Program and institutional predictors of environmental justice inclusion in U.S. post-secondary environmental and sustainability curricula

Environmental justice (EJ) issues and perspectives, which emphasize the disproportionate environmental hazards experienced by low-income communities and communities of color, are often excluded from higher education sustainability discourses and curriculum. Utilizing a national sample of 297 interdisciplinary environmental and sustainability (IES) degree programs, this study identifies program-level values and student racial/ethnic demographics, as well as institutional structural characteristics influencing the inclusion of EJ content in IES curriculum. The findings have important implications for IES curriculum and program development, and racial/ethnic and class dynamics in this emerging field.     

School evolution: scientist-practitioner educators creating optimal learning environments for all students

Similarities and differences between discursive practitioners and scientist-practitioners are discussed in reference to a variety of issues. The scientist-practitioner's approach to generating and evaluating new knowledge is illustrated with two partnerships: (a) between the University of Washington Multidisciplinary Learning Disability Center and a school district (at-risk first graders in the Los Angeles Unified School District) and (b) between the University of Washington Literacy Trek Project and a local school (at-risk second graders in Seattle public schools). Both partnerships involved mostly children who were English language learners. These partnerships also illustrated how Vygotsky's approach to fostering cognitive development through social interaction can be integrated with that of his pupil Luria, who assessed the neuropsychological processes of the individual mind/brain. The most effective instruction for school-age children, who exhibit biological and cultural diversity, takes into account individual and social-cultural variables.     

Interrupting the Way Things Are: Exploring new directions in school/university partnerships

During the Australian National Professional Development Program (NPDP), 1994-1996, a large action-research project, Innovative Links between Universities and Schools for Teacher Professional Development, was undertaken. The project involved a consortium of 14 Australian universities working with over 100 schools (government and non-government) across all States and the Northern Territory. It was structured around the concept of Roundtables, whereby teachers engaged in school-based projects in conjunction with an academic associate from the partner university. The role of 'academic associate' demanded a rethinking of the role of university teacher educators in relation to teacher professional development. Six 'academic associates' and two teachers from the Murdoch University Roundtable formed a collaborative research group to investigate issues arising from their work with the project. The research was a self-reflective study of the work of the participants by those participants themselves. This paper relates the insights regarding collaborative work between academics and schoolteachers that emerged from the study.     

Quantifying the assessment loads of students and staff: the challenge of selecting appropriate metrics

Assessment is central to learning. It is also central to the cost of providing higher education. Choosing how much and what forms of assessment are questions not only of good teaching but of good policy. Measuring the amount of assessment set in each course provides a basis on which to determine equitable and appropriate workloads for students and staff across disciplines and institutions and to use institutional budgets and staff time to best effect. It is, however, more difficult than it might at first appear to select metrics appropriate to this task. This article considers the advantages and disadvantages of four options. It also suggests the potential value of ratios and proposes that further consideration be given to removing the distinction commonly found in student workload formulae between time spent on learning out of class and that spent on assessment.     

The Superintendent's Leadership in School Improvement: A Rural Perspective

ABSTRACT

This paper contains a brief review of the research literature on superintendents’ leadership for school improvement as an introduction. Following that, the patterns of five superintendents’ leadership that evolved in five school improvement sites is reported; the activities in which the superintendents engaged in five quite different organizational settings is the focus. In addition, the strategies and events used by external assisters assigned to the sites to develop and enhance leadership behaviors are shared. The paper concludes with a short discussion of the unique conditions and influences on rural superintendents and their leadership for increasing educational effectiveness.     

Making a difference for maltreated children

Joey, age two and a half, spends most of his day sitting in a corner sucking his thumb. He doesn't seem to find interest in the toys or activities available to him. Sandy is three years old. Most of the time, she seems oblivious to the rules and routines of her care center. When she arrives in the morning, she throws her coat on the floor instead of hanging it in her cubby. She refuses to respond appropriately to the cleanup signal. She rarely smiles or laughs, nor does she make eye contact with her teachers or peers. She is unusually attached, however, to one caregiver and attempts to stay close to that person whenever she can. However, the social interaction between the two is limited by Sandy's reluctance to communicate despite the efforts of the caregiver. Laurie, age four and a half, has a violent temper. She solves any personal conflict by using physical aggression. She often strikes out without apparent provocation. She is delayed in her speech development and lacks curiosity about her physical world.Shirley Shaw is Assistant Professor in the Department of Child Development, Iowa State University, Ames, IA.     

The contradictions of scientific management as a mode of controlling teachers'' work in black secondary schools: South Africa

Using teaching as a labour process, this paper shows how teachers' work is controlled by the state. By using data collected from the Lebowa bantustan in South Africa, the analysis focuses on structural/material constraints on teachers' work; how scientific management has been transferred from industrial corporations to South African black schools as a post-1976 reform strategy, to bring control over teachers and students at a time when the system of education of blacks was characterised by massive student and teacher protests. However, contradictory developments emerged whereby teachers responded and resisted these controls in a variety of ways in different work contexts. Since the research was conducted in the late 1980's, the paper seeks to discuss how widespread scientific management ideas are in the post-apartheid era.