Deregulation and the American Education Marketplace

The deregulation movement has impacted the social, political, and economic landscape in the United States and continues to do so. In this article, we briefly summarize the general history of deregulation in this country and the meaning of deregulation within the specific context of education policy and reform. We focus on deregulation efforts designed to provide families and students with greater choice in where and how their K–12 schooling occurs, including magnet schools, charter schools, open-enrollment programs, and vouchers. We discuss different forms of deregulation in the K–12 education system, competition effects, and various issues related to deregulation, including potential future issues that may arise in a deregulated education marketplace. In our analysis, we conclude that education deregulation has the potential to serve some members of society, but at the detriment of others, and that a great deal of future work is needed to determine the effects—both anticipated and unintended—of deregulation in this context.     

With permission: education policy,space and everyday globalisation in London’s east end

This paper attempts to make sense of a public–private partnership in London’s East End. I am interested in how policy directions, in terms of cultural practices, may operate as links between transnational corporations and education provision, and, additionally, how concepts of space and place provide possibilities for different understandings of educational policy change in local instances. I examine the philanthropic practices of a corporation and the practices of schools receiving this philanthropy, and suggest that these are practices of ‘everyday globalisation’ occurring as part of a specific policy direction, Excellence in Cities.     

A study of an adapted social–emotional learning: Small group curriculum in a school setting

Clinicians and training programs strive to implement evidence‐based practices and manualized treatments with fidelity. However, the constraints of a local setting may limit the extent to which this is possible. In the current study, an adapted model of an evidence‐based social–emotional learning small group curriculum, the Incredible Years Children’s Small Group Training Series (Webster‐Stratton, 2004), was implemented and evaluated in an elementary school setting. Results of the study demonstrated statistically significant decreases in problem behaviors and intensity of problem behaviors, as rated by teachers. Teachers also reported improvement in classroom behavior, emotion regulation, problem‐solving, and friendship skills, as well as a high overall level of satisfaction with the intervention itself. Discussion of the results includes a review of the strengths and limitations associated with outcome research in a naturalistic setting, suggestions to consider when adapting evidence‐based programs, and recommendations for future research.     

Stability of overt Type A behaviors in children: results from a one-year longitudinal study

This paper describes the degree of similarity between repeated ratings (taken 1 year apart) of overt Type A behaviors in 2 samples totaling 633 children. The measure of overt Type A behaviors was the Matthews Youth Test for Health (MYTH), which was completed by the children's classroom teacher. Results showed that correlations between repeated MYTH ratings approximated .55 and in general increased somewhat with the children's school grade, although correlations between repeated ratings of competitive achievement behaviors of boys residing in an affluent eastern suburb were somewhat lower than above. The degree of similarity across 1 year in children's Type A behaviors is comparable to that found for adult Type A behaviors and for other cardiovascular risk factors in children. The discussion includes a consideration of assumptions underlying research on the origins of Type A behavior and suggests that etiological factors in the development of Type A might profitably be studied in primary school-aged children.     

Immersion,Reflection, Failure: Teaching Graduate Students to Teach Writing Online

ABSTRACT

A common challenge facing those who prepare graduate students to teach writing online is the need to help those students connect online writing instruction (OWI) theory with their classroom practice. The authors present how graduate students are prepared to teach writing online at three universities and then synthesize those approaches to highlight three principles that can guide effective OWI preparation for graduate students in any program: immersion, reflection, and failure.     

Auto-Graph: considering the utility of student behaviour self-monitoring for inclusive schools

This paper reports the outcomes of a small-scale exploratory study that examined the utility of a novel computer-supported student behaviour self-monitoring procedure called Auto-Graph. The Auto-Graph procedure is a universal classroom behaviour management strategy for responding to disruptive antisocial behaviours. It was designed to provide up-to-date information on student behaviours over time that might alert students and school staff to emerging problematic behavioural patterns. This strategy is consistent with an interest in school-based early intervention. Furthermore, the Auto-Graph design assumes generalised benefits of a continuous cycle of monitoring and feedback/reflection that might inform understandings regarding goodness-of-fit between student needs and educational provision. The present study explored basic questions pertaining to the utility of Auto-Graph as a universal procedure in two 'inclusive' mainstream primary school classrooms. Results suggest a potential utility of the procedure in terms of supporting teachers and students in efforts directed at reducing disruptive antisocial behaviours, and by effect mediating the inclusion of potentially disruptive students in mainstream schools particularly when considering those identified with emotional and behavioural difficulties (EBD).     

A Critique of “STEM” Education

Science & Education - While a mutually agreed-upon definition of STEM education remains elusive, there is no doubt that instructional models and ideas put forward with the STEM label have had a...     

TEST ITEM ARRANGEMENT, TESTING TIME, AND PERFORMANCE

Two experiments were conducted to determine if a relationship exists between test item arrangements and student performance on power tests. The primary hypotheses were: item arrangements based upon item difficulty, similarity of content, or order of class presentation do not influence test score or required testing time. In the first experiment 122 subjects were randomly assigned to three item difficulty arrangements of 139 test items with a 0–100% difficulty range, and in the second experiment 156 subjects were randomly assigned to three item content arrangements of 103 items. Results of analyses of variance with test anxiety used as a classification factor supported the hypotheses.