Imagining a transformed UNESCO with learning at its core

This paper argues that key aspects of UNESCO's organizational culture are a major impediment to the realization of its important educational agenda. Drawing upon sustained observations over a four-year period, the paper describes the nature and consequences of UNESCO's highly ritualized and ‘inward-oriented’ work activities, especially the weak links between what happens at Headquarters and the realities on the ground in formal and non-formal educational frameworks worldwide. By establishing a more open, interactive and egalitarian organizational milieu, focused on collaborative learning and knowledge creation, accumulation and dissemination, this paper argues that these linkages can be tightened. A genuine learning-oriented culture at UNESCO would encourage professional empowerment, independent thinking, human resource development, greater dialogue and critical debate, and the creation and dissemination of quality publications. Thus, for UNESCO to regain its leadership role in the education world and effectively serve as a broker of innovative ideas and effective programs, it must overcome the stultifying tendencies of its current organizational culture and find ways to develop dynamic learning cultures both from without and from within.     

Exploring the underlying factor structure of the home literacy environment (HLE) in the English and Spanish versions of the Familia Inventory: A cautionary tale

Few research-based measures of the family literacy environment are commercially available, especially in Spanish. One exception is the Familia Inventory (Taylor, 1995). The present study investigated the 10 subscales of this instrument and the factor structure they imply, using data from a low-socioeconomic (SES), largely Hispanic population. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to test the structure of the instrument as well as whether it is invariant across English and Spanish language versions. The scale was administered to 232 parents of preschoolers. Results of the CFA revealed that the a priori dimensions of the Familia Inventory were not supported for this sample. Follow-up analyses suggested poor fit both within and between subscales. The scale fit poorly within both English and Spanish, precluding testing of invariance across language. Supplemental analyses using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) on a subset of the items that had adequate variance suggested that a four-factor solution accounting for 53% of the variance best represented the English data and that a two-factor solution accounting for 43% of the variance best represented the Spanish data. Implications are discussed.     

An evaluation of Early Reading First (ERF) preschool enrichment on language and literacy skills

Early Reading First (ERF) was created to address problems related to language and development among economically disadvantaged and language-minority preschool children through quality classroom processes, professional development, and instruction. More than any previous initiative, ERF specifies what early literacy instruction should look like in preschool classrooms; however, to date, scant research has examined the effectiveness of the program. In this quasi-experimental study, the effectiveness of ERF preschool enrichment was evaluated through comparison with the performance of demographically similar children from the same school district who received practice-as-usual instruction. As in previous research, ERF-enriched instruction was found to enhance acquisition of alphabet knowledge and print concepts. Unlike previous studies, however, it was also found to promote vocabulary development. Multilevel models were chosen to take into account the non-independence of students in the same classroom in testing the effects of ERF.     

RESEARCH AND LEARNING INFORMATION RESOURCES: BOOK REVIEWS

The objective of this study was to use Herzberg's method to determine whether there were any factors in the school environment which could be identified as satisfiers or dissatisfiers, whether satisfiers and dissatisfiers could be further classified as motivators or hygiene factors, and whether there would be any relationship between the findings of this study and Herzberg's findings. Subjects were 41 community college students, 13 of whom were male, 28 of whom were female. Their ages ranged from 18 to 44. Subjects provided data by completing a questionnaire which was designed to elicit specific events to periods of time when the students felt very good or very bad about something related to their studies or to the school environment. The results of the study tended to support the hypotheses and were significantly similar to the results of Herzberg's study.     

Failed States in Education: Chomsky on Dissent,Propaganda, and Reclaiming Democracy in the Media Spectacle

This paper discusses the work of Noam Chomsky in the context of democracy, the media, and education. Through the analysis of selected works, a critical perspective emerges. This view demands that educators at all levels understand and confront the often deleterious effects the media can have on students' social and political views and further how the media can undermine democratic action in schools and society.     

