Context Matters: Reactive and Proactive Bystander Action to Prevent Sexual and Dating Violence in High Schools

ABSTRACT

Given high rates of relationship violence among adolescents, there is a need to understand variables that influence adolescents’ helping behaviors to reduce risk for dating and sexual violence (reactive) and promote prevention before violence happens or risk factors are evident (proactive). The current paper examined individual and school variables related to greater actionism in a large sample of high school students. Baseline, cross-sectional data used in the current analyses were gathered before intervention as part of a prevention program evaluation across 25 high schools in New England from students in grades 9–12 (N= 3,404). Students who self-reported a greater number of proactive actions taken were students who identified as sexual minorities, had a history of victimization, and were in schools with supportive peer norms. The current findings suggest a model for prevention that might include training individuals and attending to school level variables.     

A Cross-National Examination of School Violence and Nonattendance Due to School Violence in Taiwan,Hong Kong,and Mainland China: A Rasch Model Approach

ABSTRACT

This study examined the similarities and differences between three distinct Chinese societies (Taiwan, Hong Kong, and China) regarding the contribution of gender and grade level to school violence, the ranking orders of perpetration and victimization behavior, and the correlates of school nonattendance due to violence. A cross-national random sample of 2,582 junior high school students was obtained. The results of Rasch analyzes revealed that verbal violence is most frequent. Male students are most likely to be aggressive and victimized. Grade-level differences in school violence were shown to be weak or insignificant. School nonattendance is generally associated with being kicked, punched, socially excluded, blackmailed, threatened, or sexually kissed without consent. The results were similar across societies. The findings imply that the contextual differences between Chinese societies may not account for different effects of gender and grade level on school violence, behavioral patterns of school violence, and correlates of school nonattendance.     

The 2019 Swiss federal elections: the rise of the green tide

Abstract

The Greens made spectacular gains in the 2019 Swiss federal elections. In a campaign that was dominated by the climate change issue, the party outperformed the Christian Democrats to become the fourth largest party in the lower house. This status enabled the Greens to legitimately request a seat in government (the Federal Council). However, their attempt to unseat a member of the Liberals failed due to the resistance of the right-wing parties. It thus turned out that the Green wave was not strong enough to change the composition of the federal government.     

Advancing a Conceptual and Empirical Model of School Climate for School Staff in California

ABSTRACT

School climate is increasingly intertwined with efforts to create safe schools and improve social-emotional learning and academic outcomes. While current definitions of school climate implicate the decisions and actions of school staff members, the majority of school climate research focuses on the perspectives of students. This study presents an adapted model of school climate that focuses on the experiences of school staff members, and is one of the first empirical studies to explore a statewide data set of responses from staff members in California public schools. Results suggest that there are meaningful differences in the experiences of school climate for different staff members and that these differences should guide the assessments of school climate and changes to policies and procedures that may influence climate.     

Soviet boarding schools as a forge of national professionals and intellectuals in Soviet Tajikistan in the 1950s and 1960s

ABSTRACT

The study focuses on the institution of boarding schools (Russian: internat) in Soviet Tajikistan in the 1950s and 1960s and its role in the education and training of the new national generations of skilled professionals in the fields of industry, science, culture, art and healthcare, which in turn contributed to the development of their country. Along with the de-Stalinization of education and subsequent polytechnization, as well as flexibility in the use of Soviet institutions, the internats were transformed from a purely Soviet project into a more inclusive Soviet-Tajik project at the national level for the training of new young national-Sovietized professionals. These professionals combined the qualities of Sovietized and local (national), with their distinctive norms, traditions and values, into a totally new form. The boarding school system turned into a factory for bringing up national-Sovietized specialists and cadres.     

The Influence of Finance Policies on Charter School Supply Decisions in Five States

This paper tests if charter school finance policies influence charter school location. I create a theoretical framework describing the location incentives created by charter school finance provisions and test their relevance empirically by applying a two-step approach consisting of negative binomial models and Wald tests. Using data from New York, North Carolina, Florida, Michigan, and Ohio, I provide evidence that states’ finance provisions are an important policy lever impacting charter school location. Several robustness checks corroborate the initial results.     

The Future of the Chinese Economy: Four Perspectives

ABSTRACT

This article studies the future prospect of the Chinese economy using four different perspectives: neo-classical, Marxian, world-system and climate stabilisation. While the neo-classical perspective suggests that China can maintain a relatively decent pace of economic growth for decades to come, the Marxian analysis finds that the Chinese economy will confront a major crisis in the coming years due to internal contradictions of capitalist accumulation. The world-system analysis suggests that there has been a “ceiling of development” that historically has limited the scope of development for the great majority of the world population and China will hit this “ceiling of development” within about a decade. Moreover, if China were to fulfil its climate stabilisation obligations, it may prove to be impossible for the current system to maintain economic and political stability.     

以人本管理为核心的学生管理新模式探析——以中专生特殊群体为视角

人本管理以＂人＂作为管理活动的核心和组织最重要的资源,中专生特殊群体是中职院校中的重要资源,这个群体能否健康发展关系到学校的发展和个人的全面解放。以人本管理为核心的中专生管理新模式以促进人的全面解放为根本目的,适应了现代中职院校教育管理的新理念。践行这种管理新模式须从提升教育公平理念、创新中专生特殊群体的思想政治教育载体、建立＂一人一本＂分类型群体档案、加强心理辅导和就业指导的个性化等途径进行积极的策略构建。     

Youth Behavior,School Structure,and Student Risk of Victimization

Although a growing body of research on student safety focuses on school disorder, school climate, and the intersection of community/situational factors, comparatively less research has focused specifically on the individual‐ and school‐level factors that put students at risk of victimization in the immediate school environ. The present study is an attempt to broaden our understanding of the contribution of schools and school behavior to the victimization experiences of students. We compare traditional routine activity constructs to understand whether and how they differentially influence the risk of community and school victimization. Additionally, we investigate what school‐related variables (behavioral and structural) explain variation in young people’s risk for school victimization.     

A Tale of Two Taxes: The Fate of Environmental Tax Reform in Canada

Policy makers who embrace market‐based approaches to environmental regulation, typically eschew carbon taxes in favor of the political advantages of cap and trade, which offers lower visibility of costs to consumers and the opportunity to allocate valuable permits freely to industry. Against this backdrop, the article examines two surprising proposals for carbon taxes, by the government of British Columbia (BC) and by the federal Liberal Party of Canada. Both reflected a triumph of party leaders' normative “good policy” motives over “good politics.” The BC tax alone succeeded first because it was adopted by a party already in government. Second, the onset of a recession before the next elections shifted voters' attention to the economy, which advantaged the BC Liberals but disadvantaged their federal counterparts. However, proposals for carbon taxes were unpopular in both jurisdictions, offering a cautionary tale concerning the fate of politicians' normative commitments absent electoral backing.