Double Jeopardy: Testing the Effects of Multiple Basic Skill Deficiencies on Successful Remediation

Prior research has established that the depth and breadth of remedial need in basic skills (math and English) exhibited by a student at college entry are strongly and negatively associated with the likelihood of achieving college-level competency in those subjects (i.e., successful remediation). This well-documented finding is built upon a body of work employing either simple bivariate analyses or regression analyses that assume additive effects. Yet, there are reasons to suspect that multiple basic skill deficiencies, rather than exhibiting additive effects alone, may exhibit a negative multiplicative interaction effect on the likelihood of successful remediation. In this research, I test the hypothesis that the negative effect of math deficiency increases in magnitude with decreasing English competency. Although the data support this hypothesis, I find that this interaction does not have substantive importance in the face of the powerful direct effect of math deficiency on the likelihood of successful remediation in math. Direct all correspondence to the author at the Department of Sociology, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, 48202 (peter.bahr@wayne.edu). I am indebted to Tim Brown, Willard Hom, Myrna Huffman, Tom Nobert, Mary Kay Patton, and Patrick Perry of the Chancellor’s Office of California Community Colleges for their assistance with the data employed in this study, and to Dr. John C. Smart and the anonymous referees of Research in Higher Education for their recommendations concerning improving this work.     

“Fresh instruction o'er the mind”: Exploit and example in Victorian fiction

Peter Merchant teaches English at Christ Church College, Canterbury, U. K., and has research interests in the 18th and 19th centuries. His article on Blackmore'sLorna Doone appears inCLE, 18(4), Winter 1987.     

Aesthetic Creativity,Reflexivity and the Play with Meaning: a VideoCulture case study

This article presents a case study of a video film called Die Liebe (Love, ) which was produced by two young girls from migrant family backgrounds in Ludwigsburg (Germany) as part of the VideoCulture project. In terms of production, the article describes the role played by the relatively open‐ended pedagogic style; the importance of aesthetic ‘discovery'; the uses of non‐linear editing; and the young people's sense of audience. In terms of reception, it describes the various responses of audience groups, focusing particularly on questions to do with the interpretation of symbolism and the balance between ‘openness’ and ‘closure’     

Educational Reform in Japan in the 1990s: 'Individuality' and other uncertainties

Despite overseas' observers praise for Japanese education over the last 20 years, within Japan the school system has become the focus of increasing discontent because of its supposed rigidity, uniformity, and exam-centredness. This discontent has given impetus to a series of educational reform proposals and policy measures during the late 1980s and 1990s. These reforms have gone under the slogan of 'stress on individuality' (kosei j shi), and are purportedly aimed at encouraging creativity by introducing more freedom and choice into the education system. However, critics have alleged that the emphasis on 'individuality' masks a neo liberal agenda driven by business demands. This article analyses the reform measures and the surrounding debate. It concludes that Japan's Ministry of Education remains cautious in its approach to reform. The main reform measures to date have favoured a progressive rather than a neoliberal direction.