Social class (in)visibility and the professional experiences of middle-class novice teachers

This article focuses upon the classed and early professional experiences of middle-class novice teachers in England experiencing and contemplating working in schools serving socio-economically disadvantaged communities. Through an examination of the visibility and invisibility of social class in education set within an increasingly unequal and changed social landscape, the article reports upon research which seeks to better understand the class identities of these teachers. Evidence is presented of the key, yet complex, role that social class occupies within the working lives of new teachers and reveals the different ways in which teachers respond to the classed dimensions of their early professional experiences. It is concluded that the fundamentally important role that social class plays in terms of shaping early professional experiences in teaching suggests the need not only for a commensurately enhanced focus as part of early professional development, but also for attention that is sensitively attuned to the class identities of teachers

ARTIMIS Telephone Travel Information Service: Overall Public Awareness

This report summarizes the results of a random telephone survey of households in the Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky Area. The objective was to determine awareness of the traffic management center and its telephone travel information service. A secondary objective was to determine the public\u27s preference for dialing and recalling phone numbers for travel information. The survey found that 39% were aware of a traffic management center while 55% were aware of a telephone traffic information service. Awareness varied by work location, household characteristics and personal attributes. Some households that could potentially benefit from the service were unaware of its existence. Some minor confusion over traffic management services was found. The majority of both those aware and unaware of the service indicated a preference for 211 over 333-3333 as a dialing code for traffic information (both for recall and ease of dialing)

College Student Adjustment and Health Behaviors

This study explored the relationship between student adjustment theory and college student health behaviors. Specifically, this research examined first-year freshmen college student physical activity and nutrition behaviors and impact on adjustment to college (N = 37,564). The design for this study was a non-experimental ex post facto examination of archival data provided by the American College Health Association\u27s National College Health Assessment II survey, spanning academic years 2008 through 2009. The main variables in this study included student physical activity and nutrition behaviors. Baker and Siryk\u27s student adjustment theory was used as a theoretical framework to identify survey questions related to academic, personal-emotional, and social adjustment. A significant, positive correlation was found between students who engage in physical activity and healthy eating behaviors and level of student adjustment. In addition, students who reported meeting national recommendations for physical activity and fruit and vegetable consumption exhibited significantly greater academic, personal-emotional, and social adjustment. The results of this study indicate a need for further research on the effects of physical activity and nutrition on college student adjustment. Furthermore, the results can be used as a foundation for educational programming for higher education professionals

Bicycle Cordon Count Pilot Study

The Kentucky State Bicycle Coordinator is tasked with a difficult problem: planning for and supporting the needs of Kentucky cyclists. Unfortunately, very little quantitative information on the number of cyclists or their travel patterns has been collected in Kentucky. There is a pressing need to develop an efficient and low cost means to collect broad and useful data to support the bicycle program in Kentucky. Although some other jurisdictions include bicycles as vehicles in their traffic counting programs, Kentucky does not. Several complications make counting bicycles difficult: they cannot easily be detected by automatic counting devices, they travel in different locations, make unpredictable shortcuts and are simply a very uncommon vehicle in most of Kentucky. The objective of this project was to develop and test a bicycle count methodology that could be used in the locations in Kentucky where bicycle traffic is significant. This test of the count procedure should provide KYTC with information to consider the inclusion of bicycles as one element in the traffic counting programs. For planning purposes, more than just counts are desirable for bicycles. An understanding of the number, age, gender, travel infrastructure preferences (road vs path vs sidewalk), and origin/destination patterns for cyclists is needed to better plan for bicycling as a mode of transportation as well as to consider safety issues. This report outlines the methodology and pilot test of such a bicycle count and data collection procedure. The assumed largest regular bicycle trip generator in Kentucky, the University of Kentucky Lexington campus was the location of the pilot study. Student counters were stationed around the perimeter of campus forming a complete cordon in shifts from 7AM to 7PM on Tuesday September 22, 1998. Counters recorded the following data: time of observation, gender, approximate age, helmet usage, location of bicycle (road versus sidewalk), travel direction (inbound versus outbound), and travel direction (with or against traffic). Despite the non-ideal weather conditions for biking (cool, overcast with some drizzle) a total of 3628 bicycle trips were counted. A total of 79% of the cyclists were male and only 11% were wearing helmets. Only 14% of the cyclists traveling on the road were traveling against traffic (the wrong way), while 44% of those on the sidewalk were. Certain points around the campus handled the bulk of the bicycle traffic which suggests possible locations or routes for specific bicycle infrastructure improvements. Several dangerous bicycle travel patterns were noted suggesting the need for safety education. This next section of this report describes the count methodology and execution of the survey. The subsequent section provides comprehensive quantitative results, while the following section describes results which are of local value relating to bicycle transportation planning at the University of Kentucky. Finally, conclusions and recommendations are presented

