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Relationships Education for Primary Schools (2020): A Practical Toolkit for Teachers
by Jonathan Glazzard Samuel StonesThis book enables and supports teachers to deliver the content of the new statutory guidance for relationships education in primary schools, operational from 2020. It is case study rich and provides clear and practical advice for teaching the topics of the new framework, including addressing controversial and critical issues such as parental right to withdraw and how to tackle relationships education in faith schools. There is an emphasis throughout on inclusion and pupil well-being and on the importance of partnerships with parents.
Relationships and Sex Education for Secondary Schools (2020): A Practical Toolkit for Teachers
by Jonathan Glazzard Samuel StonesThis book enables and supports teachers to deliver the content of the new statutory guidance for relationships and sex education (RSE) in secondary schools, operational from 2020.It is case study rich and provides clear and practical advice for teaching the topics of the new framework, including addressing controversial and critical issues such as parental right to withdraw and how to tackle relationships and sex education in faith schools. There is an emphasis throughout on inclusion and pupil well-being and on the importance of partnerships with parents.
Relationships, Community, and the Restorative School: Lessons from Singapore (Contemporary Issues in Restorative Practices)
by James Lim Tyler Sim Enci Li Justin Mui Seow-Ling KekThis book shares our journey with restorative practice and provides insight into how we developed a programme that impacts school culture – the Builders Project. It is a documentation of our experience of bringing restorative practice to primary school settings in Singapore, through a whole-school community building approach, to enable students to have a positive learning experience and to thrive. This contrasts with implementing restorative practice focusing on behavioural management. It is the first non-Western contribution to the field of restorative practices as a whole-school approach.This book shares Lutheran Community Care Services (LCCS) practice assumptions that underpin the need to build, strengthen, and restore relationships. It also illustrates the application of our restorative practice principles, which are drawn from our experience, values, and research, towards building effective relationships among the individuals in the school community. Stories and perspectives of practitioners, students, parents, teachers, and school leaders are shared to highlight how they experience voice, agency, and belonging through restorative processes. Most importantly, we hope that this book will inspire you to reflect on your journey with restorative practice in schools through the reflection questions posed in each of the substantive chapters.This book is for educators, school social work and mental health practitioners, educational policymakers, school administrators, principals, academics, researchers, and restorative practice practitioners. This book is also suitable for undergraduates or postgraduate students who desire to understand practice beyond the theories that they have learnt and gain insights on what the journey of practicing and implementing restorative practice looks like.
Relativism and Human Rights: A Theory of Pluralist Universalism
by Claudio CorradettiThis is an innovative contribution to the philosophy of human rights. Considering both legal and philosophical scholarship, the views here bear an importance on the legitimacy of international politics and international law. As a result of more than 10 years of research, this revised edition engages with current debates through the help of new sections. Pluralistic universalism considers that, while formal filtering criteria constitute unavoidable requirements for the production of potentially valid arguments, the exemplarity of judgmental activity, in its turn, provides a pluralistic and retrospective reinterpretation for the fixity of such criteria. While speech formal standards grounds the thinnest possible presuppositions we can make as humans, the discursive exemplarity of judgments defends a notion of validity which is both contextually dependent and "subjectively universal". According to this approach, human rights principles are embedded within our linguistic argumentative practice. It is precisely from the intersubjective and dialogical relation among speakers that we come to reflect upon those same conditions of validity of our arguments. Once translated into national and regional constitutional norms, the discursive validity of exemplar judgments postulates the philosophical necessity for an ideal of legal-constitutional pluralism, challenging all those attempts trying to frustrate both horizontal (state to state) and vertical (supra-national-state-social) on-going debates on human rights.On the first edition of this book: “Claudio Corradetti’s book is a thoughtful attempt to find an adequate theoretical foundation for human rights. Its approach is interdisciplinary in nature, drawing on issues in analytical philosophy as well as contemporary political theorists, and the result is a densely argued text aimed at scholars … .” (Andrew Lambert, Metapsychology Online Reviews, Vol. 14 (3), January, 2010)
Relativism and Religion
by Carlo Invernizzi AccettiMoral relativism is deeply troubling for those who believe that, without a set of moral absolutes, democratic societies will devolve into tyranny or totalitarianism. Engaging directly with this claim, Carlo Invernizzi Accetti traces the roots of contemporary anti-relativist fears to the antimodern rhetoric of the Catholic Church, and then rescues a form of philosophical relativism for modern, pluralist societies, arguing that this standpoint provides the firmest foundation for an allegiance to democracy. In its dual analysis of the relationship between religion and politics and the implications of philosophical relativism for democratic theory, this book makes a far-ranging contribution to contemporary debates over the revival of religion in politics and the conceptual grounds for a commitment to democracy. It conducts the first comprehensive genealogy of anti-relativist discourse and reclaims for English-speaking readers the overlooked work of political theorists such as Hans Kelsen and Norberto Bobbio, who had articulated the bond between philosophical relativism and democracy. By engaging with attempts to replace the religious foundation of democratic values with a neo-Kantian conception of reason, this book also offers a powerful case for relativism as the strongest basis for a civic ethos that integrates different perspectives into democratic politics.
