An Inquiry Into the Development of Teacher Identities in STEM Career Changers

National shortages of math and science teachers have led to a variety of strategies and programs to attract second career professionals into teaching. This qualitative study explores the development of professional teaching identities in six STEM career changers in a post-baccalaureate pre-service teacher credential program in California. Findings suggest the career changers relied upon skills developed in their previous careers to navigate through a new profession; however, returning to the life of a student again was difficult. Additionally, the career changers in this study valued interacting with their traditional aged peers in the program as these relationships were beneficial to their own socialization into teaching as they developed their teacher identities.     

One-Stop Shopping: Merging Service Points in a University Library

ABSTRACT

As libraries change to meet the evolving needs of our patrons, including the development of online services, many libraries are considering consolidating physical service points to maximize staff and better serve the in-house patron. This article describes the planning, implementation, and evaluation process involved in merging the circulation and reference desks at the University of New Orleans Library. The cross-training process is described in detail, and benefits as well as problems experienced are outlined. The authors also provide advice for those considering a merge at their library.     

Early Warning Signs of Functional Illiteracy: Predictors in Childhood and Adolescence

Early childhood, middle childhood, and early adolescence determinants of functional literacy in adulthood are investigated, using 20-year longitudinal data from a sample of black children of teenaged mothers from the Baltimore metropolitan area. Document literacy was assessed by a test that consisted of a subset of items of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) adult literacy test. The Baltimore sample is compared to the NAEP sample. Family environmental factors, early childhood developmental level, and educational career factors were considered as predictors of young adulthood literacy. Preschool cognitive and behavioral functioning is highly predictive of literacy in young adulthood, even when the effects of family environmental characteristics, including living arrangements, the quality of the home environment, maternal education, and income, are controlled. Grade failure in elementary school is also associated with literacy, but this effect disappears when the measure of preschool abilities is controlled. Family environmental factors that are predictive of literacy include maternal education, family size in early childhood, maternal marital status, and income in middle childhood and early adolescence. Policy implications of these findings are discussed.     

Mass Communication

Pearl Aldrich's The Impact of Mass Media (Rochelle Park, N.J.: Hayden Book Co., 1975—$7.99/4.75)

Alan Wells' Mass Media and Society (Palo Alto, Calif: Mayfield Publishing, 1975—price not given, paper)

Harry M. Clor (ed.) The Mass Media and Modern Democracy (Chicago: Rand McNally College Publishing Co., 1974—price not given, paper)

Joan Valdes and Jeanne Crow (eds.) The Media Reader (Dayton, Ohio: Pflaum, 1975—$11.95/7.95 with lower net costs to schools–and a teacher's guide available for $2.95, paper).

James F. Evans and Rodolfo N. Salcedo's Communications in Agriculture: The American Farm Press (Ames: Iowa State University Press 1974—price not given, paper)

Suzanne rallies' Science Fiction Primer for Teachers (Dayton, Ohio: Pflaum, 1974– $5.95, paper).

Francesco M Nicosia's Advertising, Management and Society: A Business Point of View (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1974— $10.95 with paperback available as well)     

THE AGING POPULATION AS A CHALLENGE FOR THE HELPING PROFESSIONS: SOME OBSERVATIONS ON A RECENT CONTINUING EDUCATION PROGRAM

This article reviews a recent continuing education program held at the University of Western Australia, Perth. The program addressed some of the crucial issues facing professionals in the field of aged services and comprised a one‐day seminar and a series of workshops. It was hosted by the Department of Social Work and Social Administration over a six‐week period and examined a wide range of issues in gerontological social work practice.     

The Rural School Leadership Dilemma

The idea that rural schools and communities, indeed, even rural people, are somehow substandard or second-class has deep historical roots. The goal of this essay is to reveal that history so as to render stereotypical conceptions all things rural less powerful and more easily dismissed by rural school professionals. Consequently the focus is on one dilemma every rural school leader faces: when to speak up in the face of rural denigration.     

ANNOUNCEMENTS

The authors report on a survey of services and supports provided to students with disabilities at 28 community colleges and 39 area vocational technical centers in Florida. Supports were classified into 7 categories: counseling services, equipment supports, campus environment, student‐centered supports, developmental labs, program or course flexibility, and unique programs.     

Intensive Interventions in Reading for Students with Reading Disabilities: Meaningful Impacts

We use three data sources to build a rationale for why intensive interventions are necessary for students with pervasive reading disabilities: current data on the performance of students with disabilities on reading achievement measures over time, observation studies on students with reading disabilities in general and special education classrooms, and findings from intensive intervention studies for students with reading disabilities. Results of these data sources indicate that students with disabilities are not making progress in reading at the same rate as students without disabilities, reading instruction for students with reading disabilities is comprised of excessive amounts of low level tasks, and findings from intensive intervention studies suggest positive impacts for students with reading disabilities. We argue that students with reading disabilities require ongoing intensive interventions that are likely to require schools to change the contexts and practices for these students.