The Consequences of International Comparisons for Public Support of K–12 Education

2012 ◽  
Vol 41 (7) ◽  
pp. 262-268 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen L. Morgan ◽  
Emily S. Taylor Poppe

Candidates for public office in the United States frequently justify their positions on education policy priorities by stating the need to strengthen the nation’s economic competitiveness against new global challengers. In this article, the authors investigate the consequences of this form of policy motivation for attitudes toward and support of public schooling in the United States. Using a national survey experiment where a two-question prime on international competitiveness is randomized across respondents, the authors test for differential responses to attitude items that have been included regularly since the 1970s in the Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll and the General Social Survey. The results suggest that framing educational policy with the goal of enhancing international competitiveness lowers subjective assessments of the quality of local schooling without increasing interest in additional spending to improve the nation’s education system.

This chapter is an effort to understand the progression of K-12 public schooling within the United States so that we may then recognize how we will proceed in the digital expansion of this education system going forward into the 21st century. Discourse will address the philosophy, history, curriculum, organization, and responsibility of educators from the late 1700s to the present. Though often rooted in scientific findings or religious dogma, the day-to-day enactment of teaching and learning by educators and students involves continual re-imagining and pragmatic re-configuring to address the challenges of teaching and learning. Understanding the purpose of K-12 public education in the United States within the 21st century model involves the discovery and compilation of several different education interpretations and viewpoints. To understand where the direction of this particular nation's model, it is necessary to understand the direction from where it has come and how past events shaped the present education systems.


Author(s):  
James L. Gibson ◽  
Michael J. Nelson

We have investigated the differences in support for the U.S. Supreme Court among black, Hispanic, and white Americans, catalogued the variation in African Americans’ group attachments and experiences with legal authorities, and examined how those latter two factors shape individuals’ support for the U.S. Supreme Court, that Court’s decisions, and for their local legal system. We take this opportunity to weave our findings together, taking stock of what we have learned from our analyses and what seem like fruitful paths for future research. In the process, we revisit Positivity Theory. We present a modified version of the theory that we hope will guide future inquiry on public support for courts, both in the United States and abroad.


2020 ◽  
Vol 29 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Newton-Howes ◽  
M. K. Savage ◽  
R. Arnold ◽  
T. Hasegawa ◽  
V. Staggs ◽  
...  

Abstract Aims The use of mechanical restraint is a challenging area for psychiatry. Although mechanical restraint remains accepted as standard practice in some regions, there are ethical, legal and medical reasons to minimise or abolish its use. These concerns have intensified following the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Despite national policies to reduce use, the reporting of mechanical restraint has been poor, hampering a reasonable understanding of the epidemiology of restraint. This paper aims to develop a consistent measure of mechanical restraint and compare the measure within and across countries in the Pacific Rim. Methods We used the publicly available data from four Pacific Rim countries (Australia, New Zealand, Japan and the United States) to compare and contrast the reported rates of mechanical restraint. Summary measures were computed so as to enable international comparisons. Variation within each jurisdiction was also analysed. Results International rates of mechanical restraint in 2017 varied from 0.03 (New Zealand) to 98.9 (Japan) restraint events per million population per day, a variation greater than 3000-fold. Restraint in Australia (0.17 events per million) and the United States (0.37 events per million) fell between these two extremes. Variation as measured by restraint events per 1000 bed-days was less extreme but still substantial. Within all four countries there was also significant variation in restraint across districts. Variation across time did not show a steady reduction in restraint in any country during the period for which data were available (starting from 2003 at the earliest). Conclusions Policies to reduce or abolish mechanical restraint do not appear to be effecting change. It is improbable that the variation in restraint within the four examined Pacific Rim countries is accountable for by psychopathology. Greater efforts at reporting, monitoring and carrying out interventions to achieve the stated aim of reducing restraint are urgently needed.


2021 ◽  
pp. 105984052110263
Author(s):  
Ashley A. Lowe ◽  
Joe K. Gerald ◽  
Conrad Clemens ◽  
Cherie Gaither ◽  
Lynn B. Gerald

Schools often provide medication management to children at school, yet, most U.S. schools lack a full-time, licensed nurse. Schools rely heavily on unlicensed assistive personnel (UAP) to perform such tasks. This systematic review examined medication management among K-12 school nurses. Keyword searches in three databases were performed. We included studies that examined: (a) K-12 charter, private/parochial, or public schools, (b) UAPs and licensed nurses, (c) policies and practices for medication management, or (d) nurse delegation laws. Three concepts were synthesized: (a) level of training, (b) nurse delegation, and (c) emergency medications. One-hundred twelve articles were screened. Of these, 37.5% (42/112) were comprehensively reviewed. Eighty-one percent discussed level of training, 69% nurse delegation, and 57% emergency medications. Succinct and consistent policies within and across the United States aimed at increasing access to emergency medications in schools remain necessary.


2021 ◽  
pp. 215336872110389
Author(s):  
Andrew J. Baranauskas

In the effort to prevent school shootings in the United States, policies that aim to arm teachers with guns have received considerable attention. Recent research on public support for these policies finds that African Americans are substantially less likely to support them, indicating that support for arming teachers is a racial issue. Given the racialized nature of support for punitive crime policies in the United States, it is possible that racial sentiment shapes support for arming teachers as well. This study aims to determine the association between two types of racial sentiment—explicit negative feelings toward racial/ethnic minority groups and racial resentment—and support for arming teachers using a nationally representative data set. While explicit negative feelings toward African Americans and Hispanics are not associated with support for arming teachers, those with racial resentments are significantly more likely to support arming teachers. Racial resentment also weakens the effect of other variables found to be associated with support for arming teachers, including conservative ideology and economic pessimism. Implications for policy and research are discussed.


2021 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-97
Author(s):  
Lim Jae Young ◽  
Woo Harin

The arts in the United States, for a long time received strong support from both sides of the political aisle. However, in recent years, the arts have been transformed into a partisan issue that pits conservatives against liberals. The article points to the importance of political trust as a means of helping conservatives overcome their ideological inclinations and support the arts. Scholars argue that political trust influences more strongly individuals who perceive a given policy to be one that imposes ideological risks for them compared with those without such risks. Focusing on the moderating role of political trust, the article examines whether political trust can help alleviate the conservatives’ hostility to the arts. Relying on the 2016 General Social Survey, the article finds that conservatives have no direct relationship with arts spending, but they will be more likely to support arts spending when this is contingent upon political trust.


2017 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 237802311772765 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J. Rosenfeld

Most public opinion attitudes in the United States are reasonably stable over time. Using data from the General Social Survey and the American National Election Studies, I quantify typical change rates across all attitudes. I quantify the extent to which change in same-sex marriage approval (and liberalization in attitudes toward gay rights in general) are among a small set of rapid changing outliers in surveyed public opinions. No measured public opinion attitude in the United States has changed more and more quickly than same-sex marriage. I use survey data from Newsweek to illustrate the rapid increase in the 1980s and 1990s in Americans who had friends or family who they knew to be gay or lesbian and demonstrate how contact with out-of-the-closet gays and lesbians was influential. I discuss several potential historical and social movement theory explanations for the rapid liberalization of attitudes toward gay rights in the United States, including the surprising influence of Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign.


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