“浪子”回头

获得罗氏奖学金或许是美国大学生能够取得的最大殊荣。这就是为什么去年我在填写罗氏奖学金申请表之始,怀疑自己是否疯了。我青少年的大半时间都是在华盛顿贝灵翰姆的街头上度过的,这里常年下雨。毕业那年我因为故意破坏公物而被拘     

Contextual influences and athlete attitudes to drugs in sport

This article reports on 11 narrative-based case histories which sought to: (1) uncover the attitudes of players and athletes to drugs in sport, and (2) explore contextual factors influencing the formation of those attitudes as informed by social ecology theory. Overall, participants viewed the use of banned performance-enhancing substances as cheating, ‘hard’ non-performance-enhancing recreational or illicit substances as unwise, legal non-performance-enhancing substances as acceptable, and legal performance-enhancing substances as essential. In short, attitudes were sometimes quite libertarian, and contingent upon first, the legality of the substance, and second, its performance impact. Results also indicated that athletes’ attitudes about drugs were fundamentally shaped by sport's culture. Other significant factors included its commercial scale, closely identifiable others, early experiences and critical incidents of players and athletes, and their level of performance.     

An Integrative Approach to Portfolio Evaluation for Teacher Licensure

The purpose of our overall research agenda is to develop and evaluate a methodology for the assessment of teachers in which experienced teachers, serving as judges, engage in dialogue to integrate multiple sources of evidence about a candidate to reach a sound conclusion. The project that provides the venue for this research agenda is the Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (INTASC), which is developing a portfolio assessment system to assist participating states in making a decision about teacher licensure. To develop the theoretical foundation necessary to support and evaluate such dialogic and integrative assessment practices, we turn, in part, to the tradition of philosophical hermeneutics, as a complement to psychometrics. In this article, we characterize and assess the processes in which judges, trying out an integrative approach to portfolio evaluation for the first time, engage as they collaboratively construct and document their conclusions, and we locate this work in the larger research agenda. The premise of this project, which is being carefully evaluated in the course of inquiry, is that these integrative practices cannot only lead to an epistemologically sound evaluation of teaching but also promote an ongoing professional dialogue of critical reflection on teaching practice.     

Stimulus space complexity determines the ratio of specialist and generalist neurons during pattern recognition

Neural processing layers built on divergent connectivity patterns display two types of stimulus-dependent responses: neurons that react to a few stimuli, specialists, and other ones that respond to a wide range of inputs, generalists. Specialists are essential for the discrimination of stimuli and generalists extract common and generic properties from them. This neural heterogeneity could have emerged because of animal adaptation to the environment. Thus, we suggest that there is a relationship between the percentage of specialists and generalists and the stimulus complexity. In order to study this possible relationship, we use patterns with different complexities in a bio-inspired neural network and calculate their classification errors for different ratios of these types of neurons. This study shows that, when the complexity of the stimuli is low, the minimum classification error is achieved with almost any specialist-generalist ratio. Thus, in this case, the role of these neurons during pattern recognition is unspecific. When this complexity is intermediate, both are needed to minimize the classification error, usually in a similar proportion. For increasing stimulus complexity, the importance of generalists decreases, until their relevance is fully nullified when the complexity is high. Therefore, if we adjust the specialist-generalist ratio to the complexity of patterns, we can build more effective neural networks for pattern recognition. Finally, we propose an estimation of stimulus complexity based on the proportion of these types of neurons observed by neural recordings. This offers the possibility to evaluate the stimulus complexity to which animals are adapted.     

The physical profile of adult male basketball players: Differences between competitive levels and playing positions

This study examined the physical differences in adult male basketball players of different competitive level and playing position using a large cohort. In the middle of the regular season, 129 players from four different Divisions completed a Yo-YoIR1 and, after 3-to-8 days, they performed a 6-min continuous running test (Mognoni’s test), a counter-movement jump (CMJ) test and a 5-min High-intensity Intermittent running test (HIT). Magnitude-based inferences revealed that differences in HIT were very likely moderate between Division I and II and likely small between Division II and III. The differences in absolute peak power and force produced during CMJs between Division I and II and between Division II and III were possibly small. Differences in Yo-YoIR1 and Mognoni’s test were very likely-to-almost certain moderate/large between Division III and VI. We observed possibly-to-likely small differences in HIT and Mognoni’s test between guards and forwards and almost certainly moderate differences in absolute peak power and force during CMJs between guards and centres. The ability to sustain high-intensity intermittent efforts (i.e. HIT) and strength/power characteristics can differentiate between competitive level, while strength/power characteristics discriminate guards from forwards/centres. These findings inform practitioners on the development of identification programs and training activities in basketball.