QUALIFYING MY FAITH IN THE COMMON SCHOOL IDEAL: A NORMATIVE FRAMEWORK FOR DEMOCRATIC JUSTICE

In this essay, Kathleen Knight Abowitz makes the case that charter schooling can enable multiple publics to develop and create educational visions. Charter schooling policies can enable these publics to pursue these visions and agendas on behalf of both public and common educational goals as well as goals associated with particular identities and interests. This vision of a plural public sphere, with its movement away from purely state‐run traditional public schools, challenges the common school ideal that has been part of the Western nation‐state narrative for several centuries. Yet the common school ideal need not focus on one particular kind of school structure; rather, the ideal represents a moral claim: that schools receiving public funds should provide participatory parity to all students, achieved through educational structures and curriculum shaped by principles of democratic justice. Participatory parity and its guiding normative principles, Knight Abowitz concludes, help to qualify and clarify our faith in the common school ideal shaped for a new era.     

Will IR Staff Stick? An Exploration of Institutional Researchers’ Intention to Remain in or Leave Their Jobs

The study explored the factors that relate to the likelihood of institutional researchers (IRs) to plan to leave their jobs. Learning more about the effects on IR job turnover can serve to improve the employment experience of IR practitioners, the profession of IR, and, indirectly, higher education. 1,264 IRs responded to a national survey comprised of antecedents of intention to quit one’s job that had a high degree of construct validity within job turnover theories. Data were tested against a theoretical model developed from the Industrial-Organizational Psychology and IR literature. Perceived organizational support was the strongest predictor of intent to quit. Burnout, lack of advancement opportunities, lack of rewards and recognition, job embeddedness, and available job alternatives also affect IRs intention to quit. Suggestions for supporting IRs and elevating the role of IR on campuses are included.     

An examination of freshmen to senior general education gains across a national sample of institutions with different general education requirements using a mixed-effect structural equation model

This study investigated differences in freshmen to senior student general education gains across institutions with varying patterns of general education requirements using a mixed-effect structural equation model. The subjects were 6,409 students at 34 nation-wide colleges and universities. Students attending institutions where less than 40 percent of undergraduate curricular requirements were devoted to general education and where there was not equal distribution of general education courses within the requirement were found to have significantly higher general education gains than did students who attended institutions where 40 percent or more of the undergraduate curriculum was devoted to general education and there was equal distribution of courses within the general education requirement.Presented at the Association for Institutional Research Annual Forum, Atlanta, Georgia, May 10–13, 1992.     

Relationship between perceived and observed student-centred learning environments in Qatari elementary mathematics and science classrooms

Recently, Qatar established educational reform in charter (independent) schools focusing on curriculum standards, student-centred teaching, standards-based assessment, English as the language of instruction, and extensive professional development. A primary area of emphasis was the creation of student-centred mathematics and science classrooms characterised by inquiry and active student participation. The purpose of this study was to investigate differences in the learning environments of Qatari mathematics and science classrooms at two levels: in higher- and lower-performing Qatari schools implementing the recent Education for a New Era reform elements; and in classes of teachers who experienced professional development focused on student-centred teaching strategies and those who did not. Participants included teachers and students in 47 grade 3 and 4 mathematics and science classrooms. Classroom observations were conducted and student learning environment surveys were administered at the beginning and end of the semester. Results indicated low levels of student-centred instruction, despite significant improvement over time. Few differences by level of school performance or professional development participation existed. However, Personalisation emerged as a key learning environment variable related to teachers’ implementation of student-centred instruction.     

Articulating injustice: an exploration of young people’s experiences of participation in a conflict transformation programme that utilises the arts as a form of dialogue

This paper reflects on a study that explores young people’s engagement with the Art: a Resource for Reconciliation Over the World (ARROW) programme. The programme utilises the arts to promote critical dialogue amongst young people growing up in divided communities around the world. Dialogue has been criticised for its inability to tackle structural inequalities and for failing to include multiple voices and perspectives due to dominant languages and agendas. However, dialogue has also been heralded for its potential to promote democracy and resist narratives of discrimination that contribute to intercultural conflict. This paper focuses on the voices of young people involved in the Plymouth UK ARROW youth group. It proposes that arts approaches can complement verbal dialogue through their ability to transcend verbal language barriers, allow previously silenced narratives to be articulated and encourage people to think critically about themselves, humanity and the world.     

Motivational predictors of successful transition from grades 11 to 12 in South Africa

A relatively large number of South African learners drop out of school during the last 2 years of high school. This has important negative consequences for the individual learners, as well as for the country as a whole since it contributes greatly to the high number of unskilled and unemployed people. This study was carried out to explore whether, aside from gender and school environment, learners’ motivation can serve as a predictor of the (un)successful transition of learners from grades 11 to 12 in South Africa. A total of 1,355 grade 11 learners from previously advantaged, transition, and previously disadvantaged school environments in the Free State’s Motheo district participated in the study. Self-determination theory and general theories of learner motivation were used as the underlying theoretical basis for the selection of the predictors. Results showed that the number of unsuccessful learners was much higher among boys and in previously disadvantaged schools. We did not find the importance attached to intrinsic and extrinsic goals to predict the (un)successful transition. We did, however, find that successful transition is associated with higher levels of learner motivation, a more positive attitude towards learning and lower levels of educational anxiety. Finally, in comparison with their unsuccessful peers, learners who were successful in the transition to grade 12 were significantly more autonomously motivated and showed significantly less controlled motivation.     

Framing sweatshops: Nike,global production,and the American news media

This study examines US newspaper coverage of sweatshops, focusing on the case study of Nike (1995–2000) and asking how the coverage was structured, how sweatshops were problematized, and how they were explained. We find that while activists established a measure of definitional control over the coverage, it tended to concentrate on solutions rather than causes, and the source of the problem tended to be rooted in the agency of consumers rather than producers. This has implications for explaining how social, political, and cultural issues are transformed into essentially economic problems.     

“Re-acculturation” through Community-Based Religious Education

Reflective engagement in reciprocal community partnerships holds tremendous potential for guiding members of congregations through the process of “re-acculturation.” One of the “best practices” named in research about community-engaged learning for undergraduates is “re-acculturation”—an ongoing process of critical reflection about one's own cultural formation and the cultural realities of people one encounters through community partnerships. Only through this kind of honest critical reflection can people develop friendships of true mutuality and reciprocity. Religious education should include biblical, ethical, and theological reflection, combined with historical and cultural research about ethnic, economic, and religious diversity in relation to particular congregation–community partnerships.