Academic literature on the topic 'Academic achievement Social aspects Case studies'

This qualitative study explored students’ experiences in a small, early-college secondary school in the United States that intentionally aims to create a culture promoting accelerated academic achievement, particularly in the areas of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). Past research in the fields of both educational and developmental psychology has suggested that students’ sense of belonging plays a significant role in their social and academic functioning. Few studies, however, have explored how students’ sense of belonging is supported in settings that emphasise accelerated academic performance. The present study focused on students’ own understanding of the factors that contribute to their sense of belonging in this academically rigorous environment and extends current accounts of belonging, most of which have been quantitative in nature. The results of the present study highlight a distinction between social and academic belonging. Social belonging originated from students’ descriptions of their relationships with teachers and friends, alongside a noted lack of bullying behaviour, and an open and accepting social environment. Academic belonging originated from students’ accounts of meeting rigorous expectations, participating in a range of educational opportunities, receiving academic support from teachers, and sharing similar academic interests with peers. Some students reported experiencing one type of belonging without the other, suggesting that social and academic belonging are distinct aspects of students’ overall sense of school belonging. Future research should examine whether academic belonging provides an alternative pathway to the sense of school belonging in academic environments beyond the context examined in the present study.

Background: Children with brain tumors are at increased risk for experiencing loneliness, a lack of close friendships, lower academic achievement, and diminished motivation. To counteract these negative effects, telepresence systems and their ability to maintain school and social participation as well as a sense of belonging are recently being discussed as promising approach. Despite the use of these systems throughout many countries, few scientific studies have examined their effects. Objectives: The aim of this article is to illustrate effects of one telepresence system, called avatar, in pediatric patients with chronic illnesses and to analyze possible benefits and challenges. Patients and Methods: In this report, the case of a 10-year-old girl named Sarah, with a brain tumor (medulloblastoma), is described. The girl received the avatar due to her reduced ability to attend school due to her medical condition. At the time of the study, the avatar had been in use for seven months, acting as a therapeutic tool to promote social inclusion and to keep up with school. Qualitative interviews were conducted with Sarah, her mother and her teacher, illustrating the relationship between social and learning aspects of telepresence systems. Originality and Clinical Relevance: The results indicate that the avatar has the potential to act as an essential supportive means for pediatric patients, maintaining social participation, sense of belonging and academic motivation. The novelty of this telepresence system, the lack of studies in this research area and the probable positive influence emphasize the originality and clinical relevance of this case report.

The study examines the role of mentoring to surpass the problems of tertiary level students. It includes both mentors’ and mentees’ views on mentoring. It explores how mentoring helps the mentor find out students’ problems and to provide them with emotional and instrumental support. Adapting the qualitative method, this research includes case studies of three different students of a private university of Bangladesh who had been facing various problems and shows how they overcame their obstacles. It exposes the difficulties and challenges of one fresher, one female and one minority student. The study applies both formal and informal aspects of mentoring. It also includes an interview of their mentors. Findings indicate that through this process, mentors may find students’ problems and help them go over and inspire them with a vision of the future. The study finds that mentoring contributes to students’ academic achievement and social integration. It also states that through mentoring students’ frustration can be transformed into motivation.

<span lang="EN-US">Madrasa (Islamic boarding school) in Indonesia have a strategic role in character building. At present madrasa education is still considered second class education. Besides, to improve the quality of madrasas can be started by improving the quality of the student national admission to all madrasas in Indonesia. This study aimed to trace the potential errors in the measurement results of Students National Admission of Madrasah Aliyah Negeri (SNPDB MAN-IC) 2020. Tracing was carried out on two aspects: i) Equality between test sets used based on evidence of test responses; and ii) Further tests on equality between question sets based on evidence of relationship between variables, taking into account the origin of the participating schools (MTs/JHS) and the origin of the participating regions (West, Central and East of Indonesia). This study involved 13,115 participants in 23 MAN-ICs throughout Indonesia in 2020. The materials tested comprised learning potential and academic ability (Mathematics, Natural Sciences, Social Studies, English, Arabic, and Islamic Religious Education). The study used achievement test with mathematics as a sample of test subjects. Based on the test response evidence, it was found that seven of the 15 questions were thought to have an indication of inequality between item sets. The results of tracing the evidence between variables indicated that it was the participants' origin of institutions that influenced the inequality between item sets. On the other hand, regional origin did not affect the inequality between item sets because the majority of participants came from the western region of Indonesia.</span>

