Two tales of a city: John Walson,Sr., Mahanoy city,and the “founding”; of cable TV

For the last 20 years, scholarly and popular accounts of the development of cable television have recounted the story of John Walson, Sr., who claimed to have started the first CATV system in June of 1948 in Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania. When Walson died in March of 1993, newspapers around the country credited him with starting the nation's first cable system and even “founding”; the industry. The claim, however, has always been clouded by questions and a lack of documentation. This paper reports the results of an investigation of the Walson story. It concludes that, as bright and promising as the Walson tale may be, it probably is not true. At the very least, the preponderance of evidence suggests that Walson got his start in the community antenna television business in late 1950, about the same time as many others around the country and, importantly, probably after another group of businessmen already had begun a system in Mahanoy City itself.     

Two- and Three-Year Achievement Results From the Memphis Restructuring Initiative

The purpose of this study was to analyze student achievement data from the first 3 years of the Memphis Restructuring Initiative (MRI). The MRI represents one of the first efforts by an urban school district to move past traditional top-down versus bottom-up reform debates by providing systemic support for outside-in/inside-out implementation and local co-construction of externally-developed reform designs in schools. Analyses of academic achievement focus on a state-of-the-art measure of value added assessments. At the end of 3 years the reforming schools had produced generally positive gains relative to locally matched control schools. Those results varied somewhat by reform type and by level of poverty in the communities being served. Based on the research methods used and the results, implications for future research and practice in educational reform are discussed.     

Fostering Spirituality in a Pastoral Care Context

This article addresses the issue of promoting spirituality as a dimension of pastoral care in schools. The everyday practice of caring and giving may leave carers tired, depleted of spiritual sustenance, and without practices that nurture their spirituality. This article proposes that spirituality is an essential element of pastoral care, and that it can be promoted through examination of one's sense of vocation, bodywork, journal writing and nurturing soul friends.     

Lifesource XL-18 pedometer for measuring steps under controlled and free-living conditions

The primary aim was to examine the criterion and construct validity and test–retest reliability of the Lifesource XL-18 pedometer (A&D Medical, Toronto, ON, Canada) for measuring steps under controlled and free-living activities. The influence of body mass index, waist size and walking speed on the criterion validity of XL-18 was also explored. Forty adults (35–74 years) performed a 6-min walk test in the controlled condition, and the criterion validity of XL-18 was assessed by comparing it to steps counted manually. Thirty-five adults participated in the free-living condition and the construct validity of XL-18 was assessed by comparing it to Yamax SW-200 (YAMAX Health & Sports, Inc., San Antonio, TX, USA). During the controlled condition, XL-18 did not significantly differ from criterion (P > 0.05) and no systematic error was found using Bland–Altman analysis. The accuracy of XL-18 decreased with slower walking speed (P = 0.001). During the free-living condition, Bland–Altman analysis revealed that XL-18 overestimated daily steps by 327 ± 118 than Yamax (P = 0.004). However, the absolute percent error (APE) (6.5 ± 0.58%) was still within an acceptable range. XL-18 did not differ statistically between pant pockets. XL-18 is suitable for measuring steps in controlled and free-living conditions. However, caution may be required when interpreting the steps recorded under slower speeds and free-living conditions.     

In search of systemic innovation for sustainable development: A design praxis emerging from a decade of social learning inquiry

Processes of designing for systemic innovation for sustainable development (SD) through the lens of three long-term case studies are reported. All case studies, which originated from the SLIM (Social Learning for the Integrated Management and Sustainable Use of Water at Catchment Scale) Project, funded within the EU Fifth Framework Program (2001–2004), constitute inquiry pathways that are explored using a critical incident approach. The initial starting conditions for each inquiry pathway are compared; significant pathway dependencies are identified which foster the development of social learning processes locally, but constrain their uptake and embedding across the wider system of interest. In the first case study, in England & Wales, promising developments in the application of social learning approaches to river basin planning over an initial 3-year period were subsequently marginalised, only to resurface towards the end of the 10-year period of study. In the second, South African case study, significant spaces for social learning and innovation in integrated water resources management were opened up over a five year period but closed down again, primarily as the result of lack of policy support by national government. The third, Italian, case study was designed to assess options for adapting to climate change by opening up new learning spaces between researchers, stakeholders and policy makers. A case for investing in local level systemic innovation through social-learning praxis design approaches and in learning processes around well contextualised case-studies is supported. However, concomitant investment by policy makers in social learning as an alternative, but complementary, governance mechanism for systemic innovation for SD is needed.     

Excluding Primary School Children – The Outcomes Six Years On

This article reports and discusses a study which followed up, through case records, 726 children excluded permanently, indefinitely or for fixed–term periods in 1993/4 in 10 LEAs. The outcomes at secondary level in 1998/9 were found to be moderately poor with the problems intensifying for half the sample. Forty six per cent had further primary school exclusions and 36 per cent received exclusions in their secondary education. Looked–after children and those with special educational needs fared worse and achieved less. Case studies showed the kinds of commitment and support that can work even with very difficult cases.