The emergence of social capital in low-income Latino elementary schools

Scholars suggest that racial/ethnic and class disparities in school-based social capital contribute to educational inequalities. Previous studies demonstrate that social capital (relations of trust, mutual expectations, and shared values) between parents and schools supports children's development. Yet we know little about the emergence of social capital, that is, the processes through which it develops. In this study, we explore mechanisms of social capital emergence in predominantly low-income Latino school communities. We draw data from an experimental study that manipulated social capital through an after-school family engagement program. Based on interviews and focus groups with participating parents, teachers, and program staff in two elementary schools, we identified four types of interactions that act as mechanisms of social capital emergence: (1) responsive communication; (2) reciprocal communication; (3) shared experiences; and (4) institutional linkage. The article connects these mechanisms to theoretically linked sources of social capital and discusses implications for theory and practice.     

Collaborating to “Grow Our Own”: The Helios STEM Middle School Residency Program

In this article, the authors explain the need for clinically rich middle school STEM teacher preparation. They describe how one university and school district with an established partnership collaborated to meet this need. The result was the formation of a residency program that aims to prepare high quality middle school STEM teachers who can fill the district’s vacancies. The residency program is centered around clinical experiences where the triad—consisting of a preservice teacher, collaborating teacher, and university supervisor—is the nexus of learning. The authors share the takeaways from their experiences, highlighting the perspectives of the members of one triad. They conclude with an examination of the residency program’s effectiveness in meeting its intended aim.     

Family Structure Changes During High School and College Selectivity

Research has shown that family structure changes negatively influence educational attainment, but they overlook qualitative distinctions in college choice, such as college selectivity. Yet, college choice research has largely focused on static measures of family structure, failing to account for year-to-year family structure changes that occur during high school. We merge literature in family and college choice to investigate the role of family-life events on college choice. We found family structure changes that occur early and late in high school influence the selectivity of the college where a student applies, and this relation persists in spite of controls for race, gender, family background, and pre-high school family structures. Including educational expectations, parent–student discussions, and coursework rigor account for the negative association between family structure changes during high school and the selectivity of the college where a student applies. However, late family structure changes during high school continue to correlate negatively with a student’s college enrollment, potentially reflecting realities and financial burdens of attending college, especially selective colleges.     

Students’ motivation and engagement in higher education: the importance of attitude to online learning

Higher Education - The emergence of online environments has changed the landscape of educational learning. Some students thrive in this learning environment, but others become amotivated and...     

Education experienced by foreign-born faculty whose native countries have undergone major socio-economical changes

Three professors of education reflected on education in their countries of origin, and compare their education with learning, teaching and the education in the United States. The three countries represented are China prior to the political and economical reforms starting from 1979, Iran prior to the Islamic Republic of 1979, and the Russian Federation of the Former Soviet Union prior to the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. Certain aspects of education such as the curriculum, pedagogy, length of schooling, methods of teaching, the textbooks, and priorities and goals of schooling in each country are discussed. This article is a comparison of the educational system of each country with the American educational system as well as among the three countries. The article concludes with each author offering some ideas on how the American educational system might benefit from the experience of the other countries.     

Probability of outlier analysis in weak GPS signal acquisition

In this paper, global positioning system (GPS) signal acquisition is investigated under weak signal conditions, when a catastrophic deterioration in performance begins to occur causing outliers to happen in range estimation. The paper compares conventional detection techniques in GPS signal acquisition. The theoretical probability of outlier is derived for GPS Gold code and compared to the probability of outlier using Monte Carlo simulation. In addition, the theoretical probability of outlier for coherent detection technique is also derived. A novel binary hypothesis test is introduced which is used to generate a new set of curves to analyze the performance of detectors in weak signal conditions.     

Approaching Parental Guilt,Shame, and Blame in a Helping Relationship: Multiple Methods for Teaching and Learning

ABSTRACT

Social workers often feel ill-prepared to effectively engage parents in conversations about guilt, shame, and blame related to their children’s mental health or substance use challenges. To address that problem, we suggest that specific content should be integrated into social work courses to teach students how to acknowledge and sensitively manage these issues in their practice with families across cultures and family forms. Content, activities, and assignments are offered, built around three learning strategies (enhanced lecture, case-based learning, and experiential learning) to help students build therapeutic relationships based on a deep appreciation of parents’ emotional experiences.     

速滑运动员赛前心理准备初探

通过对速滑运动员赛前阶段的心理准备、临赛前的心理准备及起赛前心理准备的探讨,总结具体的方法、手段,旨在为速滑运动员参加比赛做好充分的心理准备提供参考,从而保证速滑运动员在比赛中取得优异的运动成绩.