Incorporating Long-Distance Travel intoTransportation Planning in the United States

In the early years of transportation planning and highway infrastructure development in the United States the focus was on intercity or long-distance travel, a contrast to the metropolitan travel and state-based models that dominate today. Daily home and work-based travel, which have been the focus of data collection and models since the 1950s, are well-modeled by regional agencies and a limited number of state travel demand models even include some long-distance travel. Nonetheless, long-distance travel demand and factors affecting behavior are not thoroughly considered in transportation planning or behavior research. Only one recent activity-based model of national travel demand has been created and its scope was limited by a severe lack of data. The conceptualization of models to consider intercity long-distance travel has changed little since its inception in the 1970s and 1980s. In order to comprehensively consider transportation system sustainability, there is a critical need for improved nation-wide annual overnight activity data and models of overnight travel (a re-focus and important distinct re-framing of long-distance trips that this white paper suggests). Truly addressing the economic, environmental, and social equity issues required to create a sustainable global transportation system will entail completely updating our existing planning framework to meaningfully include long-distance travel. It is clear that long-distance passenger miles must be accounted for when addressing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and other negative environmental externalities. Less well-known are the questions of social justice that loom large when one considers the details of long-distance travel. Travel in our society is becoming increasingly associated with quality of life. Those without intercity access may miss opportunity and social capital. However, without representative long-distance travel data it is impossible to compare the relative participation by different groups and to consider latent demand. It is difficult to measure who comprises the global mobile elite and who lacks sufficient intercity mobility for reasonable social network obligations and personal services. This white paper suggests utilizing a common framework for long-distance data collection and tabulation that re-defines long-distance travel into daily or overnight. The author advocates using overnight as the defining characteristic for data collection, which complements existing daily travel surveys already capturing long day-trips. Within frameworks moving forward it is important to clearly characterize all trip purposes, including mixed purposes and purposeless travel, which comprise an appreciable portion of long-distance travel. Spatial data that distinguish between simple out-and-back trips and spatially complex trips are necessary and mobile devices have now made this measurement of long-distance tours feasible. In order to truly model all travel in the current system, we must move away from the idea that most travel is routine, within region, and home-based. Many people, especially the most frequent travelers, have long-distance routines including multiple home bases. Additionally, our models should not assume that travelers staying at a second home, hotel, or friend’s home travel like residents. Efforts to measure and model non-home-based travel or travel at destination are essential to accurately modeling behavior. Daily surveys such as the 2017 National Household Transportation Survey are increasingly doing this. A nation-wide annual activity model of overnight travel must fully incorporate both surface and air travel to allow full consideration of alternative future system scenarios

An exploratory analysis of Mexican-American parental involvement perspectives on home, school, and community collaboration

When schools consider their relationship with families as a partnership wherein the home and school contribute to children\u27s educational and social development, the results are increased levels of parental involvement. This exploratory analysis involves a study of Mexican-American parents and their perspectives on how they perceive themselves in the home, school, and community collaboration process. This study seeks to explore the traditional parental involvement model and uses existing theory that challenges the traditional model to create a new re-conceptualized model of parental involvement. Using qualitative case study methodology parental involvement data were gathered by using five focus groups and a series of three in-depth interview sessions conducted with seven parents. Additional data on parental involvement were obtained via observations, photographs, archival data, and other documents. The significance of this study directly relates to the shifting demographic structure within the United States and in particular along the United States-Mexico border. The findings from this study reveal that Mexican-American parental involvement perceptions are similar and differ in some ways from the school\u27s traditional model of parental involvement. In the school sphere parents assume leadership roles through the Core Team within the school; in the home sphere the parents advocate on the children\u27s behalf between the home, school, and community. These parents also help their children to develop and utilize their own human, social, and cultural capital in these spheres and when negotiating between the spheres; and in the community sphere these parents have successfully demonstrated their ability to build bridges, break barriers, and cross borders between the spheres. The parents and leadership at this school have developed relationships that have helped them to move toward what Martinez (1994) refers to as Interdependent Borders