Listening: To Thine Own Self Be True

This collaborative self-study examines the impact of taking a listening stance in the collegial relationships and practices of three early-career teacher educators within a small, private liberal arts institution. We consider the consequences of a listening stance on students' experiences of our practices and their education program. In addition, we explore how our individual histories influence our practices, our efforts to model listening, and our collegial relationships. Data sources include our journaling and in-class observations, feedback gathered from students on anonymous questionnaires and through focus-group discussions, and regular conversations with colleagues. Our findings illuminate the paradoxical nature of modeling a listening stance with pre-service teachers as listening to a multiplicity of voices challenged our ability to remain true to self in the midst of others' expressed needs and imperatives.     

Increasing Preservice Teachers' Diversity Beliefs and Commitment

Research on teacher expectations and student success suggests that teachers' beliefs about students lead to differential expectations and treatment of students. Few qualitative studies aimed at understanding teacher beliefs about diversity and multicultural commitment have been done. This study utilized combined quantitative and qualitative methods to explore the attitudes, beliefs, and commitments of a predominantly Anglo-American population of preservice teachers enrolled in a diversity course. The results describe beginning attitudes, beliefs, and commitments to diversity; changes (or lack of change) in attitudes, beliefs, and commitments after participation in a diversity course; some theoretical underpinnings for understanding changes (or lack of change); and a framework for facilitating positive multicultural experiences.     

Relationship of performance on the sensory organization test to landing characteristics

Jump landing tasks have been used to assess landing characteristics and require significant sensorimotor feedback to maintain functional joint stability (FJS) throughout the task. Postural stability (PS) also requires significant sensorimotor feedback and control and would seemingly involve similar sensory feedback pathways. However, previous literature clarifying the relationship between these two processes, maintaining FJS and PS, is limited. 80 Special Tactics Operators. PS was assessed using the Sensory Organization Test (SOT). SOT variables included: Composite, Somatosensory, Visual, Vestibular, and Preference scores. Landing characteristics were assessed using motion analysis during a double-legged (DLSJ) and single-legged (SLSJ) stop jump task. Pearson’s correlation coefficients were calculated to assess the relationship between SOT scores and landing characteristics (α < .05). For the DLSJ, significant correlations were found between: Composite and peak posterior ground reaction forces (?.257), Vestibular and peak knee abduction moment (?.237), and Preference and initial contact hip flexion (?.297), peak hip flexion (?.249). For the SLSJ, significant correlations were found between: Somatosensory and peak vertical ground reaction forces (?.246); Preference and initial contact hip flexion (?.295), peak hip flexion (?.262). The results indicate that the SOT may not be a sensitive enough tool to assess sensorimotor control in a healthy, athletic population.     

A system within a system: the Philippine schools overseas

The Philippine school system is considered as one of the largest in the world with 41,989 public elementary and secondary schools and 7,790 private schools under the supervision and regulation of the Department of Education [DepEd Fact Sheet, 2005]. On top of this statistics are 40 duly-registered educational institutions called the Philippine Schools Overseas, which operate in nine countries such as Bahrain, China, Greece, Kuwait, Libya, Oman, Qatar, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates. This paper presents the context and background of the proliferation of Philippine schools, specifically in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. To set the limits of the scope, this paper focuses on the strengths and weaknesses of community schools and privately-owned schools. Finally, the paper offers some vital measures relative to the supervision, standards of and support for Philippine Schools Overseas.     

College cheating: Ten years later

In this 10-year follow-up study of student cheating, we surveyed 474 university students to (1) evaluate the extent of cheating; (2) assess attitudes toward cheating; (3) identify variables that discriminate between cheaters and noncheaters; (4) assess the relative effectiveness of various deterrents to cheating; and (5) examine changes in cheating attitudes and behaviors from 1984 to 1994. Most students (61.2%) reported cheating in 1994, up significantly from 54.1% in 1984 (Haines et al., 1986). Despite this increased cheating, students in 1994 were significantly less likely than in 1984 to neutralize (rationalize) their cheating. Ten variables that discriminated between cheaters and noncheaters in 1984 did so again in 1994, and 12 additional discriminating variables were identified. A principal components analysis of these 22 variables indicated that, compared to noncheaters, cheaters are (1) less mature; (2) less reactive to observed cheating; (3) less deterred by social stigma and guilt and more likely to neutralize cheating; (4) less personally invested in their education; and (5) more likely to be receiving scholarships, but doing less well in school. Both cheaters and noncheaters rated embarrassment and fear of punishment as the strongest deterrents to cheating; disapproval of one's friends was ranked as the least effective deterrent by both groups.     

Supporting Teachers in Scottish Schools: Has the Money Been Well Spent?

Traditionally, education in Scotland has been viewed as a national service that is locally administered. This research casts new light on that relationship between the Scottish Executive and local authorities by drawing on evidence from an evaluation of the implementation of the additional support staff element of the Teachers’ Agreement which determined not only teachers’ pay structure but also established the professional conditions under which they would work. The paper identifies how local authorities and schools spent the grant aid on staff and equipment, how many additional support staff were appointed, and what impact they were reported to be having on teaching and learning. Information was gathered from a postal survey of all 32 Scottish local authorities and a random sample of 267 schools, and also from interviews held in six case study schools. The findings show that: all the grant aid could not be accounted for, the target number of support staff was not achieved, and their deployment and impact varied across local authorities and schools. By way of conclusion it poses the question: ‘Was the money well spent?’     

Parental Involvement in Education: how do parents want to become involved?

Increased parental involvement in schooling is one of the central plans of government policy. The planned integrated schools in Northern Ireland provide direct evidence of high levels of parental participation in action. The experience of the schools suggests, that whilst parental involvement is relatively easy to generate during the initial stages of the setting up of a school it is much more difficult to sustain over the long term. There is also potential for difficulties to arise, both between groups of parents and between parents and staff, over the range of issues which parents wish to influence and the direction of that influence. Parents wish to participate in the running of the schools in many different ways and this leads to the development of the concept of levels of involvement’. Whilst quite large numbers of parents want a direct involvement in the education of their own children only a small number seek the type of wider commitment to policy development implicit in positions such as that of school governor.     

A short-form version of the WISC-R for the learning disabled

This study investigated the best short form version of the WISC-R for learning disabled (LD) students. The WISC-R was administered to 234 LD and 290 children who were referred for psychological evaluation but were found not eligible (NE) for special education services from 45 school districts in Michigan. Stepwise multiple regressions were calculated to ascertain the best tetrads of Full Scale IQ (FS IQ) for the two groups. For the NE sample, Vocabulary, Picture Arrangement, Picture Completion, and Information were the best four indicators of FS IQ, accounting for about 80% of the variance in Full Scale scores. For the LD sample, the best four predictors of FS IQ were Similarities, Block Design, Picture Completion, and Vocabulary, accounting for about 80% of criterion variance. Using the WISC-R standardization data, Sattler identified the Information, Vocabulary, Comprehension, and Block Design subtests as one of the best short form versions for predicting FS IQ. For the LD sample of the present study, Sattler's composite yielded a multiple R of .873 with FS IQ, whereas our best four predictors yielded a multiple R of .896. It appears that Sattler's tetrad is about as good a predictor of FS IQ for LD students as that found in the present data.