Reviewing young adult books: the VOYA editor speaks out

Voice of Youth Advocates reviews books for young adults. In this article, the editor of this review periodical describes the joys and frustrations of her work, focusing on connections between young adult and adult literature, the importance of having well-informed reviewers, the problems raised by reviewers' prejudices, the choice of reviewers for fiction, and dealing with publishers' publicity staffs.     

引领行业潮流 获取长期利润

直复营销市场潜力巨大 尽管全球广告支出在2009年下降了近10%,并预计在2010年仅会增长1%,但对于中国的印刷企业而言,未来是非常光明的。据中立的媒体交流服务机构Carta调查显示,世界范围内广告支出能够从下挫到增长．大部分归因于中国广告消费市场的大幅增长．预计2010年其增长率可达16％。     

Beyond the Rhetoric: A framework for evaluating improvements to the student experience

A framework is described to assist institutions in evaluating the extent to which activities described as “quality improvements” or “quality enhancements” are likely to directly improve the student experience. The framework classifies ways of improving the student experience into “coaching improvements”, “umpiring improvements”, and “facilities improvements”, while also considering the location of improvements along a “risk avoidance—quality assurance—quality enhancement” continuum. The utility of this framework is explored through case studies of sector‐wide initiatives in Scotland and Australia. If used to stimulate internal discussion, the framework can help institutions to better balance their efforts to improve the student experience.     

Inclusion of students with emotional and behavioural disorders in general education settings: a scoping review of research in the US

ABSTRACT

Inclusion of students with disabilities in general education settings has been an international focus for over two decades. In the US, federal laws [e.g. Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA). 2004. H.R. 1350, 108th Congress] mandate access to the general education curriculum for all students, including those with disabilities. These mandates codify a philosophical orientation of least restrictive environment, within a free appropriate public education, while explicitly requiring evidence-based practices. The policies support and protect inclusive practices for individuals with emotional and behavioural disabilities, yet the state of the empirical literature is unknown. A review is needed to provide an overview of the research and reveal the breadth of the literature. To this end, scoping review methodology was used to map the state of the literature. This particular approach is recommended for topics with myriad and complex definitions and issues, as is the case with inclusive education. Results map six themes (professional and student experience, strategy effectiveness, policy and programmes, perception of influencing factors, teacher training, teacher knowledge) and reveal several gaps in the literature. Recommendations are made for systematic review, meta-analyses, and individual studies to address the gaps in the literature.     

“I am thinking that speech is asinine”: Narrating Complexities and Rethinking the Notion of “Independence” in Communication

This article presents a narrative accounting of a critical interpretivist research study that sought to document the emergence of useful speech in participants who had previously been described as largely nonverbal. The purpose of this piece is to narrate this inquiry process through examination not only of our participants' own accounts of their experiences but also through critical examination of the ways in which we as researchers solicit and respond to those accounts. Our analytic gaze, therefore, focuses on the dialectic process through which we interactively co-construct concepts related to disability in our participants' experiences, alternating between narrating our own experience of this process as researchers and narrating our participants' accounts of their own experiences with this interpretive process. Discussion focuses on critique of the cultural value accorded to the notions of “independence” and “normalcy,” and on the participants' demonstration of their own agency in the complex, fluid, and constant process of managing and constructing, in concert with those around them, and often in the face of significant resistance to the process, their own positive and valued identities as competent communicators.     

UPE in Tanzania: SWAP‐ing quality for quantity—again?

In 2002, Tanzania renewed its 1974 commitment to universal primary education. This paper explores differences in the current policy‐formulation context, examining how development discourse and aid practice have shifted the space and scale of public governance in Tanzania, legitimising international agendas and the participation of non‐Tanzanians in the domestic policy process. The analysis suggests that the influence of a highly co‐ordinated transnational aid community and the package of aid mechanisms that are being deployed with considerable effect in Tanzania are likely to replicate a situation in which access has been prioritised once more at the expense of improving the quality of primary education.