Drawing on the work of researchers in several disciplines, this article describes and discusses methods which can be used for analysing joint activity during computer-based, side-by-side, collaborative activity in educational settings. It is argued that the choice of methods in any particular study should take into account the range of…

In November of 2005, researchers, practitioners, and policymakers gathered at a national invitational conference in Washington, D.C. sponsored by the Laboratory for Student Success. The event took place just blocks away from the Capitol Rotunda where, days before, Rosa Parks' body laid in state as the nation mourned her passing. The conference…

Although this author knew very little about the details of "Brown v. Board of Education" as a legal matter when he read about it as a young second-year student at the University of Cape Town in 1954, the Court's verdict had a direct influence on his political perspectives and on his aspirations as a would-be teacher for the rest of his…

This document is a report on the educational resources of the Hartford (Connecticut) Public Schools and the disparities between the Hartford Public Schools and other school districts. The report uses a reanalysis of existing publicly available data, including published reports of the Connecticut State Department of Education and other state and…

This report examines how parent involvement in running day care centers in France has increased in recent years, and investigates the role that the Association des Collectifs Enfants Parents Professionnels (ACEPP) has played in making this form of child care more acceptable. After a discussion of the historical development and current choices of…

Case studies of women in engineering education in institutions where women's enrollment kept pace with national trends in engineering or exceeded it are presented in this report. Societal forces and trends are reviewed, along with trends in enrollment, attrition, and degrees granted. The professional role of women in engineering is examined.…

This discussion of the evolution of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SSR) begins with a report issued in 1953 by a federal commission which strongly influenced the first 15 years of Swiss television. Noting that the Swiss government adopted most of the proposals made in the report, this paper indicates some of the decisions that the Federal…

Africans who were brought across the Atlantic as slaves never fully adjusted to slavery or accepted its inevitability. Resistance began on board the slave ships, where many jumped overboard or committed suicide. African slaves in South America led the first revolts against tyranny in the New World. The first slave revolt in the Caribbean occurred…

Information on the background and viewpoints of Middle Eastern students who are studying in the United States is presented in revised papers from a 1978 seminar, "The Middle East: The Arab World and Iran." In the first section of the report, "General Background," James Cowan reviews social and cultural factors, as well as…

A decade's explosive growth in the scope, funding and complexity of national social policy has created serious problems in the United States. This first overview report notes that the Office of Economic Opportunity (now known as the Community Services Administration) has ceased to provide a focal point for national social policy. It was this state…

Papers are presented from the New Jersey Department of Higher Education Summer Institute. Focus is on sociolinguistic, anthropological, social psychological, pedagogical, and socio-political-economic considerations. Each analyzes particular factors that influence the form and quality of bilingual policy and instruction programs, and offers…

The value of a strong athletic program to the academic community is discussed along with proper methods of recruitment, uses of grants-in-aid, renewal and reform of sports programs, and solutions to the countless problems the "Big Game" generates. Replete with examples from literature, anthropology, psychology, and sociology, as well as…

Part of the crisis in higher education is due to the age and tenure distribution of the faculty and their escalating future salary costs. Universities must find ways to gain financial and academic flexibility. Career alternatives that can provide inducements for faculty to leave the university are described. (Author/MLW)

This issue dealing with language discusses language and social structure, social progress and sociolinguistics, oral and literate traditions, Portuguese Creole dialects in West Africa, a framework for describing how languages spread, socio-cultural conflict and bilingual education, linguistic variation in one-language societies, the language…

This report presents the results of a survey on drug and alcohol use among students in elementary and secondary schools. Schools in 15 counties along the Texas-Mexico border were oversampled so that substance use among students could be looked at in detail. A total of 63,292 students (grades 7-12) and 43,915 students (grades 4-6) were sampled.…