sites of Possibility: Supporting Immigrant Families through a District-University Partnership

In this article, we consider the ways in which family engagement practices foster sites of possibility for immigrant families in the public schools. As demographic change leads to a growing number of new immigrant destinations and amidst increasing hostility toward immigrant communities, educational institutions play an increasingly important role in supporting these students and their families. Drawing on a study of one school district’s partnership with a local university to identify and resolve engagement gaps between immigrant and nonimmigrant families, our article discusses asset-based approaches to family engagement practices. In addition to discussing district initiatives to engage immigrant families in 2-way communication and minimize barriers to participation, we also consider the role of university partners in building sites of possibility for immigrant youth and their families. We conclude with implications for expanded efforts to develop equitable family engagement practices in districts serving immigrant communities.     

Working toward transformational leadership in higher education

Before colleges and universities can develop leaders, they must develop a coherent vision of what leadership is. A reflection on James MacGregor Burns's concepts of transformational leadership suggests where that discussion might begin.     

A Tree-Based Approach to Proficiency Scaling and Diagnostic Assessment

A new procedure for generating instructionally relevant diagnostic feedback is proposed. The approach involves first constructing a strong model of student proficiency and then testing whether individual students' observed item response vectors are consistent with that model. Diagnoses are specified in terms of the combinations of skills needed to score at increasingly higher levels on a test's reported score scale. The approach is applied to the problem of developing diagnostic feedback for the SAT I Verbal Reasoning test. Using a variation of Wright's (1977) person-fit statistic, it is shown that the estimated proficiency mode accounts for 91% of the "explainable" variation in students' observed item response vectors.