Opening our eyes,changing our practices: learning through the transnational lifeworlds of teachers

This article examines the inclusion of a culturally relevant curricular practice of social identity papers within teacher education in the USA that incorporates the transnational lifeworlds of teachers. Using tenets of feminist interdisciplinary frameworks, we highlight how this curricular practice allows teachers and teacher candidates in urban and rural contexts to examine transnational lifeworlds and their influence on culturally relevant practices in relation to notions of oppression and privilege. We focus on linguistic border crossings and both/and perspectives of teacher’s social identities. More research is needed to better understand the construction of teacher’s social identities within and across transnational lifeworlds and the ways it impacts their practices and student’s academic and social achievement.     

Family-Faculty Trust As Measured with the ESSP

The degree to which parents and teachers perceive they are working together in the best educational interests of children is a critical aspect of school culture. In previous work by Hoy, Tarter, and Woolfolk Hoy (2006), the phenomenon was named Faculty Trust and was measured with data from teachers. The current study builds upon Hoy et al.'s work by recommending that measures of Faculty Trust capture the important reciprocal nature of trust and cooperation between schools and families that is theoretically part of the original construct. Data collected from parents and teachers with the Elementary School Success Profile (ESSP) were used to test a broadened construct called Family-Faculty Trust. Confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) with Mplus indicated that items and composites on the ESSP could be used to measure a multidimensional Family-Faculty Trust construct. Implications for how school social workers can improve this aspect of school culture when total or subscale scores are found to be low are discussed.     

Pie-eyed Optimists: Baby-boomers the Optimistic Generation?

Social indicators research is concerned with the measurement of quality of life in society from both the objective and subjective point of view. The subjective appraisal of quality of life often involves judgements in terms of satisfaction (Veenhoven, 1996: 1). Such research however, is not only concerned with satisfaction but also with dissatisfaction. The concepts of pessimism and optimism are used in this paper to determine feelings of satisfaction and dissatisfaction among an elite cohort of baby boom Australians. Objective and subjective potential indicators of quality of life are combined to explore these dimensions.     

The uses and users of population projections in Australia

It is widely recognized that population projections are increasingly used in formulating policy in many public and private sectors. However, little information exists on the nature of the projections or their users. This paper reports the results of a survey conducted to rectify this situation. The results confirm that the applications of projections are very broad and that the prime area of increase has been in small-area projections. At this level many users make their own projections rather than use official projections and the paper reviews the methodology used to make these projections. A number of suggestions are made for improving communication between national and subnational producers and local users. We would like to thank the Australian Population Association, and in particular the Secretary, Dianne Rudd, for providing us with address labels of members of the Association. We would also like to thank the Australian Bureau of Statistics, in particular Shail Jain, for advice on the development of the questionnaire. The comments of the two anonymous referees were very helpful. Finally we wish to thank our respondents for their co-operation, and especially those who wrote to encourage us in this work.     

Influence of yard work and weight training on bone mineral density among older U.S. women

The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of type of physical activity on bone mineral density among older U.S. women. Findings from the present study indicate that jogging, swimming and calisthenics were weak predictors for high bone density values. Bicycling, aerobics, walking and dancing were moderate predictors for positive bone density. Yard work and weight training were strong and independent predictors for positive bone density.     

The Cash Opportunity Costs of Childbearing: An Approach To Estimation Using British Data

The opportunity costs of rearing British children in terms of cash earnings foregone by their mother are estimated for a typical family. Data from the Women and Employment Survey (1980) provide estimates for hourly pay as a function of work experience and current hours of work. They also make possible the generation of participation and hours profiles for representative women with different numbers of children, which, together with the earnings function are used to simulate lifetime income. Earnings foregone as a result of bearing and rearing two children are roughly equally composed of three effects, on participation, hours and pay. They exceed direct costs, and do not rise proportionally with family size. They are sensitive to the spacing of births but not, undiscounted, to the timing of the first one. The method and results contrast markedly with those of a similarly motivated study of US women, by Calhoun and Espenshade. It is argued that the non-linearity of the earnings function and state dependence in British labour force transitions would violate the assumptions which permitted the US exercise to be based on a multi-state labour force life-table.     

Dissonant Discourses: HIV-Positive Refugees and the Media in New Zealand

Will the authorities ever pluck up the courage to invoke the powers that surely already exist in our health regulations and take these time bombs out of circulation? ( Nelson Evening Mail , June 29, 1994) I didn't have any test in Sudan. I never expected I would have any kind of illness; I am very healthy and strong. I was shocked. My life was very dark and I wasn't expecting to have HIV. How did I get it? What way did I get it? I was very happy when I got to NZ, I was going to have a bright future helping my family, I was going to change my life, I didn't expect it was going to be like this [crying]. (Samuel)     

Life Skills,Mathematical Reasoning and Critical Thinking: A Curriculum for the Prevention of Problem Gambling

Previous studies have shown that youth are two to three times more likely than adults to report gambling related problems. This paper reports on the development and pilot evaluation of a school-based problem gambling prevention curriculum. The prevention program focused on problem gambling awareness and self-monitoring skills, coping skills, and knowledge of the nature of random events. The results of a controlled experiment evaluating the students learning from the program are reported. We found significant improvement in the students' knowledge of random events, knowledge of problem gambling awareness and self-monitoring, and knowledge of coping skills. The results suggest that knowledge based material on random events, problem gambling awareness and self-monitoring skills, and coping skills can be taught. Future development of the curriculum will focus on content to expand the students' coping skill options.     

Failing the Transition from Welfare to Work: Women Chronically Disconnected from Employment and Cash Welfare*

Objectives. Although employment among welfare mothers increased substantially following the 1996 welfare reform, some former welfare recipients failed to find stable employment. We review the extent to which low‐income mothers are without work and cash welfare for long periods of time and seek to understand the correlates of becoming chronically disconnected. Methods. We analyze data from a 1997–2003 panel study of single mothers who received cash welfare in an urban county in Michigan in February 1997. We develop a new measure of the extent to which former recipients are “chronically disconnected” from both employment and cash welfare and estimate regression models of the correlates of this economic outcome. Results. About 9 percent of respondents became chronically disconnected, defined as being without employment and cash welfare during at least one‐quarter of the months during the 79‐month study period. Important correlates of becoming chronically disconnected include having a physical limitation, having a learning disability, using illegal drugs or meeting the diagnostic screening criteria for alcohol dependence, and having no car or driver license. The chronically disconnected are more likely to have lost a job than to have lost welfare benefits and are more economically disadvantaged than those with regular sources of economic support. Conclusions. To reduce the number of women who fail to make a successful transition from welfare to work, more attention should be given to programs and policies that attempt to reconnect disconnected women to regular sources of economic support.