This study investigates the possibilities of estimating value added as a performance indicator in senior secondary vocational education. Value added is interesting in this context because it is considered as a reliable tool for comparing the effectiveness of educational institutions. Although value added indicators have been developed since the…

Objective: To examine the impact of the catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) val[superscript 158]met allele on depressive symptoms in young children exposed to early severe social deprivation as a result of being raised in institutions. Methods: One hundred thirty six children from the Bucharest Early Intervention Project (BEIP) were randomized…

The authors' previous work and the data reported in the preceding chapters of this monograph provide conclusive evidence of the persistent nature of the negative impact of early severe deprivation. Institutional deprivation, despite the good outcomes for many, was often associated with substantial impairment and disorder across a wide range of…

This monograph provides critical insights into identifying which threads to pull in the "web of causation" to discern the impact of adverse early life experiences, and it provides guidance regarding how to identify patterns of behavior that are likely to reflect the impact of such experiences. In this article, the author offers her…

Background/Context: Past studies have consistently found modest academic gains for minorities as a result of desegregation. In addition, school effects have tended to be small or even null once student-level nonschool factors are controlled. However, traditional approaches not only treat desegregation as a policy that may be sufficient by itself…

The article identifies key dimensions of effective leadership for change in historically disadvantaged, township and rural schools in South Africa. It is based on original case study research in 13 schools in Kwa-Zulu Natal. Although the sample included mainly township and rural primary and secondary schools it also included a smaller sample of…

As part of the Community and Environment in Rural America (CERA) initiative, the Carsey Institute has been investigating broad trends between rural community types, including the education level of residents and their parents. Since 2007, Carsey researchers have conducted over 17,000 telephone surveys with randomly selected adult Americans from…

This paper reviews the research findings and policies regarding the conditions and educational needs of the Roma population in Europe. It examines assumptions, possibilities, and setbacks of translating and appropriating US-American academic discourse on race into the debate across the continent. The central task for researchers, policy makers,…

This study uses data from married women in 30 nations to examine justice processes involving perceptions of fairness of the division of household labor and satisfaction with family life. Relative deprivation theory suggests that national context--operationalized here as nation-level gender equity--might serve as a comparative referent used by…

Play is a great equalizer. It is a universal, natural human pursuit. It need not--and should not--be based on or require expensive toys. Instead, children need an atmosphere in which exploration and play are valued and encouraged, a print-rich environment in which books--these can be borrowed from a library--encourage verbal skills; materials…

Jacques Bwira arrived in Uganda in 2000, having fled the violent conflict in his native country, the Democratic Republic of Congo. Though he had trained and worked as a teacher in Congo, he feared that speaking only French would prevent him from making a living in his new home. The police officer who interrogated Jacques on arrival in the capital…

This article is a case study of compensatory education as it was developed and implemented by an innovative urban school principal in the early 1960s. I argue that while the compensatory education movement was often marred by pejorative-sounding language and inegalitarian ideas, especially as it was shaped and expanded by policy makers and…

This paper reflects on experiences of working with schools in urban contexts as they have attempted to improve the quality of learning. Set within the context of the English education system during a period of intense national pressure to "raise standards", these experiences have been focused around issues of performance and leadership…

The transformations in Russian society that took place in the late twentieth century and early twenty-first century led to a rapid rise in social and economic differentiation. According to official data, the income gap between the 10 percent most-well-off and the 10 percent least-well-off families (the capital coefficient) rose to 14.8 times in…

We report an attempted replication of G. T. W. Patrick and J. A. Gilbert's pioneering sleep deprivation experiment "Studies from the psychological laboratory of the University of Iowa. On the effects of loss of sleep", conducted in 1895/96. Patrick and Gilbert's study was the first sleep deprivation experiment of its kind, performed by some of the…