The psychological well-being of students affects their academic achievement, social relationships and school coexistence and is something that families worry about. This aspect becomes vital when students have atypical development and/or specific needs. Studies on the impact of giftedness on students’ self-concept and self-esteem offer mixed results. Emotional Intelligence (EI) is a key factor for their well-being that must be developed by educational institutions. This study analyzes the relationships between emotional intelligence profiles and both self-concept and self-esteem of identified gifted students between 8 and 18 years of age who study in regular Spanish schools and non-identified peers. A total of 118 identified gifted and 122 non-identified subjects participated in the study. The Self-Concept Scale Form 5 (AF5), the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES), and the Trait Meta-Mood Scale-24 (TMMS-24) were administered. Clusters of students were identified on the basis of their scores in the three dimensions of EI. Subsequently, the differences in self-esteem and self-concept according to the student’s emotional intelligence profile were analyzed. The results showed a taxonomy of three-cluster profiles in both groups and the existence of differences between profiles of EI in the self-esteem and self-concept dimensions in gifted students, not so in the non-identified group. The results have important implications for education and health professionals, both for the evaluation and for the introduction of adjusted intervention programs in case of vulnerability.

The influence of family, school and peers on students' emotional social development is very important as a starting point for the design of school activities that will also improve student development in an integral way. The Star of the Week program was developed with the aim of helping students apply the knowledge, attitudes, and skills needed to socialize and understand and manage emotions. This study uses the Thiagarajan model stages, namely define, design, develop, and disseminate (4D). The results of the validity test from the experts show that this program has workable value with 91.1% material aspects, 90% emotional development aspects and 92% presentation aspects. For the practicality test results through teacher questionnaires obtained scores of 90%, and 88.67% through teacher observations of children who are in the high practical category. The results of the program effectiveness test showed a value of 89.08% on children's social-emotional development, because it showed an increase in values ​​before and after the intervention. The implication of further research is that it is hoped that various kinds of learning methods will develop aspects of child development based on cooperation and peer relationships. Keywords: Early Childhood, Peer Relationships, Star of the Week Program, Social Emotional References Acar, I. H., Hong, S. Y., & Wu, C. R. (2017). Examining the role of teacher presence and scaffolding in preschoolers’ peer interactions. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 25(6), 866–884. https://doi.org/10.1080/1350293X.2017.1380884 Acar, I. H., Rudasill, K. M., Molfese, V., Torquati, J., & Prokasky, A. (2015). Temperament and preschool children’s peer interactions. Early Education and Development, 26(4), 479–495. https://doi.org/10.1080/10409289.2015.1000718 Akhir, K., & Wisz, M. S. (2018). 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Purpose of the Study: The purpose of this research study was to study the relationship between critical thinking (CT) and academic achievement among secondary school students in a district of Gilgit-Baltistan. Methodology: Correlation design was applied to study the relationship between critical thinking and academic achievement. A sample of 400 students was selected through a convenient sampling technique to collect the data. Critical thinking was measured by applying an adapted tool (Sarigoz, 2012) and students’ scores in annual examinations were taken as academic achievement (York, Gibson & Rankin, 2015). Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data. Main Findings: Findings of the study revealed that female students, rural school students, and science group students showed slightly higher critical thinking than male, urban, and arts group students. A markedly low positive relationship was found between critical thinking and academic achievement. The results were consistent with earlier studies having a positive relationship between these variables. There were also low and markedly low relationships found between constructs of critical thinking and academic achievement. Some results of this study were inconsistent with the earlier research based on the context of the students. The study revealed that there is a discrepancy in aligning critical thinking with academic achievement. Application of this study: The findings of the study help understand the relationship between critical thinking and academic achievement at the secondary level. It will surely assist the teachers in designing their classroom activities and modifications in teaching methodologies. It will boost the teachers to enhance the critical thinking of secondary school students. Novelty/Originality of this study: The study is original as not a single research study determined the relationship between critical thinking and academic achievement of secondary school students in the region of district Ghizar in Gilgit-Baltistan.

