Standards setting and federal information policy: The Escrowed Encryption Standard (EES)

The controversial Escrowed Encryption Standard, recently adopted as a Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS), has polarized some stakeholders both within and outside government and has also raised disturbing questions about the role of Federal agencies in the standards-setting process. This article explores the relationship between standards and Federal information policy and examines the balance between national security and law enforcement concerns, on the one hand, and privacy rights and U.S. economic competitiveness, on the other.     

Nostalgic for What? The Epidemic of Images of the mid 20th Century Classroom in American Media Culture and What it Means

Within this paper the author examines the current nostalgia for a never-present past through critical analysis of images of the mid 20th century American classroom in media culture. The author uses theories of nostalgia and the history of the photographic image to trouble the numerous equity issues surrounding the unchallenged canonization of the 1950s classroom by asking: "Who is reproducing this time in media culture and why?"; "Is the American public being asked to be nostalgic for these images, or is society somehow creating a desire for this narrow and inequitable educational past?" The author examines such nostalgia by looking at the primary role and power of vision in Western popular culture, the theoretical nature of historic preservation, the assumed innocence of the child and the similar innocence of the immediate post-World War II decade, and the role which modern technology plays in the reproduction of that decade. As an affect, nostalgia is fueled by those things that are wholly in the past-or that never were. The author looks to images of television programs and advertisements, reading them as cultural texts, and concludes that it is vitally important to the landscape of educational theory and reform to reconcile such nostalgia for another epoch in education with the pedagogical theory and practice of the present.     

Social Inclusion of Children with Persistent Challenging Behaviors

Early Childhood Education Journal - Children in early childhood classrooms (i.e., preschool through early elementary) who engage in persistent challenging behaviors often show social-emotional...     

Using problem-based learning to increase computer self-efficacy in Taiwanese students

In Taiwan, teaching focuses around lecturing, with students having little opportunity to interact with each other. Problem-based learning (PBL) is a means of instruction where students learn the subject by being active participants in the pedagogical process, with the emphasis on problem-solving. In this study, the authors investigated whether PBL would enhance self-efficacy better than common lecturing with children who had little access to technology outside of school. Two sixth-grade computer classes, both with 32 students in each and both located in the mountainous regions of eastern Taiwan, served as participants. A quasi-experimental, non-equivalent control group design was used with one class utilizing PBL principles, while the other used traditional lecturing. A pre-/posttest was administered, using the General Self-Efficacy Scale with data analysis employing the Mann–Whitney test and Pearson Goodness-of-Fit. The results indicated that PBL is superior to lecturing, with respect to an increase in computer self-efficacy.     

Factor Structure and Measurement Invariance of the Intragroup Conflict Scale: Validation in Athletic Trainer and Coach Populations

ABSTRACT

The purposes of this study were to examine the factorial validity of the six-item Intragroup Conflict Scale (ICS) in athletic trainer (AT) and coach populations and to examine measurement invariance by gender and profession. A total of 195 ATs and 615 head or assistant coaches working at secondary schools or National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) institutions completed the ICS. Data were analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis procedures in LISREL 10 (Student Edition). Results supported the reliability and validity of the two-factor ICS model among ATs and coaches. Strict measurement invariance was observed when comparing male to female AT responses. Strong measurement invariance was observed when comparing male to female coach responses, as well as AT to coach responses. These data not only support the reliability and validity of the ICS for use in AT and coach populations but also support direct comparisons of mean scores across gender or profession.     

Virtual Laboratories in Undergraduate Science and Engineering Courses: a Systematic Review, 2009–2019

Journal of Science Education and Technology - Current technology has the capacity for affording a virtual experience that challenges the notion of a teaching laboratory for undergraduate science...     

Promoting Student–Teacher Interactions: Exploring a Peer Coaching Model for Teachers in a Preschool Setting

Peer coaching provides an attractive alternative to traditional professional development for promoting classroom quality in a sustainable, cost-effective manner by creating a collaborative teaching community. This exploratory study describes the development and evaluation of the Colleague Observation And CoacHing (COACH) program, a peer coaching program designed to increase teachers’ effectiveness in enhancing classroom quality in a preschool Head Start setting. The COACH program consists of a training workshop on coaching skills and student-teacher interactions, six peer coaching sessions, and three center meetings. Pre-post observations of emotional support, classroom organization, and instructional support using the Classroom Assessment Scoring System of twelve classrooms assigned to peer coaching were compared to twelve control classrooms at baseline and following the intervention. Findings provide preliminary support that the peer coaching program is perceived as acceptable and feasible by the participating preschool teachers and that it may strengthen student–teacher interactions. Further program refinement and evaluation with larger samples is needed to enhance student–teacher interactions and, ultimately, children’s adaptive development.     

Intended Consequences: Challenging White Teachers’ Habitus and Its Influence in Urban Schools Implementing an Arts-Based Educational Reform

Reform efforts like the urban, arts-based initiative Project ARTS are designed to provide intentional, equitable methods of improving students’ learning, yet few urban educators have been sufficiently trained to recognize differences in habitus between themselves and their students. For equitable reform to occur teachers must understand their own habitus and the habitus-forming experiences of their students. In this paper, we analyze qualitative project data using Bourdieu’s theoretical concepts of cultural capital, field, habitus, symbolic violence and misrecognition to explore teachers’ and students’ experiences in order to determine the extent to which power and privilege begin to be challenged within participating schools. We explore the ways in which teacher habitus has shifted to recognize, include or become empathetic to student habitus as a result of Project ARTS curricula, co-teaching and professional development while also considering the possibility the program produces unintended consequences at odds with the project’s mission: reproducing the status quo by advancing the cultural capital of teachers rather than that of students. Finding markedly fewer teacher narratives confirming the social reproduction of inequitable power relationships than when the project began, we conclude by discussing the transformation of teacher habitus, student outcomes, and school climate after 5 years of Project ARTS participation, proposing implications for urban teachers and leaders, their communities, and policymakers intent upon implementing equitable educational reform and the social transformation reform intends.     

“Do I Really Belong Here?”: The Stigma of Being a Community College Transfer Student at a Four-Year University

ABSTRACT

Students who begin their educational journeys in community college face many obstacles trying to complete their bachelor’s degrees. Much research has been dedicated to identifying academic factors that predict successful transfer and degree attainment, but relatively little research investigates how the community college experience affects these students once enrolled at the four-year university. Here, we present the results of a qualitative study that explored the challenges faced by 14 community college students during and after transfer. Specifically, we focus on student reports of a sense of stigma from having attended community college and how students overcame these feelings. Recommendations are provided for how community colleges and four-year universities can better equip their students with the knowledge and resources to combat this perception of stigma.