Relativism and Religion: Why Democratic Societies Do Not Need Moral Absolutes (Religion, Culture, and Public Life)
by Carlo AccettiMoral relativism is deeply troubling for those who believe that, without a set of moral absolutes, democratic societies will devolve into tyranny or totalitarianism. Engaging directly with this claim, Carlo Invernizzi Accetti traces the roots of contemporary anti-relativist fears to the antimodern rhetoric of the Catholic Church and then rescues a form of philosophical relativism for modern, pluralist societies, arguing that this viewpoint provides the firmest foundation for an allegiance to democracy.In his analyses of the relationship between religious arguments and political authority and the implications of philosophical relativism for democratic theory, Accetti makes a far-ranging contribution to contemporary debates over the revival of religion in politics and the conceptual grounds for a commitment to democracy. He presents the first comprehensive genealogy of anti-relativist discourse and reclaims for English-speaking readers the overlooked work of Hans Kelsen on the connection between relativism and democracy. By engaging with contemporary attempts to replace the religious foundation of democratic values with a neo-Kantian conception of reason, Accetti also makes a powerful case for relativism as the best basis for a civic ethos that integrates different perspectives into democratic politics.
Relaunching Titanic: Memory and marketing in the New Belfast
by Michael Murray William J. V. Neill Berna GristRelaunching Titanic critically considers the invocation of Titanic heritage in Belfast in contributing to a new ‘post-conflict’ understanding of the city. The authors address how the memory of Titanic is being and should be represented in the place of its origin, from where it was launched into the collective consciousness and unconscious of western civilization. Relaunching Titanic examines the issues in the context of international debates on the tension between place marketing of cities and other alternative portrayals of memory and meaning in places. Key questions include the extent to which the goals of economic development are congruous with the ‘contemplative city’ and especially the need for mature and creative reflection in the ‘post-conflict’ city, whether development interests have taken precedence over the need for a deeper appreciation of a more nuanced Titanic legacy in the city of Belfast, and what Belfast shares with other places in considering the sacred and profane in memory construction. While Relaunching Titanic focuses on the conflicted history of Belfast and the Titanic, it will have lessons for planners and scholars of city branding, tourism, and urban re-imaging.
Relazioni Internazionali: Concetti Base e Questioni Globali
by Shahid Hussain RajaQuesta è una raccolta di 46 Saggi lunghi su diverse tematiche globali, scritti per coloro che sono desiderosi di sapere quali sono le grandi questioni e le idee che plasmano la Politica Globale, ma non hanno il tempo di fare ricerche su Internet per comprenderle a fondo. Dalla Globalizzazione alla Crisi Sirian da un lato, e dallo Scontro di Civiltà alla Fine della Storia, dall'altro, questi saggi trattano argomenti di cui quasi tutti hanno una conoscenza rudimentale, ma che non sono in grado di approfondire. Ad esempio, il Terrorismo, le privatizzazioni, la corruzione, le Riforme agrarie, ecc. sono alcuni degli argomenti di cui tutti parlano ma che non sono in grado di discutere in modo esaustivo. In questi saggi abbiamo cercato di fornire il materiale sufficiente per farlo. Questa raccolta è per chiunque sia desideroso di conoscere le questioni globali da una prospettiva diversa. Frutto di una Ricerca esaustiva, questi saggi presentano in un linguaggio semplice le basi di ogni questione e tralasciano le cose meno importanti. 'Cosa c'è di nuovo in questo libro?'. Beh, solo due cose: la facilità di comprensione delle complesse questioni globali e la facilità di ricordare i punti salienti per rispondere alle domande in sede d'esame o durante una discussione. Anche se non c'è alcuna pretesa di originalità del materiale, noterete comunque i nostri contributi alla Letteratura sui vari temi trattati.
