Reconsidering the Bayh-Dole Act and the Current University Invention Ownership Model

The Bayh-Dole Act of 1980 provided U.S. universities with the right to commercialize employees’ inventions made while engaged in government-funded research. This paper argues that the current university invention ownership model, in which universities maintain de jure ownership of inventions, is not optimal either in terms of economic efficiency or for advancing the social interest of rapidly commercializing technology and encouraging entrepreneurship. We argue that this model is plagued by ineffective incentives, information asymmetries, and contradictory motivations for the university, the inventors, potential licensees, and university technology licensing offices (TLOs). These structural uncertainties can lead to delays in licensing, misaligned incentives among parties, and obstacles to the flow of scientific information and the materials necessary for scientific progress. The institutional arrangements within which TLOs are embedded have encouraged some of them to become revenue maximizers, rather than facilitators of technology dissemination for the good of the entire society.We suggest two alternative invention commercialization models as superior alternatives. The first alternative is to vest ownership with the inventor, who could choose the commercialization path for the invention. For this privilege the inventor would provide the university an ownership stake in any returns to the invention. The inventor would be free to contract with the university TLO or any other entity that might assist in commercialization. The second alternative is to make all inventions immediately publicly available through a public domain strategy or, through a requirement that all inventions be licensed non-exclusively. Both alternatives would address the current dysfunctional arrangements in university technology commercialization.     

Protecting privacy in public? Surveillance technologies and the value of public places

While maintaining the importance of privacy for critical evaluations of surveillance technologies, I suggest that privacy also constrains the debate by framing analyses in terms of the individual. Public space provides a site for considering what is at stake with surveillance technologies besides privacy. After describing two accounts of privacy and one of public space, I argue that surveillance technologies simultaneously add an ambiguityand a specificity to public places that are detrimental to the social, cultural, and civic importance of these places. By making public places accessible to other places and/or times, surveillance technologies make these social contexts ambiguous by blurring their spatial and temporal bounds. At the same time, surveillancetechnologies valence public places in functionally specificways that are detrimental to informal civic life. To complement defensive approaches to surveillance technologies based onindividual privacy, I conclude by suggesting how sociality as a relational value or an ethics of place as a contextual value could provide a proactive line of reasoning for affirming the value ofthat which is between people and places.     

Evaluating a Multidimensional Reading Comprehension Program and Reconsidering the Lowly Reputation of Tests of Near‐Transfer

We conducted a 14‐week experimental study of 2 versions of a relatively comprehensive RC intervention that involved 50 classroom teachers, 15 tutors, and 116 children drawn in equal proportions from grades 3 and 5 in 13 schools in a large urban school district. Students were randomly assigned in equal numbers to the two tutoring conditions and a control group. Results indicated that students in the two tutored groups tended to perform comparably on all tests and to outperform controls (more so in grade 5 than grade 3) on near‐transfer but not far‐transfer measures of RC. This differential pattern of program effects for near‐ versus far‐transfer measures raises questions about how tests of near‐transfer and far‐transfer are conventionally understood.     

Doing justice to inclusion: a response to John Wilson

This study explored mainstream education teachers' perceptions of instructional adaptations in inclusive classrooms and its feasibility, effectiveness, and desirability of implementation. It was of particular interest to know how teachers of different grade levels would respond to such adaptations. Kindergarten (n = 16), elementary (n = 34), secondary (n = 26) and high school (n = 13) teachers rated the feasibility, effectiveness and desirability of 29 items on the Teaching Adaptation Scale. Results indicated a moderate teacher acceptance of instructional adaptations. Additionally, statistically significant differences between grade grouping (high school vs compulsory grades) surfaced. Findings are discussed in the light of needs of professional practice and significant reforms to improve curriculum preparation programmes.     

Examining IEPs of English Learners with Learning Disabilities for Cultural and Linguistic Responsiveness

Effective education of English learners (ELs) with learning disabilities requires special educators to deliver culturally/linguistically responsive instruction within the context of special services, embracing the interaction between exceptionality and diversity. A critical concept is the notion that cultural and linguistic features are mandated by law to remain integral to teaching and learning once ELs are appropriately placed for special services. We examined a sampling of IEPs for ELs receiving special education for learning disabilities for cultural/linguistic responsive features to inform instruction. We found from our pilot study that the IEPs contain little to no reference to ELs' diverse linguistic and cultural qualities to (1) meet legislative mandates, and (2) guide delivery of appropriate special education. Practitioner implications for developing culturally and linguistically responsive IEPs are provided to support educators who teach ELs with learning disabilities.     

Relationships among school climate domains and school satisfaction

This study investigated the magnitude of the relationships between eight school climate domains and a measure of global school satisfaction among 2,049 middle and high school students. Tests of moderator effects were conducted to determine if the magnitude of the relationships between the school climate domains and school satisfaction differed as a function of students' gender, grade, age, GPA, or SES. Multiple regression analyses suggested that five school climate domains are significantly related to school satisfaction (p < .01): Academic Support (beta weight = 0.17), Positive Student‐Teacher Relationships (0.12), School Connectedness (0.11), Order and Discipline (0.13), and Academic Satisfaction (0.12). In addition, the importance of the school climate variables to students' school satisfaction appeared invariant across the demographic variables and academic performance levels. The inclusion of school climate and school satisfaction measures may form a foundation for more comprehensive assessments for understanding and monitoring the experiences of students in schools. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The perceived needs of support of parents and classroom teachers a comparison of needs in two microsystems

The aim of this study was to describe and compare from a systems perspective the perceived needs of parents and teachers of school-age children with intellectual impairments. The relationship between type and degree of impairment to perceived needs was analysed. Comparisons revealed that while the parents and teachers differed regarding their respective needs, they agreed on specific informational needs. It was found that certain child characteristics in interaction with contextual factors evoked specific needs within microsystem settings. Motor impairments tended to correlate with needs regarding family routines, and impairments in communication and behaviour tended to correlate with family informational needs. Teachers expressed significantly more and stronger needs than parents, and teachers who instructed according to a reading based curriculum expressed more and stronger needs than teachers who instructed according to a life-skills based curriculum. These findings are discussed, together with their implications for future research and changes in teacher education.