Does Bilingual Education Interfere with English‐Language Acquisition?*

Objective. In 1975, the Puerto Rican community successfully sued the New York City Department of Education, mandating the city to provide bilingual education to its Spanish‐speaking English learner (EL) students. The settlement, known as the “Aspira Consent Decree,” has been amended over time to include EL students of all language groups and now requires public schools that have at least 15 students of the same language group in two contiguous grades to offer bilingual education. Yet observational studies of bilingual education classrooms in the city document that Spanish‐speaking EL students may be the only language group that receives native‐language instruction, while students from other language groups who are enrolled in bilingual education primarily receive English instruction. Method. I use this difference in treatment dosage to estimate the effect of bilingual education on the time that it takes students to learn English. Results and Conclusions. Students who enroll in bilingual education classrooms learn English less quickly, but the effect of bilingual education is the same for Spanish‐speaking and other students, implying that negative selection mechanisms are at work.     

思想、风俗与制度：陈寅恪史学研究的社会学意涵

陈寅恪的史学研究在中国人文社会科学研究领域有重要的学术地位。一直以来，围绕陈寅恪史学研究传统展开的学术史讨论大多局限于历史学乃至中古史研究的范畴。社会学、政治学等学科对其关注较少。在本文中，笔者尝试从陈寅恪史学研究的问题意识、研究路径与关键概念等角度，在重新整理陈寅恪著述史与细读文本的基础上，揭示他诸多研究著述之间的内在联系，并由此讨论陈寅恪史学研究传统对“文明发生学”这一问题的内在关切。笔者进而尝试从思想、风俗与制度三个关键词入手，理解这一“西学东渐”背景下的经典研究传统所具有的社会学理论意涵，并以此为基础，讨论其对我们当下开展面向中国本土历史与社会的社会学研究所具有的理论意义。     

Energy Conservation—A Case Study in Campaign Evaluation

This study demonstrates the considerations involved in evaluation research into the effectiveness of campaigns designed to influence social change. It is an examination of the results of applying aspects of the attitude change studies to the subject of environmental issues. A case study was made of the Smallternatives energy conservation campaign which originated in 1976 in Brisbane, at a time of little recognition of an energy 'crisis' for Australia or the need for energy conservation. Results indicated that levels of concern for environmental issues were present throughout the sample; that one group (who requested Smallternatives information) were more concerned about energy and environmental issues than groups who had not requested it; and that the booklet, when issued without request, had little or no effect on desired attitudes towards energy conservation. These results are discussed with respect to the dilemma of attitude-behaviour consistency, and the impact of information input when it is sent to, rather than requested by, the individual.     

Research in the concept‐based therapeutic community – its importance to European treatment research in the drug field1

The concept‐based therapeutic community (TC) has been more scrutinised than almost every treatment model in the drug field except for methadone maintenance treatment. Important reasons for emphasising research right from the beginning were financial and/or ideological. Because of strong, ideological reasons and because of extensive research, the American TC movement has had a great impact on the treatment field of drug abusers in Europe. However, independent of the TC movement, at the same time the European treatment field also initiated several important research projects. In particular the Scandinavian countries were active in process studies with a qualitative approach. For different reasons this research tradition in Scandinavia was never considered important in the international research society. In recent years this has changed, and there is now a consensus about the need for more process evaluation and phenomenological research to complement the large body of quantitative studies in the treatment field. Probably both American and European treatment research has contributed to the preservation of the best from the original TC models and a renunciation of the more destructive elements.     

Measuring the Treatment Outcome of Short-Term School-Based Social Skills Groups

ABSTRACT

Short-term groups are frequently being used in schools today to address the ever-increasing needs among at-risk students. This research was intended to address some of the current gaps in our understanding of how short-term groups affect the functioning of children and adolescents. A combination of qualitative and quantitative evaluation methods was utilized in the study to measure the treatment outcome of these school-based groups. A comparison of the results surfaced from this two evaluation methods was very informative and adds to our current knowledge and understanding of the treatment impact of short-term groups. Study participants and the group facilitators reported more internal areas of change as opposed to external behavioral changes. Future research questions and suggestions for designing more rigorous studies of short-term groups for at-risk students are delineated based on the results of this study.     

Researching in the Victorian censuses: a note on a computerized,annotated bibliography of publications based substantially on the census enumerators' books

The authors describe a project, begun in 1981, to locate, list, and annotate all the published work based substantially on the census enumerators' books for nineteenth-century censuses for England and Wales. The results are currently available in a computerized file, enabling a variety of searches by topic, geographical area, and type of population. Information is provided on using the data and the computerized bibliography. The authors note that, subsequently, data for censuses of Scotland and Ireland have been added.     

