School Reform in a Vacuum: Demographic Change,Social Policy,and the Future of Children

In their search for magic bullets to fix failing schools, policymakers seldom directly address powerful ecological factors impacting schooling. This article identifies several major demographic, societal, economic, and educational changes and trends in U.S. society over the past several years; analyzes their impact on schoolchildren; and offers a series of policy recommendations for public sector reform initiatives that show promise in ameliorating these conditions, which in turn would improve the educational prospects for all children, particularly those most at risk.     

Naturally Acquired Mentoring Relationships and Young Adult Outcomes Among Adolescents with Learning Disabilities

We evaluated whether having a naturally acquired mentor during adolescence was associated with improved adult outcomes among youth with learning disabilities (YLD). Mentored youth were more likely to have graduated from high school, reported a higher level of self‐esteem, and reported a higher overall number of positive outcomes than nonmentored youth. Mentorship by teachers/guidance counselors was associated with larger differences in high school graduation rates and self‐esteem compared to nonmentored youth whereas mentorship by nonteachers was associated with smaller changes in self‐esteem and no differences in high school completion rates. Future research should include more in‐depth, objective assessments of youths’ learning disabilities, consideration of interactions with concurrent risk factors, and efforts to clarify optimal strategies for mentoring support of YLD.     

National Workshop on ‘Designing and Developing Innovative Science Curriculum and Instructional Material Linking Science Education to Real‐Life Situations’

The development of dynamics concepts is studied longitudinally with two groups, one between ages 12‐14 and the other from 14‐16. Data collected includes performances on APS tasks (for which there is also national data) and performance on Piagetian tasks, with interviews on tasks for selected pupils. Classroom science curriculum data was also obtained. The study can thus discuss the interaction of cognitive development and classroom experience in the development of concepts. This particular paper focuses on the APS tasks.