Higher School Certificate Research Articles

Desperate shadows of ‘Belonging’: Revealing pedagogical issues with teaching prescribed English texts in the NSW Higher School Certificate (HSC)

As New South Wales (NSW) bids farewell to the 2009–2014 Area of Study concept ‘Belonging’, this article summarises some critical reflections from English teachers on the main pedagogical issues encountered when using prescribed texts to teach ‘Belonging’ to both the Standard and Advanced English courses in contemporary classrooms. These reflections are convened under three areas for further consideration, which includes an analysis of the Area of Study (NSW Board of Studies English Stage 6 Syllabus), an examination of the prescribed texts listed, and the main challenges teachers have identified with using both the NSW English Stage 6 Syllabus and set prescribed texts to engage contemporary students. The discussions raised in this article can be considered by NSW educators when selecting texts and designing units of work for teaching the new 2015–2020 Area of Study concept ‘Discovery’.

Aboriginal community-level predictors of injury-related hospitalizations in British Columbia, Canada.

Population-level statistics indicating disparities in injury rates between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal populations disguise considerable community-level heterogeneity. Using an ecological approach, we analyzed linked data from British Columbia's (BC) universal health care insurance plan, worker compensation, vital statistics, and census databases to identify community-level risk markers for hospitalization due to injury among the Aboriginal population of BC, Canada. Community standardized relative risks (SRR) of injury hospitalization relative to the total population of BC ranged from 0.24 to 9.35. Variables associated with increased SRRs included the following: higher proportions of crowded housing, housing in poor condition, participating in industries with greater risk of a work injury claim, being more remote, and at higher latitude. Higher income and more high school graduates were protective. In the best-fitting multivariable model, variables independently associated with SRR were proportion of the population with a high school certificate (RR = 0.89 per unit standard deviation change, 95 % confidence interval 0.83 to 0.94), and remoteness index (RR = 1.06, 95 % confidence interval (CI) 1.01 to 1.11). Results confirm profound diversity in Aboriginal communities across BC. SRRs of injury hospitalization increased as proportion of high school graduates dropped and remoteness increased. Promoting the educational attainment of community members should be an important focus of initiatives to improve health.

Does education pay for youth formerly in foster care? Comparison of employment outcomes with a national sample

Each year tens of millions of federal dollars are invested to promote secondary and postsecondary educational attainment among older youth in foster care. Despite the presumption that this is a sound investment, as indicated by copious research from studies of the general U.S. population, research examining the payoff among youth transitioning to adulthood from state care has been sparse. In the present study, we analyze the relationship between educational attainment and employment outcomes among youth exiting care. Drawing on data from a large, multi-state study of youth transitioning from foster care, findings indicate that increased education, and particularly degree completion, is associated with greater earnings and lower employment rates. Compared to young adults matched on educational attainment from a nationally representative study, youth formerly in foster care earn about half and the employment rate is 20 points lower. However, increased levels of education have larger benefits for youth who exited care than youth from the general population, and at higher levels of attainment the two groups have similar employment rates and earnings gaps become less pronounced. Among youth formerly in care, results from regression analyses indicate that, compared to individuals with no high school credential, a GED or certificate of completion predicts no benefits in earnings or likelihood of being employed; a diploma predicts an earnings benefit; and some college, a two-year degree, and a four-year degree or greater predict large benefits in earnings and likelihood of employment. We conclude by briefly discussing implications for policy, practice, and future research.

Albert Edward Thompson

Albert Edward Thompson (“Bert”) was born in Newport, Monmouthshire, the son of John Percy Thompson (“Jack”) and Cordelia Ann Leach, a farmer’s daughter. His father was a wholesale butcher with...

The Increasing Cross-Talks Between The “Dry” And “Wet” Sciences

n the early 1960s, the Higher School Certificate Course was the track to direct entrance to Nigerian universities. There was a clear dichotomy between those who opted for Additional Mathematics, Mathematics and Physics and those who followed the “wet sciences” of dissections, buffers, enzymes in Botany, Zoology and Chemistry. The would-be “dry scientists” toted around slide rules, mathematical sets, and pencils and were destined for careers in the computational sciences and engineering. Those in the “dry areas” acted as if they were smarter, and the two groups lived in different scientific worlds. Increasingly, however the two scientific worlds are having serious conversations.