We conducted a meta-analysis by synthesizing the results of 16 studies involving 4,130 teachers to explore whether or not the relationship between teacher efficacy and students' academic achievement was influenced by the scale used to measure teacher efficacy, and/or by the subfactors of teacher efficacy, length of teaching experience, location of the school, or the students' educational level. The results showed that the mean relationship between teacher efficacy and students' academic achievement was significant but the effect size was small. The results also indicated that the relationship was influenced by some teacher efficacy measures and subfactors, and by length of teaching experience. In studies in which the measure used was Gibson and Dembo's scale, in regard to classroom management, and in the case of teachers with fewer than 11 years of teaching experience, the relationship between teacher efficacy and student academic achievement was nonsignificant.

This article examines the effects of digital inequality in conjunction with curricular tracking on academic achievement. Capitalizing on an original survey administered to seniors (fourth-year secondary school students), our survey data ( N = 972) come from a large American public high school with a predominantly disadvantaged student body. The school’s elective tracking system and inadequate digital resources make for an excellent case study of the effects of a differentiated curriculum and digital inequalities on academic achievement. Multilevel random-effects and fixed-effects regression models applied to the survey data reveal the important role played by digital inequalities in shaping academic achievement as measured by GPA. As the models establish, academic achievement is positively correlated with both duration of digital experience and usage intensity regarding academically useful computing activities, even when students’ curricular and class placement are taken into account. In contrast, both leisure computing and smartphone usage are negatively correlated with academic achievement as measured by GPA. Also with regard to GPA, findings show that students in the higher curricular tracks benefit more from longer durations of digital experience than do students in lower curricular tracks. These results underscore the importance of focusing attention on the ways in which digital inequalities combine with curricular tracking in shaping academic achievement.

In this paper, we explore the importance of the social-emotional competence on children’s growth. To develop children social-emotional competence, an interaction between adults and children is critically needed. Teachers have the responsibility to enhance children’s development in many aspects, including social, emotional, cognitive, academic, and behavioral skills. A positive relationship between teachers and young students helps those students to have better school achievement and behavioral skills. We review several studies that show the influence that social and emotional competence has on children’s learning outcomes and on their ability to engage in good behaviors. We also provide several strategies that help teachers to build strong and healthy relationships with children. These strategies foster children’s academic and behavioral success. We define social and emotional learning in relation to school successes to show that competence in these areas increases students’ reading, writing, critical thinking, and vocabulary skills. Emotional regulations can also enhance school achievement, both in the present and in the future. Additionally, we provide strategies that teachers can use to foster positive behavioral skills.

