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.     

Crowdsourcing and Self-Instruction: Turning the Production of Teaching Materials Into a Learning Objective

This article describes a lesson plan that harnessed students’ abilities to generate new teaching material by constructing country timelines. This involved crowdsourcing, or the reliance upon task inputs from a large number of people to acquire information. The plan was motivated by an approach that conceives of learning as deriving from the joint activity of individuals with shared tools, and was geared toward promoting self-instruction alongside traditional lectures and exams. By relying on independent research and individual contributions to create a new teaching resource, the course facilitated strategic reading and peer learning and promoted a research-active learning environment. The experience encourages instructors to consider ways to use distributed learning in the classroom to make students both the producers and consumers of innovative content.     

闽东南沿海地区绑架犯罪活动的发展及其国际化趋势

绑架案件近五年来在闽东南沿海地区大量频繁地发生,成为世纪末对闽东南沿海地区社会治安危害最为严重的罪种之一.九十年代中期,绑架犯罪活动呈爆炸式地在闽东南沿海地区蔓延,案件增幅之快出乎有关部门意料.与此同时,偷越国(边)境犯罪案件也急剧上各,吸毒人数大量增加,民间债务纠纷矛盾加剧,这些都成为绑架犯罪活动的推波助澜的因素.绑架案件的大量出现,严重威胁闽东南沿海地区社会治安和投资环境.1998年以来,绑架犯罪活动得到控制.但2000年以来,部分沿海地区偷越国(边)境活动又大幅反弹,第二次偷越国(边)境高峰正在形成,跨国绑架活动可能再次升温.由于绑架案件尤其是跨国绑架案的受害人报案率低,实际绑架犯罪情况可能更为严重,因此,我国有关部门以及有关国家之间,应加强合作,采取有力措施,预防绑架犯罪活动的进一步蔓延.     

``I'd Rather Keep Him Chaste.' Retelling the Story of Sterilisation, Learning Disability and (Non)Sexed Embodiment

This note examines two recent judgements of theEnglish Court of Appeal, Re S.L. and ReA., concerning the sterilisation of a womanand a man with learning disabilities. The casesare significant for health care lawyers in thatthey effect a reworking of the common lawdoctrine of necessity, which serves as thelegal justification for providing medicaltreatment to adults lacking capacity to giveconsent. The cases are also significant forfeminist scholars engaged in the project of`sexing' the subjects of legal discourse (forexample, Naffine and Owens, 1997). Thejudgments of Re S.L. and Re A.,consistent with earlier sterilisation cases,fail to offer a conception of learning disabledsubjects as `sexed'.     

电大远程开放教育面授辅导教学方式的探析

电大远程开放教育利用网络、远程教学等技术手段,给学生提供了便利的学习平台,但相应面授辅导教学滞后。应改变面授教学模式,树立以学生为中心的教学理念,将学生的需求作为课堂教学设计的依据,使面授教学做到"量体裁衣",更具有针对性。在教学中加入多种生动有效教学元素,由被动学变为主动学,这样才能取得预期效果。     

Why cooperate with others? Demystifying China's trilateral aid cooperation

This article examines China's motivations for trilateral aid cooperation in the context of its seemingly assertive diplomacy in recent years. Previously known for its preference for bilateral aid delivery, China, however, is increasingly conducting trilateral cooperation with western donor states and UN agencies. By employing constructivism and cognitive learning theories, this paper focuses on two perspectives: China's calculation of national interests and international engagement, and is structured around two case studies: UNDP's advisory role for China on development cooperation, and China–US trilateral aid cooperation. It argues that strategically, China is putting growing emphasis on its identity as a growing great power in the development sector, using trilateral cooperation to build its global image. Technically, China's four-decade long external engagement has promoted changes in its ideas about aid cooperation, thus reinforcing its desire for cognitive learning to improve its aid performance.     

Using Active-Learning Pedagogy to Develop Essay-Writing Skills in Introductory Political Theory Tutorials

Building on prior research into active learning pedagogy in political science, I discuss the development of a new active learning strategy called the “thesis-building carousel,” designed for use in political theory tutorials. This use of active learning pedagogy in a graduate student-led political theory tutorial represents the overlap of several currents of political science education research. First, the graduate teaching assistant-led tutorial is a common complement to large lecture-based introductory courses in political theory. Second, where International Relations has led the expansion of active learning in political science, political theory has lagged behind other subfields (Archer &; Miller 2011 Archer, Candace C. and Melissa K. Miller. 2011. “Prioritizing Active Learning: An Exploration of Gateway Courses in Political Science.” PS: Political Science &; Politics 44(2): 429–434.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). The thesis-building carousel is designed to develop skills necessary for political theory classes—essay writing and peer review. The article concludes with a discussion of how active learning activities designed for specialized spaces can be modified for use in traditional classroom settings, with the example of three forms of “summary carousels.”     

Dialectics and the Megamachine: A Critique of Ersatz Education

This article proposes that the learning environment matters, and that there are qualitative differences in online versus face-to-face classes. While online education provides some benefits, they also narrow the opportunities for dialectical conflict that thoroughly challenge student thinking, an interaction more likely to be found in real-time conversations. In person, there is more opportunity for an instructor to challenge the reasoning of students in real time, and for students to ask probing and follow-up questions. The article considers the structure of educational dialectic suggested by important thinkers including Galtung, Habermas, and Buber. Online education is then situated as a technology that interferes with human relations and dialectical reasoning and fits within the notion of technics and the megamachine advanced by Lewis Mumford, which dehumanizes personal interactions with instrumental processes for growth and efficiency. Students follow suit by focusing more on the instrumental absorption of course content to pass the course, instead of higher order critique. Of particular interest to political science education is that if conversational dialectics are weakened in universities, and therefore polities—and the technics are simply considered a natural replacement for in-person conversation—the opportunities to teach critical reasoning required for critique of complex political phenomena are also narrowed. We might temper the dangers of the megamachine by reflexively discussing the political economy of online teaching itself with our students and by starting to expect synchronous conversation, which will open dialectical opportunities.     

Training the “Wizards”: A Model for Building Self Efficacy and Peer Networks Among Urban Youth Workers

This article presents a community's efforts to address the professional development needs of frontline youth workers. A coalition designed a 13-week Youth Worker Training Institute to increase youth workers' knowledge, skills, self-efficacy, and professional networks. After the Institute, participants reported feeling more skillful, connected to other youth workers, confident, professional, reflective, and being more powerful change agents. Based on results from this formative evaluation, we suggest that it was multiple teaching and learning strategies that promoted reflection, peer learning, and networking—that contributed to youth workers gaining knowledge and skills that in turn increased their confidence and sense of self-efficacy.     

Horsing around: Using equine facilitated learning to support the development of social-emotional competence of students at risk of school failure

The social-emotional issues some students experience can place them at risk of school failure. Traditional methods of support can be ineffective or not sustainable and new alternative approaches need to be attempted to support social-emotional competency, school engagement, and success for students at risk. This article discusses preliminary outcomes of an equine facilitated learning (EFL) program specifically designed to focus on using horses to improve the resilience and social-emotional competency in students perceived as “at risk” of school failure. This qualitative exploratory study used interviews and observations over a six month period to listen to the voices of the students themselves about their experiences of EFL. Initial findings from the pilot study suggest that EFL programs can be a novel and motivating way to promote resilience training and social-emotional development of students at risk of failure and, in turn, improve their level of engagement and connection with school environments.