A national study of kindergarten transition practices for children with disabilities

This study used data drawn from a large, national sample to describe transition practices provided to 1989 children with disabilities as they entered their kindergarten year, obtained through a survey administered to kindergarten teachers. Using path modeling, we examined the child and family, school, and district factors that predict which children and families receive high- and low-intensity transition support as they enter kindergarten and, in particular, what types of high-intensity practices they receive. The type of support kindergarten teachers provided was generally comparable to or higher than previously reported data, with low-intensity transition supports more commonly used than high-intensity supports. In a path model that included a range of child and family, classroom, and district factors, four variables emerged as predictors of transition support. Children from larger districts and higher poverty districts who were entering kindergarten from a different setting were less likely to receive support during the transition period. Rural districts differed little overall from suburban districts because they are, on average, higher poverty, but smaller in size. Urban districts demonstrated efforts that counterbalanced the barriers of size and poverty. We include policy implications based on these findings.     

‘The Treasure Within’ and ‘Learning Through Life’: A Review and Prospectus

In this article, Tom Schuller and David Watson, who were responsible for a major review of lifelong learning in the UK published in 2009, describe the main proposals from that review and compare them with the 1996 UNESCO report, The Treasure Within. They find many points of similarity, as well as clear differences. Apart from specific differences of analysis or emphasis, their 2009 ‘Learning Through Life’ (LTL) report focused particularly on adults and dealt prominently with workplace and community-based opportunities compared with the full life-cycle but largely formal education focus of the Delors report. They discuss the LTL 4-lifestage model, the lifecycle distribution of resources, and entitlements to learning. They draw out key issues related to ‘learning to be’. They provide a stocktake of the progress that has been made in the UK since the publication of their report in 2009 and find little grounds for encouragement that their suggested directions for change have been put into practice. They reflect on rationales and developments to offer a prospectus for lifelong learning that has general application, not only in the UK.     

Virtual Professional Learning Communities: Teachers’ Perceptions of Virtual Versus Face-to-Face Professional Development

Research suggests that professional development that engages teachers in instructional inquiry over an extended time through collaborative professional learning communities (PLCs) is effective in improving instruction and student achievement. Still, most professional development is offered as short-duration workshops that are not effective in changing practice. Barriers to the implementation of PLCs include lack of shared meeting time and a shortage of teachers who share the same subject areas or common goals and interests. Convening teachers from multiple districts can alleviate this problem, but teachers are reluctant to travel for meetings due to time and cost restraints. Video-conferencing software offers a solution to these barriers while serving to foster the sense of community needed for PLCs to be effective. The researchers describe the use of Virtual PLCs in which two groups of teachers met monthly for one school year to collaboratively analyze evidence collected as part of their teacher inquiry plans. With help from a facilitator, these groups developed a relationship similar to other groups meeting face-to-face as part of the same professional development program. Analysis of the reflections of teacher-participants and facilitators revealed that teachers prefer face-to-face meetings, but that the virtual and face-to-face meetings provided teachers with similar social interactions in the PLC experience. The findings suggest that teachers perceive videoconferencing as an effective tool for facilitating PLCs when distance and time are practical barriers to face-to-face meetings. Practical considerations for developing and facilitating virtual PLCs are also discussed.     

TEACHING COMMUNITY COLLEGE FACULTY MEMBERS ON THE INTERNET

This article details the experiences of a university professor and former community college president in teaching World Wide Web based graduate courses to faculty members from Florida's community colleges. These courses have provided faculty members from various parts of the state access to advanced educational opportunities. Courses have been particularly relevant to the day-to-day activities of full-time and adjunct teaching faculty members. For those who might be interested in converting traditional courses for Web-based delivery, tips are included on designing course materials and using technical experts. Emphasis is placed on the needs of the learner to maximize the benefits of this type of distance education. The 12 canons for distance learners, which served as guideposts, as community college faculty member-students progressed through the courses are included. Discussion of various course material components provides insight into the need for thoroughness in overall course design. Course evaluation results, which highlight the appreciation of community college faculty member-students for the way in which the courses were conducted, are included. For example, convenience and exibility were ranked highly as positive reasons for taking Web-based courses. Problem areas are also identified. Teaching graduate courses on the Internet to community college personnel has become an important endeavor in Florida. The University of Central Florida has made a commitment to expand the number and types of courses offered in this manner to address the needs of all students. These courses are particularly important to community college faculty members and administrators who may be precluded from taking relevant graduate courses because of geographical or time limitations. Hence, through the magic of the Internet, courses are available at their fingertips.     

