Preparing Teachers for Diversity: Examination of Teacher Certification and Program Accreditation Standards in the 50 States and Washington,DC

State departments of education can play an important role in preparing teachers for effectively teaching diverse learners in our schools through state policies and standards on teacher certification and teacher education program accreditation. We conducted a content analysis of state standards on teacher certification and program accreditation in the 50 states and the District of Columbia to understand the type and characteristics of diversity-related requirements. We found that while all states addressed diversity in their standards, the type and characteristics of requirements varied across the states. The diversity requirements are ambiguous in most states, and only a small number of states utilize a “social reconstructionist” approach that focuses on preparing teachers to identify social inequality and take an active role to achieve educational and social equity.     

The Incomplete Subject of Colonial Memory: Puerto Rico and the Post/Colonial Biopolitics of Congressional Recollection

Congressional discourse on Puerto Rican self-determination is a memorial narrative that, although on its face an attempt at decolonization, constitutes Puerto Ricans as incomplete colonial subjects, reinscribes and normalizes the U.S.-Puerto Rico relationship along the axis of a flexible colonialism, and reveals the way in which Puerto Rico, as colony, is remembered in the “post/colony” envisioned by the United States.     

Nice vs. Necessary: Reference Collections in ARL Member Libraries

This study assesses the reference collection management practices and strategies used in the reference departments of academic members of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL). Librarians who participate in the management of the humanities and social science reference collections within ARL member libraries responded to an online survey about collection development policies, acquisition processes, collection use, weeding, and marketing of their reference collections. The results of this survey suggest that a large percentage of academic ARL member libraries are weeding their collections regularly, measuring use of the print and electronic reference collection, and moving decidedly toward electronic reference materials.     

A Cross-National Study of Computer News Sites: Global News,Local Sites

The Internet is not only an object of and a tool for study; it is also both simultaneously global and local. In order to address how global and how local it is, this study compares the news content of 1 week from four different computer news web sites in four different countries (using four different languages). These sites use the same code base and all strive to be the same in terms of computer culture. They are global in their reach and in the news they cover, yet they are all local in terms of language and geography. They are ideal locales to study how forces of the global and the local play out on the highly connected Internet, using Google language tools for translation. Findings were surprising in that they showed very little in terms of a pattern of any sort. This is similar to a 1953 UNESCO study of newspapers, but strange in that given the passing of 50 years and the connectedness of the Internet, greater overlap was expected. Link destinations for stories that were on more than one site were also examined, and the Japanese site had more in common with the American site while the two European sites were more alike in this lens. This is also surprising, given that an East/West split was expected. Little work in this specific area was found, and this study highlights some of the questions and methodological difficulties that need to be addressed.     

The direct and indirect effects of word reading and vocabulary on adolescents’ reading comprehension: Comparing struggling and adequate comprehenders

The current study examined statistically significant differences between struggling and adequate readers using a multicomponent model of reading comprehension in 796 sixth through eighth graders, with a primary focus on word reading and vocabulary. Path analyses and Wald tests were used to investigate the direct and indirect relations of word identification, vocabulary, silent reading efficiency, and inference-making on reading comprehension. Comparing struggling versus adequate comprehenders revealed statistically significant differences in path coefficients. In both groups, vocabulary had the largest total effect when considering its direct and indirect effects. Word identification was the strongest direct predictor for struggling comprehenders (β = .18 for struggling vs. β = ? .03 for adequate), while vocabulary was the strongest predictor for adequate comprehenders (β = .40 for adequate vs. β = .14 for struggling). Findings reinforce (a) vocabulary knowledge plays a primary role in explaining individual differences in adolescent reading comprehension, (b) the need to differentiate intervention to address underlying difficulties of struggling readers, and (c) the relations of reading component skills (e.g., word reading and silent reading efficiency) to reading comprehension may be different based on reader proficiency.     

Parents,quality, and school choice: why parents in Nairobi choose low-cost private schools over public schools in Kenya’s free primary education era

Low-cost private schools (LCPS) are widespread in Kenya, particularly in urban areas. This study examines the reasons that parents send children to fee-charging schools in a context of free public primary education. Drawing on parent survey and interview data, as well as interviews with national policy makers, we found that parents who chose LCPS for their children were more driven by quality concerns than were public school parents. We also present data on the costs of the school types, compared to household income. Despite being termed ‘low cost’, the fees charged by schools primarily serving the poor were often a heavy burden on families. We conclude with recommendations for maximising the impact of LCPS on educational access and quality.     

Distance higher education for women in Saudi Arabia: Present and proposed

This paper describes the recent history of distance higher education in Saudi Arabia with particular reference to the education of women. It compares the contribution to external study for women of the General Presidency of Girls' Education (GPGE) with the introduction of intisab (a system which allows individuals to pursue higher education without attending lectures) in three universities founded for men. It records the growing numbers of women wishing to enter higher education and the withdrawal of intisab from two universities in Riyadh. It identifies the limitations placed on women's higher education as compared with men's and notes the generally conservative attitudes to the role of women found in Saudi Arabia. It oudines discussions over the last 15 years, concerning an Arab open university, which have yet to result in action. Finally, it reports a recent survey which reveals strong support for an open university for women in Saudi Arabia. Such an institution would gready increase access for women to higher education while, at the same time, be compatible with Islamic custom concerning the segregation of the sexes and a woman's primary role as wife and mother.     

Exam Scams and Classroom Flimflams: Urban Legends as an Alternative Lens for Viewing the College Classroom Experience

Campus-based urban legends have the potential to convey and construct student culture in higher education. Basic qualitative and humanistic research methods were used to collect, analyze, and interpret legends related to the academic experience of collegiate life.