Leading the Local: Teachers Union Presidents Chart Their Own Course

Teachers unions are among the most powerful, yet least studied, actors in public education today. Although public attention focuses on the influence of national unions, the policies that most affect teachers and schooling are bargained by local unions and school boards. Interviews with 30 recently elected local union presidents reveal that these leaders balance competing interests and obligations, from the concerns and priorities of their members to pressures from state and national affiliates. Although these presidents reaffirm the traditional union agenda, most also advocate an expanded agenda of teacher professionalism and more collaborative approaches to collective bargaining and contract management.     

The Role of the Community College in Community Development

Abstract

Multipurpose community colleges have a special opportunity for distinction through one of their missions—community development. One southern community college has assessed the similarities and differences of the perceptions of selected community leaders and of the college professional staff concerning the role of the college in community development.

The opinions of both groups were very similar, but the community leaders showed more variation in perceptions. Both groups believed the college should be involved in community development activities, but that the college could meet the needs of individuals better than it could meet community-wide needs. The college professional staff was more opposed to granting academic credit for community development activities such as work experiences of students and continuing education courses than were the community leaders.

As a philosophical approach to community development, both groups preferred the college's approaching community improvement through the organization of a wide spectrum of people concerned with democratic processes, self-help, and educational objectives. This process approach requires professional staff members with organizational, research, survey, and teaching skills to assist the community in working to solve problems.     

COMMUNITY COLLEGE ADMINISTRATORS’ PERCEPTIONS OF NEED OF EDUCATIONAL MEDIA PERSONNEL: A NATIONAL STUDY

The purpose of this study was to ascertain the perceptions held by community college administrators concerning the types of personnel needed and the academic degrees held by these individuals in the field of educational media. The administrators were asked to respond to a prepared survey instrument designed to obtain information on the degree levels and on the number of librarians, educational technologists, combination librarians‐educational technologists, and paraprofessionals presently employed. In addition the respondents were asked to project future personnel needs and degree levels sought. A third section attempted to identify additional competencies that would be desirable for those presently on the staff and for future employees. The last section tried to determine the attitudes of the respondents toward the importance of educational media. From a population of 164 administrators nationwide, 117 survey instruments were returned. Results showed (1) there is little demand for doctorates in media at the community college level, (2) professional training in media production is more important than instructional development, (3) in the next 5 years there will be approximately a 10% increase in demand for media professionals with a B.S. and above.     

The EvoDevoCI: A Concept Inventory for Gauging Students’ Understanding of Evolutionary Developmental Biology

The American Association for the Advancement of Science 2011 report Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education encourages the teaching of developmental biology as an important part of teaching evolution. Recently, however, we found that biology majors often lack the developmental knowledge needed to understand evolutionary developmental biology, or “evo-devo.” To assist in efforts to improve evo-devo instruction among undergraduate biology majors, we designed a concept inventory (CI) for evolutionary developmental biology, the EvoDevoCI. The CI measures student understanding of six core evo-devo concepts using four scenarios and 11 multiple-choice items, all inspired by authentic scientific examples. Distracters were designed to represent the common conceptual difficulties students have with each evo-devo concept. The tool was validated by experts and administered at four institutions to 1191 students during preliminary (n = 652) and final (n = 539) field trials. We used student responses to evaluate the readability, difficulty, discriminability, validity, and reliability of the EvoDevoCI, which included items ranging in difficulty from 0.22–0.55 and in discriminability from 0.19–0.38. Such measures suggest the EvoDevoCI is an effective tool for assessing student understanding of evo-devo concepts and the prevalence of associated common conceptual difficulties among both novice and advanced undergraduate biology majors.     

Comparison of the Validity of Four Fall-Related Psychological Measures in a Community-Based Falls Risk Screening

Abstract

We examined the measurement properties of fall-related psychological instruments with a sample of 133 older adults (M age = 74.4 years, SD = 9.4). Measures included the Comprehensive Falls Risk Screening Instrument, Falls-efficacy Scale-International (FES-I), Activities-specific Balance Confidence (ABC), modified Survey of Activities and Fear of Falling in the Elderly (mSAFFE), Consequences of Falling (CoF), Physical Activity Scale for the Elderly (PASE), and 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36). The FES-I, ABC, mSAFFE, and CoF were significantly correlated with each other, with SF-36, and with mobility. The ABC and mSAFFE were significantly correlated with PASE. The ABC differentiated between fallers and nonfallers and predicted total falls risk. Findings can assist with the selection of psychological instruments in a falls risk screening context.     

An Analytical Study of Sex Differences as They Affect the Program of Physical Education

Abstract

During the eighth decade of the nineteenth century, the American sporting scene was enriched by a series of five fabulous international pedestrian races. Sir John Astley, the English sporting baron, inaugurated the transatlantic six-day and six-night marathon races. These quintuple struggles roused nationalistic pride and sporting blood on two continents, were witnessed by tens of thousands, and resulted in feats of unprecedented human endurance.