Democracy,Justice, and School Closures

Over the past few decades, school closure has emerged as a key strategy for education reform. Districts across the country have moved to close schools deemed to be chronically underperforming by official metrics as way to promote academic achievement. More recently, a sizeable body of literature has emerged raising significant questions about the wisdom of school closures, with some scholars and activists criticizing school closures as an injustice. In this article, Ellis Reid takes seriously the claim that the adoption of school closures as a reform strategy is unjust. Drawing on work in democratic theory, Reid argues that the widespread embrace of school closures to "turn around" schools thought to be failing rests in part on racially stigmatizing ideas about schools serving Black and Latinx students and the communities in which these schools are embedded. Importantly, racial stigmatization is not an isolated problem but rather points toward a broader crisis in American democracy. Ultimately, Reid argues that responding to this crisis demands that we take seriously the arguments advanced by the critics of school closures and adopt a broader view of the value of a school.     

Theorizing Communication Orientations of Privilege: How White Discourses (De) Construct Australian Aboriginals

We conducted a discourse analysis of Australians' conversations about race, exploring communication that (re)produces and decenters whiteness. We identified 23 communication practices, organized into four orientations (unity, separation, monologue, and dialogue), describing how those with power talk about those without power and (fail to) balance tensions between similarity and difference. Orientations of unity, monologue, and separation serve antidialogic functions by obstructing transformative thinking, de-legitimizing Aboriginal experiences, and reifying whiteness. Findings suggest it is possible, but rare, for individuals to engage in intercultural dialogue about race. Understanding communication orientations of privilege is a step towards facilitating talk that disrupts whiteness.     

Using VoiceThread to Create Meaningful Receptive and Expressive Learning Activities for Young Children

Development of receptive and expressive language skills is an important foundational skill in early childhood education. Recently, early childhood education professionals have begun using Web-based technology to assist in developing these skills. One Web-based technology that holds potential to support children’s learning is VoiceThread which has unique features that support Universal Design for Learning. This paper provides practical recommendations for use of VoiceThread in meaningful learning activities that can easily be implemented. A step-by-step guide is presented to create and use VoiceThread.     

Study abroad as a collaborative endeavor

Gary Rhodes, Albert Biscarra, Lisa Loberg, and Katie Roller suggest that the next steps to improve study‐abroad programs are to increase the diversity of student participants and partner with departments across the academic and student affairs spectrum.     

Depression among students with learning disabilities: assessing the risk

Researchers have found that students with learning disabilities (LD) obtain statistically higher scores on measures of depression than their peers without LD. However, what is not known is whether students with LD display greater levels of clinical depression than their peers without LD. If they do, then special education services should address this area of concern. If they do not, then the current mental health system may be adequate to treat children and adolescents with depression regardless of whether they have concomitant LD. The purpose of this study was to meta-analyze the data-based literature and quantify mean differences in depression measure scores and levels of clinical depression between students with and without LD.     

Cognitive Stimulation as a Mechanism Linking Socioeconomic Status With Executive Function: A Longitudinal Investigation

Executive functions (EF), including working memory, inhibition, and cognitive flexibility, vary as a function of socioeconomic status (SES), with children from economically disadvantaged backgrounds having poorer performance than their higher SES peers. Using observational methods, we investigated cognitive stimulation in the home as a mechanism linking SES with EF. In a sample of 101 children aged 60–75 months, cognitive stimulation fully mediated SES-related differences in EF. Critically, cognitive stimulation was positively associated with the development of inhibition and cognitive flexibility across an 18-month follow-up period. Furthermore, EF at T1 explained SES-related differences in academic achievement at T2. Early cognitive stimulation—a modifiable factor—may be a desirable target for interventions designed to ameliorate SES-related differences in cognitive development and academic achievement.     

Performance,Perseverance, and the Full Picture of College Readiness

Although college readiness is a centerpiece of major educational initiatives such as the Common Core State Standards, few systems have been implemented to track children's progress toward this goal. Instead, college‐readiness information is typically conveyed late in a student's high‐school career, and tends to focus solely on academic accomplishments—grades and admissions test scores. Late‐stage feedback can be problematic for students who need to correct course, so the purpose of this research is to develop a system for communicating more comprehensive college‐readiness diagnoses earlier in a child's K‐12 career. This article introduces college‐readiness indicators for middle‐school students, drawing on the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS), a nationally representative longitudinal survey of educational inputs, contexts, and outcomes. A diversity of middle‐school variables was synthesized into six factors: achievement, behavior, motivation, social engagement, family circumstances, and school characteristics. Middle‐school factors explain 69% of the variance in college readiness, and results suggest a variety of factors beyond academic achievement—most notably motivation and behavior—contribute substantially to preparedness for postsecondary study. The article concludes with limitations and future directions, including the development of college‐readiness categories to support straightforward communication of middle‐school indicators to parents, teachers, and students.     

Psychology's Contribution to Understanding and Managing Bullying within Schools

This paper investigates the extent to which psychological theory and research has contributed to how bullying is managed within schools. Teachers' awareness of the behaviours that constitute bullying, gender differences leading to identification difficulties, and low levels of reporting are discussed as plausible reasons for teachers' low intervention rates. Pupils' attitudes towards and responses to bullying are examined within the contexts of self‐efficacy, self‐acceptance and level of problem‐solving skill. Subsequent anti‐bullying interventions focusing on these aspects are explored and the importance of a whole‐school approach emphasised.     

收养，你准备好了吗

汶川大地震使很多孩子失去了父母,也失去了原本温馨幸福的家。许多富有爱心的人都希望通过收养的方式给这些孩子一个家。但大多数打算收养的父母却在收养的知识上预备不足。     

RELIABILITY AND STRUCTURAL VALIDITY OF THE TEACHER RATING SCALES OF EARLY ACADEMIC COMPETENCE

Currently, there are few strengths‐based preschool rating scales that sample a wide array of behaviors believed to be essential for early academic success. The purpose of this study was to assess the factor structure of a new measure of early academic competence for at‐risk preschool populations. The Teacher Rating Scales of Early Academic Competence (TRS‐EAC) includes two broad scales (Early Academic Skills and Early Academic Enablers) and was completed by 60 teachers for 440 children enrolled in Head Start and public preschool classrooms. Evidence from two exploratory factor analyses supported a five‐factor solution for the Early Academic Skills Scale (Creative Thinking, Critical Thinking Skills, Numeracy, Early Literacy, and Comprehension) and a five‐factor solution for the Early Academic Enablers Scale (Approaches to Learning, Social and Emotional Competence, Fine Motor Skills, Gross Motor Skills, and Communication). TRS‐EAC scores also demonstrated good to excellent reliability and were related to children's performance on direct measures of early academic skills.