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The use of ability-grouping is currently increasing in primary schools. Teachers and teacher educators are placed in the unenviable position of having to marry research evidence suggesting that ability-grouping is ineffectual with current policy advocating this approach. This book links theory, policy and practice in a critical examination of ability-grouping practices and their implications in primary schools, with particular reference to primary mathematics. It provides an accessible text for teacher educators to support their students in engaging with the key debates and reflecting upon their practice. Key changes in structural approaches, such as the movement between streaming, setting or mixed-ability teaching arrangements, are explored in the light of political trends, bringing this up to date with a discussion of current policy and practice.

Introduction: Substantial evidence indicates that cigarette smoking among people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) represents a significant public health concern. However, few efforts to assess smoking cessation interventions targeting this population have been reported. In this brief report, 3-month outcomes from an ongoing treatment trial for PLWHA who smoke are described. Methods: Study participants were recruited from a large HIV care center serving a diverse population of PLWHA. A two-group randomized design was used to compare the efficacy of usual-care (UC) smoking cessation treatment versus a cell phone intervention (CPI). Follow-ups were conducted at the HIV clinic 3 months postenrollment. Using an intent-to-treat approach, a series of multiple regression models were used to compare smoking outcomes in the 2 groups. Results: Four hundred and seventy-four participants were enrolled and randomized, UC (n = 238) and CPI (n = 236). Mean age in the sample was 44.8 (SD = 8.1) years, and the majority were male (70.0%), Black (76.6%), and had an education level of high school or less (77.5%). At follow-up, participants in the CPI group were 4.3 (95% CI = 1.9, 9.8) times more likely to be abstinent (7 day) compared with those in the UC group. Similarly, significant point estimates were observed for the other smoking outcomes of interest. Conclusions: Findings from this preliminary report indicate that a smoking cessation intervention for PLWHA consisting of cell phone-delivered proactive counseling results in significantly higher abstinence rates compared with a standard care approach. Evaluation of the long-term (6-month and 12-month) efficacy of the CPI approach is ongoing.

Background. People living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/AIDS (PLWHA) have a substantially higher prevalence of cigarette smoking compared to the general population. In addition, PLWHA are particularly susceptible to the adverse health effects of smoking. Our primary objective was to design and test the efficacy over 12 months of a smoking cessation intervention targeting PLWHA. Methods. Participants were enrolled from an urban HIV clinic with a multiethnic and economically disadvantaged patient population. Participants received smoking cessation treatment either through usual care (UC) or counseling delivered by a cell phone intervention (CPI). The 7-day point prevalence abstinence was evaluated at 3, 6, and 12 months using logistic regression and generalized linear mixed models. Results. We randomized 474 HIV-positive smokers to either the UC or CPI group. When evaluating the overall treatment effect (7-day abstinence outcomes from 3-, 6-, and 12-month follow-ups), participants in the CPI group were 2.41 times (P = .049) more likely to demonstrate abstinence compared to the UC group. The treatment effect was strongest at the 3-month follow-up (odds ratio = 4.3, P < .001), but diminished at 6 and 12 months (P > .05). Conclusions. Cell phone—delivered smoking cessation treatment has a positive impact on abstinence rates compared to a usual care approach. Future research should focus on strategies for sustaining the treatment effect in the long term.

In the primary school setting in mathematics is a strategy that is used, so say, to harness teaching resources to enable pupils to maximise their attainment. Setting might be regarded as an honourable, and professional, response to an enduring dilemma for teachers, and managers. However, as with most actions, there are likely to be unintended consequences. What might be these consequences, and are they worth the risk? Here some of the consequences, of setting in mathematics, have been documented as a result of dedicated classroom research. The pupil experiences described here, in detail, must pose a challenge to all those who choose to set.

HIV-positive women are at elevated risk for developing cervical cancer. While emerging research suggests that gynecologic health care is underutilized by HIV-positive women, factors associated with adherence to Pap testing, especially among HIV-positive female smokers are not well known. We utilized baseline data from a smoking cessation trial and electronic medical records to assess Pap smear screening prevalence and the associated characteristics among the HIV-positive female participants ( n  = 138). 46 % of the women had at least 1 Pap test in the year following study enrollment. Multiple logistic regression analysis indicated that younger age, African American race, hazardous drinking, increased number of cigarettes smoked per day, and smoking risk perception were associated with non-adherence to Pap smear screening. Cervical cancer screening was severely underutilized by women in this study. Findings underscore the importance of identifying predictors of non-adherence and addressing multiple risk factors and behavioral patterns among HIV-positive women who smoke.

This thesis investigates how discourses of mathematical-ability are produced and reproduced by pupils and teachers in the primary classroom and the impacts of these on teaching and learning. Building on a literature base suggesting the often negative and self-fulfilling outcomes of ability labelling and grouping, the thesis embeds this literature strongly in primary mathematics, exploring why these practices not only continue, but form the basis of much Government and school organisational policy. -- Utilising a critical realist meta-theory, the thesis draws pragmatically from multiple traditions. Data were collected from approximately 300 pupils and 14 teachers in two primary schools. Individual and group-interviews and classroom observations explored pupils’ and teachers’ productions of their own and others’ mathematical-ability, with pupil questionnaires and attainment tests used to examine the extent to which these impact on pupil attainment and learning in mathematics. -- The thesis finds that discourses of ability are pervasive, embedded in all aspects of teaching and learning in primary mathematics, and resistant to change. Pupils and teachers are fairly consistent in their understanding of mathematical-ability; this is thought of as a stable, innate quality connected to intelligence and genetics or else conceptualised in terms of, and muddled with, assessment outcomes. Assessment, labelling and inequitable ability practices create pupils from an early age as mathematically able or not, whilst setting places the focus on the mathematics, effectively ignoring the whole-child, raising many of the concerns about setting in secondary mathematics in a primary context. Many teachers recognise the inequity in the practices they engage in, yet reproduce the inequitable practices they experienced.

Summative assessments include examinations and the traditional marking or testing at the end of a piece/unit of work, while formative assessments include activities that provide feedback for developing the next stages of teaching and learning. In this chapter, the authors briefly explore the background to, and current debates within, Assessment for Learning (AfL), formative assessment and feedback in mathematics education. Their proposal is that to assess beyond mathematical subject knowledge content and move towards including assessment of mathematical thinking processes, they need to have the student, and the learning intentions, as explicit and central foci of the assessment cycle. To be considered formative assessment, which they suggest sits within AfL, the practice or its outcome must lead to the adaptation of future learning or practice for students or teachers in either the short or longer term with the intention of better meeting students' needs.

This research aims to examine the changes in the availability and accessibility of health care available to Chinese citizens over a nine year period. I use market transition theory as a framework for examining these changes. Market transition theory posits that as a government moves from a socialist system to a market-based economy, a new stratification order will emerge. Changes in the Chinese health care system are examined using 1991 and 2000 data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey. Using ordinary least-squares and logistic regression, I analyze differences in access and availability of health care between ethnic groups, rural and urban residents, and respondents of different income levels. Five variables are used to measure access and availability of health care. The results from this study indicate that there have been changes in the availability of medical care during the research time frame, providing some evidence for market transition theory.