Impact of the Public Library District Model on Local Funding of Public Libraries in New York State

For more than a decade the Regents of the State of New York have recommended that public and association libraries in the state become public library districts with independent taxing authority. The Regents contend that such districts are preferable for several reasons, in particular for more reliable and higher per capita funding for library services. This study, using data provided by the New York State Education Department, examined the funding of all public libraries in New York during a ten-year period. The study found that while public library districts did demonstrate more reliable funding over time, they did not see improved per capita funding as compared to other library types found in the state.     

Bilingual cash machines,multicultural campuses,and communities of difference

A version of this paper was delivered as a speech at Buffalo State University, NY, September 1993.Estela M. Bensimon received an Ed.D from Teachers College, Columbia University. She currently holds an appointment in the Center for the Study of Higher Education at Penn State University as an associate professor and senior research associate. She is interested in leadership, multicultural curricular transformation, and the organizational structures and policies of our colleges and universities.     

School leadership and intercultural understanding: school foyers as situated spaces for doing diversity

Internationally, Intercultural Understanding (ICU) is increasingly prevalent in the field of education. The recent evidence base includes a growing academic literature and examples of specified education policy and curricula. In regards to leveraging ICU, research suggests a multi-level and longitudinal approach is needed to ensure effective and sustainable school change. Significant gaps exist in the literature about the contextual factors across all school levels that facilitate or impede the development of ICU. These gaps include research and action pertaining to school leadership. This paper draws from interviews and visual data generated in a large Australian study and focuses on the centrality of a single architectural feature of the school, the school foyer, and how principals grapple with the (re)design of these spaces to assert themselves as interculturally capable schools. Discourses of educational leadership have historically relied on well-worn leadership models of operational practices rather than explicitly framing an understanding of diversity to support intercultural capabilities. During a period of mandated Australian curriculum reform and assessment, this paper offers another way of ‘Doing Diversity’ of interest to policy makers and school leadership keen to embed ICU in their schools while highlighting the significant role school leaders have in progressing ICU.     

Assessing the quality of learning environments in Swedish schools: Development and analysis of a theory-based instrument

The Goals, Attitudes and Values in School (GAVIS) questionnaire was developed on the basis of theoretical frameworks concerning learning environments, universal human values and studies of students’ experience of learning environments. The theory hypothesises that learning environments can be described and structured in a circumplex model using the factors of creativity, stimulation, achievement, efficacy, safety, control, helpfulness, participation, responsibility and influence. The answers from a group of Swedish students in compulsory schooling and optional secondary schooling were analysed with confirmatory factor analysis. The analysis showed that a model with 10 latent variables corresponding to the model fitted the data well. A perfect circumplex structure of the covariance matrix between the latent variables, however, was not confirmed with structural equation modelling (SEM).     

The Emotionality of Whiteness in Physical Education Teacher Education

ABSTRACT

The physical education teacher education (PETE) pipeline makes it clear to historically racially minoritized pre-service teachers the value of White norms and experiences while simultaneously “othering” their cultural knowledge. Using Critical Race Theory, Critical Whiteness Studies, and emotionality as theoretical frameworks, this visual narrative inquiry explored self-identified Black and Latinx pre-service physical education teachers’ (n = 10) stories of a racialized identity within predominantly White PETE programs as well as the emotionality of whiteness for myself as a White researcher and teacher educator. I utilized narrative-based semi-structured and conversational interviews, along with photo-elicitation, as methods of data collection. The results contrast participants’ experiences of normalized racism with my heightened emotions of shock and dismay, shedding light on my own white emotionality toward racism. The critical examination of the emotions of whiteness demonstrated the potential to lead PETE faculty toward deeper reflection as to how whiteness is upheld, but also how they might further work to de-center whiteness within their pedagogies, curricula, and programs.     

Finding an Analytic Frame for Faculty-Student Interaction within Faculty-in-Residence Programs

In this article we describe a case study analyzing how a Faculty-in-Residence program fosters student engagement. Using Cox & Orehovec’s typology to add granularity to the National Study on Student Engagement’s criteria for student engagement, we suggest best practices for the implementation of these in-situ faculty engagement programs.     

Combined training,FNDC5/irisin levels and metabolic markers in obese men: A randomised controlled trial

The effects of training on FNDC5/irisin and its association with fitness and metabolic marker improvements induced by training have been poorly investigated in humans. Thus, the present study assessed the effects of combined training (CT) on FNDC5/irisin levels, metabolic markers and fitness adaptations in obese men. Middle-age obese men (age 49.13?±?5.75, body mass index (BMI) 30.86?±?1.63) were randomly distributed in the CT group (n?=?12) and control group (CG n?=?10). The CT consisted of strength followed by aerobic training, 3 times/week, for 24 weeks. Body composition, physical fitness, plasma FNDC5/irisin, biochemical markers and metabolic scores/index were evaluated. CT maintained FNDC5/irisin levels (µg/mL) (pre: 4.15?±?0.32, post: 4.21?±?0.32; p?=?.96) and improved body composition, metabolic and physical fitness markers. In the CG, decreased FNDC5/irisin (µg/mL) (pre: 4.36?±?0.23, post: 3.57?±?0.94; p?=?.01) and reduced strength (supine exercise/kg) (pre: 71?±?14.7, post: 60.1?±?14.05; p?<?.01) were observed, along with a trend to increase HOMA-IR (pre: 2.63?±?1.11, post: 3.14?±?1.27; p?=?.07) and other indicators of metabolic deterioration. An inverse correlation was found between the change (Δ%) in levels of FNDC5/irisin and Δ% glucose, Δ% total cholesterol, Δ% triglycerides and Δ% waist circumference, in addition to a positive relation with Δ% muscle strength. In conclusion, CT maintained FNDC5/irisin levels and provided metabolic and fitness benefits. The correlation between FNDC5/irisin changes and metabolic parameters, as well as the FNDC5/irisin reduction associated with fitness and metabolic worsening in the CG, suggests a relationship between FNDC5/irisin and a healthy metabolic status in humans.     

Challenging Educational Assumptions: Lessons from an Italian-American collaboration

In this paper, the authors argue that in order to create a curriculum of the future, we need to re-evaluate at least four key assumptions about teaching and learning that have guided educational decisions in the past. These assumptions are: learning is the result of individual, rather than group, activity; teachers are consumers, rather than generators, of theory; assessment is concerned with evaluating learning outcomes, rather than learning processes; teaching and learning are primarily cognitive, rather than aesthetic, ethical or affective, acts. Drawing on recent cross-cultural research, the authors use the example of the municipal pre-schools and infant-toddler centres of Reggio Emilia, Italy, to challenge these assumptions and suggest alternative ways for imagining classrooms of the future.