Association between mothers' education and grade six children numeracy and literacy in Kenya

The objective of the paper is to re-examine the mother–child education achievement hypothesis, by re-examining the effect of mother's education, on math and literacy test scores of children in Kenya. Data come from the classroom Education Research Programme at the African Population and Health Research Centre which was collected between January and March 2012. Since pupils are nested within schools, we fitted a two-level random intercept model. Our findings show that mothers' and fathers' education has a positive and significant independent association with literacy and numeracy achievement. After interacting mothers' and fathers' education and controlling for school and pupil characteristics, we observed two significant findings: (1) mother's education remains statistically significant but is negatively associated with the pupil's score in both literacy and numeracy; and (2) the interaction of both parents' education is significant and positively associated with pupil scores in literacy and numeracy. This study underscores the importance of the complementarity between mothers' and fathers' education in order for children to acquire and learn literacy and numeracy in schools. In as much as mothers' education is important in the children's literacy and numeracy, the importance of fathers in children's literacy and numeracy cannot be ignored.     

Reviews of research on rural schools and their communities in British and Nordic countries: Analytical perspectives and cultural meaning

This introduction presents the case, and sets the scene, for five reviews of research on rural schools and their communities, arguing that educational research in this field is relatively rare, and decreasingly visible despite the significant population of the world's children who live in rural communities and attend rural schools. After considering various interpretations of ‘rural’, of the purpose and function of rural schooling, and of the relationship between school and community, we present three basic research questions with relevance for researchers of schools and communities, rural and urban, the world over, and raise more specific questions which are addressed in the reviews themselves and pursued in the closing chapter. Finally we introduce the research reviews and justify our selection of British and Nordic countries, where, despite geographical proximity, there are wide thematic and methodological disparities in rural schools’ research.     

The effects of changes in class size on teacher–pupil interaction

This chapter examines the changes in teacher–pupil interaction which occurred when teachers from the state maintained sector, with classes containing around thirty children, were provided with the opportunity to teach classes of approximately half that size. This was achieved either by “buddying” each of these teachers with a partner from a private school or by employing an extra teacher to take half of the large class. The results of the observation of these lessons showed increases in the types of interaction which previous research has shown to be positively correlated with increased pupil achievement. These increases, however, were not statistically significant. The chapter, therefore, concludes that before future experimental studies are carried out, there is a need for training designed to maximize the use of these key teacher–pupil interactions in small class settings.     

A comparison between the WISC and WISC-R among educable mentally retarded students

The study compared differences and similarities between WISC and WISC-R scores for 48 ten- and thirteen-year-old EMR students, who were matched according to sex and race. The WISC-R yielded significantly lower VS, PS, and FS IQ scores than the WISC for this predominantly rural Georgia population. The FS IQ scores from the WISC-R averaged 7.5 points lower than the WISC FS IQs, with similar differences noted for VS and PS scores. There was no significant difference in FS IQs between the two age groups. Results suggest that many children classified as “Borderline” or slightly above by the WISC will be classified as “Mentally Deficient” by the WISC-R.     

Three-dimensional geometric moment bounding techniques

Important problems exist in the field of communications theory whose solution is in the form of an expectation of a function of a random variable. Often it is not computationally feasible to evaluate these moments exactly. This paper presents a geometric bounding technique that yields tight upper and lower bounds to generalized moments of a broad class of random variables. This technique produces excellent results for these communications theory problems.     

A history of the book trade in the south

Long known as a difficult market for books, the South has become more receptive, largely through the efforts of booksellers. This article reviews the history of some of the South's book retailers and their role in their communities. The often strained relations between booksellers and publishers are discussed, including the role of the publisher's rep. The establishment of regional booksellers associations is described. The impact of wholesalers on retail business practices is reviewed, and the current state of the book trade in the South is assessed. Philip M. Pfeffer has served since 1978 as chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Ingram Distribution Group Inc. of La Vergne, Tennessee. Ingram Distribution Group Inc. is the parent company of Ingram Book Company, the world's largest wholesaler of trade books. Mr. Pfeffer also holds the position of executive vice president and is on the board of directors of Ingram Industries Inc. of Nashville, Tennessee. He holds bachelor's and master's degrees from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale.