Educational Turbulence: The Influence of Macro and Micro-Policy on Science Education Reform

Enactment of federal educational policy has direct implications for states and local school districts across the nation, particularly in the areas of accountability and funding. This study utilized constructivist grounded theory to examine the impact of policy on science education reform in a large, urban school district over a 5-year period. The existence and interaction between macro and micro, and explicit and implicit policies created educational turbulence. Findings further extend upon Fullan’s (Change theory: a force for school improvement, 2006) change theory adding high-stakes accountability as a prevalent distractor issue and the need for quad-level, rather than tri-level engagement in reform. Suggestions for addressing educational turbulence are provided.     

Truants on truancy – a badness or a valuable indicator of unmet special educational needs?

Neil Southwell states that he was, himself, a persistent truant from school. He returned to education as a mature student via an access course and he now lectures in education studies at the University of Northampton. He is currently researching into truancy, its causes and its management and brings to his work an unusual but highly illuminating 'truantist perspective'.
In this article, Neil Southwell reviews the literature on truancy and reveals a complex and contradictory picture. Policy and practice to date have, however, tended to be united in locating responsibility for truancy with truants and their families. Drawing on his own experience and his research into the perspectives of truants, Neil Southwell makes a case for a radically different approach. He argues that truancy can be seen as a key indicator of unmet educational needs and that the issue of truancy will not be addressed effectively until policy makers, practitioners and researchers learn to listen to the voices of truants themselves.     

Early-Morning Behaviour in School

Several children whom I know arrive at school in an emotionally distressed state and tend to disrupt classroom activities. Presumably something has gone wrong at home. What can be done to ease this problem?     

A Study of the Educational Provision for Head-injured Children

Anne Jones (of the Froebel Institute College, Roehampton Institute of Higher Education) and David Johnson (Head of the Department of Neuropsychology, Astley Ainslie Hospital, Edinburgh) consider some of the problems experienced by children with head-injury on their return to school. Although education is an integral part of rehabilitation, the organisation of services and the provision of accurate information, training and communication between different agencies were all found to be inadequate. Given the high incidence of head-injury, urgent attention to these problems is essential.     

Piagetian structuralism and learning: Reflections on two decades of educational application

In light of salient measurement and evaluation issues a content analysis approach was chosen to assess the value and problem of applying Piagetian theory to early childhood education. Focal changes in implementation were analyzed with emphasis upon the so-called unique contributions of the theory to teaching goals, beliefs, understandings, and practices. Structuralism was compared favorably with learning theory in providing a conceptual basis for educational application. The inherently dialectical nature of Piaget's views of knowledge presents an intuitively appealing albeit conceptually and methodologically abstract approach to educational innovation. It was concluded that applying Piagetian theory to education, in agreement with these special developmental dynamics, involves an interactively changing theory and data base as teachers and children develop over time.     

Technology at Washington University School of Medicine Library: BACS, PHILSOM, and OCTANET

A brief overview of the Bibliographic Access and Control System developed by the Washington University School of Medicine Library is presented. Because the system has been described in two previous reports, this paper focuses on its relationship to other automated programs (i.e., PHILSOM and OCTANET), education of users, evaluation of the system, and outreach to the medical center. In operation for more than two years, BACS represents the computerization of much of the managerial and operational functions of the library, and marks the completion of stage 1 of the three stages of library evolution described in the AAMC report Academic Information in the Academic Health Sciences Center: Roles for the Library in Information Management.