Reading improvement in English- and Hebrew-speaking children with reading difficulties after reading acceleration training

A reading acceleration program known to improve reading fluency in Hebrew-speaking adults was tested for its effect on children. Eighty-nine Hebrew- and English-speaking children with reading difficulties were divided into a waiting list group and two training groups (Hebrew and English) and underwent 4 weeks of reading acceleration training. Results of pre- and post-testing of reading abilities point to a significant main effect of the test, demonstrating improvements in silent contextual reading speed, reading comprehension, and speed of processing in both Hebrew and English training groups as compared to their performance before the intervention. This study indicates that the Reading Acceleration Program might be an effective program for improving reading abilities in children, independent of language.     

Educational expansion or credential inflation? The evolution of part‐time study by adults at McGill University,Canada

Part‐time students have accounted for a significant proportion of rising participation in higher education in many countries. The objectives of this paper are to enrich the empirical literature concerning the inclusion of part‐time adult learners in higher education, and to assess the two competing theoretical frameworks that have emerged to explain the international expansion of higher education in recent decades: human capital theory and social exclusion theory. Human capital theorists argue that increasingly complex demands of economies and workplaces have caused the expansion of educational provision. Theorists of social exclusion argue that increasingly intense competition among labour market participants has caused the inflation of educational credentials. This paper uses original, archival research to narrate the history of part‐time, degree‐credit study at McGill University in Canada. It finds that McGill provided a wide range of part‐time study opportunities in the 1920s and early 1930s, resisted the provision of such opportunities from the 1940s through the 1960s, and reinstated extensive part‐time study opportunities for adults in the 1970s. While both educational expansion and credential inflation took place at McGill neither human capital theory nor social exclusion theory can fully account for the rise, fall, and re‐birth of part‐time study for adults. To understand this evolution, more proximate causes, such as institutional politics and government funding models, must be explored. This paper raises important questions for future research, including those relating to gender and equity in the participation of part‐time students in higher education.     

An investigation of the college and career counseling needs of economically disadvantaged,minority gifted students

This study is an investigation of the college and career counseling needs of economically disadvantaged, academically gifted minority students. Two groups of students were studied and compared ‐ one group of 50 low‐income students, predominantly minority, who were chosen for a special college counseling program, and a second group of 42 middle to high income students, predominantly Asian and Caucasian, who were participating in a summer academic program. Students were compared on college plans and preparations, aspirations and expectations about higher education, support from others, motivation, values, and career interests and maturity. Results showed that the gifted disadvantaged students had lower educational aspirations, felt somewhat less prepared for college and less confident about being admitted, had unrealistic ideas about how to finance college, and perceived that college life would be more frightening and lonely compared to nondisadvantaged students. Student groups were similar in motivation to attend college, support from significant others and values. Disadvantaged students had better skills related to selecting a career but expressed less confidence in making a career decision. The results suggest a need for differentiated college counseling programs for disadvantaged minority students.     

INFUSING GERONTOLOGICAL CONTENT INTO CURRICULA: EFFECTIVE CHANGE STRATEGIES

This paper presents a review of curriculum-change literature with a special focus on curricular infusion and an analysis of curriculum-change strategies. These strategies were used by 62 social work education programs involved in the national gerontological infusion project supported by the John T. Hartford Foundation. Best practices to achieve gerontological infusion in foundation courses are identified. Curriculum-change strategies that focus on involving all faculty members appear to be strongly supported by the curriculum-change literature and positive outcomes, as shown by the results of the study reported in this paper. The training of faculty and field instructors, the involvement of the foundation faculty as a whole in changing foundation curriculum, and the encouragement of faculty by accepted academic leaders to complete the infusion process, all appear to be key in successfully achieving this kind of curriculum change.     

From Within the Belly of the Beast: Rethinking the Concept of the ‘Educational Marketplace’ in the Popular Discourse of Education Reform

The task of this article is to carry out a synthetic analysis of the concept of the educational marketplace as it is used in the popular discourse of education reform so as to unpack what has become a commonsensical idea in American politics. It is a conceptual framework that has opened an ever-expanding sovereign space in the American state for the colonization of a public institution by the private sphere by means of public policy. The results of this analysis suggest that the reform policies associated with the concept of the educational marketplace are ineffective in raising average student achievement, have a high probability for generating significant social costs, and are a manifestation of an articulation of power now in ascendancy in the United States.     

Commentary: Riding the Juggernaut

Critical race scholarship focuses on people of color, women, and the intersection of race and gender. Conversely, sport scholarship has refl ected the dominant White male culture. Sport culture ignores the experience of women and people of color, and most specifi cally ignores women who are people of color. This paper provides an overview of the existing sport literature and presents an introduction to the theory and literature on African American women in sport with particular attention to representation and silencing, socialization, and stereotyping. Sport scholars are encouraged to realize that all the women are not White and all the Blacks are not men (Hull, Scott, &; Smith, 1982), and that those individuals can have different experiences becoming involved and staying involved in sport.