Issue Ownership in Congressional Campaign Television Spots

This study investigated issue ownership patterns in 602 U.S. House and Senate Democratic and Republican political campaign television advertisements from 1980–2000. First, the themes in these ads were about equally split between policy and character (unlike presidential TV spots from the same time period, which are roughly two-thirds policy and one-third character). Candidates from each political party addressed their own party's issues more than issues owned by the other party. However, unlike presidential spots, congressional ads discussed Democratic issues more than Republican issues (59% to 41%). Although candidates from both political parties discussed their own issues more, winners tended to discuss issues from the other party more than losers. There was no difference in issue ownership emphasis between the House and Senate ads in this sample.     

Anticipated future interaction and conversational memory using participants and observers

For interactants to build a relationship over the course of several encounters they must be able to remember at least some of what transpired in earlier interactions. This study investigated two questions: do expectations about future interactions influence conversational memory, and do conversational participants remember more than observers? Subjects with a choice about whether to interact with their partner again (or about whether to interact with one of the persons they observed) remembered less in general than those expecting to interact with the same person or expecting to interact with a different person. This may be because interactants with a choice focused on securing non‐discursive information in order to reduce uncertainty, rather than on remembering details of what was said in the conversation. Participants remembered significantly more conversational information using cued recall than observers. They also remembered more than observers using recognition items for actual communication behavior. Participants are likely to have stronger memory traces than observers, which explains generally superior memory performance.     

The ‘dissertation marathon’ in doctoral distance education

Participation in “communities of practice” is often depicted as a central feature of various theoretical understandings of the social nature of learning. How are such communities of practice to be enacted in distance education, which, by definition, implies spatial detachment? This article reflects on the dimensions of communities of practice experienced by four students undertaking doctoral studies by distance education, working in different countries than the one in which the institution of their studies is based, and at four different phases of their doctoral program. In each writer’s experience, community of practice involvement was identified as critical in program completion, yet the source of the learning community was in each case outside of institutional provision.     

The new books on our shelves

Evaluation and Improvement of Teaching. By Charles W. Knudsen. Doubleday Doran &; Co.

Arithmetic for Everyday Life. By Robert Anderson, Teachers College, West Chester, Pa., and Shelton Phelps, George Peabody College for Teachers. Silver, Burdett &;Co.

Problems of the Teaching Personnel. By Dennis H. Cooke. Longmans, Green &; Co.

Intelligence—Its Manifestations and Measurement. By Paul L. Boynton, 1933. D. Appleton and Company. Pp. xi + 466.

Significant Contemporary Stories. Edited by Edith R. Mirrielees. Garden City, N. Y.: Doubleday, Doran and Company, 1929. Pp. 376.

Stongs for the School Year for Junior and Senior High Schools. Compiled by George S. Dare. New York: A. S. Barnes and Company, 1931. Pp. xvi + 191.

The Psychology of School Music Teaching. By James L. Mursell and Mabelleb Glenn. New York: Silver, Burdett and Company, 1931. Pp. v + 378.

The Courts and the Public Schools. By Newton Edwards. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1933. Pp. xvi + 591.

A Gestalt Completion Test. By Roy F. Street. New York City: Bureau of Publications, Teachers College, Columbia University, 1931. Pp. in + 65.

College and Reference Library Yearbook. American Library Association, Chicago: American Library Association, 1931.

Public School Finance. By Homer P. Rainey. New York: The Century Co, 1929. Pp. xix + 385. (Century education series.)

Beyond the School. By Frank A. Rexford, Cham.es M. Smith, Sarah Lansuburg Seixin, and Paul F. Frabbito. New York: Henry Holt and Company 1933. Pp. xx + 409.

The Administration of Public High Schools Through Their Personnel. By Georgs A. Rice, Clinton C. Conrad, Paul Fleming. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1933. Pp. x + 723.

Everyday Problems in Classroom Management. By Edwin J. Brown. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1933. Pp. xv + 306.

Modern Solid Geometry. By John R. Clark and Arthur S. Otis. New York: World Book Company, 1932. Pp. xx + 171.

Junior Mathematics for Today—Book One. By William Betz. New York: Ginn and Company, 1933. Pp. x + 406.     

Mental deficiency,a challenge to education

The purpose of this article is to expose the politics that arise in the research and evaluation of school reform efforts. We draw on qualitative data gathered in a study of comprehensive school reform to elucidate methodological issues in several areas. We discuss how we were perceived as researchers, how participants used our research and our presence in political ways, and how we questioned our own role in the research process. We discuss challenges in the data-gathering process, including the selection of interviewees for the study. Finally, we discuss challenges in the interpretation of data, including the representation of multiple perspectives and how to portray data on schools where reform appears to be a nonevent.     

What Private and Public Schools Can Learn From Each Other

Public school and faith-based private school educators often primarily concern themselves with the health of their own sector. We contend, however, that the United States would benefit if American educators viewed the schooling system more holistically, in the process expressing a greater willingness to learn from those practicing in the other sector. We assert that schools in each sector have specific strengths that can, at least to some extent, find application in the other sector as well. If this perspective is applied and practiced, we believe that the overall American school system will be strengthened and revitalized sufficiently to compete in a global context. We assert that the timing of certain developments may be such that this is the best time for such a reorientation to take place.     

A study of sustainable assessment theory in higher education tutorials

A study of sustainable assessment theory in nine tutorial courses at four colleges demonstrated that three long-term learning outcomes improved: Independence, Intellectual Maturity and Creativity. Eight of 10 traits associated with these outcomes were validated through internal reliability, faculty and student rubrics, and faculty case studies reporting pedagogic innovations and improvements of student abilities in self-assessment. The findings suggest that sustainable assessment theory should be applied using methods encompassing a strong commitment to equity, including shared criteria for long-term learning outcomes and faculty and student monitoring of student progress towards outcomes through periodic rubrics and reflective sessions.