The school environment is one of the primary contexts for children's social, emotional and cognitive development. While teachers are likely to be primarily focused on students' motivation and learning, for adolescents, one of the most enjoyable and important aspects of school life is likely to be centered around the time spent interacting with peers. It is well recognized that peers socialize one another but although many studies have examined the influence of peers on adolescents' risky behaviors far fewer have focused on the influence peers may have on individuals' positive behaviors. As a result this study focuses on academic development replicating previous research designed to examine whether peer group affiliation has an effect on student academic engagement. A cohort of 343 seventh grade students, primarily Caucasian, 52% male, was followed for a period of one school year. Teachers reported on students' academic engagement in the fall and again in spring using a 14-item scale (Wellborn, 1991), and students reported on their teachers' and parents' involvement in fall using 8- and 4-item scales respectively. Student grades were collected from school administrative records. To identify individual student's network affiliations socio-cognitive mapping procedures were used (Cairns, Perrin & Cairns, 1985), and then peer group profiles of engagement were calculated based on the average rating of engagement across each individual's affiliates. During the academic year peer group membership turnover was 49%, despite this, the quality of peer group profiles of engagement remained similar from fall to spring. Groups also tended to be and remain motivationally homogenous across the year. In general, girls' networks tended to be more highly engaged than boys' and networks that were more highly engaged tended to be more stable across the year. Structural equation modeling was used for the major analyses to assess whether peer group academic motivation in the fall could predict individual motivation in the spring. The results indicated that while controlling for individuals' earlier engagement, as well as for processes of group selection and parent and teacher influences, the quality of individuals' peer group engagement in the fall was significantly predictive of students' later engagement in the spring. It should be noted that within the major models academic performance was also strongly related to later engagement. While this study provides further evidence to underscore the importance of the peer group in the socialization of students' academic motivation, particularly when one considers the snowballing effects in motivation this influence may have across a student's entire academic career, it also illustrates the important role performance may play in academic motivation for young adolescents.

Academic engagement has been found to significantly predict students' future achievement. Among adolescents, the peer context becomes an increasingly important point of socialization and influence on beliefs and behavior, including academic engagement. Previous research suggests that those peers with whom an adolescent spends much of their time significantly predict change in engagement over time (Kindermann, 2007). Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 1998) postulates that exosystem effects (those influencing factors that are not directly connected to individuals) play an important role in development, and social network theorists have suggested that the position one occupies within the greater network is a key factor that determines one's power of influence (Borgatti, 2005). An individual's own position in a network emerges from his or her own connections, as well as from the structures formed by the connections of his or her affiliates (the exosystem). Utilizing an existing dataset, social networks analysis techniques were used to examine how three different forms of centrality (degree, closeness and eigenvector), which are markers for micro- and exo-system effects, relate to classroom engagement and its change over time. Results showed that although centrality in a network is positively related to academic characteristics at one point in time, students who have large numbers of immediate connections (degree centrality) tend to decrease in engagement over time. In contrast, eigenvector centrality showed a positive interaction with peer group influence on change in engagement over time. For those students who had highly interconnected peers the positive effect of peer group engagement was increased.

