Educational reformers in New Zealand and England have turned their attention towards network creation as a way of facilitating school improvement. The idea is that greater collaboration can drive school improvement through building professional learning communities, spreading best practice, and driving innovation in education. It is based on a…

The goal of this research is to understand how generalized exchange systems emerge when information, as the object of exchange, produces a collective good. When individuals contribute information for a collective benefit, it can create a group-generalized exchange system that involves a social dilemma. I argue that two properties of information,…

Having a "normal" professional job and doing research impose different social and personal connotations. These differences materialize at least in two clear ways. First, it is common that researchers in the making find it very difficult to communicate to their closest social network (e.g., family and old close friends) the content and the…

During the summer of 2006, Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) and union officials announced that the Pico Union area of East Los Angeles would soon be home to the Belmont Zone of Choice (BZC). The BZC encompasses the Belmont High School attendance area and will include up to 10 Belmont Pilot Schools, each with a targeted enrollment of 400…

This article presents research findings of work undertaken by a Networked Learning Community in the north of England on implementing cooperative learning in primary and secondary schools. In twelve primary and two secondary schools, in a social and economically deprived area, cooperative learning is becoming embedded. How this has been supported…

The South Australian Education Department introduced the School Entry Assessment (SEA) Policy in 2001 to help teachers assess young learners and plan relevant learning events, to help collect information about South Australian education from Pre-School to Year 3, and to facilitate collaboration within and between educational and social…

This study examined whether the use of a norms-based simulation in a communication class can influence students' misperceptions about college drinking. Participants (N = 462) were enrolled in two undergraduate communication courses: one in which the simulation was used and another that served as a control. Results indicated that participating in…

The article focuses on findings that were replicated across several countries and considers their relevance for future older adults. Key findings are that (a) childlessness makes more of a difference in men's than in women's lives, (b) never-married women are a childless category with particularly favorable characteristics, and (c) childless…

To further explore central developmental themes of emerging adulthood, the authors conducted a study that combines qualitative and quantitative data about the types of personal growth and decline reported by a sample of emerging adults, who also described the life events and other experiences that brought about these personal changes. After…

This article outlines a learning intervention which the authors call Learning by Design. The goal of this intervention is classroom and curriculum transformation, and the professional learning of teachers. The experiment involves the practical application of the learning theory to everyday classroom practice. Its ideas are grounded in pedagogical…

Writing on contemporary culture and social life, sociologists and cultural theorists have been describing new or changing forms of movement, variously described as cultural "flows," "liquid life," or a "networked society." The change in such movements or mobilities of people, media, material goods, and other social phenomena, including the reach…

Psychologists who work in schools are prepared to provide a broad range of services. However, some school systems do not avail themselves of the myriad services which psychologists can competently deliver. Direct services, which incorporate assessment for special education, counseling, and other forms of therapy services, occupy the major time of…

This volume seeks to refine and extend knowledge about approaches to supporting the caregiving roles of families. The chapters in the volume describe and appraise new directions in family support. After an introduction, the two parts of the volume address "New Directions for Family Resource and Support Programs" (six chapters) and…

Transactional leadership, or managing a static system of institutional exchanges, was the standard for colleges in an era of expanding markets, apparent never-ending growth, and little competition. Current conditions, however, call for transformational leadership, which involves leaders who create new approaches and relate to people in more…

A survey of the participants explored the competing interests involved at a national debate tournament, including: (1) how the desire to maximize competitive prowess trades off against socialization among students; (2) how increasing the number of elimination rounds for reasons of judge equalization adds another round to an already crowded…