Regulation

Bill F. Chamberlin and Charlene J. Brown, eds., THE FIRST AMENDMENT RECONSIDERED: NEW PERSPECTIVES ON THE MEANING OF FREEDOM OF SPEECH. AND PRESS (New York: Longman, 1982---$27.95)

Marc A. Franklin, CASES AND MATERIALS ON MASS MEDIA LAW (Mineola, N.Y.: The Foundation Press, 1982---$26.00)

LEGAL AND BUSINESS ASPECTS OF THE ADVERTISING INDUSTRY 1982 (Practicing Law Institute, 810 7th Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10019---$30.00, paper)

PRIVACY (Social Issues Resources Inc., P.O. Box 2507, Boca Raton, Fla. 33432---two loose-leaf volumes containing a total of 180 articles, $117.00, also available separtately at $65.00 and $52.00 respectively)     

Can districts keep good teachers in the schools that need them most?

This study investigates how school demographics and their interactions with policies affect the mobility behaviors of public school teachers with various human capital characteristics. Using data from North Carolina from 1995 to 2006, it finds that teachers’ career stage and human capital investments dominate their decisions to leave public school teaching and school demographic characteristics play a dominant role in intra-system sorting. Schools serving at-risk children struggle to attract and retain teachers with desirable observable characteristics. We find evidence to suggest that across-the-board school-based pay-for-performance policies have small but significant associations with mobility decisions and appear to exacerbate inequities in the distribution of teacher qualifications.     

Tongan secondary students’ conceptions of schooling in New Zealand relative to their academic achievement

This study examines the relationship between Tongan students’ attitudes and beliefs towards their school experiences and their academic achievement on the high-stakes National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) assessments in English and mathematics. Data were obtained from using previously published self-reported inventories on a sample of Tongan senior students in New Zealand secondary schools. Confirmatory factor analysis of students’ conceptions found good fit measurement models for each domain (teaching, learning, and assessment). Structural equation modelling was used to identify the effect of the various beliefs upon students’ total score in each subject and upon internal and externally assessed performance. It was noted that different beliefs became statistically significant predictors of performance, depending on the subject and type of assessment. Nonetheless, all three constructs played some role in at least one subject. A small-to-moderate proportion of variance in NCEA performance could be attributed to student beliefs, suggesting that efforts to help students adopt adaptive beliefs will have beneficial consequences for those students.     

IS IT WORTH USING CAS FOR SYMBOLIC ALGEBRA MANIPULATION IN THE MIDDLE SECONDARY YEARS? SOME TEACHERS’ VIEWS

The use of Computer Algebra Systems (CAS) in years 9 and 10 classrooms as a tool to support learning or in preparation for senior secondary mathematics is controversial. This paper presents an analysis of the positive and negative aspects of using CAS identified in the literature related to these year levels, along with the perceptions of 12 experienced secondary teachers who were working with years 9 and 10 students. The literature review shows that CAS is valued for calculation and manipulation capabilities, the option of alternative representations, the opportunity for systematic exploration and for prompting rich discussion. However, the technical overhead, initial workload for the teacher and unresolved questions about the perceived relative contribution of machine and by-hand work to learning currently pose obstacles to teaching with CAS in the middle secondary years. The teachers who contributed data to this study perceived that using CAS in their teaching is, on balance, worth the effort. However, they believed that CAS is of most benefit to their high ability students and may present an obstacle to their low ability students’ learning of mathematics.     

Historically Black Colleges and University students' and faculties' views of school psychology: Implications for increasing diversity in higher education

This study investigates Historically Black Colleges and University (HBCU) students' and faculties' knowledge related to school psychology. A total of 165 students and 14 faculty members completed inventories that assessed the understanding and views of various psychological disciplines. Results indicated that HBCU students rated their perceived knowledge of school psychology significantly lower than all psychological disciplines. In addition, these students have significantly fewer sources of information for school psychology than comparable disciplines. Although more than 90% of students stated that they would attend graduate school, the majority was only somewhat interested in school psychology as a career choice. Furthermore, HBCU psychology faculty members stated that the American Psychological Association and the National Association of School Psychologists do not actively recruit or provide information to their students. Results are discussed in terms of increasing the number of African American school psychologists. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

School Choice and the Polarization of Public Schools in A Global City: A Bourdieusian GIS Approach

ABSTRACT

Over the past three decades, urban sociologists have shed light on the intensifying social inequality between the wealthiest and poorest neighborhoods in global cities; yet limited research has been done to illuminate the relationships between urban polarization and school choice (i.e., where parents choose schools for their children). This study sociospatially examines the patterns of secondary school choice in the global city of Toronto to illuminate the relationship between urban polarization and school choice. In doing so, this study combines Pierre Bourdieu’s sociospatial theory with a geographic information systems (GIS) approach. Overall, we found that popular schools and schools with specialized choice programs tend to be located in high-status neighborhoods, defined as neighborhoods with residents in the top 20% of family income, home prices, education attainment, and representation from the dominant culture. We also show that mobile students who choose popular schools or highly sought-after specialized programs tend to come from advantaged neighborhoods. Meanwhile, local students who choose a regular school in their neighborhood tend to come from low-status neighborhoods. With a new interdisciplinary approach, this study contributes to a more spatialized understanding of how social inequality and polarization account for school choice.