The Use of Local Statistics in High School Courses in Sociology and Social Problems

Since the inception of mandated testing in reading and mathematics, social studies instruction has been marginalized in elementary and middle schools. After the genesis of several state-mandated testing programs and nearly a decade after the launch of the No Child Left Behind legislation, the effects of limited K–8 social studies instruction are being recognized at the high school level, specifically in high school test score data. This article reveals the obstacles generated by marginalizing social studies in the elementary and middle schools and offers a model for helping teachers understand their role in offsetting the problems associated with early social studies marginalization. The article also provides a way to help teachers collaboratively fill the social studies content gaps.     

An Experiment in Teaching Social Relationships

In an age of increasing global and multicultural forces, the social studies is usually the subject charged with promoting a deeper level of understanding in regards to cultural diversity. To achieve this mission, many social studies teachers have turned to the use of world fairs. However, these activities often end up promoting surface level understandings, and may even end up reinforcing existing stereotypes amongst students. In this article, the authors, based upon key research in this area, provide a meaningful framework for teachers, when using world fairs. This framework better situates students for a deeper, more substantive understanding of culture.     

Multicultural Content in Social Work Graduate Programs

ABSTRACT

This paper reports the results of a national survey of Deans and Directors of graduate social work programs and of social work faculty responsible for teaching graduate-level multicultural courses. The findings indicate the use of a combined infusion and designated course model is the most prominent in addressing the CSWE diversity curriculum content requirement. Although there is substantive content on traditionally oppressed minority populations, there is an increasing number of groups and topics under the banner of diversity. There is heavy reliance on traditional teaching methods and little consistency in the educational resources used to teach the courses. The demographic composition and perceptions of social work faculty who teach multicultural courses are reported. The implications of the findings are discussed.     

高职教育加强内涵建设的四个着力点

高职教育加强内涵建设是当前高职教育提高教学质量、实现可持续发展的必然要求。为此,必须抓住四个方面的着力点:从高职教育培养人才类型定位出发,准确把握人才培养的层次规格,突出人才培养目标特色;利用工学结合、校企合作优势,开发具有前沿性、一体化、个性化的高职教育特色的课程体系;积极推进实训、实习基地建设,凸显基地职业情境性特色;加强大学文化建设,构筑有利于高技能人才成长的精神家园,以促进高职教育的健康、快速、持续发展。     

The Impact of Personal Finance Education Delivered in High School and College Courses

This study investigates the impact of personal finance education delivered in high school and college. Outcomes of interest were investment knowledge and household savings rates measured years after the financial education was delivered. A web-based survey with questions about participation in financial education, financial experiences, income and inheritances, and demographic characteristics was administered to 1,039 alumni from a large midwestern university. Participation in a college level personal finance course was associated with higher levels of investment knowledge. Experience with financial instruments appeared to explain more of the variance in both investment knowledge and savings rates. No significant relationship between taking a high school course and investment knowledge was found. Financial experiences were found to be positively associated with savings rates.

Using Technological Tools to Enhance Learning in Social Work Diversity Courses

SUMMARY

This study explores the educational benefits of using e-mail and electronic discussion groups as instructional tools in social work diversity classes. The authors look at practical ideas of how these technological tools can be used to aid classroom instruction, increase student awareness of human diversity issues, and enhance cultural competence. Students rated their experience as positive overall, and believe it gave them more opportunity to process the course content and expand their discussions outside the classroom. Students also report that they took more time to think about their responses than they do in traditional classroom discussions.     

Charter School Authorizations as Disputes: How School Board Members Justify Their Votes in a Neoliberal Context1

For charter schools to open they must gain the approval of an authorizing body, most commonly a local school board. When deciding whether or not to authorize a particular charter, school board members often engage in public disputes that entail clashes between multiple and conflicting conceptualizations of the goals of education. Drawing on insights from pragmatic sociology and institutional theory, this paper examines videos of 119 public meetings to document how members of a large, urban school board drew on competing ways of conceptualizing the common good to justify their votes on charter school authorizations. Moreover, it also shows how the neoliberal context of contemporary education limited the range of justifications used. Even school board members who argued against charter school authorizations did with justifications draped in neoliberal language. Neoliberalism thus impacted decisions not by becoming cognitively taken‐for‐granted but rather by shaping the range of arguments made for or against the choice to authorize particular schools.     

