A review of politics of education in the 'moment of 1976'

James Callaghan's 1976 Ruskin Speech is often presented as denoting the end of consensual policy-making in education and a profigurement of Thatcherite educational policies. This paper considers the validity of visualising 1976 as a foothill of New Right thinking about education and expresses some skepticism about interpretations which neglect subterranean politics.     

The Tensions Between Shared Governance and Advancing Educational Equity

This article examines the relationship between shared governance and one school district’s (in)ability to advance educational equity. Specifically, we consider the district’s policies, discourse, and practice around equity within the context of site-based management and shared decision making. We suggest that if equity is indeed a major district responsibility, then it seems inconsistent to leave equity at the mercy of shared governance and occasional externally-imposed mandates because most individual school leaders and educators are not currently taking up this agenda or implementing changes that would result in equitable education. Thus, our work suggests that progress toward educational equity may best be achieved through top-down, directive leadership in districts.     

Effect of foster care on young children's language learning

This report examines 174 young children's language outcomes in the Bucharest Early Intervention Project, the first randomized trial of foster placement after institutional care. Age of foster placement was highly correlated with language outcomes. Placement by 15 months led to similar expressive and receptive language test scores as typical age peers at 30 and 42 months. Placement from 15 to 24 months also led to dramatic language improvement. In contrast, children placed after 24 months had the same severe language delays as children in institutional care. Language samples at 42 months confirmed that placement after 24 months led to lower expressive skill.     

V. THE NEUROBIOLOGICAL TOLL OF EARLY HUMAN DEPRIVATION

Children raised in institutions frequently suffer from a variety of behavioral, emotional, and neuropsychological sequelae, including deficits in attention, executive functions, disorders of attachment, and in some cases a syndrome that mimics autism. The extent and severity of these disorders appear to be mediated, in part, by the age at which the child entered and, in some cases, left the institution. Here we review the neurobiological literature on early institutionalization that may account for the psychological and neurological sequelae discussed in other chapters in this volume.     

Teaching Science Inquiry in Urban Contexts: The Role of Elementary Preservice Teachers’ Beliefs

This paper reports on a study of elementary preservice teachers’ inquiry-based practices, their efficacy beliefs, and the role beliefs had on two preservice teachers’ practices in urban classrooms. Results show inquiry-based practices can be cultivated through field-based experiences and preservice teachers’ efficacy beliefs, as it relates to practice in urban settings, are malleable. Specifically, personal efficacy beliefs about teaching science improved or were sustained for one cohort of preservice teachers. However, beliefs about students’ ability to learn science, that is outcome beliefs, were less stable. The results of two case studies show that science content knowledge was a factor in preservice teachers’ inquiry-based practices. However, why preservice teachers’ beliefs about student learning declined is less clear. More research is needed, along with follow-up data on teacher induction, to learn how preservice teachers’ beliefs impact urban students’ science education.     

Polymer Materials

Since the second half of the 20th century, polymer materials have already become an essential part of our daily life. The use of polymeric materials has already exceeded that of metals and ceramics in terms of volume and is intimately connected