Education and Social Cohesion: Recentering the Debate

Social capital theory has tended to treat social cohesion as a mere aggregation of individual and community-level characteristics, ignoring the long tradition of theory on social solidarity and social cohesion at the societal level. However, the key indicators of social capital-associational membership and social trust-do not covary cross-nationally, and societies rich in community-level social capital are not always cohesive societies. Social capital and societal cohesion are not necessarily the same thing, and education may have different effects on each. This article seeks to put the analysis of education and societal cohesion back in the center of the picture. We do this first through a critical review of some of the existing literature on education and social capital, which points to the limitations of individual-level analysis of what are fundamentally societal issues. Second, we outline some alternative models for understanding how education influences social cohesion in different societies, drawing on an analysis of some of the aggregated cross-national data on skills, income distribution, and various indicators of social cohesion. The argument suggests some causal mechanisms for the social impacts of education that are quite different from those that normally underpin arguments about human and social capital.     

Designing Rural School Improvement Networks: Aspirations and Actualities

Rural school educators are often isolated and have few opportunities to learn from neighboring schools or colleagues. This is an especially daunting challenge for low-performing rural schools faced with implementing significant reform efforts (e.g., turnaround approaches, educator effectiveness systems, college- and career-ready standards and assessments). This paper discusses the design and start-up of a large-scale project to connect “like with like” rural and remote schools within the northwest region of the United States to identify and share promising and innovative school reform practices. The authors present a network design framework based on previous work supporting and studying similar educational networks for innovation and improvement in the United States and beyond. They also present lessons learned about designing and launching a network that others might consider when initiating a school improvement network.     

Leadership Succession

One of the most significant events in the life of a school is a change in its leadership. Yet few things in education succeed less than leadership succession. Failure to care for leadership succession is sometimes a result of manipulation or self-centeredness; but more often it is oversight, neglect, or the pressures of crisis management that are to blame.     

The use of cross-curricular activity on interactive playgrounds to supplement school-based physical activity: an exploratory study

Childhood obesity and physical inactivity are serious threats to the health and wellness of our schoolchildren. Research has shown that play and physical activity are important in development, behaviour and academic achievement. Through the efforts of coordinated school health program and a Physical Education for Progress grant, a county school system in a southern state was able to construct multiple innovative playground systems at schools and combine them with various academic units in a cross-curricular effort to address the wellness needs of students. Exploratory research using pedometers, accelerometers and an observation method examined physical activity intensity levels during cross-curricular sessions. Results indicated that this type of physical activity might be a viable supplement to daily school-based physical activity needs.     

A need to belong? The prevalence of experiences of belonging and exclusion in school among minority ethnic children living in the ‘White hinterlands’

Based on a survey of 711 children in Northern Ireland, this paper explores a range of aspects of experiences of belonging and exclusion in relation to school among three main minority ethnic groups: Irish Traveller, Chinese/Asian and European Migrant children. The study examines variations between each group and how they compare to the White settled population. The findings indicate that all three groups experience lower levels of belonging and higher levels of exclusion compared to their White, settled Northern Irish peers. The experiences of Irish Traveller children were the most negative. The article adds to the dearth of data on minority ethnic children living in mainly white regions in the UK and Ireland. It argues for the need to move beyond achievement gaps in assessing minority ethnic children's differential experiences in education and highlights the potential of belongingness as a concept for the further study of differential patterns of need and processes of inclusion.     

Transition phase clothing strategies and their effect on body temperature and 100-m swimming performance

Objective: Effective warm-ups are attributed to several temperature-related mechanisms. Strategies during the transition phase, preceding swimming competition, have been shown to prolong temperature-related warm-up effects. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of two different clothing strategies during the transition phase, on subsequent 100-m maximal swimming performance. Methods: Nine competitive swimmers (3 female, 21?±?3?yrs; 6 male 20?±?2?yrs, mean performance standard 702 FINA Points, mean 100-m seasons best time 61.54?s) completed their own 30-min individual pool warm-up, followed by 7-min changing time and a 30-min transition phase, straight into a 100-m maximal effort time-trial. During the transition phase, swimmers remained seated, either wearing warm or limited clothing. Swimmers returned 1 week later, where clothing conditions were alternated. Results: Post-transition phase skin and core temperature remained higher in the warm clothing condition compared to the limited clothing condition (Mean Core: 36.90?±?0.17°C, 36.61?±?0.15°C, P?P?P?Conclusion: Wearing warm clothing during a 30-min transition phase improved swimming performance by 0.6%, compared to limited clothing.     

在路上：Print＇09媒体日

2009年9月11-16日,备受业界瞩目的Print’09美国国际印刷展览会将在美国芝加哥麦考密克展览中心举行。2009年6月15～16日,世界知名印刷媒体0utputLinks以及GCW（Graphic Communications Worlds）所有者Andy和Julie出席了在美国芝加哥举办的Print’09媒体日活动。他们将在此向大家分享其所见所闻,并向读者提前播报Print’09上的新技术、新产品。     

Achieving results with a performance‐centered design framework

Working with clients to deliver solutions provides ample opportunity for success as well as failure. This article focuses on how to address three shortcomings that often contribute to performance solutions missing the mark. These shortcomings include (a) the framework used to view, discuss, and analyze performance is too narrow; (b) performance solutions do not address the ineffective habits of performers; and (c) the important process step of design is often improperly defined or even ignored.