To examine the peer context of adolescent substance use, social network analysis was used to measure three domains of attributes of peer networks: social embeddedness, social status, and social proximity to substance users. The sample was a panel of 5,104 sixth, seventh, and eighth graders in three public school systems surveyed every 6 months for…

There is growing recognition that the economic climate of the world is shifting towards a knowledge-based economy where knowledge will be cherished as the most prized asset. In this regard, technology can be leveraged as a useful tool in effectually managing the knowledge capital of an organisation. Although several research studies have advanced…

Researchers in this study analyze the websites of 30 Washington state school districts to explore differences and similarities between high- and low-performing districts. The study offers evidence about ways educators use accountability data on district websites to communicate with parents, community members, and business representatives about…

Academic branch libraries located at a distance from the parent institution often face unique challenges in meeting users' needs for scholarly information. This is especially true for distant branch libraries that do not have a specialized function or collection, but who often face the challenge of meeting users' needs for scholarly materials…

In 2004, a group of high school students at a private American school in Mexico City started the first gay-straight alliance in Mexico. A small group of conservative parents and a Mormon principal organized in opposition. This paper details the students' struggle to keep their club and offers lessons learned about student activism, school change,…

Preparation for employment in the telecommunications area is not a major emphasis in most information system (IS) programs. The curricula of most programs include only one or two courses related to telecommunications. As a result, most do not provide much preparation for employment in this area. There may be, however, increasing employment…

Adolescents nowadays socialize, network, and sort out their friendships and relationships online. As such, it is assumed that adolescents' experiences in the online world will influence their experiences in the face-to-face world and will play an important role in their development of social and moral knowledge. In this article, the author…

Collaborations between student affairs professionals and faculty are typically viewed as essential to the creation of successful student learning environments. Yet, the author warns that collaborations are more complicated than they may first appear. As someone who has been a student affairs administrator and a faculty member, the author has had a…

Purpose: This paper aims to describe a qualitative study of a four-year, state-wide portfolio evaluation system for new principals. The State of Ohio (USA) was one of five states that participated in a field test of the Portfolio Assessment for School Leaders designed by the Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium (ISLLC) and the…

Network analysis is often cited as a method for assessing collaboration among organizations as an indicator of community capacity. The purpose of this study was to (1) document patterns of collaboration in organizational networks related to lead poisoning prevention in a Native American community and (2) examine measurement issues in using…

This article describes an analytic approach for situating teachers' instructional practices within the institutional settings of the schools and school districts in which they work. The approach treats instructional leadership and teaching as distributed activities and involves first delineating the communities of practice within a school or…

The use of technology in the educational setting can provide support for professional development early in a teacher's career. The purpose of this qualitative exploratory study was to examine the use of an electronic discussion board in a field-based block of courses as a place where 17 preservice teachers could share experiences and ideas. The…

This article explores variation in address in contemporary Swedish in Sweden-Swedish and Finland-Swedish. The research is part of a large-scale Australian project on changes in the address systems of French, German and Swedish. The present article focuses on results from 72 social network interviews conducted in Sweden (Gothenburg) and Finland…

This study examined the changes in children's social network and specific self-perceptions during the transition from elementary school to junior high school (JHS). The participants were 200 preadolescent children (104 girls, 96 boys). Children's self-perceptions (global self-worth, perceived academic competence, and perceived social acceptance)…

This chapter presents the findings from a network analysis of a demonstration program for the developmentally disabled to show the application of graphical network analysis in program evaluation. The developmentally disabled demonstration (DDD) program was a five-year pilot project to provide person-centered service environments to people with …