Despite its growing currency in academic and policy circles, social cohesion is a term in need of a clearer and more rigorous definition. This article provides a critical review of the ways social cohesion has been conceptualized in the literature in many cases, definitions are too loosely made, with a common confusion between the content and the…

Many students view equations as a series of variables and operators into which numbers should be plugged rather than as representative of a physical process. To solve a problem they may simply look for an equation with the correct variables and assume it meets their needs, rather than selecting an equation that represents the appropriate physical…

This document covers the data terms used in the "VET in Schools, 2007" report. The primary purpose of this document is to help users of the report understand the specific data terms used in it. Terms that appear in the report are listed in alphabetical order with the following information provided for each: (1) Definition: a brief…

As a diagnostician, my primary responsibility is to conduct psychoeducational evaluations to determine the existence of a learning disability. Such a determination results in either the provisions for or the denial of special education services. In a quest to further understand my position within the schools, I conducted a deep study into this…

Previous definitions of sexually abusive behavior in children and adolescents were deficient in failing to (1) highlight salient neuropsychological elements and antisocial behaviors that may contribute to a youth's functioning; (2) discriminate among possible types of coercion (e.g., manipulation, threats, physical force, and use of weapons); and…

While evidence shows that grammar study focused on identification, description, and definition (IDD) fails to enhance writing performance, the grammar most students study remains focused on the IDD tradition. We taught a functional grammar that featured what words do in sentences, rather than what words are called and how they are defined, to two…

The effect of legal and extralegal factors on felony sentence outcomes has been widely studied, typically using a total incarceration variable that defines sentence outcomes as incarceration or probation. Research conducted by Holleran and Spohn has called this into question, revealing that factors that affected jail sentences were different than…

We reviewed all school-based experimental studies with individuals 0 to 18 years published in the "Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis" (JABA) between 1991 and 2005. A total of 142 articles (152 studies) that met review criteria were included. Nearly all (95%) of these experiments provided an operational definition of the independent variable,…

Reports of associated disabilities among children with specific language impairment (SLI) and children with other developmental disabilities are widespread. Clinicians require a broader definition of SLI that recognizes associated disabilities because it is their goal to impact children's everyday functioning. In this paper, we explore SLI from a…

Globalisation has become one of the most fashionable concepts in social scientific discourse over the past 15 years, along with a related vocabulary of words such as "transnationalism", "McDonaldisation", "Cocacolanisation", "localisation" and "glocalisation". Much ink has been spilt on how such…

Undergraduates studied the definitions of 16 psychology terms, expecting either a multiple-choice (n = 132) or short-answer (n = 122) test. All students then received the same multiple-choice test, requiring them to recognize the definitions as well as novel examples of the terms. Compared to students expecting a multiple-choice test, those…

Narrative inquiry is a methodology that frequently appeals to teachers and teacher educators. However, this appeal and sense of comfort has advantages and disadvantages. Some assume narrative inquiries will be easy to design, live out, and represent in storied formats in journals, dissertations, or books. For the authors, though, narrative inquiry…

This article challenges misperceptions about the definition of systemic change in school districts. While many contemporary change efforts are described as "systemic," in fact, they are not. The author also argues that a special instance of systemic change known as systemic transformational change is required to transform entire school…

This paper documents a study of the role of superintendents in fostering and enabling the growth of teacher leadership. It is presented in two parts. The First part was designed to study teacher leadership programs in select universities in Michigan in which professors of educational administration described the extent to which the concept of…

This report examines the efforts of 46 European nations to harmonize (not "standardize") their higher education systems and indicates that the United States higher education system needs to adopt some of the features of the Bologna Process. Based on what can be learned from the Bologna Process, this report makes concrete suggestions for…