Parental disillusionment with school: prevalence and relationship with demographic variables,and phase,size and location of school

This study examines the prevalence of parental disillusionment with school and its relationship with demographic variables, and phase, size and location of schools. Findings are based on data from 1569 parents of children in grades 5 to 10 from 20 schools in 9 municipalities in Norway. Previous research in other countries shows benefits for the children's attainments at school of positive relationships between parents and teachers. However, only a few studies in Norway have focused on home–school collaboration. Parents in this study are more likely to report disillusionment in big schools than in small schools. Also, parents with low income tend to be more disillusioned than parents with high income. However, the general lack of significant differences between schools might indicate that parental disillusionment was more likely to arise from conflicts between teachers and parents and from policy and practice in the school.     

The Relative Predictive Contribution and Causal Role of Phoneme Awareness,Rhyme Awareness,and Verbal Short-Term Memory in Reading Skills: A Review

The acknowledgement that educational achievement is highly dependent on successful reading development has led to extensive research on its underlying factors. A strong argument has been made for a causal relationship between reading and phoneme awareness; similarly, causal relations have been suggested for reading with short-term memory and rhyme awareness alike. Here a meta-analysis is presented that seeks to determine spuriousness in these factors' relationships with reading by examining each factor's unique predictive value. The results show that phoneme awareness is the strongest unique predictor. Since the meta-analysis is based on concurrent data, it is unsuited to enlighten time-order relationships, but longitudinal and experimental studies both support the notion of a causal relationship between phoneme awareness and reading, in contrast to rhyme awareness and verbal short-term memory.     

The Role of Epistemic Beliefs in the Comprehension of Multiple Expository Texts: Toward an Integrated Model

In present-day knowledge societies, competent reading involves the integration of information from multiple sources into a coherent, meaningful representation of a topic, issue, or situation. This article reviews research and theory concerning the comprehension of multiple textual resources, focusing especially on linkages recently established between dimensions of epistemic beliefs and multiple-text comprehension. Moreover, a proposed model incorporates epistemic beliefs into a theoretical framework for explaining multiple-text comprehension, specifying how and why different epistemic belief dimensions may be linked to the comprehension and integration of multiple texts. Also discussed is the need for further research concerning mediational mechanisms, causality, and generalizability.     

Exposure to bullying,reactions and psychological adjustment of secondary school students

A sample of 575 secondary school students aged 11–15 years was administered a checklist on experiences of bullying, then divided into groups of victims, witnesses and not exposed, and by gender. Participants completed the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire on psychosocial adjustment. Victims and witnesses completed another questionnaire on the extent to which they would endorse retaliation/vengeance and avoidance towards the perpetrator. Girls reported being victimised significantly more than boys. Amongst victims, boys scored higher than girls on desire for retaliation/vengeance and on externalising behaviours; girls scored higher on internalising behaviour. Experience of bullying victimisation, rather than merely witnessing it or not being exposed to it, was associated with internalising behaviours for both boys and girls. These measures of psychosocial adjustment were associated with the desire for retaliation/vengeance. Implications are discussed of the links between gender, exposure to bullying, reactions and psychosocial adjustment of secondary school children.     

Leisure time reading and orthographic processes in word recognition among Norwegian third- and fourth-grade students

Third- and fourth-grade Norwegian children completed a battery of tasks that measured indicators of orthographic and phonological processing skill, leisure time reading, home literacy environment, and nonverbal intelligence. Using latent variable structural equation modeling, it was found that home literacy environment influenced leisure time reading, and that leisure time reading contributed to orthographic processing skill beyond the prediction provided by phonological processing skill. Home literacy environment influenced orthographic processing skill indirectly by its influence on leisure time reading. In addition, some children with poor phonological skill and good orthographic skill were found to score high on a leisure time reading measure. Even though Norwegian has much more regular orthography than English, these results are consistent with previous findings in the United States linking variance in orthographic processing skill to differences in leisure time reading. Thus, this study showed the robustness of orthographic skill independent of phonological processing even within the context of an orthographically regular language.     

Innovation and isomorphism: A case-study of university identity struggle 1969–1999

Higher education institutions face today strongpressure from institutional environments toadopt certain structures and management systemsfor reasons of legitimacy and survival.However, the external pressure is multifaceted, demanding organisational and educationalinnovations on one side and adjustments todeveloping national and international standardson the other. By studying a Norwegianuniversity from its establishment in 1969 to1999, and by extensive triangulation of morequalitative studies on this university in thisperiod, the paper concludes that highereducation institutions may handle this dilemmaby relating it to the continuous struggle fororganisational identity.