Examining the Legacy of Urban Catholic Schooling in the U.S.: A Systematic Literature Review

The Urban Review - Research conducted in the twentieth century found urban Catholic schools in the U.S. had a legacy of providing high quality educational opportunities for low-income students and...     

Faculty Salaries and the Maximization of Prestige

Through the lens of the emerging economic theory of higher education, we look at the relationship between salary and prestige. Starting from the premise that academic institutions seek to maximize prestige, we hypothesize that monetary rewards are higher for faculty activities that confer prestige. We use data from the 1999 National Study of Postsecondary Faculty (NSOPF), and regression analysis to examine the determinants of salaries. The results are consistent with the theory that faculty members are financially rewarded for enhancing institutional prestige. There is some evidence that the rewards are higher in science and engineering. Spending more time on teaching has no effect on salary, even in comprehensive universities and liberal arts colleges. Findings suggest that other types of institutions are emulating research institutions in their pursuit of prestige. Looking at faculty salaries through this lens raises serious questions about the implications of the current reward system in higher education. Article Note Earlier versions of this paper were presented at the Economics of Education seminar, Stanford University School of Education, March 2004, and the American Education Finance Association, Louisville, KY, May 2005.     

Exercise in the cold

Exercising in the cold is not an attractive option for many athletes; however, defining what represents cold is difficult and is not standard for all events. If the exercise is prolonged and undertaken at a moderate intensity, environmental temperatures around 11 degrees C can be an advantage. If the intensity is lower than this value and the individual does not generate sufficient metabolic heat to offset the effects imposed by the cold environment, then temperatures of 11 degrees C can be detrimental to performance. Similarly, when the performance involves dynamic explosive contractions, then a Cold ambient temperature can have a negative influence. Additional factors such as the exercising medium, air or water, and the anthropometric characteristics of the athlete will also make a difference to the strategies that can be adopted to offset any negative impact of a cold environment on performance. To plan for a performance in the cold requires an understanding of the mechanisms underpinning the physiological response. This review attempts to outline these mechanisms and how they can be manipulated to optimize performance.     

Gender Equity: Still Knocking at the Classroom Door

Much of what U.S. students know about history is shaped by the textbook presentation of the subject. By high school, students should be exposed to an inclusive view of U.S. history. Previous research suggests that U.S. history has often centered on the stories of men, particularly from the perspective of white men in positions of power. It is important to continually assess how far textbooks have come in terms of including women—not just the quantity of such inclusion, but the quality as well. In our research, we use Banks' scale of curriculum integration to evaluate how well women's experiences during WWII have been integrated into high school textbooks. Our findings suggest that women are “counted” in the depiction of WWII; however, this inclusion lacks attention to women's agency during the war and to the unique experiences of African American women during the war. Without such explorations in the textbooks, the written version of history becomes an exclusive and distorted body of knowledge.