The New Jersey takeover legislation: Help or hindrance to improvement in troubled school districts

It started in New Jersey in 1988 when the state's department of education took over the Jersey City Public Schools. At the time of the Jersey City takeover, the school system was, by all accounts, among the worst in the Garden State. Now takeover legislation is on the books in nine states, and legislation is pending elsewhere. Does handing over the reins—after a lengthy monitoring process—lead to significant improvements in student achievement and school system operation? In short, is takeover an effective means of school reform? This article traces the three-year road leading to state takeover in Jersey City and questions the wisdom of New Jersey's aproach in failing districts.     

Types of Homeschool Environments and Need Support for Children’s Achievement Motivation

ABSTRACT

Working within a self-determination theory (SDT) framework, this study used cluster analysis to examine the naturally occurring types of homeschool-learning environments parents (N = 457) have created. Measures of support for student autonomy, mastery goal structure, and use of conditional regard were adapted for a homeschool context and used as constituting variables. Follow-up measures of parental need satisfaction, efficacy, student academic engagement, teaching practices, and demographics were used to identify significant differences among homeschooling motivational profiles. A five-cluster solution best fit the data: a high need support profile, low need support profile and three profiles of mixed need support. In general, the high need and mixed need support profiles were associated with higher student engagement, need satisfaction, efficacy for homeschooling, and frequent use of teaching strategies that promote autonomous motivation and support for student competence. The low need support profile was significantly associated with lower need satisfaction and teaching strategies associated with control. Higher levels of academic engagement were reported for those students homeschooled longer and at higher grade levels. Male teaching parents (N = 29) reported significantly less need satisfaction and were significantly more represented in the low need support profile. These findings point to the utility of self-determination theory for characterizing the motivational environments of homeschools.     

Counseling persons injured at work

Support and treatment programs for persons injured at work have expanded considerably since their early beginnings in Germany in 1884. Industrially injured workers must deal with problems in at least four major areas: 1) medical restoration, 2) temporary economic maintenance, 3) psychosocial adjustment to disability, and 4) vocational restoration. The counselor's role in assisting such persons is a significant one. In fact, it could be argued that the counselor is the only professional who has been specifically trained to assist persons who must confront the psychosocial and vocational restoration problems commonly associated with work-related injury. Both individual and group counseling methods can be used to facilitate positive psychosocial adjustment. Essential elements of the vocational restoration process include vocational assessment, job analysis, treatment (including career counseling and possibly physical restoration and/or job training), job placement, and follow-up. Specific counselor interventions in all areas should be guided by both theoretical and practical considerations, and family members and employers should be involved in programming whenever feasible or appropriate. Employee assistance programs and proprietary rehabilitation companies are discussed as relatively recent developments in the United States which offer potential to reduce and/or treat work-related injury and disability.This article is based on a paper of the same title presented at the International Round Table for the Advancement of Counseling Consultation on Counseling Disabled People and Their Families, Vienna, July 1987.     

Impact of North Carolina's Early Childhood Programs and Policies on Educational Outcomes in Elementary School

North Carolina's Smart Start and More at Four (MAF) early childhood programs were evaluated through the end of elementary school (age 11) by estimating the impact of state funding allocations to programs in each of 100 counties across 13 consecutive years on outcomes for all children in each county‐year group (n = 1,004,571; 49% female; 61% non‐Latinx White, 30% African American, 4% Latinx, 5% other). Student‐level regression models with county and year fixed effects indicated significant positive impacts of each program on reading and math test scores and reductions in special education and grade retention in each grade. Effect sizes grew or held steady across years. Positive effects held for both high‐ and low‐poverty families, suggesting spillover of effects to nonparticipating peers.     

Research productivity and scholarly accomplishment of college teachers as related to their instructional effectiveness: A review and exploration

This analysis reviews the research that has been done on the connection between research productivity or scholarly accomplishment of faculty members and their teaching effectiveness (as assessed by their students). On average, there is a very small positive association between the two variables. To understand this relationship better, extant research was explored for factors that might mediate either positive or inverse associations between research productivity and teaching effectiveness and those that possibly could be common causes of them. Pedagogical practices and dispositions of faculty members, as well as certain course or class characteristics (size of class, electivity of course), were examined as potential mediating factors. Potential common causes investigated were academic rank and age of faculty members, their general ability, their personality characteristics, and the amount of time or effort they spend on research activities. The association between research productivity and teaching effectiveness was explored further by considering whether its size and direction varies by career stage of faculty members, their academic discipline, and the type of college or university in which they teach.     

Stress in school-aged children and youth

This article reviews the literature on stress in students of grades 1–12. A model to understand stress as the inequality between perceived demands and perceived resources is presented. Student stressors are identified in the family and school environments. Coping with these stressors is conceptualized as problem-focused, emotion-focused, or appraisal-focused strategies that make use of personal, social, and cognitive resources. Physical, emotional, and behavioral symptoms of ineffectual coping efforts are then identified. After gender differences in stressors and coping are noted, instruments measuring stressors, coping strategies, and coping resources in children and youth are reviewed. Finally, representative intervention programs developed for school-aged youth are described and evidence of their efficacy is presented. The article concludes that there is a paucity of research on stress in children as compared to research on stress in adults.     

Faculty and Academic Integrity: The Influence of Current Honor Codes and Past Honor Code Experiences

This survey of faculty at honor code and non-honor code institutions investigated the influence of honor codes on faculty attitudes and behaviors. As hypothesized, we found that honor code faculty have more positive attitudes toward their schools' academic integrity policies and are more willing to allow the system to take care of monitoring and disciplinary activities. Faculty in noncode institutions have less positive attitudes and are more likely to take personal actions designed to both catch and deal with cheaters. We also investigated the potential influence of a student honor code experience on faculty attitudes. We found that, in noncode environments, faculty who had an honor code experience as a student were more likely to believe that students should be held responsible for peer monitoring and to say that they deal personally with cheating. Implications for higher education institutions are discussed.