Why is BC Best? The Role of Provincial and Reserve School Systems in Explaining Aboriginal Student Performance

Poor education outcomes for Aboriginals in Canada have long been a source of concern for Aboriginal leaders and the provincial and federal governments. Notably, sixty percent of young Aboriginal adults living on reserves in Canada lack high-school certification. As a result, they face severely limited employment opportunities off-reserve, and limited opportunities on-reserve. Among young Canadians not living on a reserve, those who identify as Indian-First Nation have better education outcomes than those on-reserve, but they are weaker than outcomes for Metis. In general, non-Aboriginals achieve the best outcomes. This Commentary undertakes a suggestive, but far-from-definitive, exercise in assessing the role of education policies and institutions in Aboriginal K-12 outcomes. It disaggregates the young adult Aboriginal population (ages 20-24 at the time of the 2006 census) into subgroups defined by province, location within a province (urban vs. rural and on- vs. off-reserve) and by Aboriginal identity group (non-Aboriginal, Metis, Indian-First Nation). After allowance for the impact of school location and employment rate as a proxy for family characteristics, this examination finds that British Columbia has achieved considerably better K-12 outcomes than the five other provinces, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, with large Aboriginal cohorts. The Commentary discusses three institutional and policy differences between British Columbia and other provinces that may explain its superior outcomes: i) more comprehensive and regular monitoring of Aboriginal student performance in the core competencies of reading, writing and mathematics; ii) incentives for provincial school districts to innovate and consult with local Aboriginal leaders; and iii) the encompassing nature of First Nation institutions providing secondary services to reserve schools.

Delay in Islamic Inheritance Claim – An Ignorance Issue

Claiming rights to Islamic inheritance persists to be a problem to Muslims even after the Federation of Malaya has obtained its independence from the British. The legal system has been regarded as the venue most likely to produce solutions to the time and cost issues in the claims processes. Although Faraid certificates are produced faster now, only minimal improvements to the problem can be attributed to the amendments made to the Small Estates Distribution Act 1955. Syariah laws on inheritance are exposed to only a small segment of students at High School Certificate or Pre-University level; this may explain why clients often display high degree of ignorance of procedures to claim inheritance. To improve law awareness among Malaysians, the government is urged to review the current educational policies on Islamic studies and broaden the target group to include high school and university students. This paper wishes to emphasize the ability of the NFP model to describe accurately the flow of processes in the administration and distribution Islamic inheritance and find the shortest route through the network. It can clearly represent stages and processes, indicate correct order of activities and show duration of activities in the administration and distribution of Islamic inheritance. Most importantly, it has been designed to be Syariah-compliant. Therefore, the model can help clients to minimize time and money spent on claim processes and serve as an aid to teaching and learning on the management and distribution of Islamic inheritance at higher institutions of learning.

Enhancing GED Instruction to Prepare Students for College and Careers: Early Success in LaGuardia Community College's Bridge to Health and Business Program

Nationwide, close to 40 million adults lack a high school diploma or a General Educational Development (GED) credential. Nearly a quarter of high school freshmen do not graduate and, in many large cities, dropout rates in recent years have stood at around 50 percent. And while most high school dropouts eventually do continue their education — usually through adult education or GED preparation programs — too few of those who start GED programs ever pass the exam. Moreover, for those who do earn their GED, the certificate often marks the end of their education, in part because few GED programs (even those that operate on community college campuses) are well linked to college or training programs. Students with only a high school diploma already face long odds of success in a labor market that increasingly prizes specialized training and college education; for GED holders, the chances are even worse. Given this context, the need to develop stronger pathways to college for those without high school credentials is clear. And this need is only magnified by new rules eliminating federal financial aid for aspiring college students without a high school diploma or a GED, and by the planned 2014 implementation of a new GED exam that emphasizes college readiness. To better understand how adult education programs might strengthen pathways to college and careers, MDRC, with financial support from the Robin Hood Foundation and MetLife Foundation, partnered with LaGuardia Community College of the City University of New York (CUNY) to launch a small but rigorous study of the GED Bridge to Health and Business program. The GED Bridge program represents a promising new approach to GED instruction, as it aims to better prepare students not only to pass the GED exam, but also to continue on to college and training programs. MDRC has conducted several evaluations of programs that include GED preparation as one among many program components, but this evaluation is one of only a few to focus specifically on GED curriculum, program design, and efforts to forge a stronger link to college and career training. The results are highly encouraging: One year after enrolling in the program, Bridge students were far more likely to have completed the course, passed the GED exam, and enrolled in college than students in a more traditional GED preparation course. This brief details some of the key findings from this study as well as their implications for future research and for the development of stronger GED and adult education programming.

