The Impact of Institutional Context,Education and Labour Market Policies on Early School Leaving: a comparative analysis of EU countries

This article presents a comparative analysis of the determinants of early school leaving (ESL) at the country level. We decompose ESL rates into two components: a ‘primary’ rate reflecting unqualified school leaving from initial education, and a second component accounting for early school leavers who participate in training programmes. Both may be influenced by structural and policy determinants. We examine how the ESL rate is affected by macro-economic and social context variables such as GDP/capita, growth, poverty, and youth unemployment, as well as system characteristics of the education system (such as legal school leaving age, grade retention, early tracking, and size of vocational education) and the labour market and social protection systems (minimum wages, unemployment insurance).     

Why are teacher recommendations at the transition from primary to secondary education socially biased? A mixed-methods research

The consequences of educational differentiation have been at the centre of research in sociology of education during the past decades. Processes of educational allocation have, however, received much less attention. Despite the fact that research has shown that teacher recommendations in France and Germany are partly determined by pupils’ social background, studies that inquire into the causes of this social bias seem to be virtually inexistent. This study aims to examine whether teacher recommendations at the transition from primary to secondary education in Flanders (northern, Dutch-speaking part of Belgium) are also socially biased, and if so what causes these differentials in advice, using a mixed-methods design. We found the advice given by primary school teachers to be partly determined by pupils’ social background. Analysis of the qualitative data suggests that teachers tend to evaluate pupils from low socio-economic status backgrounds less positively, due to their emphasis on specific pupil characteristics.     

On the misinterpretation of histograms and box plots

Recent studies have shown that the interpretation of graphs is not always easy for students. In order to reason properly about distributions of data, however, one needs to be able to interpret graphical representations of these distributions correctly. In this study, we used Tversky’s principles for the design of graphs to explain how 125 first-year university students interpreted histograms and box plots. We systematically varied the representation that accompanied the tasks between students to identify how the design principles affected students’ reasoning. Many students displayed misinterpretations of histograms and box plots, despite the fact that they had the required knowledge and time to interpret the representations correctly. We argue that the combination of dual process theories and Tversky’s design principles provides a promising theoretical framework, which leads to various possibilities for future research.     

Conversational themes and attention focusing strategies: Predicting comprehension and recall

The specific purpose of this study was to examine the effects of conversational themes and attention focusing strategies on conversational comprehension and recall. A 2×2×2×2 between subjects factorial designs was used to test the research question with 247 participants. The results demonstrated that the unambiguous themes predicted conversational comprehensibility and recall accuracy. The results indicated that personal conversational information may be processed differently from content conversational information. Future conversational processing research should focus on discovering the reasons for the processing differences between content and personal conversational information.     

Representations of class and gender on primetime Spanish‐language television in the United States

This study examines the content of primetime Spanish‐language programming available in the United States. Four alternate nights of primetime, serial programming, which included 6 telenovelas and 1 drama, were analyzed on three Spanish TV networks—Telemundo, Univision and Azteca America. Content analysis included gender roles, class, sexual talk, and physical and verbal aggression. Women were represented comparably to men in overall numbers, but with more childcare responsibilities, less job status and a greater emphasis on attractiveness. Lighter skin characters were more likely to play major roles, were more fit and younger, and more likely to be upper class than their darker skin counterparts. Sexual talk followed a pattern similar to U.S. soaps but was more pronounced on Spanish‐language television. Verbal and physical aggression were less prevalent compared to U.S. programming. The potential impact of stereotypical class and gender roles on U.S. viewers is discussed.     

Parents’ Metacognitive Knowledge: Influences on Parent–Child Interactions in a Science Museum Setting

Despite science learning in settings such as science museums being recognized as important and given increasing attention in science education circles, the investigation of parents’ and their children’s metacognition in such settings is still in its infancy. This is despite an individual’s metacognition being acknowledged as an important influence on their learning within and across contexts. This research investigated parents’ metacognitive procedural and conditional knowledge, a key element of their metacognition, related to (a) what they knew about how they and their children thought and learned, and (b) whether this metacognitive knowledge influenced their interactions with their children during their interaction with a moderately complex simulation in a science museum. Parents reported metacognitive procedural and conditional knowledge regarding their own and their children’s thinking and learning processes. Further, parents were aware that this metacognitive knowledge influenced their interactions with their children, seeing this as appropriate pedagogical action for them within the context of the particular exhibit and its task requirements at the science museum, and for the child involved. These findings have implications for exhibit and activity development within science museum settings.     

Parent and Student Voices on the First Year of the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program

In January 2004 President Bush authorized the DC School Choice Incentive Act, an initiative funded at $14 million that created a scholarship program providing 1,700 low-income Washington, DC, children the opportunity to attend participating K–12 nonpublic schools in the district. In addition to offering opportunities to participating children, the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program opens a door for examining the implications when more families are given the opportunity to select private schools for their children. This article reviews the results of a qualitative assessment aimed at understanding how families experienced their first year in the program. Referencing direct quotes from families that took part in focus groups, we address the following areas of participants' experience: reaction to the choice opportunity, motivation for participation, what was valued in schools, how information was received, selection of final school, reaction to new school environment, parent responses to new challenges, student–school responses to new challenges, financial policies, and overall satisfaction. Each section contains family responses juxtaposed with popular literature on school choice. This report is the first in a series that will monitor the experiences of families during the first 5 years of this program.