Making learning visible in initial teacher education: a pedagogical characterisation scheme

This paper reports the development of a scheme of characterising pedagogical practices in initial teacher education classes. The scheme is intended to provide baseline data on classroom pedagogical practices in Singapore’s sole provider of initial teacher education (ITE). This study is original in that the research team has found no reports of independent research to characterise, through video analysis of classroom practices, the pedagogical practices experienced during ITE. By characterising the pedagogical practices of a purposive sample of ITE lessons run at the National Institute of Education Singapore, this study contributes an initial scheme to produce detailed and layered representations of pedagogical practices through video recordings, which opens a new approach to research on teacher education. The implications with regard to teacher education policy and practice will be discussed.     

In-Course Instructor-Guided Service Learning in a Community College General Psychology Class

Institutional and student level data from the Florida Community Colleges were examined to explore the Retention Index of the Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE). A simple correlation and regression analysis was conducted to determine if the CCSSE Retention Index could be used to predict the institutional retention rate calculated for the state accountability measure. Student level data were used with a nested ANOVA to examine if there were mean differences in the CCSSE Retention Index scores of males and females of different racial groups when accounting for the potential influence of the institution attended. Mean differences were examined since differences in retention rates of these groups have been documented.     

C Problem: Climb or Catastrophe

While community colleges serve as a postsecondary entry point for many “at-risk” students, not many who enroll will be ready or able to participate in college level courses on entry. Statistically, large numbers of community college students require college remediation, and only a handful are able to successfully emerge from the remediation pipeline. Many students find mathematics the most challenging course sequence and frequently report high levels of math anxiety and lower completion rates. Using population data from a large urban district in a western state, this study examined the impact of course grades on subsequent grades within math courses.     

Transfer Between Community Colleges and 4-Year Colleges: The All-American Game

ABSTRACT

In this article, the authors introduce a novel way, using the metaphor of a baseball game, to evaluate and measure community college student progress for those whose stated goal is to transfer to a 4-year institution and, ultimately, earn a bachelor's degree. The proposed framework of “the Transfer Game” is an outgrowth of the Transfer and Retention of Urban Community College Students (TRUCCS) project, which is a longitudinal study of 5,000 community college students from the 9-campuses of the Los Angeles Community College District. The goal of the project is to explain how the “all-American game” provides a method to measure, comprehend, and visualize student progression, and identify the factors that predict both success and barriers. The framework provides a scholarly comparison of the all-American game of baseball to the All-American invention of the community college.     

Advocating for Young Children: A Preservice Teacher Education Project

As experts on the nature and needs of young children, early childhood educators are in prime positions to advocate for the health and well-being of young children. Advocacy can take the form of personal, public, or private-sector endeavors. Personal advocacy is usually informal and involves educating others on an issue about early childhood education. Similarly, public advocacy involves educating policy makers, and private-sector advocacy is directed toward businesses. The project described here is a course assignment for undergraduate teacher candidates in which they learn about advocacy strategies and design and implement authentic advocacy projects. Sample projects are discussed. Engaging in this project has raised awareness for teacher candidates about the importance of and strategies for being advocates. The response from early childhood teacher candidates has been positive.     

Sustainability and Performance Measurement: Corporate Real Estate Perspectives

When it comes to sustainable development, doing the right thing pays off. Research studies have correlated positive business measures for companies that make investments in sustainable strategies related to corporate real estate and sustainable development. This article explores the scope of sustainability and the short‐ and long‐term strategies that corporations identify, plan, implement, and evaluate. The results go beyond profit, affecting people and the planet with improved air quality, water savings, reduced carbon emissions, and operational cost savings. Corporations should begin sustainable strategies by analyzing their present state and carbon footprint to establish baseline data.     

Exploring the Underlying Factor Structure of the Parent Reading Belief Inventory (PRBI): Some Caveats

Although mainstream preschool programs have been in existence since the 1970s, little is known about the ways in which typical children attempt to understand what it means for a peer to have a disability. In this study, 4-year-old children without disabilities who were enrolled in a mainstream preschool class explained their peers' disabilities by referring to concepts of immaturity, accident, or adaptive equipment to account for the behavioral differences that they observed. The implications of these cognitions for children's developing attitudes and behaviors toward peers with disabilities are discussed.     

Systemic Change for School Improvement

Despite the nationwide emphasis on school improvement, the complexities of accomplishing desired systemic changes have been given short shrift in policy, research, training, and practice. This article focuses on the problem of expanding school improvement planning to better address how schools and districts intendto accomplish designated changes. Specifically, weframe and outline some basic considerations related to systemic change, and, to encourage a greater policy discussion of the complexities of implementing major school improvements on a large scale, we propose a set of policy actions.     

Promoting Positive Social Development in Family Childcare Settings

The quality of experiences in childcare has significant, lasting impact on children&s social development. With the growing number of young children being served in family childcare settings, it is imperative that the care provides a quality environment that nurtures children&s social development. Empirically supported interventions that specifically target family childcare, however, are lacking. The development and evaluation of a video-based program aimed at training family childcare providers in setting up their childcare environment to promote social development in young children is described. Forty-two family childcare providers were randomly assigned to an intervention group and a wait-list control group. A majority of the participants felt they learned some to very much new, practical information and said they found the interactive discussions particularly helpful. This study illustrates the feasibility of doing training and evaluation research in family childcare settings.