Time Scales and Academic Excellence

Abstract

While not representative of all students, those who demonstrate a sense of entitlement demand a great deal of instructors' time and energy. Our article places student entitlement in its social context, with specific attention to the prevalence of the consumer mentality, grade inflation, and the self-esteem of the student generation. We then outline several strategies for dealing with entitlement behavior. We suggest that greater clarity in standards and assessment, combined with specific requirements guiding teacher-student interactions and general efforts to resocialize students and faculty, will help to curb these behaviors.     

Communication Forms as Predictors of Issue Knowledge in Presidential Campaigns: A Meta-Analytic Assessment

Theory and past research argue for the importance of understanding the effect of various campaign communication forms (e.g., newspapers, television news, radio, debates, candidate advertising, and personal discussions) on levels of issue knowledge (IK). This study used a meta-analytic approach to examine how well these forms predict IK. The aggregate analysis indicates that any of these forms can affect IK but that the different forms are not equally successful. Findings also indicate that the level of campaign interest moderates the effect of reading newspapers and watching television news and that those who watch debates in years with incumbents are less likely to learn. In addition, studies of newspapers are less likely to find significant effects in recent years, even though the issue content of newspapers has increased. The findings also suggest that television news is more likely to influence IK when levels of issue content are greater. These data indicate that measures of media use and IK can systematically influence the study results. Several conclusions are drawn from the research in the hopes of moving toward a theoretical model of communication forms and the attainment of IK.     

Inclusive and exclusive education in Sweden: principals' opinions and experiences

To support the national and international aims of inclusion, special teacher training in Sweden was replaced in 1990 by special educator training. These special educators would supervise the teachers in their school and would not exclusively teach students. The aim of this study was to investigate what the principals of 14 municipal compulsory schools in Stockholm County thought about the organisation and realisation of special education in 1996 and 2006 respectively. According to the results, there were fewer segregated groups in these schools in 2006, but an increasing number of students were placed in segregated groups that were common to several schools or municipalities. Principals at schools with teaching teams usually saw the special educator as a coordinating and supervising resource while others preferred the special teacher function. The former approach led to a more inclusive school and the latter in the direction of exclusion.     

Impacts of Student Categorization of Their Online Discussion Contributions

A case study examined the collaborative experiences of students in an online business writing classroom. The purpose was to examine the same groups of students working on collaborative writing assignments in both a synchronous (real-time) and an asynchronous (non-real-time) discussion forum. This study focused on examining the amount, pattern, and focus of interactions, as well as assessing students' attitudes toward communicating in the two different environments.     

Changes in the Multi‐Level Effects of Socio‐Economic Status on Reading Achievement in Sweden in 1991 and 2001

This study examines the changes in educational inequality at the school‐ and individual‐levels in 1991 and 2001. Comparisons are made between the IEA Reading Literacy Study 1991 and the so called 10‐Year Trend Study in PIRLS 2001. The between‐school differences in reading achievement variance and the size of the relationship between SES and reading achievement at school‐level are the two main focuses. Applying a two‐level structural equation modeling technique, it was found that the between‐school differences in reading achievement were greater in RLS 2001 than in RLS 1991, and the school SES effect has been strengthened over time. These changes indicate that educational inequality in Sweden has increased over time. Some possible explanations to these changes are discussed with reference to school reforms and demographic changes.     

Arguments from Analogy and Beyond: The Persuasive Artistry of Local American Civic Life

This essay analyzes a local civic debate in which the purposive, referential, and deliberative structures of an argument by comparison are rendered inoperative. In so doing, it advances our understanding of the rhetoric of exemplarity, widens our conception of democratic political contention, and directs scholarly attention to local forums of civic life, where rhetorical motive often gives way to pure persuasion, reasoned debate commonly slips into everyday talk, democratic deliberation frequently verges on radical dissensus, and emotional investments routinely culminate in affective events.