Staff Development as a School Climate Intervention to Support Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Students: An Integrated Research Partnership Model for School Counselors and Counselor Educators

ABSTRACT

This article posits that an integrative research partnership model can assist school counselors in addressing the marginalization of transgender students in schools through staff development. A methodological integration of action research and program evaluation through quantitative and qualitative data collection is explained, and a collaborative process is highlighted. A case example is provided to demonstrate the use of the design.     

‘I am studying in the US but’: observations and insights from Caribbean college students

This paper examines the experiences and views of 12 Caribbean students studying at four Liberal Arts colleges and one large university in the Northeast, USA. The purpose of the study was to ascertain how young educated potential immigrants to the US today are thinking about race, identity, and homeland. The data were gathered through a 12-item open-ended questionnaire electronically administered through Google Forms. Among other issues, the researcher wanted to learn about participants’: decision to study in the US, experiences with race, identity and attitudinal shifts, feelings about being assigned racial labels, and current thinking about returning to their home countries. The findings highlight the acceptance of racial labels except for ‘African American’, a dogged adherence to national identity, the challenge of adjusting to the US racialized space, the view of the US as an education and economic transitional point for migrants on their return journey to their home countries, the formulation of new understandings and attitudes regarding mixed ancestry, and the defining role of sexual orientation in the attitude towards home country versus the US.     

关于大学生哲学素养的调查分析

在价值多元化、经济全球化的时代背景下，实现我国强国复兴的基础是多层次、多类型的人才培养。大学生是未来国家的主要建设者，培养学生的哲学素养，让学生具备辩证的哲思，使其能够正确处理在生活、工作中遇到的问题，是当下各大高校人才培养的重要任务。应以提升学生的哲学素养为目的，合理组织教学实践活动，丰富学生思想，让学生掌握正确的思维方法，学会用辩证的眼光、批判的思维看待问题、解决问题。文章对大学生哲学素养培养的现状进行了调查分析，探讨了大学生素养培养的主要内容、意义以及提升学生哲学素养的对策。     

农村校车安全事故背后的教育公平问题

近年来农村校车事故频发,使得校车安全问题浮出了水面。其实,校车不够规范只是校车事故频发的表层原因,而更深层次的原因却在于城乡教育资源配置的不公平。所以要解决校车安全问题,不仅在于规范校车、提高校车的质量,还在于合理配置教育资源,实现城乡教育公平。     

高校大学生教育管理模式转型方向及实践方式

教育管理是高校一项重要的工作，关系到高校教育的质量和效能，同时也决定了人才的成长和未来发展。在这种情况下，必须要注重高校大学生教育管理模式的打造，积极推进教育管理模式转型，从而为日常教育工作提供基础和保证。当前高校大学生教育管理模式中存在管理方式单一、管理内容陈旧、管理制度落后等问题，严重影响了高校教育工作的开展，不利于教育进步。文章以此为出发点进行研究，并为高校大学生教育管理实践提供思路指导。     

Agreement and discrepancy between children,parents, and social workers on school‐based effort avoidance in child welfare services

A multiperspective approach is beneficial for obtaining reliable and multifaceted pictures of child behaviour problems. The goal of the present study is to examine interrater agreement on school‐based effort avoidance between children receiving child welfare services, parents, and social workers. Given previous findings, interrater agreement is expected to be low. Self‐reported data on school‐based effort avoidance were gathered for children and adolescents in child welfare services. Additionally, social workers (using the Teacher‐Report Checklist for social and learning behaviour) and parents (using the parallel version of the self‐rating questionnaire on school‐based effort avoidance) were asked to complete an external assessment tool to compare children's perspectives with the ratings of significant adults. The results confirmed significant discrepancies between parents' and children's ratings on effort avoidance tendencies. Furthermore, there were only small to moderate correlations between children's self‐ratings and the adults' assessments; however, the consensus between adults was higher than the interrater agreement between children and social workers. Discrepancies in ratings from multiple informants underline the importance of integrating multiple perspectives, especially children's perspectives, in the diagnostic process in order to plan and adapt appropriate care and treatment.     

The Read Feed: Reviews

Abstract

Michelle DeMars reviews Academic Libraries for Commuter Students: Research-Based Strategies. Hayley Moreno reviews Coding with XML for Efficiencies in Cataloging and Metadata: Practical Applications of XSD, XSLT, and XQuery.     

Urban community as resource: Evaluation of the mentors in Toledo schools program

We report findings from an evaluation of the Mentors in Toledo Schools program (MITS), which pairs adult community volunteers with elementary school students in need of reading support. Begun in 2012, MITS now operates in five elementary schools in Toledo Public Schools. A quasi-experimental study of 379 students (n = 128 mentored, n = 251 comparison) tested the effectiveness of MITS, using changes (fall to spring) in students’ scores on STAR Reading. Multilevel models demonstrate students who participated in MITS made statistically significant, and educationally meaningful, reading gains compared to students who did not participate. Further, an investigation of the importance of dosage revealed that number of mentoring sessions is related to students’ outcomes; students who participated in reading mentoring at least once per week showed the most educationally meaningful improvements. We also report qualitative feedback from adult program participants, including teachers, mentors, and site coordinators, to help contextualize the STAR Reading results. These findings speak to the opportunity for community volunteers to act as low-cost and effective supports for urban elementary school students who are at-risk for reading failure.     

Using a “child's‐eye view” of social success to understand the importance of school readiness at the transition to formal schooling

Recent research into school readiness has highlighted the importance of not only children's cognitive and socio‐emotional skills, but also the degree to which they have family support in the home. The current study examines the association between social success upon school entry and teacher‐ratings of school readiness as assessed by the Brief Early Skills and Support Index (BESSI), controlling for language ability. Importantly, social success was assessed using a “child's‐eye view” with peer‐reported assessments of both social preference and reciprocated friendships. A total of 244 children (131 boys, M_age = 61 months, SD = 4.78 months) in their first year of formal schooling participated. Child school readiness was found to be important for social preference, with the association being more marked for boys versus girls. Family support was the only independent predictor of children's reciprocated friendships. The use of the BESSI, with its broad scope compared to other measures of school readiness, highlights the importance of focusing both on a child's cognitive and socio‐emotional skills at school entry and their family support when exploring the association of school readiness to children's social success at the transition to formal schooling.