In this thesis, I conduct a case study of a virtual community (Metafilter.com) in order to apply Pierre Bourdieu's theory of capital and class to an online community. The specific goals for this thesis are in mapping the different forms of capital that are active in Metafilter in order to see how they structure its social space. The questions I address are: 1) what forsm of capital are active in the Metafilter community? 2) How are they similar to the forms of capital presented by Bourdieu? Having identified the active forms of capital, 3) do they act to influence stratification in the Metafilter community?
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Thesis (MEd) -- Stellenbosch University, 2012.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study explored the views of thirteen youth at Victoria High School about what they regarded as achievement and how this influenced their lives and what they thought about their futures. The starting premise of the study was that all learners think about achievement. The goal of the study was thus to show how different learners connect this understanding of achievement with their respective aspirations and the kinds of social and schooling worlds they inhabit. The key contribution of the study is the ways it links the social, cultural, and economic worlds of each of the thirteen learners to what they say about what they do and what they want to do, who they are and who they want to be, and what they think they do and what they think they want to do. The study shows that the life-worlds of each of the learners are significantly different yet the ways they go about making sense of that world are fairly similar. In that regard it is shown that the school, and what learners, parents and educators think it is and does, plays a crucial role in the sense-making process. As Berkhout (2008) notes, the different contexts that shape the lives of individuals are not simply external forces but rather are integral parts of their identity-making process. The study used the work of Pierre Bourdieu and Arjun Appadurai to bring together a framework by which to understand what learners said about their worlds and their aspirations, as well to develop a narrative that showed the rich and complex ways in which learners engaged with their realities. The study followed an interpretive qualitative approach to explore the issue of achievement and based its arguments on interviews conducted with thirteen youth between the ages of fifteen and seventeen years old. In this regard, a key finding was that learners approached the notion of achievement in developmental, cumulative, and progressive ways. These views included wanting to be popular, gaining new knowledge, preparing for future material acquisition, developing skills to lead decent lives, acquiring happiness, developing the ability to overcome their challenges and circumstances, and gaining skills and recognition that set up their futures. Five staff members at Victoria High school were also interviewed for their views of the schooling context and the kinds of cultures and legacies that framed their practice.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die tesis is gefokus op die denke van dertien studente van Victoria Hoërskool aangaande die nosie van prestasie, en hoe hierdie denke hul lewens beïnvloed sowel as wat hulle dink van hul toekoms. Die vertrekpunt van die verbande studie was dat alle leerders oor prestasie dink. Die doel van die tesis (daaruitvoortspruitend) was dus om aan te toon hoe verskillende leerders ʼn verband aanlê tussen hul beskouing van prestasie, hul aspirasies en die maatskaplike- en skoolwêrelde wat hul beleef. Die kern bydrae van die tesis is die verbande wat gemaak is in die verbande studie tussen die sosiale, kulturele en ekonomiese wêrelde van elkeen van die dertien leerders ten opsigte van hul beskouing aangaande wat hulle doen en wil doen, wat hulle is en wil wees, en wat hulle dink hulle doen en wil doen. Die tesis toon aan dat die leefwêreld van elk van die leerders merkbaar verskillend is, maar dat die wyse waarop hulle betekenis gee aan hul leefwêreld tog redelik ooreenstem. In hierdie verband is dit getoon dat die skool, en wat leerders, ouers en onderwysers daaromtrent dink, ʼn kardinale rol speel in hul betekenisvormingsproses. Berkhout (2008) voer in hierdie verband aan dat die verskillende kontekste wat die lewens van individue vorm nie slegs eksterne magte is nie, maar eerder integrale dele van hul identiteitsvormings proses is. Die studie maak gebruik van die werk van Pierre Bourdieu en Arjun Appadurai om ʼn raamwerk te ontwikkel om leerders se beskouinge van hul wêrelde en aspirasies te verstaan, sowel as om ‘n narratief te ontwikkel wat die ryk en komplekse wyses waarop leerders met hul realiteite omgaan, aan te toon. Die tesis, en verbande studie, het ʼn interpretatiewe, kwalitatiewe benadering gevolg om die idee van prestasie te verken en het die tesis argumente baser op onderhoude met dertien leerders tussen vyftien tot sewentienjaar oud. ʼn Kernbevinding in hierdie verband was dat leerders die idée van prestasie op ontwikkelings-, kumulatiewe- en progressiewe wyses benader. Beskouinge van leerders in die verband sluit onder andere in, die behoefte om populêr te wees, die verkryging van nuwe kennis, voorbereiding om materiële goedere in die toekoms te bekom, die ontwikkeling van vaardighede noodsaaklik vir ʼn ordentlike lewe, die strewe na geluk, die ontwikkeling van die vermoë om hul uitdagings en omstandighede te oorkom, en die ontwikkeling vaardighede en erkenning noodsaaklik vir hul toekoms. Onderhoude is ook gevoer met vyf personeellede van Victoria hoërskool om hul beskouinge ten opsigte van die skoolkonteks en die soort kulture en erfenisse wat hul praktyk informeer te bepaal.