Releasing Knowledge for Practice in Human and Social Service Organizations
by David P. MoxleyThis book will advance readers’ understanding of the knowledge development, building and/or management process within human service organizations, informed by the author's experience in human service organizations, as consultant, and practitioner. Readers can come to understand the knowledge building process, and gain a conceptual framework in building organizational knowledge for the advancement of human services practice. The importance of knowledge management in social welfare and human service is twofold. Knowledge management is about an organization managing what it knows in order to achieve more competent and more effective performance. It also is about how domains and fields of practice may transform themselves over time through the purposeful creation and destruction of knowledge. Knowledge management can be a cornerstone of today’s human service and social welfare organizations and may be a principal strategy for effecting innovation and evolution in the ways societies address and meet human needs.
Relentless (Gray Man #10)
by Mark GreaneyThe Gray Man's search for missing intelligence agents plunges him deep into a maelstrom of trouble in the latest entry in the #1 New York Times bestselling series. The first agent disappearance was a puzzle. <P><P>The second was a mystery. <P><P>The third was a conspiracy. <P><P>Intelligence operatives around the world are disappearing. When a missing American agent re-appears in Venezuela, Court Gentry, the Gray Man, is dispatched to bring him in, but a team of assassins has other ideas. Court escapes with his life and a vital piece of intelligence. Meanwhile, CIA agent Zoya Zakharova is in Berlin. Her mission: to infiltrate a private intelligence firm with some alarming connections. The closer she gets to answers, the less likely she is to get out alive. Court and Zoya are just two pieces on this international chessboard, and they're about to discover one undeniable truth—sometimes capturing a king requires sacrificing some pawns. <P><P><b>A New York Times Bestseller</b>
Relentless Pursuit: A Year in the Trenches with Teach for America
by Donna FooteFoote, a freelance journalist, provides a narrative illustration of the Teach for America program within the framework of a poor, largely-neglected Los Angeles school. Teach for America, since its founding in 1990, has sought to provide better educational opportunities for disadvantaged children. The book chronicles a year in the life of the school through the eyes of four of Teach for America's briefly-trained, but idealistic corps members who relate their frustrating, maddening, and exhilarating experiences in the classrooms. Annotation ©2008 Book News, Inc. , Portland, OR (booknews. com)
Relentless Pursuit: The DSS And The Manhunt For The Bin Laden Terrorists
by Samuel M. KatzIt was on February 6, 1993, that the United States was first attacked on its own soil by foreign terrorists. A zealous band of Middle Easterners, holy warriors determined to punish the U.S. for its supposed transgressions against Islam, packed over a ton of home made explosives into the back of a rented van. They drove their bomb across the Hudson from New Jersey, maneuvered it through downtown traffic and parked it in the underground garage at the Vista Hotel, beneath the twin towers of the World Trade Center. They lit a long fuse, which allowed them time to get back to New Jersey to watch the results of the explosion on CNN. They hoped to topple one mammoth tower into the other and kill ten thousand people or more. Miraculously, only six people were killed. <p><p> Most of the group were captured within a week, but the mastermind behind the attack, Ramzi Ahmed Yousef, had immediately gone to JFK airport to fly to Pakistan. Before leaving, he phoned the Associated Press and claimed responsibility for the bombing in the name of the Arab Liberation Army, a terrorist group led by Saudi exile Osama bin Laden. <p> A succession of such brazen crimes has revealed complex connections among terrorist groups with an implacable hostility toward Western civilization. Outrages such as the assassination of the Jewish Defense League founder Meier Kahane, a huge plot in the Philippines to plant bombs on intercontinental airlines and to assassinate the Pope, the bombing of U.S. embassies, culminating in the African embassy bombings of 1998, the attack on the USS Cole in 1999, and the devastating attack on the World Trade Center