Recent public policy and Australian older workers

This article considers the characteristics and utility of pro‐work policies targeting Australian older workers that have emerged in the context of population ageing, amid concerns that this will lead to labour shortages and an increasing social welfare burden. There has been a recent surge in public policy regarding the ageing workforce, the efficacy of which has not been tested by evaluation studies. After considering the conceptual foundations and objectives of various government initiatives, it is argued that the present public policy approach may have serious flaws that are not only detrimental to the stated overall objective of prolonging working lives, but may, in fact, be harmful to older workers and fail to address the needs of business. This stems from programs reaching only a small proportion of those older people who would potentially benefit from assistance, and from misdirected effort aimed at encouraging behavioural change on the part of employers or industries. It is argued that there is a need for greater targeting of policy efforts on the actual needs of industry and for public policy itself to become more age‐aware.     

我国社会化机构养老的研究评述和相关探讨(2001～2012)

受家庭养老功能弱化的影响,学界对老年人养老方式的研究与探讨也日益丰富和激烈,机构养老对于弥补家庭养老功能弱化的重要性日益凸显；当前学界对社会化机构养老的研究涉及面甚广,但缺乏不同学科视角下宏观层面的概括研究以及对新模式发展的探讨,通过将已有研究以社会学、经济学、管理学及近年兴起的老年学为视角进行归类梳理,厘清不同视角的...     

Time-Limited Treatment Groups for Children

Children with psychosocial problems relating to school, health, and mental health difficulties have been treated in time-limited groups. The present article explicates the process of small group treatment with children using the time-limited approach. The objectives, establishment, planning, and composition of groups as well as the leadership, activities, termination, and evaluation of these groups is presented.     

Treating Men Who Batter

This article presents four years of evaluation data from a large treatment program for men who batter their female partners. Follow-up data on violence and threats of violence as reported by female partners is presented for 156 men who completed the treatment program and comparison groups totalling 67 men who received varying amounts of treatment but did not complete the program. Overall, approximately two-thirds of the men who completed treatment were found, at follow-up, to be not violent. Just over half of the men who received some treatment but did not complete treatment were also reported to be not violent at follow-up. As the client population changed, the results of intervention seemed to weaken. The practice implications of these studies and their results are discussed.     

Attributing Outcomes to Social Policy Interventions – ‘Gold Standard’ or ‘Fool's Gold’ in Public Policy and Management?

In recent years there has been increased interest in outcome‐based social policy‐making and management. The UK has been in the forefront of this movement but similar movements have been identified internationally. This interest in outcome‐based decision‐making has been given particular impetus through the ‘results’‐based movement in evaluation and performance management since the 1980s, which has increased in scope over time, slowly changing its emphasis from cost reduction and measuring outputs to measuring outcomes. This change has been widely welcomed by policymakers, practitioners and academics. However, there is evidence that the reality is often rather less than the rhetoric. Moreover, the ‘attribution problem’ of attributing changes in outcomes to specific social policies has remained a major issue. The conceptual solution of constructing ‘cause‐and‐effect’ models, imported from the policy evaluation field, has only recently become common for operationalising these models. This article outlines the evolution of interest in outcome‐based social policy‐making up to recent times and the growing realization of the importance of the attribution problem. It then outlines both how the ‘cause‐and‐effect’ policy modelling approach can partially tackle the attribution problem, but also its inherent limitations. Lastly, the article uses several case studies in current UK social policy‐making to demonstrate the potential importance of the reasoning embedded within cause‐and‐effect models but also the dangers in policy‐making which adopts this approach without understanding its conceptual basis or in fields where it is inappropriate, given the current state of our knowledge of social policy systems.     

History and the non‐profit sector: Parish pump meets global constellations

Abstract

The New Zealand leg of the Johns Hopkins Comparative Nonprofit Sector Project followed the parent study by including a substantial historical dimension. This paper reflects upon the role of history in a comparative, increasingly quantitative project which is itself a product of time and place. The historical synthesis that emerged drew upon numerous small, local studies to locate New Zealand within the wide‐ranging models of state/non‐profit sector relations generated by the Johns Hopkins study. At the same time, it attempted to tell a story to a local audience. The result was a productive tension between axes of analysis—the internationally comparative, across geographical boundaries, informed by detailed statistical analyses; and comparisons across time, where the focus was on that other “foreign country”, the past, and the research, of necessity, more qualitative and impressionistic.     

MODELS OF INTERVENTION IN WORK WITH GROUPS

Three models of social work intervention are presented with a focus on worker-client interaction and the conceptual frame of reference for these models. The essential features and contemporary practices of each model are reviewed, as well as implications for achieving a consistent practice orientation. The reader is asked to locate his/her stance in order to work toward an internally consistent practice in working with groups.     