Supplementing the ‘College Experience’ with Program-Based Learning Communities

ABSTRACT

The objective of this study was to examine the benefits of a learning community created for first-year students enrolled in a criminal justice degree program at an urban community college in the Northeast. Quantitative and qualitative survey data were collected from three cohorts of students in the program-based learning community. Survey questions examined students’ satisfaction with the learning community structure and their perceptions of social networking and academic skills gained from participation in the learning community. Quantitative data from the college’s records were used to compare the academic progress and retention of criminal justice students in the program-based learning to other first-year criminal justice students. Our findings indicate that participants had positive experiences in the learning community reporting satisfaction with the learning community structure and significant social networking and academic benefits from their participation in the learning community. Findings also indicated that program-based learning community students exhibited greater academic progress and were retained at higher rates than other first-year criminal justice students. This study substantiates the positive impact of program-based learning communities on students’ satisfaction, their academic success toward degree completion, and retention.     

Journalism (except writing; see page 141)

Michael F. Wendland's The Arizona Project: How a Team of Investigative Reporters Got Revenge on Deadline (Kansas City: Sheed Adrews & McMeel, 1977—$9.95)

David Frost's "I Gave Them a Sword:" Behind the Scenes of the Nixon Interviews (New York: Morrow, 1978—$9.95)

Tom Wicker's On Press (New York: Viking, 1978—$10.95),

Donald L. Shaw and Maxwell E. McCombs' The Emergence of American Political Issues: The Agenda-Setting Function of the Press (St. Paul, Minn.: 'lest Publishing, 1977—$10.95, paper)

Michael Tracey's The Production of Political Television (London and Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1977—$10.00, paper)

Donovan H. Bond and - I. Reynolds McLeod, eds. Newsletters to Newspapers: Eighteenth-Century Journalism (Morgantown: West Virginia University School of Journalism, 1977—$10.00, paper)     

The Information Age

A FEW GOOD MEN FROM UNIVAC by David E. Lundstrom (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1987—$19.95)

DYNAMICS OF INFORMATION MANAGEMENT: CONCEPTS AND ISSUES edited by Indu B. Singh and Vic M. Mishra (Norwood, N j: Ablex Publishing, 1987—$37.50)

HIGH-TECH SOCIETY: THE STORY OF THE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY REVOLUTION by Tom Forester (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1987—$19.95)

THE IDEOLOGY OF THE INFORMATION AGE edited by Jennifer Daryl Slack and Fred Fejes (Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing, 1987—$37.50)

INNOVATION IN ELECTRONIC MAIL by Peter Vervest (Amsterdam and New York: Elsevier Science/North Holland, 1987—$61.00)     

少年派——惊艳奥斯卡的奇幻漂流

3D技术风行,李安也来赶个时髦。奥斯卡金牌导演李安执导的3D视效大片《少年派的奇幻漂流》,在纽约影展被《时代》杂志盛赞为下一个《阿凡达》。影片在创造视觉奇观的同时也给观众带来巨大的心灵震撼。其讲述的是一名16岁男孩的故事,他和一只老虎同住一艘救生艇,展开横渡太平洋的旅程。"通常我拍片时,不会考虑风格,而是思考角色需要什么。我会贴     

Forbidden friends as forbidden fruit: parental supervision of friendships, contact with deviant peers, and adolescent delinquency

Spending leisure time with deviant peers may have strong influences on adolescents' delinquency. The current 3-wave multi-informant study examined how parental control and parental prohibition of friendships relate to these undesirable peer influences. To this end, annual questionnaires were administered to 497 Dutch youths (283 boys, mean age = 13 years at baseline), their best friends, and both parents. Cross-lagged panel analyses revealed strong longitudinal links from contacts with deviant peers to adolescent delinquency, but not vice versa. Parent-reported prohibition of friendships positively predicted contacts with deviant peers and indirectly predicted higher adolescent delinquency. Similar indirect effects were not found for parental control. The results suggest that forbidden friends may become "forbidden fruit," leading to unintended increases in adolescents' own delinquency.