Excellence Beyond Athletics: Best Practices for Enhancing Black Male Student Athletes' Educational Experiences and Outcomes

Postsecondary institutions in the United States, including member institutions of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), are charged with the responsibility of cultivating positive learning environments where all students have an opportunity to excel regardless of their demographic backgrounds (e.g., race, socioeconomic status, etc.). However, one subgroup of students these institutions have persistently been unable to retain and graduate at rates comparable to their peers is Black male student athletes. Previous research has cited unwelcoming campus climates, inadequate academic support, and an overemphasis on athletics as key factors that contribute to Black male student athletes' academic underperformance and negative psychosocial experiences at these institutions. The purpose of this article is to present a series of strategies and recommendations for enhancing Black male student athletes' educational experiences and holistic development at postsecondary institutions in the U.S. A review of scholarly literature on Black male student athletes, college student development theories, and student athlete support programs was conducted to identify best practices related to the phenomena. An analysis of the literature led to the creation of the Excellence Beyond Athletics (EBA) approach. The EBA approach consists of the following six holistic development principles (HDPs): (1) self-identity awareness, (2) positive social engagement, (3) active mentorship, (4) academic achievement, (5) career aspirations, and (6) balanced time management.     

Integrating Northern Ireland: Cross‐group friendships in integrated and mixed schools

While Northern Ireland strives to build a shared society, the current reality is that everyday experiences are still shaped by division along ethno‐religious lines. This is particularly pronounced in the education system, where more than 92% of pupils attend separate schools. Within the predominantly separate education system, however, exists a small collection of schools which cater to a more heterogeneous pupil body and offer the opportunity for young people from both communities to meet and interact, and potentially develop cross‐group friendships. The present study compares the network‐based cross‐group friendships within two such school types; an integrated and a separate post‐primary school. These schools boast a distinct ethos yet they similarly enrol students from Catholic and Protestant backgrounds. Findings reveal that both schools show a high level of interconnection between pupils; however, the integrated school, with an ethos that openly supports social cohesion, shows a greater tendency towards cross‐group interactions and best friendships than those found within the separate school. In line with contact theory, these findings suggest that it may not be enough to simply create opportunities for intergroup contact but that optimal conditions, such as institutional support, may be a prerequisite for positive relationships to flourish. Implications for educational policies designed to promote greater cross‐community contact are discussed.     

Taking care of youth mentoring relationships: red flags,repair, and respectful resolution

Mentoring is portrayed in the literature as benefiting young people, but ineffective or early termination of youth mentoring relationships can be detrimental. Researchers have not adequately explored issues surrounding the breakdown of youth mentoring relationships. Underpinned by a socio-ecological perspective, in this exploratory study we consider the various contexts within which these important relationships exist and identify early warning signs or red flags that a mentoring relationship is struggling. We interviewed mentees, mentors, and coordinators from four Western Australian youth mentoring programs about their experiences of mentoring relationships. Our findings suggest that red flags and repair strategies may be specific to particular programs, and that program coordinators play an important role in supporting relationships. Our research will help youth mentoring programs work toward early intervention strategies or appropriate and respectful termination of a relationship.     

Formulation of stable difference schemes for systems of initial-value partial differential equations

A general system of initial-value partial differential equations is classified into four categories based on the partial differential operators which define the equations. Specific combinations of the operators are termed “invariants” since they are common to all finite difference approximations to the system of equations. The “invariants” are used to a priori determine if one may formulate a stable difference approximation to a system of partial differential equations. This is in essence a numerical existence theory.     

An Initiator-Catalyst Approach to College Counseling Outreach

The authors discuss the evolution of approaches to college counseling outreach, and suggest that an initiator-catalyst approach makes the most sense in contemporary college counseling and mental health settings. A brief history of outreach models and approaches is presented along with an outline of and example of the initiator-catalyst approach. Topics related to this approach are also discussed: mass communications/technology, assessment, faculty, student, and staff change agents; and campus politics.     

The growing (but still limited) importance of evidence in education policy and practice

The last decade of education change has been characterized by the rise of evidence-based policy and practice agendas. Internationally, we are witnessing efforts to increase and incorporate research use in public services. This article examines efforts in education to address the research–practice gap through an emerging field we term knowledge mobilization (KM). We explore some of the controversy surrounding the use of ‘evidence’, outline national and international KM initiatives and consider some of the issues and challenges that arise from the increased interest in evidence and research use in education. We also assess the current state and desirable future directions of efforts to strengthen the role of research and evidence in education.     

Moving policy forward: ‘brain drain’ as a wicked problem

The mobility of scientists and the concerns surrounding ‘brain drain’ are not new. Even in the Ptolemic dynasty, the first king set out to attract and influence the movements of scholars to shift the centre of learning from Athens to Alexandria. Yet after all this time, there is still much policy discourse and debate focused on attempting to define, redefine and solve this ancient problem. I argue that the continuing circularity of the debate supports the proposition that the policy issue of brain drain would value from being reconceptualised as a ‘wicked problem’, in order to move policy forward. Drawing upon a historical documentary analysis of the issue from 1990 to 2007 and interviews with current policy‐makers, I propose that reconceptualising this issue will enable actors to collectively and explicitly recognise the fundamental and conflicting perspectives inherent in this social problem that cannot be resolved. This reconceptualisation provides a platform from which policy‐makers can pursue a range of policy responses, attentive to the different perspectives on this issue, rather than spend more time and resources in futilely attempting to achieve a single definitive position and policy response.     

Introducing the History of Science at the French Middle School

In scientific teaching, especially in physics and chemistry, some historical aspects have been introduced at the secondary level in France, since 1993. Particularly, in 2007, the syllabuses of 11′–15′ years old level (collège) propose precise activities in history of science and technology. Detailed guidance has been distributed in official ministerial literature. The invention of Volta’s battery in 1800 is one of the examples proposed, which is detailed here.     

Children’s Eyewitness Memory for Multiple Real‐Life Events

The present research examined the influence of prior knowledge on children’s free recall, cued recall, recognition memory, and source memory judgments for a series of similar real‐life events. Forty children (5–12 years old) attended 4 thematic birthday parties and were later interviewed about the events that transpired during the parties using the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development protocol. Of the events, half were generic in that they could have occurred at any birthday party, and half were specific to the theme of the party. Older children demonstrated more evidence of using gist‐based information to guide their memory performance than did younger children. However, younger children were able to use global gist to inform their source memory judgments, qualifying past word‐learning research.     

Trait Emotional Intelligence and Perceived Supervisory Working Alliance of Counseling Trainees and Their Supervisors in Agency Settings

The present study investigated the relationships between supervisee and supervisor trait emotional intelligence (EI) levels and their perception of the supervisory working alliance. Data were collected from 64 supervisor-supervisee dyads among masters-level community counseling internship students and their site supervisors. Findings indicated that supervisees and supervisors with higher levels of trait EI tended to perceive the supervisory working alliance more positively. However, findings did not support the presence of an interaction effect between supervisee and supervisor trait EI on either supervisees’ or supervisors’ perceptions of the working alliance. Implications of the findings and directions for future research are discussed.