School factors helping disadvantaged students to succeed: empirical evidence from four Italian cities

This research investigates a particular category of disadvantaged students, namely those who are able to overcome a situation of socio-economical disadvantage and obtain good academic results (here named ‘resilient students’). We have used micro-data provided by the Italian National Evaluation Committee for Education and focused on class and school-level characteristics that help disadvantaged students to become resilient students when they move from primary (grade 5) to lower secondary school (grade 6), concentrating our analysis on four major cities. We employed a probit regression and a propensity score matching model, finding that class and school factors do matter. In particular, we looked at whether the performance of their peers has a positive impact on that of disadvantaged students, estimating the increased probability of these students becoming resilient.     

Can the American Dream Survive the New Multiethnic America? Evidence from Los Angeles1

Drawing from a survey conducted in Los Angeles, we examine perceptions of achievement and optimism about reaching the American dream among racial, ethnic, and nativity groups. We find blacks and Asian Americans less likely than whites to believe they have reached the American dream. Latinos stand out for their upbeat assessments, with naturalized citizens possessing a stronger sense of achievement and noncitizens generally optimistic that they will eventually fulfill the American dream. We discuss patterns of variation between the racial and ethnic groups as well as variation within each group. Notwithstanding interesting differences along lines of race, ethnicity, and nativity, we find no evidence that the nation’s changing ethnic stew has diluted faith in the American dream.     

A Strategic Planning Process for a Small Nonprofit Organization: A Hospice Example

Strategic planning is an essential part of management. However, planning processes can consume great amounts of time and resources that small, nonprofit organizations may lack. Moreover, the process that is used can be tedious and may result in plans that are discarded before or during their implementation. In this article, a strategic planning process is presented that incorporates a Policy Delphi group technique and Situation Structuring, a computer program that assists participants in structuring or defining the problems to be addressed in the plan. The organization to which the process is applied is a small, nonprofit hospice. Both the planning process and an evaluation of the implementation of the resultant strategic plan are examined.     

Towards proteophilic competence? Intercultural learning and language education in Latvia

The new paradigm of language education envisages that teachers become intercultural mediators. However, there is no agreement about implementing the new paradigm in school practice and language teacher education. The author believes that the intercultural dimension of language education is strongly linked to integrating intercultural learning in language education. It implies cooperation with teachers from other subject areas and attitude change. The author recently designed a new course to prepare language teachers for understanding the processes involved in intercultural learning. The present article presents a case study carried out while piloting the course ‘Integrating intercultural learning in language education’ at the University of Latvia, Faculty of Modern Languages. The student teachers commented that pupils’ intercultural competence cannot be fostered by teachers alone, without the support of parents and broader Latvian society. The author recommends introducing a special course on intercultural learning in the compulsory part of all higher education programs.     

Transactional links between adolescents’ and friends’ victimization during the first two years of secondary school: The mediating role of likeability and friendship involvement

The goals of this study were to examine to what extent lower likeability at the group level and lower friendship involvement can explain the bidirectional links between adolescents’ own and their friends’ victimization over time. We tested these processes by applying a cross‐lagged path model to a sample of 621 adolescents. Data were collected at four time points over the two first years of secondary school. Participants were asked to identify same grade friends within their school; classroom peer nominations were used to assess participants’ likeability as well as participants’ and friends’ level of peer victimization. Results showed bidirectional associations between adolescents’ own and their friends’ victimization by peers within the first year of secondary school. Moreover, the relation between adolescents’ own victimization at the end of the first year and their friends’ victimization next year was mediated by decreased adolescents’ likeability at the group level. Inversely, their friends’ victimization at the end of the first year predicted lower levels of adolescents’ own likeability over time, which in turn predicted adolescents’ own subsequent levels of victimization. Friends’ victimization also predicted adolescents’ lower friendship involvement during the first year, which in turn predicted decreased likeability, and ultimately higher levels of victimization.     

Relations between Theory of Mind and Indirect and Physical Aggression in Kindergarten: Evidence of the Moderating Role of Prosocial Behaviors

The present study examined the association between theory of mind and indirect versus physical aggression, as well as the potential moderating role of prosocial behavior in this context. Participants were 399 twins and singletons drawn from two longitudinal studies in Canada. At five years of age, children completed a theory of mind task and a receptive vocabulary task. A year later, teachers evaluated children's indirect and physical aggression and prosocial behavior. Indirect aggression was significantly and positively associated with theory of mind skills, but only in children with average or low levels of prosocial behavior. Physical aggression was negatively associated with prosocial behavior but not with theory of mind. Each analysis included gender, receptive vocabulary, and the respective other subtype of aggression as control variables. These results did not differ between girls and boys or between twins and singletons. Theoretical and clinical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Agricultural multifunctionality and farmers' entrepreneurial skills: A study of Tuscan and Welsh farmers

The process of agricultural restructuring in Europe has been strongly influenced both by CAP support of multifunctional agriculture and by market liberalisation, and farmers are exhorted to become more entrepreneurial in response. This paper explores the interaction of these policy goals in two regions where a rural development form of multifunctionality is favoured.     

Longitudinal Links Between Gambling Participation and Academic Performance in Youth: A Test of Four Models

Gambling participation and low academic performance are related during adolescence, but the causal mechanisms underlying this link are unclear. It is possible that gambling participation impairs academic performance. Alternatively, the link between gambling participation and low academic performance could be explained by common underlying risk factors such as impulsivity and socio-family adversity. It could also be explained by other current correlated problem behaviors such as substance use. The goal of the present study was to examine whether concurrent and longitudinal links between gambling participation and low academic performance exist from age 14 to age 17 years, net of common antecedent factors and current substance use. A convenience sample of 766 adolescents (50.6% males) from a longitudinal twin sample participated in the study. Analyses revealed significant, albeit modest, concurrent links at both ages between gambling participation and academic performance. There was also a longitudinal link between gambling participation at age 14 and academic performance at age 17, which persisted after controlling for age 12 impulsivity and socio-family adversity as well as current substance use. Gambling participation predicts a decrease in academic performance during adolescence, net of concurrent and antecedent personal and familial risk factors.     

A Longitudinal Empirical Investigation of the Pathways Model of Problem Gambling

The pathways model of problem gambling suggests the existence of three developmental pathways to problem gambling, each differentiated by a set of predisposing biopsychosocial characteristics: behaviorally conditioned (BC), emotionally vulnerable (EV), and biologically vulnerable (BV) gamblers. This study examined the empirical validity of the Pathways Model among adolescents followed up to early adulthood. A prospective-longitudinal design was used, thus overcoming limitations of past studies that used concurrent or retrospective designs. Two samples were used: (1) a population sample of French-speaking adolescents (N = 1033) living in low socio-economic status (SES) neighborhoods from the Greater Region of Montreal (Quebec, Canada), and (2) a population sample of adolescents (N = 3017), representative of French-speaking students in Quebec. Only participants with at-risk or problem gambling by mid-adolescence or early adulthood were included in the main analysis (n = 180). Latent Profile Analyses were conducted to identify the optimal number of profiles, in accordance with participants’ scores on a set of variables prescribed by the Pathways Model and measured during early adolescence: depression, anxiety, impulsivity, hyperactivity, antisocial/aggressive behavior, and drug problems. A four-profile model fit the data best. Three profiles differed from each other in ways consistent with the Pathways Model (i.e., BC, EV, and BV gamblers). A fourth profile emerged, resembling a combination of EV and BV gamblers. Four profiles of at-risk and problem gamblers were identified. Three of these profiles closely resemble those suggested by the Pathways Model.