Racial and emotional factors predicting teachers' perceptions of classroom behavioral maladjustment for urban African American male youth

The present study investigated the predictive influence of students' reactive emotional coping and racial socialization experiences on teachers' perceptions of classroom behavior adjustment problems. Participants were 148 African American male youth attending a secondary school in a large northeastern city. Behavioral outcomes included teacher ratings of student behavioral overactivity in different classroom situations. Results using hierarchical regression analyses show that measures of social rejection sensitivity, anger expression, and racial socialization predict teacher‐observed behavioral overactivity, with overt anger expression being the most powerful predictor. Findings suggest that racial socialization and particular styles of emotional coping are important determinants for teachers' impressions of classroom behavior for some African American adolescent males. Implications for future research and interventions with African American male youth in urban secondary schools are discussed. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Teacher Attitudes and Cultural Differentiation

This study utilized a general linear model to investigate the relationships between knowledge of the physiological effects of drugs, attitudes toward drugs, self-concept, socioeconomic status, sex, grade level, ethnic background, and reported drug usage among public school students. The major purpose of the study was to explore the major concomitants of drug usage so that a drug prevention education program with a moderate probability of success could be constructed and implemented. Major trends in drug usage among public school children and their implications for successful drug prevention education are indicated.     

Deliberative Attitudes,IQ, and Social Class

When large numbers of children are polled concerning their attitudes toward school and academic study, those from poor homes are, on the average, less likely to hold favorable attitudes than those from better homes. This fact is hardly surprising. But the relationship between favorable attitudes and socio-economic status is far less marked than is the relationship between IQ and socio-economic status. Hence, when children are selected for high-ability classes and eventually for college on the basis of IQ or related measures, a child who likes ideas is far more likely to be rejected by the school system if he comes from the lower socio-economic classes. The foregoing conclusion is based on a survey of thousands of children in elementary and high schools in this country and in England.     

Active and Passive Commuting to School

Active commuting among school children is being encouraged for physical and environmental reasons, but little is known about its influence on affect. The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that children who walk further to school experience increased arousal and affective valence compared with children who walk a short distance. This was assessed with the children's feeling scale (CFS) and children's felt arousal scale (CFAS). Distance walked to school and affective change between home and school were assessed over a 2-week period in 99 children between 5 and 10 years of age. Home to school differences in CFS and CFAS scores were compared in children who walked a short (100–300 m); medium (301–500 m), and long distance (over 500 m). Although differences were not always statistically significant, there was evidence that the children who walked further reported a greater increase in their CFAS scores between home and school (average η² = .08, range: .01–.15) and, to a lesser extent, in their CFS scores (η² = .04, range: .002–.06). Further research is needed to explore whether there is an optimum walking distance and the contribution of other factors, especially social contacts during commuting, the environment, and the weather.     

The legislative requirements for measuring quality in transnational education: Understanding divergence while maintaining standards

Australian universities have been actively engaged in transnational education since the 1990s. The challenges of assuring quality have seen a changing regulatory framework increasingly designed to ensure equivalence of standards wherever a course of study is offered and however it is delivered. Transnational Higher Education has grown significantly and the issues that flow from operating across jurisdictions, cultures and contexts have been addressed primarily by institutions themselves in complying with regulation. This article identifies how the Australian quality agency TEQSA (Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency) has revised its Standards Framework to support divergence appropriate to local culture and context, while assuring quality provision across the student life cycle. It concludes that the maturity of the quality agency may not yet reflect the provision of transnational education in practice. The article identifies a need for significant further research so that theory and practice can reflect opportunities to better serve students in a mature quality environment.