Work and Life Balance Support of Female Midlevel Noninstructional Staff at Community Colleges

Two-year public institutions are known for their nurturing academic environments that support students from diverse backgrounds and experiences. One would assume that these nurturing and supportive environments would also go beyond the students to include employees. Family-friendly working environments support the needs of employees to balance work and life obligations without affecting career advancement opportunities. To decide whether two-year public institutions are family-friendly working environments, this quantitative study explored the perceptions of female midlevel noninstructional professional staff in various administrative positions at 215 two-year public institutions. A survey designed to obtain participant perceptions of their working environments and institutional policies pertaining to work and life balances was completed by 590 respondents. By understanding the perceptions of midlevel noninstructional professional staff, institutions can address the areas of concern by establishing formal policies that support the needs of working adults to help them balance work and life obligations without affecting future career advancement opportunities.     

What a Difference a Label Makes: Positioning and Response in an Afterschool Tutoring Program

In this qualitative case study, we used the framework of positioning to show how college-age tutors and their middle school tutees interact in an afterschool tutoring setting with regard to ability. The authors show how educational tracking and understandings of disability permeated tutoring spaces and influence tutors’ instructional decisions. Even though the tutors’ participation in this program was framed as an act of social justice, the tutors do not feel empowered to use a critical lens when discussing tracking and/or disability because, as the authors posit, the framing of the college students as role models and these middle school students as “needy” prohibits conversations that do not have easy answers.     

Ten Years of Change: National Library of Medicine TOXMAP Gets a New Look

The United States National Library of Medicine (NLM) TOXNET® databases <http://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov> provide broad coverage of environmental health information covering a wide variety of topics, including access to the U.S. Environment Protection Agency (EPA)'s Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) data. The NLM web-based geographic information system (GIS), TOXMAP® <http://toxmap.nlm.nih.gov/>, provides interactive maps which show where TRI chemicals are released into the environment and links to TOXNET for information about these chemicals. TOXMAP also displays locations of Superfund sites on the EPA National Priority List, as well as information about the chemical contaminants at these sites. This column focuses on a new version of TOXMAP which brings it up to date with current web GIS technologies and user expectations.     

SDG 4 and the COVID-19 emergency: Textbooks,tutoring, and teachers

PROSPECTS - COVID-19 once again revealed the inherent weaknesses in relying on classroom-based schooling and ICT to sustain learning, a danger already familiar from earlier man-made and natural...     

University reputation and undergraduates’ self-perceived employability: mediating influence of experiential learning activities

ABSTRACT

Stratification, in the form of silent exclusion that is experienced by some groups of students because of the perceived low reputation of the university attended, and which the students have no control over, has been observed as a social menace that works against the concept of equity in education. To address this problem, a need exists for universities with lower reputations to go the extra mile to develop the employability skills of their students, which, in turn, will enhance their self-perception of employability. The major objective of this study was to investigate the influence of experiential learning activities on the relationship between university reputation and self-perceived employability among undergraduates in South African universities. Data were collected by means of an adapted questionnaire from 402 respondents drawn from two universities in the same province in South Africa. To achieve our objective, four hypotheses were formulated and tested through Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) using AMOS 25. The findings show that both direct and indirect effects of university reputation on undergraduates’ perceived employability through experiential learning activities are positively significant. To minimise the negative effects that universities with low reputations are likely to have on undergraduates’ acquisition of experiential learning, on their self-perceived employability, and subsequently on their employment prospects, the government, the Department of Higher Education and universities (particularly, the low-rated ones in South Africa) need to put in place some timely interventions, some of which are suggested in the study.     

Teachers’ experiences of a single‐sex initiative in a co‐education school

Argued to ‘raise boys’ grades’ and ‘boost boys’ academic achievement’, single‐sex classes in coeducation schools is one strategy among a plethora aimed at raising standards. This paper explores the experiences of teachers in one coeducation post‐primary school that sought to raise academic performance, particularly among boys, and to improve classroom behaviour by introducing single‐sex classes. Funded by a local Education and Library Board the evaluation took place almost four years after the strategy was introduced and in a climate of increasing teacher concern with the effectiveness of the strategy. The methods involved a questionnaire survey to all teachers in the school and one‐to‐one and small group interviews with teachers responsible for teaching single‐sex classes. Contrary to its stated aims, the majority of teachers believe that, since the introduction of single‐sex classes, academic performance and classroom behaviour have deteriorated. Findings are discussed in terms of teachers’ perceptions of the strategy and the importance organizational and contextual factors have on shaping teachers’ attitudes to new initiatives.     

Environmental health and toxicology resources of the United States National Library of Medicine

For over 40 years, the National Library of Medicine's (NLM) Toxicology and Environmental Health Information Program (TEHIP) has worked to organize and to provide access to an extensive array of environmental health and toxicology resources. During these years, the TEHIP program has evolved from a handful of databases developed primarily for researchers to a broad range of products and services that also serve industry, students, and the general public. TEHIP's resources include TOXNET , a collection of databases, including online handbooks, bibliographic references, information on the release of chemicals in the environment, and a chemical dictionary. TEHIP also produces several resources aimed towards the general public, such as the Household Products Database , which helps users explore chemicals often found in common household products, and Tox Town , an interactive guide to commonly encountered toxic substances, health, and the environment. This paper introduces some of NLM's environmental health and toxicology resources.     

Standards of practice to standards of evidence: developing assessment capable teachers

Abstract

Teacher education is a hotly debated policy area in higher education and schooling portfolios, with increasing emphasis on standards and accountability. It is in this environment that The Standards Project (2013–2015) presented in this article began. It has at its core a three-part commitment: first, to undertake a comprehensive audit and analysis of all teacher education programmes in the state of Queensland, Australia, to establish the approaches and practices Universities relied on to preparing beginning teachers as assessment capable; second, to take account of multiple perspectives and approaches in initial teacher education to integrating data into how beginning teachers are prepared to source and use evidence for improving learning and teaching; and further, to develop new principles, policy and practices for reviewing and moderating teacher education programmes against professional standards. The paper proposes a move beyond the discourse of professional standards of practice towards a complementary discourse of standards of evidence. In our collaboration we drew on two fields, namely the writing on teacher education including reviews, and the field of assessment, both considered within broader sociocultural theory applied to assessment.     

New Orleans Early Intervention Study of Children with Visual Impairments

There is widespread agreement that early intervention for children with visual impairments and their families is important and beneficial. However, few con- trolled prospective studies of the effectiveness of various types of early intervention have been completed with these children. This randomized study evaluated the immediate and long-term effects of a comprehensive, weekly homebased intervention for infants and toddlers with visual impairments, compared with a low-intensity treatment through parent group meetings offered approximately 12 times per year. In annual assessments conducted for t h e years after the intervention was begun, there were negligible statistically significant or practical differences between groups based on a variety of measures of child and family functioning. In light of the cost-effectiveness analyses reported, questions are raised about the type of early intervention that should be provided to children with visual impairments.