Classroom Activities and Areas: Regularity of Use and Perceptions of Adaptability by General Early Educators

This report describes a mail survey of general early educators from Head Start, public school pre-kindergarten, public school kindergarten, and community preschool/child care programs. The purposes were to secure information about the availability of classroom activities and areas, and to obtain the respondents' perceptions of the ease with which activities and areas could be adapted to accommodate children with disabilities. Of the 893 mailed questionnaires, 483 (54.1%) were returned and coded. The respondents reportedly used a wide range of classroom activities and areas, and they rated those activities and areas as moderately easy to adapt. Also, respondents from mainstreamed programs used slightly more activities and perceived the activities as easier to adapt than did respondents from non-mainstreamed programs. The findings appear to indicate that placement of children with disabilities in segregated programs cannot be justified on grounds that integration will restrict the range of activities available to typically developing children, or on the grounds that the adaptations are perceived by program staff as too difficult to be accomplished.     

Accountability, Student Learning, and the Preparation and Licensure of Teachers: Oregon''s Teacher Work Sample Methodology

This article describes Teacher Work Sample Methodology (TWSM) as one piece of an in-place accountability system for the initial preparation and licensure of teachers that includes evidence of student learning. The underlying tenets of both the methodology specifically and the notion of accountability systems generally are explored from the perspective of using evidence of student learning. This discussion includes the argument that teacher do indeed influence student learning and thus can ethically be part of an accountability system. However, the author also argues that the teaching and learning context is important and must be taken into account within such systems. The author also describes why, especially at the preservice level, the notion of accountability is part of a broader social contract. Finally, the author argues that the aim of any accountability system should be to develop personal, professional responsibility rather than to develop an external hammer for performance. A summary of the differences TWSM has made at the individual teacher level and within the institution, the state, and the nation generally is presented. The author concludes that the intended impact of the system—to develop personal, professional responsibility—has been largely achieved.     

Professional standing and the reception of contributions to economics

This study assesses the relationship between selected professional characteristics of authors of articles published in four leading economics journals and the reception (citations) of these articles in subsequently published articles. Both early reception (citations received within 3 years) and total reception (citations received within 9 years) were examined. The three professional characteristics are professional age, rank of department of affiliation, and scientific repute. Articles written by economists with (1) the longest professional age, (2) an affiliation with one of the 19 most highly rated graduate departments, and (3) the greatest scientific repute received the most citations during both the early and total reception periods. The analysis is placed within the framework of the sociology of science.     

What do freshmen really know about research? Assess before you teach

The paper describes an effort to assess the information literacy skills of first year college students. An instrument was developed and information was gathered on students' experience and comfort in conducting library research as well as their perceived competence with specific information literacy skills. In addition, students completed a skills test to assess specific knowledge and skills relating to information literacy. Entering freshmen generally self-reported their skills to be less than “excellent.” This finding was supported by the results of the skills test. Strengths and weaknesses in information literacy skills are reported as well as implications for librarians who assess and teach these skills to students.     

E‐only journals: is it time to drop print?

This article is a revised version of a talk given at the ALPSP seminar of the same name in February 2005. The current state of play with electronic‐only (‘e‐only’) journals is reviewed, along with some data on the different ways print and electronic editions are used. The drivers for and against a move to e‐only journals are discussed, including economic and commercial issues, long‐term access and preservation, and the growing divergence between the capabilities of print and electronic journals.     

Ethical leadership and ethical decision making: A meta-analysis of research related to ethics education

Ethical leadership and ethical decision making in organizations have been the focus of many concerns related to ethics, especially in light of high-profile corporate scandals. The importance of educational preparation for ethical leadership has been highlighted in the general literature and the library and information science literature. This article is based on a meta-analysis of research related to ethics education in business. The meta-analysis considers issues of research design, methodologies used, populations studied and other data analyzed, the nature of the researchers, and the dissemination of the research in the journal literature. It is intended to inform the study of ethics and ethics education in general and in other professional disciplines, such as library and information science. The research results indicate the limited number of research methodologies that have been used in the study of ethics education. Past research has largely focused on undergraduates, particularly in relation to the impact of ethics curricula on their learning/cognitive development and on measures of perceptions and changes in perceptions of ethical issues.     

Resistance to Schooling and Educational Outcomes: questions of structure and agency

Resistance theory approaches questions of structure and agency as a divide. Resistance crosses boundaries of class, race and gender, but does not point to actions likely to lead to change in present social relations. There is a need to move beyond limited resistance perspectives to focus on individuals and groups as creative agents able to effect change in social structures. A more dynamic theory of individual, social and cultural change is needed to enable an understanding of how educational settings–including curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment practices–can help bring about just social outcomes for all students. This article draws, in particular, on the work of Willis, Walker, Giddens, and Bernstein to address questions of agency and structure in accounting for educational and social change.     

The distributional effects of higher education subsidies

This article provides a review of the inconclusive debate between Hansen-Weisbrod and Pechman on the distributional effects of subsidies to public higher education in California, with particular reference to its significance for other American states and for European countries. The cross-sectional effects are distinguished from the longitudinal, lifetime effects, and an effort is made to state the necessary and sufficient conditions to infer lifetime redistributive effects from observations of current data. Some general conclusions are drawn for the case of the United Kingdom.