in 2001 have made it clear that a worldwide network of terrorists led by Osama bin Laden is making war on the United States. <p> On the front lines combating these terrorists in 150 countries around the world have been the 1,200 agents of the U.S. Department of State's Diplomatic Security Service. A little-known but highly effective branch of the government, the DSS is the one arm of federal law enforcement with international powers of arrest. These agents maintain close ties to local police commanders in many countries and can entice informants with bounties of up to $4,000,000. After a challenging international search, it was DSS agents in Pakistan who captured Ramzi Yousef. DSS agents have been in the vanguard of the War on Terrorism long before it was declared. <p> In Relentless Pursuit, Samuel Katz review the escalating series of terrorist attacks on the U.S. during the last decade, including those in many foreign countries and finally in New York and Washington. In the process, he tells the gripping story of the DSS and its agents protecting us and our representatives here and abroad. Katz's detailed, personal, on-the-ground anecdotes bring home the contexts and linkages of the War on Terrorism that has been fought on our behalf by the DSS since the 1980s. Relentless Pursuit is a stirring tribute to an unsung group of brave Americans.
Relentless Pursuit: The DSS and the Manhunt for the Al-Qaeda Terrorists
by Samuel M. KatzAl Queda's war on America did not start on September 11, 2001. Just ask the Diplomatic Security Service. It was on February 6, 1993, that the United States was first attacked on its own soil by foreign terrorists. A zealous band of Middle Easterners, holy warriors determined to punish the United States for its supposed transgressions against Islam, packed over a ton of home made explosives into the back of a rented van. They drove their bomb across the Hudson from New Jersey, maneuvered it through downtown traffic and parked it in the underground garage at the Vista Hotel, beneath the twin towers of the World Trade Center. They lit a long fuse, which allowed them time to get back to New Jersey to watch the results of the explosion on CNN. They hoped to topple one mammoth tower into the other and kill ten thousand people or more. Miraculously, only six people were killed. Most of the group were captured within a week, but the mastermind behind the attack, Ramzi Ahmed Yousef, had immediately gone to JFK airport to fly to Pakistan. Before leaving, he phoned the Associated Press and claimed responsibility for the bombing in the name of the Arab Liberation Army, a terrorist group led by Saudi exile Osama bin Laden. A succession of such brazen crimes has revealed complex connections among terrorist groups with an implacable hostility toward Western civilization. Outrages such as the assassination of the Jewish Defense League founder Meier Kahane, a huge plot in the Philippines to plant bombs on intercontinental airlines and to assassinate the Pope, the bombing of US embassies, culminating in the African embassy bombings of 1998, the attack on the USS Cole in 1999, and the devastating attack on the World Trade Center in 2001 have made it clear that a worldwide network of terrorists led by Osama bin Laden is making war on the United States. On the front lines combating these terrorists in 150 countries around the world have been the 1,200 agents of the US Department of State's Diplomatic Security Service. A little-known but highly effective branch of the government, the DSS is the one arm of federal law enforcement with international powers of arrest. These agents maintain close ties to local police commanders in many countries and can entice informants with bounties of up to $4,000,000. After a challenging international search, it was DSS agents in Pakistan who captured Ramzi Yousef. DSS agents have been in the vanguard of the War on Terrorism long before it was declared. In Relentless Pursuit, Samuel Katz review the escalating series of terrorist attacks on the United States during the last decade, including those in many foreign countries and finally in New York and Washington. In the process, he tells the gripping story of the DSS and its agents protecting us and our representatives here and abroad. Katz's detailed, personal, on-the-ground anecdotes bring home the contexts and linkages of the War on Terrorism that has been fought on our behalf by the DSS since the 1980s. Relentless Pursuit is a stirring tribute to an unsung group of brave Americans.