A third of youth in the United States are currently classified as overweight, which is impacted by the low rates of youth that meet daily physical activity recommendations. Engaging in physical activity contributes to healthy body weight and physical fitness, both of which have positive health consequences. Participating in physical activity not only aids in positive health outcomes, but research indicates that it also has a positive relationship with and effect on youths’ cognitive, academic, and behavioral outcomes. The majority of researchers conducting meta-analyses examining the effect of physical activity on youths’ cognitive, academic, and behavioral outcomes have excluded single-case design research from the data analyses. Excluding these types of designs from syntheses of the research may create an inaccurate account of the effect of physical activity on youths’ cognitive, academic, and behavioral outcomes. The current study addressed these issues by conducting a meta-analysis of single-case design studies over approximately the past 50 years to add to the current understanding of the effect of physical activity on youths’ cognitive, academic, and behavioral outcomes. Additionally, moderator analyses were conducted on numerous participant, intervention, and study characteristics that were deemed important, as indicated in the literature review. The effect size of physical activity on youths’ academic and behavioral outcomes was determined by utilizing hierarchical linear modeling of the included 81 time series from 15 single-case design studies. There were not enough data to calculate the effect size on youths’ cognitive outcomes. Significant effect sizes were found that indicate physical activity has an effect on increasing youths’ desirable behaviors (e.g.on task behavior and social skills) and decreasing youths’ undesirable behaviors (e.g. self stimulation, self-injurious behaviors, and off task behavior; ES = 1.83), as well as, increasing work completion, (ES = 2.01). No moderating effects were found other than the type of single case design moderated the effect on youths’ behavioral outcomes. The current study is important for decision makers in schools when deciding whether to increase or decrease particular students’ time spent in physical activity. Additionally, the results of the study are pertinent to other practitioners who work with youth, parents, and for youth themselves so that they can utilize physical activity interventions to help with appropriate behaviors and work completion.

Guided by a motivational framework derived from self-determination theory, a study was conducted to examine the role of academic engagement in helping to explain and ameliorate ethnic differences in school achievement. Building on decades of research that documents both the importance of engagement to learning in European American students as well as its malleability, this study relied on an ethnically diverse sample of 6th and 7th grade students to examine three questions (1) Are achievement differences across ethnic groups due to differences in engagement? (2) Does engagement predict achievement similarly or differently across ethnic groups? and (3) Are the predictors of engagement suggested by the motivational model the same or different for students from different ethnic groups? Participants were 194 African-American, Hispanic/Latino/a, Asian/Pacific Islander, and European American middle school students who provided information about their engagement, self-system processes (SSPs) of relatedness, competence, and autonomy, and their experiences with teachers in school; information about students' cumulative achievement (GPA) was extracted from school records. First, analyses revealed few ethnic differences in achievement (only Asian/Pacific Islander students' levels of achievement were higher than students from other ethnic groups), and no ethnic differences in engagement. In analyses designed to examine if controlling for variations in engagement would cause achievement differences between ethnic groups to disappear, a test of the simple main effects demonstrated that ethnic differences in achievement were found only at the lowest level of engagement (again Asian/Pacific Islander students outperformed all other student groups). However, at medium and high levels of engagement, there were no significant differences in achievement across the four ethnic groups. Second, analyses designed to examine whether engagement predicts achievement differently across ethnic groups, revealed that although engagement was an important predictor of achievement for all students, it was even more important for non-European American (compared to European-American) students. Third, analyses designed to examine whether potential facilitators (SSPs and contextual constructs) predicted students' engagement similarly or differently across ethnic groups revealed no group differences: All predictors were positively and significantly associated with engagement for students from all four ethnic groups. These findings are considered in the context of the study's strengths and limitations and the larger literatures on engagement and achievement in ethnic minority students. A important implication of the current study is that with a more comprehensive understanding of how to support the engagement of students from ethnic minority backgrounds, schools and teachers will be better equipped to address the engagement gap, and in so doing also eliminate the achievement gap.

Information sharing is a fundamental aspect in learning an unfamiliar, yet, an additional language, with specific regards to reading comprehension. Language teachers are faced with a task to monitor development, performance, and effectiveness in learner reading proficiencies. This chapter aims to measure if disbanding learner groupings as per the social distancing protocols brought about by COVID-19 restrictions has any impact on language enhancement. Henceforth, there are limited suggestions by literature in relation to disbanding learner groupings, yet improved reading proficiency is one of the crucial language aspects to be mastered for one to be a successful scholar. Nonetheless, this chapter aims to provide teaching strategies applied by English language teachers to necessitate transmitted learning in accordance with information sharing as learners are dependent on one another for language enhancement, thus leading to academic achievement.

