Presents a network-assessment technique and examples showing how group experiences affect children's behavior. Compares classical sociometry and the use of composite social maps. Discusses quantifying peer-network information, using peer-network profiles as context descriptors, and identifying change in children and networks. Shows that peer-group…

Supporting a "structural relational" view of small business success, data from 423 small business owners in Iowa suggest that links between owner characteristics, social relational processes, business structure, and success operate differently depending on urban-rural location and owner sex. Female owners had more professional training…

I examine the concept of the community field to identify the structures, elements, and processes that generate improved capacity for community action. I conduct analysis of interlocking leadership among local organizations and recent community action in three Midwestern communities to determine the structure and attributes of the community field.…

Disability carries negative social meaning, and little is known about when (or if), in the process of health decline, persons identify themselves as "disabled." We examine the social and health criteria that older adults use to subjectively rate their own disability status. Using a panel study of older adults (ages 72+), we estimate…

Among the great scientific discoveries of the 20th century, attachment theory provides an explanation for the intense and enduring bonds which are formed in infancy and extended and developed through childhood and adult life. Those early attachments, formed within families, provide people with a framework for understanding themselves and others…

The purpose for conducting this study was to examine the differences among African American, Hispanic, and white female public school administrators with respect to their perceptions of successful strategies that led to career advancement. Female public school administrators continue to experience barriers to career advancement. The data revealed…

Objective: To design, implement and evaluate a peer-led intervention to reduce smoking amongst secondary school students. Design: A health promotion intervention combining peer education with diffusion of innovation theory, to be rigorously evaluated by means of a cluster randomised controlled trial with concurrent process and economic…

Networked learning aims to foster students' knowledge construction processes as well as the quality of knowledge construction. In this respect, it is crucial to be able to analyse both aspects of networked learning. Based on theories on networked learning and the empirical work of relevant authors in this domain, two coding schemes are presented…

The Networked Learning Community (NLC) programme has been a major research and development activity of the National College of School Leadership (NCSL). One hundred and four voluntary, funded school networks were set up following a process of bidding and selection operated by a core NCSL team, the Networked Learning Group (NLG). A second tranche…

Students' first semester on campus may set the stage for their alcohol use/misuse throughout college. The authors surveyed 274 randomly sampled first-semester freshmen at a large southwestern university on their past 2 weeks' binge drinking, their high school binge drinking, and psychosocial factors possibly associated with drinking. They…

The scholarship on historical and contemporary African-American teachers highlights the emphasis on community connections in their work. As such, the scholarship portrays African-American teachers almost exclusively as "givers" without fully considering what teachers derive from community connections. This paper describes a qualitative study in…

Under neo-liberal modes of governance, new forms of partnership are emerging. This article begins by looking at the notion of partnership and the dominant model of partnership operating under New Labour in the United Kingdom, through a discussion of two cases of partnership working. I argue that the dominant model of partnership is primarily…

This exploratory study investigates whether associations between social network measures and substance use differ according to type of substance and social context. The analyses use data obtained from 13 and 15 year olds (N=3146) in a school-based survey and focus on three social network measures: sociometric position (e.g. group, dyad, isolate);…

As online professional development courses for teachers have grown, the discussion forum has become a locus of considerable research. This study analyzes the discussion forums in four different sessions of a short (4-week) online course for teachers from six schools in three states. This study also compares four methodologies, all of which have a…

This book, which is intended for individuals who have been in a job for a decade and feel that their career development has stalled, explains how to break through the 10-year career barrier and get a desired job. The following topics are discussed in the book's 15 chapters: career stalls and their causes; the 10-year career barrier; the legality…