Relentless Reformer: Josephine Roche and Progressivism in Twentieth-Century America (Politics and Society in Modern America #108)
by Robyn MuncyJosephine Roche (1886–1976) was a progressive activist, New Deal policymaker, and businesswoman. As a pro-labor and feminist member of Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration, she shaped the founding legislation of the U.S. welfare state and generated the national conversation about health-care policy that Americans are still having today. In this gripping biography, Robyn Muncy offers Roche’s persistent progressivism as evidence for surprising continuities among the Progressive Era, the New Deal, and the Great Society.Muncy explains that Roche became the second-highest-ranking woman in the New Deal government after running a Colorado coal company in partnership with coal miners themselves. Once in office, Roche developed a national health plan that was stymied by World War II but enacted piecemeal during the postwar period, culminating in Medicare and Medicaid in the 1960s. By then, Roche directed the United Mine Workers of America Welfare and Retirement Fund, an initiative aimed at bolstering the labor movement, advancing managed health care, and reorganizing medicine to facilitate national health insurance, one of Roche’s unrealized dreams.In Relentless Reformer, Muncy uses Roche’s dramatic life story—from her stint as Denver’s first policewoman in 1912 to her fight against a murderous labor union official in 1972—as a unique vantage point from which to examine the challenges that women have faced in public life and to reassess the meaning and trajectory of progressive reform.
Relentless Savage: A Peter Savage Novel (Peter Savage Ser. #2)
by Dave EdlundRelentless Savage launches the reader into a fast-paced, action-driven adventure confronting the greater questions of genocide, genetic manipulation, and the tipping point in the balance of world power.When Peter Savage's son Ethan is kidnapped by rebel forces in Sudan while on a service trip, Peter will stop at nothing to get his son home. Recruiting old friends and tapping into the expertise of commander James Nicolau, Peter puts together an unlikely rescue mission that will pit him against deadly forces. What Peter and his team find in the Sudan is a force far more sinister and dangerous than they could ever imagine. They are drawn into a much larger top-secret government mission, one that leads them to a hidden research site with an army of genetically-perfect soldiers.
Relentless: My Story of the Latino Spirit That Is Transforming America
by Luis A. Miranda Jr."Laugh-out-loud funny, utterly charming, deeply compelling, and powerfully motivational", Luis A. Miranda Jr.&’s personal and political memoir reveals a deep understanding of Latino culture and how to build community to change our world for the better (Ana Navarro). A veteran of New York and national politics, Luis Miranda embodies the relentless spirit of progress of American immigrant. In Relentless, he shares his experience, passion, and storytelling charm to tell the story of a fascinating life and career—from his early days as a radically minded Puerto Rican activist to his decades of political advice and problem-solving. Miranda recounts the thrill of the ascendency of Hamilton, created by his son Lin-Manuel, and he details the suffering after the devastation of Puerto Rico by Hurricane Maria. Amid the triumphs and challenges, Miranda examines what his experience reveals about our ever-changing politics, demographics, and society.
Relevance Of Liberalism
by Irving Howe Giovanni Sartori Zbigniew Brzezinski Michael Mandelbaum Charles Frankel Edward Shils Sophia Sluzar Robert Bartley Seweryn Robert NurickThis volume is the product of a conference held at theResearch Institute on International Change on 21 January1976. The subject of the conference, the relevance of liberalism in the contemporary world, represents one aspect of the institute's research focus on changes in values and the impact of these changes on international affairs. This focus reflects the belief that we are living in a time when the sudden expansion in popular political consciousness is altering fundamentally the ways in which politics is perceived, in which political values are translated into political action, and in which political movements and moods transcend state boundaries and thus have worldwide repercussions. Together these changes may result in profound discontinuities in political behavior, in social institutions, and in the basic values around which institutions and procedures are shaped.
