THE WINNING WAYS OF A LOSING STRATEGY: EDUCATIONALIZING SOCIAL PROBLEMS IN THE UNITED STATES

Abstract In this essay, David Labaree examines the paradox of educationalization in the American context. He argues that, like most modern Western societies, the United States has displayed a strong tendency over the years for educationalizing social problems, even though schools have repeatedly proven that they are an ineffective mechanism for solving these problems. He starts by examining the ways in which the process of educationalizing social problems is deeply grounded in American beliefs, social processes, political and organizational tensions, and structural possibilities. These include utility, individualism, optimism, professional interest, political interest, political opportunity, structural limits, and formalism. Then Labaree examines the roots of education’s failure in the role of social reform agent. Finally, he closes with an analysis of why we continue to pursue educationalization in the face of its ineffectiveness.     

Does life satisfaction predict victimization experiences in adolescence?

Longitudinal relationships between adolescents' life satisfaction and peer victimization and prosocial experiences were assessed. A total of 417 students in Grades 6–8 completed the Multidimensional Students' Life Satisfaction Scale (MSLSS: Huebner, 1994) and the Children's Social Experience Questionnaire – Self Report (SEQ‐SR: Crick & Grotpeter, 1996) on two occasions (Time 1 and Time 2), 1 year apart. The results revealed that Time 1 life satisfaction scores did not add to the prediction of Time 2 overt victimization scores but did add to the prediction of Time 2 relational victimization scores and prosocial experiences. Additionally, Time 1 overt victimization, relational victimization, and prosocial experiences did not significantly add to the prediction of Time 2 general life satisfaction. However, the predictive equations for Time 1 relational victimization and prosocial experiences approached significance, suggesting the possibility of bidirectional effects between life satisfaction and relational victimization and prosocial peer experiences. Most interestingly, lower levels of life satisfaction appeared to be a newly identified risk factor for two qualitatively distinct types of adverse peer relationships (relational victimization and lack of prosocial experiences). © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Teacher support,student motivation,student need satisfaction,and college teacher course evaluations: testing a sequential path model

Self‐determination theory posits that individuals who have basic psychological needs satisfied while engaging in an activity will be more likely to value and persist in that activity. Scholars in this area have also posited that autonomy‐supportive social contexts are top‐down determinants of individual need satisfaction. To understand better the progression from social to motivational to outcome variables, we tested a four‐step path model within a classroom setting. Data were collected from 220 students in an introductory journalism course, which was subdivided into 14 lab sections. Students were surveyed regarding their feelings about the course, the autonomy support of the instructor, the motivation they felt to engage in the course, and the levels of need satisfaction they experienced. Theoretically‐guided structural equation modeling produced a best‐fitting model in which teacher autonomy support predicted more self‐determined student motivation, which along with teacher autonomy support predicted greater student psychological need satisfaction, which led finally to higher predicted course grades and higher teacher‐course evaluations. Overall, the results replicate and significantly extend previous findings regarding need satisfaction and teacher‐course evaluations. Implications for pedagogy and educational interventions are discussed.     

Relationships between student characteristics and self‐, peer and tutor evaluations of oral presentations

There are many influences on how assessors grade themselves and others. Oral presentations are useful for exploring such factors in peer, self‐ and tutor marked assessments, being rapidly completed and assessed, commonly used in HE and very difficult to anonymize. This opportunistic study examined the effects of gender and level of attainment on the triangulation of marks awarded to student presenters. Grades generated by peer assessment were associated more strongly with tutor‐awarded marks than those from self‐assessment. For self‐assessment there was a strong effect of gender (female students undervalued their performance compared with tutor grades). Peer assessment produced higher marks than from tutors, perhaps because of the close‐knit community developed during residential courses. For tutor marks, the greatest variability was at the lower end of the scale, whereas peer assessors were most variable when marking students who self‐evaluated or peer assessed highly. Students awarded a narrower range of marks to peers compared with tutors, but when self‐assessing used a larger range. Presentations by students who admitted to little sleep the night before received lower grades from both peers and tutors, but this was not reflected by self‐assessments, suggesting they were unaware of their poorer performances. Sessions with fewer talks (four rather than seven) reduced the ‘dip’ in marks previously observed in the middle of sessions. Findings are discussed in the context of bias in this mode of assessment.     

