Evaluating the Effectiveness of the National Literacy Strategy: Identifying indicators of success

In 1998, the Government introduced the National Literacy Strategy (NLS) in all primary schools in England in a bid to raise literacy standards. The first cohort of primary schools in the northern Local Education Authority ( n = 19) implemented the project in January 1997, the second cohort ( n = 20) began in September 1997. Each cohort consisted of three different year groups (Year 2, Year 4 and Year 6). The aim of this project was to focus upon exam results from these schools and thereby identify possible predictors of success (e.g. socio-economic status, age of pupils, teaching and learning style). We looked at differences within and between each cohort. We also carried out in-depth case studies of three northern schools. Each case-study involved interviews with key staff. The wider implications of the findings for the implementation of the NLS and for the training needs of teachers are considered.     

Kinematic analysis of the shot-put: A method of assessing the mechanical work of the hand action force

The aims of this study were to (1) propose a method for evaluating shot-putters mechanical power, (2) investigate the relationship between mechanical work of hand action force (W_HAF), peak power output (PPO) of different limbs and shot-put performance and (3) show which of these two parameters (W_HAF, PPO) were the most appropriate to characterize the explosive abilities of the shot-putter. Twelve junior right-handed shot-putters, practised glide technique shot-put throwers (personal best?=?13.57 ± 1.72 m), participated in this study. Arm and leg force-velocity tests were performed to measure PPO. Kinematic analysis was conducted during a shot-putting event in regular conditions to quantify the W_HAF at the release moment and shot-put performance. Significant correlations were found between absolute arm and leg PPO with upper and lower muscle volumes (r?=?.67; p?=?.03; r?=?.76; p?=?.01; r?=?.74, p?=?.01; r?=?.65, p?=?.04). Positive relationships were recorded between absolute arm and leg PPO and shot-put performance (r?=?.67, p?=?.02; r?=?.81, p?=?.004, respectively). Shot-put performance was also closely related to the W_HAF (r?=?.93, p?=?.0001) and release velocity parameter (r?=?.86, p?=?.001). The present results confirm that force-velocity test and W_HAF constitute useful tools for assessing mechanical power in throwing. The W_HAF could be considered as more suitable than force-velocity test.     

Balancing Head and Heart: The Importance of Relational Accountability in Community-University Partnerships

In this article we introduce a “head and heart” approach to community-engaged scholarship. Through the literatures of Aboriginal scholarship and engaged scholarship we reflect on a community-university research and program development project undertaken in response to health and education concerns of Aboriginal people in Canada. We suggest that the head and heart approach was crucial to the program’s success and provides access to an ethical space where multiple worldviews are recognized and where the importance of relational accountability becomes evident. We then examine the implications of this approach for engaged scholarship and higher education practices.     

The home front: citizens behind the camera

In the context of intense debate over immigration into the United States, the television show Border Wars offers a distinctive way for anxious citizens to participate in reinforcing the border. In the program, viewers are invited to share the lines of site of Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) agents as they conduct surveillance of unauthorized border crossers. Because Latino bodies are repeatedly displayed as the subjects of surveillance, the positions of viewer/citizen and viewed-non-citizen encourage racial alignments with the border. In the face of these alignments, the Latino CBP agents are made readable as bodies in transition toward citizenship due to their performance of surveillance practices against other Latinos. The article comments on the soldier citizen as positioned at the panoptic center of watching without being watched, which is less available to Latinos because their bodies circulate as signs of suspicion, which casts them disproportionately onto the surveillance screen. Practices of surveillance should be understood as performances because they reaffirm Americans of their citizenship status at a time of heightened paranoia over the loss of a stable identity.