Relevance and Marginalisation in Scandinavian and European Performing Arts 1770–1860: Questioning Canons
by Randi Margrete SelvikRelevance and Marginalisation in Scandinavian and European Performing Arts 1770–1860: Questioning Canons reveals how various cultural processes have influenced what has been included, and what has been marginalised from canons of European music, dance, and theatre around the turn of the nineteenth century and the following decades. This collection of essays includes discussion of the piano repertory for young ladies in England; canonisation of the French minuet; marginalisation of the popular German dramatist Kotzebue from the dramatic canon; dance repertory and social life in Christiania (Oslo); informal cultural activities in Trondheim; repertory of Norwegian musical clocks; female itinerant performers in the Nordic sphere; preconditions, dissemination, and popularity of equestrian drama; marginalisation and amateur staging of a Singspiel by the renowned Danish playwright Oehlenschläger, also with perspectives on the music and its composers; and the perceived relevance of Henrik Ibsen’s staged theatre repertory and early dramas. By questioning established notions about canon, marginalisation, and relevance within the performing arts in the period 1770–1860, this book asserts itself as an intriguing text both to the culturally interested public and to scholars and students of musicology, dance research, and theatre studies.
Relevance of Duties in the Contemporary World: With Special Emphasis on Gandhian Thought
by Kshitij Kumar Singh Raman MittalThis book reflects on the significance of duties in creating an egalitarian society by collating and contextualizing the relevant literature. It particularly focuses on an appreciation of Gandhi’s views on duty to showcase how they remain pertinent to create a cohesive, responsible and value-based society in the present right-dominated world. A viable solution to the current real world problems could be found in exploring the philosophy on duties and the book provides relevant literature in this regard. It undertakes jurisprudential analysis of duty in a rights-dominated world, identifying the gaps in realising the potential of duty to address the critical issues of the present times. It argues that enforcement of rights depends heavily on the observance of duties and proposes coherence in right-duty relationship. Gandhian thought on duty recognises duty as a precursor to rights and emphasises that the observance of duties guarantees the enforcement of rights. The relevance of duties and Gandhian thoughts on the same is not restricted to India but transcends borders with profound appeal. Gandhian thoughts have become even more relevant in the current times to examine the situation of COVID-19 pandemic, racial discrimination (BLM), environmental crises, digital divide, health care and medical care crises, refugee and migrant labour problems and it can offer promising solutions based on the nuances of social solidarity, self realisation of duties/responsibilities, local governance, compassion and humanity.
Relevance of European Studies in Asia
by Indranath Gupta Maria Stoicheva S. G. SreejithThis book provides perspectives on the relevance of European Studies as a disciplinary category for the Asian region. That being the primary focus, the book serves a larger purpose. First, it provides insights on European society, polity and economy (including European Integration) as they are accounted in European Studies. The epistemological character of the knowledge thus conveyed has larger credibility and reliability such that they can become policy inputs and imaginations for strengthening Asian-European relationship. This approach helps overcome the trap of subjectively motivated discourses on Europe which may fail potential collaborations between the regions. Second, the design and discursivity of European Studies will be an instruction to the Asian region on the constitutive potential of regional studies in society-building. Third, the book works towards building the idea of “Europe” in terms of international law, in the minds of Asian students, researchers and decision-makers. This is extremely relevant for the future relationship and cultural engagement between the two regions. The book is of interest to policymakers, academics, embassies, state-level government offices, researchers and students.
Reliability and Alliance Interdependence: The United States and Its Allies in Asia, 1949–1969 (Cornell Studies in Security Affairs)
by Iain D. HenryIn Reliability and Alliance Interdependence, Iain D. Henry argues for a more sophisticated approach to alliance politics and ideas of interdependence. It is often assumed that if the United States failed to defend an ally, then this disloyalty would instantly and irrevocably damage US alliances across the globe. Henry proposes that such damage is by no means inevitable and that predictions of disaster are dangerously simplistic. If other allies fear the risks of military escalation more than the consequences of the United States abandoning an ally, then they will welcome, encourage, and even praise such an instance of disloyalty. It is also often assumed that alliance interdependence only constrains US policy options, but Henry shows how the United States can manipulate interdependence to set an example of what constitutes acceptable allied behavior. Using declassified documents, Henry explores five case studies involving US alliances with South Korea, Japan, the Republic of China, the Philippines, Australia, and New Zealand. Reliability and Alliance Interdependence makes a substantial contribution to our understanding of how America's alliances in Asia function as an interdependent system.