Double your major,double your return?

We use the 2003 National Survey of College Graduates to provide the first estimates of the effect on earnings of having a double major. Overall, double majoring increases earnings by 2.3% relative to having a single major among college graduates without graduate degrees. Most of the gains from having a double major come from choosing fields across two different major categories. Graduates who combine an arts, humanities or social science major with a major in business, engineering, science or math have returns 7–50% higher than graduates with a single major in arts, humanities or social science. But such double major combinations have returns no higher than single majors in business, engineering, science or math. Majors combining business and science or math have returns more than 50% greater than the returns to having a single major in these fields.     

The Effects of Discipline on Deep Approaches to Student Learning and College Outcomes

“Deep learning” represents student engagement in approaches to learning that emphasize integration, synthesis, and reflection. Because learning is a shared responsibility between students and faculty, it is important to determine whether faculty members emphasize deep approaches to learning and to assess how much students employ these approaches. This study examines the effect of discipline on student use of and faculty members’ emphasis on deep approaches to learning as well as on the relationships between deep approaches to learning and selected educational outcomes. Using data from over 80,000 seniors and 10,000 faculty members we found that deep approaches to learning were more prevalent in Biglan’s soft, pure, and life fields compared to their counterparts. The differences were largest between soft and hard fields. We also found that seniors who engage more frequently in deep learning behaviors report greater educational gains, higher grades, and greater satisfaction with college, and that the strength of these relationships is relatively consistent across disciplinary categories.     

A Hong Kong case of lesson study—Benefits and concerns

In recent years, there has been a feeling that effective teachers can be fostered by grounding professional development in actual classroom practice. This paper reports how a group of teachers adopted a lesson study approach and worked collaboratively so as to improve their class instruction on wh-question formation. Teachers’ reflections indicate that the collaborative environment throughout the study enabled them to gain insights into how to improve their teaching strategies. Also identified are some of the problems faced by teachers, which may undermine the gains of lesson study.     

Benchlearning – an action research program for transforming leadership and school practices

ABSTRACT

In this paper, we investigate how a Benchlearning program for principals in Norway and Sweden supports changes in Norwegian principals’ leadership practices. The program design builds on principles for practical action research. The aim of the program was to inspire changes in the principals’ leadership practices that encourage innovative school practices. The program includes learning modes such as theoretical inputs, sharing experiences, school visits, training, and trialling of new leadership practices. Drawing on data from participants’ reflections on their learning and changes in their leadership practices, we identify transformations that have been realized and the ways in which the Benchlearning program has supported the transformations. The findings indicate that the program can be seen as a systematic and disciplined process, a ‘meta-practice’, that supports changes in the principals’ leadership practices, their understandings, and the conditions of their practice. More specifically, the findings show that the theoretical inputs and practical learning modes stimulated transformations of the principals’ thinking about leadership practices, what they do in practice and how they relate to others. In particular, the study suggests that the principals’ active participation in trialling new leadership practices in their own schools stimulated transformations.     

Modelling impact of dredging and dumping in ebb-flood channel systems

For a channel-shoal system in a funnel-shaped basin the impact of dredging and dumping is investigated using a complex process-based model. First, the residual flow and sediment transport circulations are analysed for the channel-shoal pattern, which has emerged after a long-term model simulation. Results are compared to the Western Scheldt estuary, which forms the inspiration for this study. Subsequently, different dredge and dump scenarios are modelled, according to a conceptual model, in which ebb-and flood-channels and enclosed shoals form morphodynamic units (cells) with their own sediment circulation. Model results show that dumping sediment in a channel further reduces the channel depth and induces erosion in the opposite channel, which enhances tilting of the cross-section of the cell and eventually can lead to the degeneration of a multiple channel system into a single channel. The impact of different dredging and dumping cases agrees with results from a stability analysis. This means that this type of model applied to a realistic geometry can potentially be used for better prediction of the impact of human interventions.     

The chimera of the competency-based approach to teaching mathematics: a study of carpentry purchases for home projects

Educational Studies in Mathematics - The competency-based approach conceives mathematics as a necessary tool for dealing with daily-life tasks. Many studies have focused on examining the low math...