Labor Market Returns for Graduates of Hispanic-Serving Institutions

Latinos have become the largest minority group in American postsecondary education, a majority of whom attend two- or four-year Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs). However, little is known about labor market outcomes as result of attending these institutions. Using a unique student-level administrative database in Texas, and accounting for college selectivity, we examine whether attending an HSI influences labor market outcomes ten years after high school graduation for Latino students in Texas. We find no difference in the earnings of Hispanic graduates from HSIs and non-HSIs. This analysis represents one of the first to examine the labor market outcomes for Latino students in this sector of education accounting for critical factors that include a student’s high school and community context.     

Exploring pre-service secondary teachers’ understanding of care

Care in teaching has been widely investigated; however, little research has sought secondary pre-service teachers’ understandings of caring and their potential responsibility to care for students. Accordingly, semi-structured interviews were employed with four focus groups, involving 12 (2 male and 10 female) participants. Data were analysed within a qualitative paradigm using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) and inter-rater reliability. Five overlapping themes were identified, and although many tensions around the ambiguities of establishing appropriate boundaries to care were shown, caring was deemed central by the participants to being effective teachers. Overall, pre-service secondary teachers agreed that neither pedagogy nor discipline strategy would be effective without care. Training implications and suggestions for future research conclude this paper.     

Assessment of the Reading Skill Improvement in the Computer-Assisted Teaching of a Foreign Language

This article reports the findings of a case study on the influence that the computer-assisted teaching of a foreign language has on the reading skill of elementary school pupils. In fact, it has been investigated the degree to which abilities inferred from the reading process are improved by delivering a typical introductory course of the French language to a Greek speaking target group, based on the use of the generic functions that most of the computer-assisted instructional tools provide. The study was focused on the abilities of perception, information retrieval and concentration and was conducted over a period of three years. It was based on the design and execution of pupil assessment tests on a control and an experimental group per year. At each year, the control group was taught the subject in the traditional textbook-based approach and the experimental group by a computer-assisted approach. The presentation of the textbook teaching material was enhanced with features that only the use of the generic functions of a computer-assisted teaching could offer. An extensive statistical evaluation of the results has disclosed that the use of the computer had definitely a positive influence on the abilities of perception and information retrieval.     

The development of reading speed in Italians with dyslexia: a longitudinal study

The development of reading speed in Italian children with dyslexia was estimated using individualized growth curves for a group of 38 children with dyslexia tested longitudinally from the second to the eighth grade and compared with typical readers. Their reading speed development followed a linear trend of .3 syllables per second per grade, approximately half the increment observed in typical children reading a passage and similar to typical children's reading of nonword lists. These findings give support to the deficit hypothesis versus the lag hypothesis and to reading speed as the core deficit in dyslexia with transparent orthographies.     

A typology of facework behaviors in conflicts with best friends and relative strangers

The purpose of the current study was to create a typology of facework behaviors in interpersonal conflicts between best friends and relative strangers for Japanese and U.S. participants. In phase I, 286 participants responded to open‐ended questions about the manner in which they negotiated face during a conflict with either a best friend or a relative stranger. The responses of a sample of these respondents ‐16 Japanese, 16 members of ethnic minority groups in the U.S., and 20 European Americans — were categorized using a Q‐sort technique. Fourteen categories of facework behaviors were derived. Validation procedures for the typology were carried out via a cluster analysis resulting in 13 unique clusters: (a) aggression, (b) apologize, (c) avoid, (d) compromise, (e) consider the other, (f) defend self (g) express feelings, (h) give in, (i) involve a third party, (j) pretend, (k) private discussion, (l) remain calm, and (m) talk about the problem. In phase II, 95 Japanese and 61 U.S. Americans rated the appropriateness and effectiveness of behaviors from each of the categories. The findings illustrate that the typology captures a wide range of appropriateness and effectiveness rating which further demonstrates the validity of the typology.     

The first cut is the deepest: reflections on the state of animal dissection in biology education

School science discourse is analysed through professional research literature, curriculum materials, professional development materials, and popular and mass culture science materials, including the world-wide-web. The crucial role of fun is used as a node through which to understand how school science practice is intimately connected with theories of motivation so that school science practice can be interpreted as a technology of power. Web pages and television programmes are analysed as extreme cases of the application of this discourse, revealing an overarching representation of science curriculum. Alternative directions for classroom practice are suggested.     

Disability,curriculum and integration in China

ABSTRACT

Current data indicate that there are six million young people of school age with disabilities in China. Of these, only about 50 per cent attend any form of schooling, with approximately 220,000 of them enrolled in special schools and classes. The remainder attend regular classrooms. This means that there are about three million students with disabilities who at present lack any access to education. In May 1996 it was declared that in order to improve this situation, over the next five years, China plans to provide school places for 80 per cent of its disabled youngsters. In order to achieve this goal, the Chinese central education authorities have announced a significant change in policy direction towards integration. Instead of their previous commitment to the establishment of increasing numbers of special schools, it is now planned that the current number of about 1,400 special schools will be increased to 2,000, so that all regions of the country have access to at least one. At that point, no more special schools will be built. The extra places needed to increase the school attendance rate of youngsters with disabilities will be created in regular classes in regular schools. This paper gives an overview of the curriculum arrangements in China's four types of special schools, including their historical development, subjects taught, teaching arrangements and management. A number of difficulties confronting China's special education policy‐makers are canvassed and reasons suggested for their increasing commitment to a strategy of integration. It is proposed that China enjoys three advantages in the pursuit of an integrated school system.