Students’ Mobility and the Impact on the Administration of Secondary Schools in Nigeria

The paper examines the rate, trend, gender, location and the causes of secondary school students' inter-school mobility in Delta State of Nigeria. It also determines the problems associated with school administrative tasks as a consequence of this phenomenon. An instrument titled, Students' Inter-school Mobility and School Administration Questionnaire (SISMABAQ) was developed and subjected to validity with a test retest reliability coefficient of 0.78. This instrument was used to solicit responses from a sample of 399 school administrators. The sample was selected from a population of 1113 school administrators based on stratified random sampling technique. Descriptive statistics-frequency, percentage and the mean - were used to analyze the data. The findings show that the rate of movement was low, higher in rural areas than in urban areas, but on the whole was fairly steady. Several factors were identified as reasons for the phenomenon with the top-most being examination malpractice, indicating that most students moved because they wanted to make good grades in their High School Certificate Examinations but without working hard to earn those fine grades. On the whole, the phenomenon of student mobility negatively affected secondary school administration in Delta State of Nigeria. Key Terms: Academic performance, administrative tasks, drop-out, inter-school movement, inter-school transfer, secondary school administration, student mobility.

Type of High-School Credentials and Older Age ADL and IADL Limitations: Is the GED Credential Equivalent to a Diploma?

Educational attainment is a robust predictor of disability in elderly Americans: older adults with high-school (HS) diplomas have substantially lower disability than individuals who did not complete HS. General Educational Development (GED) diplomas now comprise almost 20% of new HS credentials issued annually in the United States but it is unknown whether the apparent health advantages of HS diplomas extend to GED credentials. This study examines whether adults older than 50 years with GEDs have higher odds of incident instrumental or basic activities of daily living (IADLs) limitations compared with HS degree holders. We compared odds of incident IADL limitations by HS credential type using discrete-time survival models among 9,426 Health and Retirement Study participants followed from 1998 through 2008. HS degree holders had lower odds of incident IADLs than GED holders (OR = 0.72, 95% CI = 0.58, 0.90 and OR = 0.69, 95% CI = 0.56, 0.86 for ADLs and IADLs, respectively). There was no significant difference in odds of incident IADL limitations between GED holders and respondents without HS credentials (OR = 0.89, 95% CI = 0.71, 1.11 for ADLs; OR = 0.88, 95% CI = 0.70, 1.12 for IADLs). Although GEDs are widely accepted as equivalent to high school diplomas, they are not associated with comparable health advantages for physical limitations in older age.

Always Moving Forward

You have accessThe ASHA LeaderFirst Person on the Last Page1 Aug 2012Always Moving Forward John M. SamplesPhD, CCC-SLP John M. Samples Google Scholar More articles by this author , PhD, CCC-SLP https://doi.org/10.1044/leader.FPLP.17102012.47 SectionsAbout ToolsAdd to favorites ShareFacebookTwitterLinked In Natasha Killeen-Wings (left) and John M. Sample. Natasha Killeen-Wings is an exceptional 20-year-old woman. She was born in Melitopol, Ukraine, six years after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, with a complete bilateral cleft lip and palate. She and her older sister, also with a cleft lip and palate, were adopted by a California family. Natasha and I met when she was 5 years old, and we embarked on a long speech treatment relationship. Her wonderful and supportive parents, as well as Natasha, and I have become friends over the years. She has endured 21 lip and palate surgeries, including three pharyngeal procedures, and four dental surgeries. Natasha also has been diagnosed with obsessive compulsive disorder and language/learning disabilities, specifically reading problems. Attending the Scottish Rite Children’s Language and Learning Center in Santa Rosa, California, improved her language/learning disabilities. She was in special education classes and received her high school certificate of completion. Self-improvement always has been foremost in her mind, and this focus has led her to become a hip-hop performer and a winner of several basketball and soccer Special Olympics events (she’s a state champion in swimming). Natasha continues today to attend speech treatment for consistent speech improvement. Just recently she was notified that she has been accepted to the pilot veterinarian assistant program at the nearby junior college. Only 20 were selected out of 100 applicants, which speaks volumes for her speech intelligibility, her abilities, and her future. I never totally realized the significance of my role in helping Natasha achieve this last goal until her mother told me to “share the glory.” Her parents are grateful for my ability to change Natasha’s lifestyle. So now I can stand back and tell Natasha how proud I am of her. Author Notes John M. Samples, PhD, CCC-SLP, is a private practitioner and executive director of the Scottish Rite Children’s Language and Learning Center in Santa Rosa, California. Contact him at [email protected]. Advertising Disclaimer | Advertise With Us Advertising Disclaimer | Advertise With Us Additional Resources FiguresSourcesRelatedDetails Volume 17Issue 10August 2012 Get Permissions Add to your Mendeley library History Published in print: Aug 1, 2012 Metrics Downloaded 75 times Topicsasha-topicsleader_do_tagasha-article-typesCopyright & Permissions© 2012 American Speech-Language-Hearing AssociationLoading ...

