Black on Black Education: Personally Engaged Pedagogy for/by African American Pre-Service Teachers

Public schools have increasing numbers of its teachers fitting into one demographic, white and female, while the numbers of African American teachers decrease (Ladson-Billings, Crossing over to Canaan: The Journey of New Teachers in Diverse Classrooms. San Francisco: Josey-Bass [2001]). Furthermore, African American collegiates who decide to enter teaching may face a chilly climate as a result of their cultural and educational experiences as they encounter devaluation in the classroom (Delpit, Other Peoples Children: Cultural Conflict in the Class room. New York: The New Press [1995]). As a result, African American pre-service teachers may question the validity of the formal curriculum presented in college as it conflicts with their perceptions of school, thereby, leaving teacher-educators largely responsible for the quality of life and subsequent devotion to profession of these students. Critical autoethnography, using fieldnotes/research journaling, and student memoirs all through a theoretical backdrop of critical race feminism provide a glimpse into the teaching and learning experiences and dilemmas of one African American female teacher educator utilizing what I call personally engaged pedagogy as a means of enhancing the quality of the learning experiences of her African American pre-service teachers.     

Child care in poor communities: early learning effects of type, quality, and stability

Young children in poor communities are spending more hours in nonparental care because of policy reforms and expansion of early childhood programs. Studies show positive effects of high-quality center-based care on children's cognitive growth. Yet, little is known about the effects of center care typically available in poor communities or the effects of home-based care. Using a sample of children who were between 12 and 42 months when their mothers entered welfare-to-work programs, this paper finds positive cognitive effects for children in center care. Children also display stronger cognitive growth when caregivers are more sensitive and responsive, and stronger social development when providers have education beyond high school. Children in family child care homes show more behavioral problems but no cognitive differences.     

Gender differences in employment and starting salaries of business majors during the 1980s: The impact of college-acquired characteristics

This study identifies changes in employment and starting salary gaps among business graduates by gender during the 1980s. Although national data indicate that both employment conditions and earnings improved for women in general over the past decade, our results indicate that, at least for a select group of younger women, labor market conditions were mixed. First, female graduates majoring in business found it less difficult, both in absolute and relative terms, to secure full-time employment after graduation throughout the 1980s. That is, the employment success rate for these females increased relative to their male counterparts. Second, regardless of whether mean, regression, or decomposition analysis is used to calculate the gender gap in starting salaries, the gap continued to increase throughout the last decade. In addition, both the regression and decomposition results suggest that the mean starting salaries gap underestimated the actual gap for the two periods studied. Finally, the study suggests that of the college-acquired characteristics found to be significant determinants of employment success and starting salaries in the early 1980s, only academic achievement continued to play a significant positive role by the end of the decade.     

What is to be done with curriculum and educational foundations' critical knowledges? Toward critical and decolonizing education sciences

ABSTRACT

As editors of the special issue in Teaching Education titled What Is To Be Done with Curriculum and Educational Foundations’ Critical Knowledges? New Qualitative Research on Conscientizing Preservice and In-Service Teachers, our purpose with this conceptual essay is twofold. First, we historicize and characterize the critical knowledges deployed in this special issue as a broad array of criticalities. Second, we provide a reading of these criticalities that together we tentatively call critical and decolonizing education sciences. In our discussion and conclusion, we focus on the dual challenges of developing work in critical and decolonizing education sciences: (a) better historicizing academic work and (b) clearly responding to demands of institutional praxis.     

Heterogeneous Effects of Charter Schools: Unpacking Family Selection and Achievement Growth in Los Angeles

Disparate findings on whether students attending charter schools outperform peers in traditional public schools (TPS) may stem from mixing differing types of charters or inadequately accounting for pupil background. To gauge prior family selection and heterogeneous effects, we distinguish between conversion and start-up charter schools, along with a third site-run model operating in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). We find that TPS campuses converting to charter status (conversions) attracted more experienced and consistently credentialed teachers, and served relatively advantaged families, compared with newly created charter schools (start-ups), after tracking 66,000 students over 4 years, 2007–2011. Charters overall attracted pupils achieving at higher levels as they began a grade cycle (at baseline), relative to TPS peers, most pronounced among conversions that remained affiliated with the district. After matching students on their propensities to enter a charter school, we find that pupils attending charters outperformed TPS peers over the 4-year period. These benefits are most consistent and moderate in magnitude for middle school students. We observed significant though small effects in English language arts for pupils attending charter high schools. Latino students, mostly attending start-ups, enjoyed consistent benefits from attending a charter school.     

Intellectual Property Rights in Computer Education: Legal,Societal, and Ethical Issues

Intellectual property rights related to computer usage in academia require precise definition. The Office of Technological Assessment has made great strides in this direction. States, universities, and professional organizations have dealt with the inherent complexities of the problem. Legal cases have tested current laws. Attorneys have made clear distinctions between copyrights and patents related to intellectual property rights. Both EDU‐COM and ADAPSO have addressed societal and ethical issues in written documents. Business, industry, and professional organizations have been concerned, but society and especially educators must also address intellectual property rights. Copyright laws related to electronic media must be honored. Computer ethics and computer law should be included in current computer science courses. Academia has the responsibility to educate all those on campus as to appropriate ethical and legal behavior with respect to these issues. Academia cannot hide or ignore these problems.     

Risk of injury associated with rugby union played on artificial turf

Abstract

The aim of this study was to compare the incidence, nature, and cause of injuries sustained in rugby union played on artificial turf and grass. The study comprised a two-season investigation of match injuries sustained by six teams competing in Hong Kong's Division 1 and training injuries sustained by two teams in the English Premiership. Injury definitions and recording procedures were compliant with the international consensus statement on epidemiological studies of injuries in rugby union. There were no significant differences in the overall incidence (rate ratio = 1.42; P = 0.134) or severity (P = 0.620) of match injuries sustained on the two surfaces. The lower limb and joint (non-bone)/ligament injuries were the most common location and type of match injury on both surfaces; the incidence of anterior cruciate ligament injuries was nearly four times higher on artificial turf than grass but the difference was not statistically significant (rate ratio = 3.82; P = 0.222). There were no significant differences in the overall incidence (rate ratio = 1.36; P = 0.204) or severity (P = 0.302) of training injuries sustained on artificial turf and grass. The lower limb and muscle/tendon injuries were the most common location and type of training injury on both surfaces. The results indicate that the overall risks of injury on artificial turf are not significantly different from those experienced on grass; however, the difference in the incidence of anterior cruciate ligament injuries on the two surfaces is worthy of further study.     

‘Knowledge Workers’ as the New Apprentices: The Influence of Organisational Autonomy, Goals and Values on the Nurturing of Expertise

This paper explores the concept of apprenticeship in the context of the professional formation of knowledge workers. It draws on evidence from research conducted in two knowledge intensive organizations: a research-intensive, elite university; and a ‘cutting edge’ software engineering company. In the former, we investigated the learning environments of contract researchers, whilst in the latter, we focused on the learning environments of software engineers. Both organisations have ‘global’ reach in that they operate within international marketplaces and see themselves as international players. The paper asks to what extent the important role of maturation with regard to the formation of expertise is being undermined by the pressurised nature of contemporary workplaces (in both the public and private sectors). It argues that conceiving the professional formation of knowledge workers as apprenticeship provides a way forward to improve the way employers construct and support that formation.