Grade retention and enrollment in post-secondary education

Students retained in grade have dropout rates three to seven times higher than do their promoted peers, yet little is known about the outcomes for the most persistent of the retained students who graduate high school. The purpose of this research was to examine the post-secondary (PSE) enrollment rates of retained but persistent high school graduates. Ten thousand 1992 high school graduates in the National Education Longitudinal Study (NELS) data base composed the sample. A logistic regression controlling for gender, socio-economic status (SES), race–ethnicity, and achievement yielded odds ratios indicating significantly lower odds of PSE enrollment for retained graduates compared to promoted graduates. Later grade retention generally reduced the odds of PSE enrollment. Findings suggest that retaining students may be related to negative educational outcomes not realized for many years.     

外语焦虑量表(FLCAS)在大学生中的测试报告

本研究通过外语课堂焦虑量表（FLCAS）在我国大学生中初步应用及因素分析,结果发现：（1）中文版FLCAS具有较好的信度和效度,可用于今后的有关研究或实际工作。（2）我国大学生在学习英语过程中产生的焦虑主要包括担心、紧张不安、害怕说英语和害怕课堂提问等四个方面;（3）女大学生的外语焦虑水平显著低于男大学生,这可能女性的语言能力相对较强有关;（4）我国非英语专业大学生的外语学习焦虑水平显著低于国外学习其它外语的大学生,这可能跟他们外语学习的经历较长有关。     

Surveys and Data Sources on Gay Men’s Lifestyles and Socio-Sexual Behavior: Some Key Concerns and Issues

This paper explores and reflects upon the body of relevant social science data sources containing insights into gay male socio-sexual lifestyles. Considerable deficiencies seem to feature in this regard with respect to coverage, consistency, content and usability. The various reasons for collecting data on gay male lifestyles are considered and thought given as to some particular strengths and weaknesses. Examples of datasets and surveys are used in this light to potentially inform future developments and a critical perspective on their usage.

Cultural, Gender, and Socioeconomic Contexts in Therapeutic and Social Policy Work

The contention of this paper is that the context of social and therapeutic problems is critical to their resolution, and that many of them stem from historical and structural injustice. It focuses on the contextual issues of cultural, gender, and socioeconomic equity as providing important insights into authentic notions of social inclusion and well-being, and encourages therapists, service providers, researchers, and policy makers to take responsibility to ensure that these injustices are addressed, and become part of the public discourse about the sources and solutions of endemic social problems. Critique and deconstruction of institutional power in our public, private, and voluntary services is encouraged in a manner that honors diversity and enables sensitive therapy, other forms of service delivery and policy making that genuinely reflect the range of cultural, gender, and socioeconomic experiences of citizens.     

Not All Blarney Is Cast in Stone: International Cultural Conflict in Northern Ireland

A core characteristic of world politics is the presence of communal conflict over ideas of national identity, inextricably bound to ideas of cultural identity. Increasingly, foreign policy decision-makers realize the importance of considering cultural factors in their calculations of how peoples will define the "self" that seeks "determination." Although a collective's culture changes over time (through interaction with others and in response to external events), scholars and policy analysts sometimes treat identities as static, monolithic, and derived from cultures that rarely change. This leads policymakers to underestimate the extent to which culture influences and can be influenced by foreign policy. This paper integrates work in political science and psychology into a content analysis–based method for examining three major ways in which culture impinges on communal conflict. The utility of the approach is demonstrated with a case study of the Northern Ireland conflict from 1984 to 1986, which shows how the rhetoric of the competing nationalist/Catholic leaders (John Hume and Gerry Adams) was the site of debate over group culture, how differences in the rhetoric reflected different cultures of the conflict, and how the conflict has been affected by the foreign policy decisions of other actors.     

Bribery: the concept

The aim of this paper is to clarify the concept of bribery, and to do this in a way that reveals its underlying normative features. Bribery, like lying is not a value neutral concept. It has a negative connotation and is regarded by most as generally, although not necessarily universally, wrong. At the very least, those who resort to bribery bear a burden of justification for what they do. This is no small point, as no such burden must be borne for the vast majority of human activities, such as engaging in conversation or taking a walk, which normally do not. As Sissela Bok says of lying, we might say that a negative moral weight attaches to every act of bribery; it may be possible to counter this negative weight in some instances, but not without an argument (the provision of good reasons).¹ Why should a negative moral weight be attached to every act of bribery? It might be thought that, even if most instances of bribery are morally objectionable, the concept of bribery itself is morally neutral.² However, enticing people to violate what they take to be their positional duties does seem to call for some sort of moral justification. This seems to be so even in extreme cases, for example, when bribing a Nazi guard to allow concentration camp prisoners to escape. The ready availability of a moral justification in such circumstances does not eliminate the need for one.     

Effect of effort and deadlines on consumer product returns

While extant research has examined return policies as a combination of time and effort, we investigate both the independent and interactive impacts of time and effort on consumer decisions to return or retain products. We find that decreasing return deadlines can have the counterintuitive effect of increasing return rates under some conditions. Using construal level theory, we propose that perceived effort (both physical and cognitive) mediates the effect of return policy on return rates leading to suppressed returns. Further, when deadlines are framed as durations between store visits, overall product returns are exacerbated except when perceived effort is high.     

Formulation of Policy and Strategy in Developing Creativity Education in Four Asian Chinese Societies: A Policy Analysis

The present study sought to compare and contrast educational policies on creativity education in four Asian Chinese societies, namely mainland China, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan. It establishes five criteria on creativity education policy, including policies regarding legislation on creativity education, definitions of creativity, standard implementation, explicit identification of special populations of creative students, and creativity education in the community. Among the four societies, Taiwan has an official document — the White Paper on Creative Education published in 2003 — whereas in Hong Kong and Singapore, creativity has been identified as an ability to be nurtured in students of all levels in their national curriculum reform. In mainland China, innovation is regarded as a synonym for creativity. Definitions of creativity have at times not been clearly defined, although multiple levels of creativity development (individual, school, societal, industrial, and cultural) have been discussed in Taiwan. In Hong Kong, creativity has been defined as a generic skill in various key learning areas (e.g., language education, mathematics education, science education, etc.) in the school curriculum. In Singapore, creativity is a learning outcome to be developed in students. None of these societies use standard creativity assessment tests as evidence of creative competence in students. When creativity has entered the central stage in the curriculum reform and creativity education is made available to every student, efforts have been made to identify highly creative students and provide them enrichment opportunities, mainly using performance assessments and performance in creativity competitions in these societies. But mainland China, Hong Kong, and Singapore do not sufficiently emphasize creativity education in the larger community.     

Understanding and Improving the Effectiveness of After-School Practice

The question driving research on after‐school programs is shifting from “do programs make a difference,” to “why are some programs effective while others are not?” This article draws on the work in this volume and related studies to suggest that there is an emerging consensus on the importance of staff‐youth interactions as a determinant of program effectiveness. The commentary recommends that future research should continue to focus on understanding and improving program practices at the point‐of‐service. In doing so, two lines of inquiry seem promising. The first involves linking measures of changes in staff‐youth interactions to changes in developmental outcomes. The second is to examine how policies or other interventions intended to improve program effectiveness affect the practices of line staff.