The Development and Evaluation of Online Learning Modules to Deliver Lifespan Content in Human Behavior in Social Environment Courses

This article details the development and evaluation of a lifespan development computer modules that were used in human behavior in social environment courses. An anonymous, Web-based survey was developed to evaluate the modules. Supporting the first hypothesis, the majority of students (83.5%) found the modules to be a good learning alternative. The hypotheses that MSW students will experience more barriers to Web-based instruction and that students who previously mastered more content will spend less time on mobdules than students who previously mastered less content were not supported. Lessons learned provide implications for the use of computer-assisted instruction.     

Reframing from Site Bias to Site Identity: Pedagogic Issues in Delivering Social Work Courses via Interactive Television

SUMMARY

Tension between instructors and students at distance sites has been called site bias. Additional sources of site tension sometimes occurs between cohorts at different sites and within the originating site cohort. This paper describes how site tension can be reframed as site identity and utilized to promote goals of teaching about social justice and diversity.     

Examining Familial-Based Academic Success Factors in Urban High School Students: The Case of Puerto Rican Female High Achievers

ABSTRACT

This article works to dispel the myth that Puerto Rican female urban high school students living in poverty are not capable of performing at high academic levels. This article attempts to counteract these beliefs by describing the four success factors that seven Puerto Rican female high school students attribute to their high academic achievement. These success factors are: (1) religiosity and extracurricular activities as sources of social capital, (2) affirming and maintaining a Puerto Rican identity, (3) maternal influences on students' academic achievement and, (4) the potential for caring teachers and other school staff to influence high academic achievement. Finally, our findings suggest that opportunities for Latinas and other youth of color are still inequitably structured in large, comprehensive high schools. Hence, we argue that schools must continue to bridge the large gap between themselves and the families/communities they serve and utilize the funds of knowledge and social capital that their students already bring to school.     

Two Teacher Educators Go to the Source: Teaching an Interdisciplinary Class in an Urban Charter High School

The authors of this article are two teacher educators who worked collaboratively to co-teach an interdisciplinary English and US history class to eleventh-grade students in an urban high school. They wanted to ensure the methods they were teaching preservice teachers were current and effective. The article discusses the foundational beliefs that influenced their teaching, the interdisciplinary curriculum they taught, some of the challenges they encountered, and a brief snapshot of the students' views of the curriculum. The authors discuss that putting their beliefs into practice outweighed the challenges they encountered—a culturally relevant, authentic, interdisciplinary curriculum can be effective in an urban classroom. The experience also assisted them in teaching their English and social studies methods classes.     

Subject to Evaluation: How Parents Assess and Mobilize Information from Social Networks in School Choice

A rich literature examines how information spreads through social networks to influence life opportunities. However, receiving information does not guarantee its use in decision making. This article analyzes information evaluation as a fundamental component of social network mobilization. The case of school choice, where the value of information may be more uncertain, brings this evaluative dimension to the forefront. Interviews with 55 parents in Boston show how parents selecting schools assess their social network ties as information sources, privileging information from those they perceive to have affinity and authority. These evaluative criteria map onto disparate networks to engender unequal mobilization of this information. The findings illuminate mechanisms sustaining inequality in social network mobilization and reorient scholars to consider processes underlying information use alongside information diffusion to attain a more complete understanding of how network resources are mobilized in action.     

Understanding the Role of Immigrant Families' Cultural and Structural Mechanisms in Immigrant Children's Experiences beyond High School: Lessons for Social Work Practitioners

The destinies of the contemporary immigrant generation are challenged by the profound reshaping of the U.S. economy and the increasing diversity of new immigrant communities from the Latin American and Asian regions. Family represents a key link between immigrant children's social adjustment beyond high school and relationships with mainstream society. Placing an emphasis on culture and social structure, this article reviews contemporary literature and provides a framework for knowledge that helps social work practitioners and policy planners explore the distinguishing features of immigrant families that confer an advantage within their children's post-secondary education or labor market participation. Also considered is how culture and social structure overlap and interact to exert a significant influence on the future economic prospects of immigrant children.