Hope,Friends, and Subjective Well‐Being: A Social Network Approach to Peer Group Contextual Effects

Research on adolescence has previously shown that factors like depression and burnout are influenced by friendship groups. Little research, however, has considered whether similar effects are present for variables such as hope and subjective well‐being. Furthermore, there is no research that considers whether the degree of hope of an adolescent's friends is associated with well‐being over the individual's level of hope. Data were collected in 2012 from a sample of 15‐year‐olds (N = 1,972; 62% Caucasian; 46% identified as Catholic; 25% had professional parents) from the East Coast of Australia. Findings suggest that individuals from the same friendship group were somewhat similar in hope and well‐being. Multilevel structural equation modeling indicated that friendship group hope was significantly related to psychological and social well‐being.     

The best for our youngest: A separate,vital, stand‐alone early childhood certification,birth ‐ age 8

Abstract

The call for educational reform is loud. Concern about the quality of students being graduated from public high schools, large numbers of students dropping out before graduation, and poor results on achievement tests in the lower grades continues to grow. As the public seeks an end to such problems, policy makers react by raising standards and making exams tougher. Such solutions may have positive impact; however, early childhood professionals are anxious about such a response. Research tells us experiences in the earliest years create a pathway for all later learning. Further, we know that adults who help provide those early experiences must be prepared to focus on the specific developmental and academic needs of young learners. Research confirms the cost effectiveness of quality early programs, and students affirm the need for teacher preparation to be focused specifically on their needs. Offering stand‐alone teacher certification for birth ‐ age 8 will insure that teachers exist who can effectively build a solid foundation for young students. © 2001 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.     

Academics' perceptions of their professional development needs related to leadership and management: What can we learn?

Enquiries into the governance, structure and management of higher education institutions across the globe have stimulated changes to the legislative and policy frameworks within which universities operate and to their organizational structures and processes. These changes have subsequently brought into question the proper role of academics in relation to the leadership and management of their departments/institutions. While mainstream academic staff conceive of academic leadership as being strictly associated with teaching, research and community outreach, university administrators and policy makers conceptualize it more broadly. Their definitions often include the management of change, quality, information, finance, and physical and human resources - functions that many mainstream academics perceive as being the responsibility of departmental/institutional administrative or support staff. Such differences create major challenges for academic development units. What type of training should they provide? Should they embrace activities that support these new conceptions of leadership and management? These are among the central issues explored in this paper.     

Professional Development in 'Healthy' vs. 'Unhealthy' Districts: Top 10 characteristics based on research

Professional development is a requirement of every reform effort. Most states in the USA mandate a certain number of days in the school calendar to be allocated for professional development. Other nations often fund professional development for teachers to accompany an initiative to improve student performance. Although assumptions about why and how professional development should be conducted are shared, empirical evidence is relatively slim. Recent research generally focuses on the role of professional development in school reform. This study investigates the characteristics of involvement in professional development at the level of the district-the umbrella organisation for a geographic collection of schools. As part of a larger study, this research examines the professional development activities in school districts in relationship to overall district health. How do healthy and unhealthy districts differ in their approaches to professional development? What is the relationship between district health and student achievement? While confirming some of the assumptions about what makes effective professional development, this study provides research-based evidence for what districts can do to ensure district-wide impact and to bring about and sustain change. Furthermore, it illustrates the close association of district health and student achievement.     

Experiences and perceptions of physical education

This research has studied how children and young people, who are deemed by their school to have social, emotional and behavioural difficulties (SEBD), experience the National Curriculum of Physical Education (PE) in England. Research has previously highlighted the physical, social, affective and cognitive benefits of participation in PE. Furthermore, practical, physical and expressive creative experiences in education have been cited as being an important constituent when educating children with SEBD. However, research has yet to address the experiences of the child with SEBD alongside the ideological benefits of their participation in physical education. After a period of sensitisation to the field in a number of pilot schools, 24 weeks in total were spent immersed in the cultures of two mainstream schools in the west of England. After six weeks of local familiarisation, during which field notes and research diaries were kept, weekly interviews with each of six case study participants commenced. In this research, a PE environment afforded opportunities to spend time and build trust through co-participation in the negotiation of socially constructed roles in the subject. The six case study participants, whose experiences were explored, make reference to, amongst others: their affinity towards the physical nature of PE, and the perception of it being a subject allowing for freedoms not found elsewhere in the curriculum as well as one which cemented both the positive and negative social systems in relation to their relationships with peers. Inductive processes of analysis utilising constant comparison methods between data sources have generated data which show signs of both the idiosyncratic nature of multiple truths and some common ground in their experiences.     

Watch Out for Relatives

In pedagogical literature, asynchronous, computer-mediated courses have been promoted as an interactive mode of course delivery. However, few studies have evaluated the effectiveness of different teaching strategies in this medium. In this paper, I describe the development of my asynchronous course and outline the fundamental dilemmas in attempting to achieve interactivity in this medium of course delivery. I discuss issues of pacing the course, grading, monitoring discussions, and incorporating Internet-based material into the course. Each of these considerations should be addressed in future research on asynchronous courses.     

Jogging the Jargon

Abstract

The results of a two-year study indicate that collaborative testing is a valuable pedagogical strategy that can both assess and enhance student learning. After finishing their first attempt at each exam, students were given a second attempt either working collaboratively in small groups or individually with open books and notes. Collaborative testing consistently produced significantly higher test scores. In addition, students' retention of course content is shown to be improved when collaborative testing is used. Concerns about grade inflation are alleviated through the use of proportionally weighted grading.