Out-of-School Time Policy Commentary #4: After-School for All? Exploring Access and Equity in After-School Programs

While significant progress has occurred over the past several years in terms of expanding both the quantity and quality of after-school opportunities, the ambitious idea of "after-school for all" remains a distant goal. In this commentary we push beyond some of the basic numbers to take a close look at questions related to access and equity, in order to both surface tensions and share concrete recommendations for addressing concerns at the policy and program levels. To do so we draw heavily new data from California Tomorrow and a handful of other reports and studies. We also talked with Delia Pompa, executive director of the National Association for Bilingual Education; Amy Scharf and Laurie Olsen of California Tomorrow; and Jennifer Peck from the Bay Area Partnership. Is there equal access to after-school programs? Is there equity in after-school programs? How can program planners and policymakers address access and equity challenges

Swindon College: report from the Inspectorate (FEFC inspection report; 52/95 and 54/98)

The Further Education Funding Council has a legal duty to make sure further education in England is properly assessed. The FEFC’s inspectorate inspects and reports on each college of further education according to a four-year cycle. This record comprises the reports for periods 1994-95 and 1997-98

Selling Technology: The Changing Shape of Sales in an Information Economy

[Excerpt] This book describes and explains the changing nature of sales through the daily experiences of salespeople, engineers, managers, and purchasing agents who construct markets for emergent technologies through their daily engagement in sales interactions… [It] provides a grounded empirical account of sales work in an area that has been the subject of insufficient study, namely contemporary industrial markets where firms trade with other firms

Sensitivity analysis in a scoping review on police accountability : assessing the feasibility of reporting criteria in mixed studies reviews

In this paper, we report on the findings of a sensitivity analysis that was carried out within a previously conducted scoping review, hoping to contribute to the ongoing debate about how to assess the quality of research in mixed methods reviews. Previous sensitivity analyses mainly concluded that the exclusion of inadequately reported or lower quality studies did not have a significant effect on the results of the synthesis. In this study, we conducted a sensitivity analysis on the basis of reporting criteria with the aims of analysing its impact on the synthesis results and assessing its feasibility. Contrary to some previous studies, our analysis showed that the exclusion of inadequately reported studies had an impact on the results of the thematic synthesis. Initially, we also sought to propose a refinement of reporting criteria based on the literature and our own experiences. In this way, we aimed to facilitate the assessment of reporting criteria and enhance its consistency. However, based on the results of our sensitivity analysis, we opted not to make such a refinement since many publications included in this analysis did not sufficiently report on the methodology. As such, a refinement would not be useful considering that researchers would be unable to assess these (sub-)criteria

Creating Quality Integrated and Interdisciplinary Arts Programs

The report offers some reflection on arts integration while examining a diverse group of partnerships and a set of new important tools to aid efforts in improving arts teaching and learning across the classroom

Archaeo-mobility. Integrating Archaeological Heritage with Everyday Life

Underground mass-transit is the logical solution for the growing demand of mobility that presses the urban space of historical cities, but it has to deal with the palimpsest of the numerous layers the history of many cities is made of. The construction of subway lines is a unique opportunity to develop a contemporary and active display of the archaeological heritage and return it to the dynamics of urban life. Some projects in this direction have been attempted, too often crashing against bureaucratic and economic difficulties, or against inadequate methods for investigating and managing the archaeological heritage. New metro lines in Athens, Thessaloniki, Sofia, Istanbul, are showing pros and cons in techno-economical and cultural terms while interest and care for the heritage is growing everywhere as well as the awareness of handling it as a resource. Unfortunately, in most cases archaeological remains are simply extracted and arranged in banal museum-like displays while taking into no account the high potential of involving the urban context. Italy has the largest and most stratified archaeological heritage of the world and at the same time one of the smallest metro systems, but in the last two decades a vast program of upgrading has been developed, introducing important advances in archaeological investigation methods, excavation planning and architectural integration. Naples is nowadays world-renowned for its Art-stations, but in the Municipio station currently under construction, the collision of infrastructure and archaeological strata is managed with continuous adjustments to give a spatial response to the extraordinary finds as they are discovered in Europe's largest archaeological excavation site. New Line C is under construction in the very centre of Rome intersecting outstanding remains together with crucial urban nodes with stations in places like Colosseum or Imperial Fora; projects now under discussion are expected to set new standards in archaeo-mobility

The Future for Iraq: Realities and Requirements

According to Zinni, the American people sent a clear message on Nov. 7 that they will no longer accept the current course in Iraq. With few good policy options left, the former head of Central Command suggests that we look at what might still work instead of what the administration will accept. Among his chief recommendations is the call for a Bipartisan Executive Group to oversee the vetting or screening of recommendations; to oversee and plan implementation; to monitor progress and determine resource requirements; to garner regional and international support; and to integrate efforts between government agencies

Investigating information systems with mixed-methods research

Mixed-methods research, which comprises both quantitative and qualitative components, is widely perceived as a means to resolve the inherent limitations of traditional single method designs and is thus expected to yield richer and more holistic findings. Despite such distinctive benefits and continuous advocacy from Information Systems (IS) researchers, the use of mixed-methods approach in the IS field has not been high. This paper discusses some of the key reasons that led to this low application rate of mixed-methods design in the IS field, ranging from misunderstanding the term with multiple-methods research to practical difficulties for design and implementation. Two previous IS studies are used as examples to illustrate the discussion. The paper concludes by recommending that in order to apply mixed-methods design successfully, IS researchers need to plan and consider thoroughly how the quantitative and qualitative components (i.e. from data collection to data analysis to reporting of findings) can be genuinely integrated together and supplement one another, in relation to the predefined research questions and the specific research contexts

Mediated city: Annual review 2012

The research projects under Mediated City explore questions that traverse through various disciplines to create new knowledge. Here, design catalyses changes in people’s practices to cross boundary domains, such as art, business, geospatial science, interaction design and creative writing. Common themes under Mediated City are:• Activating public engagement in social, environmental and political issues• Creating spaces for dialogue and diversity• Altering our perception and relationship of place• Making histories accessible and meaningful in today’s world.This report documents the 2012 research activities for Mediated City including symposia, conferences, workshops, exhibitions, prototypes, and scholarly outputs including books, book chapters, conference papers, presentations, and journal articles.&nbsp

Climate scientists and the public: interactions and knowledge exchanges

Raising public awareness of climate change is crucial for transforming individual behaviours and amassing support to policy measures, which may threaten prosperity and comfort levels that came to be expected in affluent societies. Scientists are one of several agents involved in public communication of climate chang