THE CRISIS IMPACT OF SEXUAL ASSAULT ON THREE VICTIM GROUPS

The traumatizing effect of rape and other forms of sexual assault on the victim has been documented in a variety of recent studies. The diversity of these studies with respect to their samples, data collcction methods, and measurement procedures makes it difficult to specify with precision (I) the effect of rape on adult vs. child victims, and (2) the cffect of rape vs. incestuous assault on child victims. The purpose of this research was to develop and apply a standardized assault impact assessment to a sample of victims admitted to a rape crisis treatment center. Three comparison groups compose the focus of this study: adult rape victims, child rape victims, and child incest victims. This article deals with the levels of trauma stemming from sexual assault in these groups and the implications of these findings for sexual assault treatment centers.     

How New Zealanders distribute their daily time between home indoors,home outdoors and out of home

Unlike most developed countries, until now no time-use microenvironment studies have been undertaken in New Zealand. International studies show that on average 60%–70% of each day is spent at home indoors in all countries. Time-use differences usually relate to day type, season, gender, age and job type. Although house indoor environments have fewer pollutants than other microenvironments, spending much time in this one microenvironment can easily lead to greater exposure while some indoor spaces like kitchens are proven to produce higher levels of pollutants compared to other rooms. Consequently, this study undertaken in summer has focused on time-use in three microenvironments: house indoors; house outdoors; and out of home, with a more detailed look at the time different members of selected household types spend in the various rooms of their house. Results show that New Zealanders spend on average 69.7% of each day at home indoors. Like other countries, time-use at home indoors in New Zealand is affected by gender, age, job type and day type (weekday or weekend). The average summer time-use at home outdoors is only 0.55?hours/day which is very little for a country with a temperate climate and a large proportion of houses with private gardens. In fact, New Zealand time-use microenvironment patterns seem to follow similar patterns to those of most developed countries.     

Evaluation of Research Ethics Committees: Criteria for the Ethical Quality of the Review Process

Repeatedly, adequacy, performance and quality of Ethics Committees that oversee medical research trials are being discussed. Although they play a crucial role in reviewing medical research and protecting human subjects, it is far from clear to what degree they fulfill the task they have been assigned to. This eventuates in the call for an evaluation of their activity and, in some places, led to the establishment of accreditation schemes. At the same time, IRBs have become subject of detailed legislation in the process of the ongoing global juridification of medical research. Unsurprisingly, there is a tendency to understand the evaluation of RECs as a question of controlling their legal compliance. This paper discusses the need for a quality evaluation of IRBs from an ethical point of view and, by systematically reviewing the major ethical guidelines for IRBs, proposes a system of criteria that should orientate any evaluation of IRBs.     

Underage Females' Experiences of Sexual Relations,Motherhood, and Married Life

Any substantial progress in the study of the nature of schizophrenia is predicated on overcoming a number of difficulties, and one of the most crucial factors in ensuring that this will be achieved is making the study of schizophrenia problem number one in every country. Yet to be successful such research requires setting up costly and complicated investigations, including multifaceted, general pathological studies of the brain, pharmacological studies, epidemiological studies, etc. This is a basic prerequisite for international scientific cooperation. Effective study of schizophrenia requires that variations among different countries in their views about the mind be overcome, since such variations make uniform clinical diagnosis of mental illnesses impossible. The difficulties are also due to the peculiar features of the clinical method in psychiatry, which still remains essentially functional, i.e., divorced from study of the material substrate of the illness. Despite the considerable progress it has made, psychiatry to this day still finds it impossible to dispense completely with the linear principle of Kraepelin's classification. An evaluation of the true value of any scientific system depends not only on how well it fits the facts but also on how effectively it meets the requirements of the time, the level of development of science, and the method employed. (1)     

论政府经济职能实施绩效评估体系的框架构建

政府经济职能实施绩效的好坏离不开对于其相应评估体系的建立。由于转轨 ,我国政府经济职能的功能定位发生了变化 ,新的适应于市场经济导向的评估体系亟待建立。一个科学、公正且有效的政府经济职能实施绩效的评估体系 ,主要应当从两个层面来进行构建。一个层面是微观层面 ,主要评估政府经济职能实施的各具体机构及某项具体经济政策的实施绩效 ;另一个层面是宏观层面 ,主要评估一国政府履行其所有经济职能的总体绩效     

QQ空间对当代大学生价值观的导向

博客、QQ空间、微博客、视频分享、社交网站等新兴网络服务的迅速发展,为中国公民通过互联网进行交流提供了更便捷的条件。特别是QQ空间的兴起,为当代大学生生活注入了新的活力,对他们的价值观具有重要的导向作用。     

Long Term Care for the Elderly: the Community Care Scheme

Summary The article describes the full evaluation of the Community CareScheme for the elderly in Kent. The evaluation compared therelative cost-effectiveness of the scheme for clients and carerswith the range of services which would otherwise have been received.It is argued that effective case-management by a key workeris an essential feature of more effective home care for thevery frail elderly and that the case-management role is an appropriatemodel of social work for other long term care groups. The newscheme appeared particularly appropriate for the extremely mentallyand physically frail who were living with others and for theless frail, socially isolated elderly person prone to minorpsychiatric disorder.