Reliability and Risk: The Challenge of Managing Interconnected Infrastructures
by Emery Roe Paul SchulmanThe safe and continued functioning of critical infrastructures--such as electricity, natural gas, transportation, and water--is a social imperative. Yet the complex connections between these systems renders them increasingly precarious. Furthermore, though we depend so heavily on interconnected infrastructures, we do not fully understand the risks involved in their failure. Emery Roe and Paul R. Schulman argue that designs, policies, and laws often overlook the knowledge and experiences of those who manage these systems on the ground--reliability professionals who have vital insights that would be invaluable to planning. To combat this major blind spot, the athors construct a new theoretical perspective that reveals how to make sense of complex interconnected networks and improve reliability through management, regulation, and political leadership. To illustrate their approach in action, they present a multi-year case study of one of the world's most important "infrastructure crossroads," the San Francisco Bay-Delta. Reliability and Risk advances our understanding of what it takes to ensure the dependability of the intricate--and sometimes hazardous--systems on which we rely every day.
Reliability and Validity of International Large-Scale Assessment: Understanding IEA’s Comparative Studies of Student Achievement (IEA Research for Education #10)
by Hans WagemakerThis open access book describes and reviews the development of the quality control mechanisms and methodologies associated with IEA’s extensive program of educational research. A group of renowned international researchers, directly involved in the design and execution of IEA’s international large-scale assessments (ILSAs), describe the operational and quality control procedures that are employed to address the challenges associated with providing high-quality, comparable data. Throughout the now considerable history of IEA’s international large-scale assessments, establishing the quality of the data has been paramount. Research in the complex multinational context in which IEA studies operate imposes significant burdens and challenges in terms of the methodologies and technologies that have been developed to achieve the stated study goals. The demands of the twin imperatives of validity and reliability must be satisfied in the context of multiple and diverse cultures, languages, orthographies, educational structures, educational histories, and traditions. Readers will learn about IEA’s approach to such challenges, and the methods used to ensure that the quality of the data provided to policymakers and researchers can be trusted. An often neglected area of investigation, namely the consequential validity of ILSAs, is also explored, examining issues related to reporting, dissemination, and impact, including discussion of the limits of interpretation. The final chapters address the question of the influence of ILSAs on policy and reform in education, including a case study from Singapore, a country known for its outstanding levels of achievement, but which nevertheless seeks the means of continual improvement, illustrating best practice use of ILSA data.
Reliance on Foreign Markets: Multinationality and Performance
by Makoto Nakano Bayanjargal PurevdorjThis study examines the relationship between multinationality and the performance of Japanese manufacturing companies during the period 1999-2008 by using geographic segment information. Despite the enormous interest in and importance given to multinationality from the academic and business worlds, prior findings about the multinationality-performance relationship are conflicting and inconsistent. The overall results of the present study show that multinationality has a positive impact both on accounting performance and on market-based performance. In additional tests, Japanese electric and electronic equipment companies' reliance on the Asian market was found to have a negative impact on profitability and no significant impact on firm value, whereas reliance on other foreign markets such as the Americas and the EU had a positive impact on profitability and firm value. The multinationality-performance relationship cannot be generalized and varies among geographic regions. This book contributes to both the multinationality-performance literature and the geographic segment reporting literature by offering empirical evidence about Japanese manufacturing companies and comparing them with prior findings about American companies.
Relic: How Our Constitution Undermines Effective Government--and Why We Need a More Powerful Presidency
by William G. Howell Terry M. MoeOur government is failing us. From health care to immigration, from the deficit to climate change, our political institutions have long shown that they are incapable of meeting the challenges of modern society. Why the dysfunction? In Relic, William Howell and Terry Moe point to the Constitution as the main culprit. The framers designed a government for a simple, agrarian society-and that government is unsuited to a huge, complex, post-industrial nation the founders did not even remotely foresee. Howell and Moe argue that we need a second Progressive movement to bring reform to American government, above all by strengthening the power of the president. Relic challenges us to reconsider the very foundation of our political system, shedding new light on what is wrong with our government and what can be done about it.