This chapter introduces the phenomenon of microblogging and presents the most relevant options for educators, like: What is a microblog?; What is microblogging?; What can microblogging offer in terms of teaching/training? This chapter has a descriptive character, and it is structured into two large parts that provide a general-to-specific approach of both theoretical and practical aspects related to the microblogging phenomenon and the impact of microblogs in the educational space. Two case studies are also presented.

In this chapter, the qualitative study will investigate and evaluate the effectiveness of the Leveled Literacy Intervention (LLI) framework with English Language Learners (ELL) newcomers and their literacy achievement using the case study method and cross case analysis. Student case studies will consist of LLI pre and post assessment data, guided reading data, and information gathered from student interviews. The triangulation of student interviews, teacher surveys, and extant literature provide the foundation for answering questions regarding the effectiveness of LLI with the ELL newcomers. Findings are presented through student case studies, resulting from cross case analysis that identified themes, patterns, and commonalities in student reading achievement data and teacher survey results. Results show that ELL newcomers needed to develop social, academic, and content-related language. Findings from the study show that the students made progress while participating during the intervention but have not maintained or increased their reading levels after the intervention that provides opportunities for future research. Recommendation for future studies and conclusion are discussed.

In the third decade of the 21st century, it is difficult to think of an aspect of children’s education in industrialised, first-world nations that is more important, yet sadly, more contested, than reading instruction. Ironically, reading and how to teach it, is also one of the most widely researched aspects of child development. A number of branches of psychology, such as cognitive, experimental, educational, and developmental neuropsychology have devoted hundreds of thousands of hours to outputs in academic journals and research theses, conference presentations, blogs, social media posts, and private and public debates. The publication of three national inquiries (the US in 2000, Australia in 2005, and England in 2006) heralded something of a false dawn in putting the major debates to rest, unanimously highlighting the importance of an early focus on explicitly and systematically teaching children (as readers and writers) how the English writing system works, alongside supporting their development in phonemic awareness, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension.

Kentucky science achievement data (KCCT, 2008-2011) for Biological Change indicated that middle grades students had little achievement compared to other concepts. The prior grade level for teaching this concept was fourth grade. A case study was designed to address the needs of three Fourth Grade classrooms. As part of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), language arts scores were supplemented with science and social studies. Objectives for the study were production of science and social studies curriculum using 3D instructional technologies for fourth grade in the following Kentucky Core Academic Standards (KCAS) Language Arts: Reading Standards for Informational Text K-5, Writing Standards K-5, Language Standards K-5, Range-Quality-and-Complexity of Student Reading; Core Content 4.1 Science Standard Biological Change; Core Content 4.1 Social Studies Standard Geography. Important findings for heterogeneous populations were made regarding the use of instructional technologies apps VoiceThread and Pangea Safari.

This chapter introduces the books and the individual chapters, which were written by both academics and practitioners in the field in Germany and the UK. The book reflects an interest in democracy and, more pointedly, in how to express and practice citizenship, particularly in relation to helping others and generating a physical and social space for individual belonging. The book builds a narrative of how policy has failed to account for social belonging and, likewise, provide a framework for social solidarity in welfare reform though in practice the experience of belonging seems critical for instigating changes in individual behaviour and self-confidence. Part I: The Social Consequences of Welfare Policy examines policy attempts to address related aspects of poverty and consolidate a social role for the state through specified responsibilities, whether through providing health services, unemployment insurance, or other benefits. Part II: The Practice of Social Good is comprised of practitioner case studies. The section shows how grassroots activism translates abstract notions of a just society fashioned by policymakers. Part III: Social Change and Neoliberalism returns to the presentation of academic research and Part IV: Situating Solidarity in Perspective continues providing a critical platform to discuss the meaning of citizenship.