The economic legacy of gothic cathedral building: France and England compared

Conclusion The accomplishments of the Gothic cathedral builders are immense. They are usually examined in terms of technical and artistic achievement, however, This seems shortsighted in view of their economic ramifications. The legacy of these works can be seen in technology, specialization and mobility of labor, and procedures in accounting. They thus served as a vehicle for the transformation of feudal society to the early capitalism which generated our modern world.     

Diversity in diversification: an analysis of shopping trips in six-week travel diary data

Diversification in shopping, a long-pursued subject in consumer behavior analysis, is approached from a broad perspective of the diversity in daily travel patterns, which may or may not involve shopping trips, as well as the diversity in shopping locations and frequency. The focus of this analysis is on the heterogeneity across individuals in the ways in which they each diversify their respective shopping behavior. This study explores differences across individuals in the variations of their shopping travel patterns across days. Treating the day-of-the-week evolution of shopping travel patterns as a stochastic process, characteristics of diversification are quantified for respective individuals. Finally, heterogeneity across individuals is identified using an array of statistical methods. The analysis, based on results of a six-week travel diary survey in Germany with geo-coded activity locations, reveals the effects of individual, household, and urban attributes on diversification in shopping behavior, including that full-time workers with medium incomes (4000–4999 Deutsche Mark per month) tend to have more variations in their shopping engagement.     

Teachers’ literacy-related knowledge and self-perceptions in relation to preparation and experience

After rating their own literacy-related knowledge in three areas (knowledge about reading/reading development, phonemic awareness/phonics, and morpheme awareness/structural analysis), graduate teacher-education students completed five tasks intended to measure their actual disciplinary knowledge in these areas. Teachers with high levels of prior background (i.e., course preparation and experience) rated themselves as significantly more knowledgeable than did low-background teachers in all areas; high-background participants also significantly outperformed low-background participants on all tasks. However, even high-background teachers scored well below ceiling on the tasks. Regression analyses indicated that teachers’ self-perceptions and knowledge were positively influenced by both level of preparation and teaching experience, although the influences on teachers’ knowledge differed by task. Teachers had some accurate perceptions of their own knowledge, especially in the area of phonics. Results suggest that differentiating levels of preparation may be useful in studying teacher knowledge, and also support the notion of a substantial gap between research on reading and teacher preparation in reading.     

Reconciling university autonomy with public accountability: The state,University Grants Committee and higher education in New Zealand

This article analyzes the contemporary role of the University Grants Committee (UGC) vis-à-vis New Zealand's universities and the Department of Education. Emphasis is given to the historical and political factors which resulted in devolution of the University of New Zealand in the early 1960s and brought the UGC into being. Established to guide the development of the university system in a period of budgetary expansion, the UGC assesses the financial needs of the universities and the national need for new academic programs. Recent financial exigency prompted the government to introduce restrictions on the financial autonomy of the universities. The UGC has lost some of its autonomy in consequence, but a fundamental change in its relationship to government or in its protective role with respect to the universities is considered unlikely.     

Reforming higher education systems: Some lessons to guide policy implementation

Although higher education systems are in a constant state of change, they are difficult for governments to reform. This paper analyzes a wide variety of country experiences in establishing mechanisms to co-ordinate the development of higher education systems, diversifying institutional financing and increasing the efficiency of public investments. Attention is drawn to the need for effective policy structures to manage higher education, to link costs of reforms to benefits such as increased opportunity, to take account of the institutional constraints to change as well as to carefully articulate educational reforms with other public policies that influence the performance of the higher education systems.     

Developmental Transactions Between Self-Regulation and Academic Achievement Among Low-Income African American and Latino Children

This study examined the development of emerging self-regulation (SR) skills across the preschool years and relations to academic achievement in kindergarten and first grade. SR skills of 403 low-income African American and Latino children were measured at 2&1/2, 3&1/2, and 5 years (kindergarten). Reading and math skills were measured at 5 and 6 years (first grade) using the Woodcock–Johnson. Transactional relations between SR skills and achievement outcomes were estimated with latent difference score models. Increases in set shifting predicted prospective increases in reading, but not math scores. Increases in simple response inhibition predicted prospective increases in math, but not reading scores. Application of these findings to early intervention programming and needed supports for school readiness and achievement are discussed.