Mathematics Performance at High School Certificate (HSC) Examination: Predicting the Risky from Selected Student Variables

An attempt was made to examine the relative contribution of sex, caste, parental education, parental occupation, location of prior schooling and Mathematics foundation knowledge towards Mathematics performance in terminal high school examination at the end of Grade 10. The sample consisted of 1731 high school pass outs whose Mathematics score in high school examination was recorded along with information on all the predictor variables. Multiple regression analysis revealed that Mathematics foundation knowledge as assessed at the entry point to secondary stage of education emer ged as the strongest predictor accounting for 46.8 per cent of variance while the rest five predictors explained only 2.1 percent of variance. Since poor Mathematics foundation knowledge substantially increases the risk of failure, it is suggested that early diagnostic assessment and remedial intervention would work out as an effective strategy for reducing the risk of student failure in Mathematics in secondary education.

Teaching Reading and Spelling to Adult Learners: The Multisensory Structured Language Approach

All over the World most effective methods for teaching reading to beginning-level adults have been applied. My continuing challenge has been to determine how reading acquisition research can be applied to teaching reading to adults. In this article, I describe the techniques I have found most useful; I hope other teachers working with beginning readers will find them helpful. This year my class includes 18 students all were men six men. Their ages range from late 20s to late 50s and all are employed. Their educational experiences range from completing four to 12 years of school; 12 students have a high secondary school certificate, 03 students have Higher. Secondary School Certificate and 03 students were graduates.

Effects of Timing and Level of Degree Attained on Depressive Symptoms and Self-Rated Health at Midlife

We examined whether attaining a higher educational degree after 25 years of age was associated with fewer depressive symptoms and better self-rated health at midlife than was not attaining a higher educational degree. We analyzed data from National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, restricting our sample to respondents who had not attained a bachelor's degree by 25 years of age (n = 7179). We stratified all regression models by highest degree attained by 25 years of age. Among respondents with no degree, a high school diploma, or a post-high school certificate at 25 years of age, attaining at least a bachelor's degree by midlife was associated with fewer depressive symptoms and better self-rated health at midlife compared with respondents who did not attain a higher degree by midlife. Those with an associate's degree at 25 years of age who later attained a bachelor's degree or higher reported better health at midlife. Attaining at least a bachelor's degree after 25 years of age is associated with better midlife health. Other specifications of educational timing and its health effects across the life course should be studied.

The Influence of Pre-Admission Tracks on Students′ Academic Performance in a Medical Programme: Universiti Sains Malaysia

An aim of medical schools is to select the most suitable candidates who are more likely to become good doctors, fulfilling societal expectations. It is imperative to better understand the influence of 'selection' variables on students' academic performance. We conducted a retrospective record review (3R) to examine the predictive power of pre-admission tracks on academic performance in the medical programme at the Universiti Sains Malaysia. Data were collected on medical graduates' of the university for the years 2003 through 2007. This represented 805 graduates after exclusion of 42 for incomplete and inconsistent data related to the analysis. A total of 95% of the graduates were included in this analysis; 67% were female. Of the 805 graduates, 75% were from the Matriculation course track, 22% from the High School Certificate (HSC) course and 1% from other pre-admission tracks. There was 2% missing information. The majority (79%) were Biology majors and 13% were Physics majors. Graduates from the HSC course and with a Biology background demonstrated a strong correlation with positive academic performance (P < 0.05) compared with other groups. The HSC track and Biology background may be helpful for the medical school in selecting future students.

