Each edition of the IDRA Newsletter strives to provide many different perspectives on the issues in education topics discussed and to define its significance in the state and national dialogue. This issue focuses on Push Outs--Children of Color and includes: (1) Texas Public School Attrition Study, 2015-16: High School Attrition Inches Up to 25…

The development of strong writing skills is a critical (and somewhat obvious) goal within the classroom. Individuals across the world are now expected to reach a high level of writing proficiency to achieve success in both academic settings and the workplace (Geiser & Studley, 2001; Powell, 2009; Sharp, 2007). Unfortunately, strong writing…

This study aimed to find out the implications of linguistic deviations of swardspeak to the language competencies of the gay students. This research also sought to determine the linguistic deviations in swardspeak used by the gay students; investigate the implications of the use of swardspeak to the language competencies of the students; and…

This article describes and enacts a process of autobiographical inquiry, auto/archeology, which seeks to address problematic confluences of memory and identity in reconstructing one's historical narrative. Drawing on curriculum theory and Lacanian psychoanalysis, the author describes a process of excavation in which understandings of a prior…

While marking some Year 11 essays, Kate Hammond found her interest caught by significant differences between one kind of strong analysis and another. Some scored high marks but were less convincing. The achievement in these essays was superficially high, but somehow fragile. But in what way? And why? Putting GCSE mark-schemes to one side, Hammond…

Laboratory studies have established a negative relationship between the color red and academic performance. This research examined whether this effect would generalize to classroom performance and whether anxiety and negative affect might mediate the effect. In two studies, students taking classroom exams were randomly assigned an exam color. We…

Childhood testimonies have become a familiar component of war reporting and peace advocacy through the publication of children's drawings, oral descriptions of wartime trauma and wartime writing. While such practices have the merit of publicising children's experiences, it is also the case that the selection and distribution of these materials is…

While the essay is the default assessment tool of the Humanities in upper secondary and tertiary education, it is a text type that has been slowly bled of communicative purpose. It is suffered by students, taught according to restrictive formula and ignored in the literature. Evidence from the tertiary sector, employers and public examinations…

The author of this article, James W. Fraser, is Professor of History and Education at the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, New York University. He begins this article with an expression of his gratitude to Robert Hampel and the editors of "The History of Education Quarterly" for commissioning the four…

Edwin Black's essay on "The Second Persona," introduced to rhetorical critics a rationale and model for a type of ideological criticism. Because it ignored the role of pathos in both the rhetoric Black purported to critique and in the construction of his own audience, Black's essay mis-described key features of Robert Welch's "Blue Book", which…

This study investigated EFL college students' culture-related templates of written texts along the possibility of inter-cultural transfer. We designed a case study to explore how certain cultural assumptions contribute to EFL students' rhetorical decisions while writing an argumentative writing. The participants were four EFL college students.…

This teaching technique asks students to evaluate the "badness" of 5-7 health-related behavioral statements of a specific health topic. Following the presentation of each statement, each students selects one of five choices: "Really Bad", "No Big Deal", "It Depends", "Go for It", or…

Rachel Foster and Kath Goudie's search for a more rigorous and interesting way of teaching Year 7 the Norman Conquest was initially driven by a desire to incorporate local history in a more meaningful way in their Key Stage 3 schemes of work. This search culminated in a collaboration with an academic historian, Stephen Baxter. In this article they…

In 1795 America's premier scholarly association, the American Philosophical Society (APS), posed the following question: [Write] an essay on a system of liberal education, and literary instruction, adapted to the genius of the government, and best calculated to promote the general welfare of the United States; comprehending, also, a plan for…

Context: Admission decisions are made annually concerning whom to accept into athletic training programs. Objective: To present an approach used to make admissions decisions at an undergraduate athletic training program and to corroborate this information by comparing each aspect to nursing program admission processes. Background: Annually,…