African Americans’ Participation in a Comprehensive Intervention College Prep Program

The National Center for Educational Statistics, in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Education, compiles statistical data for U.S. schools. As charts indicate, in 2001, it reported that nationwide, 76% of high-income graduates immediately enroll in colleges or trade schools. However, only 49% of Hispanic and 59% of African Americans enroll immediately after graduating from high school. Research demonstrates that high academic achievers from low-income families are only one-fifth as likely to enroll in college as high achievers from high-income families (U.S. Department of Education, Center for Educational Statistics, 2001). This article is an examination of the components of a college prep program, GEAR-UP, which is a federally funded comprehensive intervention program to determine if African American participants improved predictors of achievement (PSAT, SAT, and GPA scores).     

Links between general and vocational education: Does the one enhance the other?

The answer is YES. The hallmark of successful schooling is the creation of portable skills and efficiency in future learning. This paper examines the linkages between and within levels of schooling, and between education in schools and apprenticeships and other forms of work-associated training. It shows that elementary schooling is of too great a vocational importance to risk feeding children vocationalism. School-work programmes are rarely effective pedagogy, but theory is an important element in apprenticeships. Quality counts heavily whatever the educational content and setting. And the general elements in skill development are critical for both individuals and societies in a world of change.

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Zusammenfassung Die Antwort auf die Frage, ob bei den bestehenden Verbindungen zwischen allgemeiner und berufsbezogener Bildung, die eine die andere verbessert, ist ja. Als Anzeichen für eine erfolgreiche Schulbildung gelten übertragbare Fähigkeiten sowie Effizienz beim späteren Lernen. In diesem Bericht werden die Verknüpfungen zwischen den und innerhalb der verschiedenen Schulebenen, zwischen Erziehung an Schulen und in der Lehre und anderen Formen von berufsbezogener Ausbildung untersucht. Es wird der Beweis erbracht, daß die Elementarschule von zu großer berufsorientierter Wichtigkeit ist, um das Risiko einzugehen, Kinder mit berufsbetonten Programmen zu überfrachten. Schulprogramme zur Berufsbildung sind nur selten pädagogisch wirksam, während die Theorie einen wichtigen Bestandteil der Lehre bildet. Der Qualität wird ein hoher Stellenwert beigemessen, unabhängig von dem erzieherischen Inhalt und dem Umfeld. Darüberhinaus sind allgemeine Elemente in der Entwicklung von Fähigkeiten für den Einzelnen als auch für ganze Gesellschaften in einer Welt, die sich im Wandel befindet, entscheidend.

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Résumé La réponse est oui. Une scolarité efficace est marquée par la transmission de compétences utiles et efficaces pour un apprentissage futur. Cet article examine les liens entre les niveaux de scolarité et au sein de ces niveaux, entre l'éducation dispensée par les écoles et un apprentissage ou d'autres types de formations axées sur le travail. Il montre que l'enseignement élémentaire est d'une importance trop grande pour la formation professionnelle pour risquer de surcharger le programme des enfants d'éléments professionels. Les programmes scolaires à vocation professionnelle sont rarement efficaces pédagogiquement, alors que la théorie constitue un élément capital dans un apprentissage. La qualité compte considérablement quels que soient les structures et les contenus éducatifs. En outre, les éléments généraux du développement technique sont cruciaux pour les individus et les sociétés d'un monde en mutation.

     

FACULTY ATTITUDES TOWARD THE MIXED‐AGE COLLEGE CLASSROOM

With the number of nontraditional students on college campuses continuing to increase, college educators need to become aware of issues regarding the mixed‐age classroom. Part of this awareness should be an understanding of how faculty perceive different‐aged students and their mixed‐age classroom experiences. Through telephone interviews with approximately 100 faculty, we investigate attitudes about the professor‐student relationship, views toward teaching in a mixed‐age classroom, and beliefs about both older and younger students.     

Caesars and Rubicon: the hesitations of French policymakers in identifying a Third Way in education and training

This paper examines the decisions made by French policymakers at a time when France was uncertain about which option to take. The purpose is to follow how actors chart their own course in an environment with plural justifications and how they mobilise resources in several spheres to set up ever‐changing networks. The investigation will bear on all levels of education, including lifelong learning as France has adopted this European recommendation. The analysis will be divided into three parts after an overview of Third Way opportunities in France over the whole period considered. The false continuation between the focus on localism and the autonomy of schools will first be explored. The second part will address the true break with the school model of the first modernity: the ideal of equal opportunities, public confidence in the state, and separation between schooling and common social life. In a third part, the analysis will be focused on the current difficulties faced by policymakers to make decisions in an environment with plural justifications.     

Assessment matters: Making assessment easier with the Organizational Effectiveness Model

Savannah C. Heilman and Lance Kennedy‐Phillips describe a comprehensive, step‐by‐step, mixed‐methods assessment model.     

The interrelationship of job satisfaction and similarity in philosophic view within academic departments

This study used a questionnaire to determine the effect on job satisfaction of the similarity in philosophic view between faculty members (N=198) and their department chairperson (N=30) in four-year colleges and universities in the Midwest. On the basis of the data collected in this study no relationship was found between level of job satisfaction and similarity in philosophic view between the faculty members and the department chairperson of an academic department.