Age at Immigration and the Education Outcomes of Children

The successful acquisition of a language is often characterized in terms of critical periods. If this is the case it is likely that children who migrate face different challenges in attaining high school credentials depending upon their age at immigration. This paper examines the education outcomes of a cohort of immigrants who arrived in Canada as children. The 2006 Census is used and it is found that there is in fact a distinct change in the chances that children will hold a high-school diploma according to the age at which they arrived in the country. The chances of being a high-school dropout do not vary according to age at arrival up to about the age of nine, with children arriving after that age facing a distinct and growing increase in the chances that they will not graduate from high school. The findings suggest that public policy addressing the long run success of immigrant children needs to be mindful of the variation in risks and opportunities by age, and the role of both early childhood investment and the structure of the education system faced by young adolescents in determining them.

Relativity in a rock field: A study of physics learning with a computer game

&lt;span&gt;The &lt;/span&gt;&lt;em&gt;Theory of Special Relativity&lt;/em&gt;&lt;span&gt; is widely regarded as a difficult topic for learners in physics to grasp, as it reformulates fundamental conceptions of space, time and motion, and predominantly deals with situations outside of everyday experience. In this paper, we describe embedding the physics of relativity into a computer game, and present the results of a study on its effectiveness for learning. The game, which is based on &lt;/span&gt;&lt;em&gt;Asteroids&lt;/em&gt;&lt;span&gt;, enables learners to interact with the physics, and observe and contrast their effect with Newtonian mechanics. The principal relativistic effects of length contraction, mass dilation and time dilation are each portrayed, and key with the learning outcomes of the Australian Higher School Certificate (HSC) high school physics course. Key findings from the study conducted with both students studying HSC physics, and participants without physics training, show that the game on its own serves as a powerful introduction for building up accurate qualitative descriptions of relativistic physics effects; in addition, learners generally reported finding the game accessible and interesting. However, establishing deeper understanding of the physics requires further reflection on the part of the learners than the game itself tends to facilitate. We conclude by discussing implications for design and integration of game-based learning with traditional teaching in relation to the topic of special relativity.&lt;/span&gt;

High school diversification against educational equality: a critical analysis of neoliberal education reform in South Korea

Recent reforms of high school education in Korea have focused on transforming the uniform and standardized system into a deregulated and diversified system that has an emphasis on school choice and competition. Situating the high school diversification policy in the context of the recent controversy of the neoliberal educational reform, this study argues that school diversification in Korea is deeply impaired and unfulfilled, such as in situations in which the school differentiation and elite high school credentials struggle are reinforced by the peculiar nature of the Korean educational market, namely the hakbul-based society and the development of private educational markets. It suggests that special attention should be drawn to integrate the reform efforts for high school diversification into the ways in which the policy is being configured and delivered within the pursuit of educational equality and social justice.

Promotion speed and its effect on attrition of Navy-enlisted personnel: addressing heterogeneity in high school credentials

This article investigates the relationship between recruit quality and promotion speed of the US Navy's first-term enlisted personnel, which in turn is expected to affect retention. It also investigates whether there are quality differences between the various types of high school credentials presented at the time of recruitment, including test-based and attendance-based equivalencies and nontraditional high school diplomas. The results of this article suggest that the Navy's recent targeting of individuals with alternative high school credentials and nonhigh school graduates, who score in the top half of the Armed Forces Qualification Tests (AFQTs) as substitutes for diploma holders have desirable results for promotion speed but undesirable results for retention.

Making Charter School Promises: What's Wrong with Home and Hope?

In 2002 I began a study of a charter school aimed at ‘Push-Out Recovery’ for high school students in Central Texas. The ethnographic study focused on an alterriative education setting, a Charter School, called Edge Works (pseudonym). The study was conducted over approximately 12–18 months at the Charter School. The Charter School provided educational services for young people 16–20 who wanted to get their GED and/or their high school certificate and there were 4 administrators, 16 teachers, and between 250–300 students. When I began this study I had hoped to hear the stories of the students regarding their experiences in the public school system. In short, I went looking for stories of exclusion. Instead, I found stories of success and redemption (Cary, 2001, Popkewitz, 1998).