Digital Commons Network^™

Dancing At My Desk: Examining The Foundations Of A Nonprofit Dance Education Organization, Caeli Koizumi

Honors Thesis

With the implementation of the Common Core State Standards, the demand for further development in arts education has grown. In California, the Visual and Performing Arts have been mandated components of education since 2001; yet, students often experience limited and inconsistent access to the arts due to budget cuts. Thus, the need for a specialized approach to synthesizing the arts and education is imminent. Arts Integration, a pedagogical method that refers to the combination of a visual or performing art with a core content area to provide equal understanding of a topic from both selected fields, is sprinkled throughout primary …

No.6, December 2017: District Administrators' Perspectives On The Impact Of The Local Control Funding Formula On English Learners, Magaly Lavadenz Ph.D., Gisela Obrien Ph.D.

Education and Policy Briefs

Two years into implementation, this policy brief examines how California’s Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) and its accompanying Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP) meet the needs of English Learners (ELs). Researchers seek to understand district administrator perspectives on the impact of LCFF for ELs through interviews and focus groups with administrators that represent districts from Northern, Central, and Southern California. Findings reveal that although the LCAP serves as a mechanism to increase personnel and PD efforts to address EL needs, it is still largely viewed as a compliance document that requires alignment with other strategic documents and is sensitive to …

Happenings@Hannon, December 2017, William H. Hannon Library

Happenings @ Hannon

No abstract provided.

Climate Change Adaptation In Mediterranean Cities: An Introduction To The Special Issue, W. Bowman Cutter, Barbara Norman, Eric G. Strauss

Cities and the Environment (CATE)

Given the highly developed nature of Mediterranean regions and their importance in global trade and migration, it is crucial to develop comprehensive solutions for climate change. The widespread societal impacts of climate change add urgency towards transdisciplinary and transnational solutions for climate change adaptation.

We represent the Mediterranean Climate Change Consortium (MC-4), an international network of scholars, policy makers, and practitioners working towards climate change adaptation in cities with Mediterranean climates. Our proposition is that areas with similar, Mediterranean, climates will have more climate adaptation lessons to share with each other than areas with distinctly different climates. As a step …

Managing Cities As Urban Ecosystems: Fundamentals And A Framework For Los Angeles, California, Isaac T. Brown

Cities and the Environment (CATE)

Ecosystem-based frameworks offer a robust platform for managing complex ecological challenges associated with land management. Actionable frameworks for urban ecosystems are just emerging, and the purpose of this essay is to support advancing application in city management contexts. Comprehensive urban ecosystem frameworks have the potential to synergize interrelated, yet often siloed, urban environmental management themes including urban biodiversity and natural features, pollution management, ecosystem services enhancement, and natural hazards; particularly as urban sustainability, resiliency, and infrastructure initiatives increasingly reshape cities and elevate consideration of these topics. This essay begins with a review of fundamentals of urban ecosystems across multiple relevant …

Transferring Water And Climate Resilience Lessons From Australia's Millennium Drought To Southern California, Deborah Weinstein Bloome, Edith De Guzman

Cities and the Environment (CATE)

Southern California and Southern Australia are two regions of the world which share many climatic, socioeconomic and demographic characteristics that lend themselves to meaningful exchanges of knowledge and innovations. With the benefit of Australia’s documented experiences, California can learn what solutions worked and did not work in Australia, potentially avoiding major pitfalls. While some changes in California are already underway, many opportunities – and challenges – still remain. California’s policymakers and residents can adopt and adapt the most fitting solutions from Australia’s experience. California, and especially Southern California, can use these to appropriately and effectively respond to the extremes of …

Tree Canopy Change In Coastal Los Angeles, 2009 - 2014, Dexter H. Locke, Michele Romolini, Michael Galvin, Jarlath P.M. O'Neil-Dunne, Eric G. Strauss

Cities and the Environment (CATE)

Los Angeles, California is prone to extreme climate events—e.g. drought, wildfires, and floods—that are only expected to increase with climate change. The establishment of green infrastructure, including a stable urban forest, is a strategy to improve resilience not only to these events, but also to contribute to other environmental, social, and economic goals. To this end, cities throughout Los Angeles County have tree planting programs and policies aimed to grow and maintain their urban forests. Despite the policy objectives and management goals of such programs, we know surprisingly little about the spatial distribution of the existing urban forest, how and …

The Stakes Are Rising: Lessons On Engaging Coastal Communities On Climate Adaptation In Southern California, Alyssa Newton Mann, Phyllis Grifman, Juliette Finzi Hart

Cities and the Environment (CATE)

Preparing for climate change is rising as a priority for many public policy agendas, driving a demand for information that allows communities to identify both current and projected vulnerabilities to climate change at local and regional levels. In response, a developing climate change adaptation service sector is bringing science and technical training to policy-makers. Approaching adaptation planning through a regional lens is critical, due to the large number of stakeholders and the intensely interconnected nature of geographies, communities, and economies. Decisions made in one jurisdiction will undoubtedly affect its neighbors.

In this emerging field, boundary organizations play a unique role …

Gardening For Wildlife: Tree Canopy And Small-Scale Planting Influences On Arthropod And Bird Abundance, Marion Dresner, Andrew Moldenke

Cities and the Environment (CATE)

Do urban gardens restored with native shrubs contribute towards conservation of birds? Portland, Oregon, is a mid-sized city with many restored yard habitats and nearby regional natural areas, with yards varying in the degree of native plantings and the sizes and groupings of the yards involved. We studied several of the purported ecological benefits attributed to these widespread, but small-scale, urban gardens. We measured the relative success of yard habitats in contributing to diversity and abundance of forest-habitat birds. We studied how the abundance and diversity of shrubs, arthropods, and birds were related. We compared two neighborhoods; one having high, …

2017 Human Library Poster, Amanda Lazzarone

Human Library 2017 Promotional Materials

No abstract provided.

2017 Human Library Catalog, John M. Jackson

Human Library 2017 Promotional Materials

No abstract provided.

Book Review: Realizing The Distinctive University: Vision And Values, Strategy And Culture, Michael Rizzi

Journal of Catholic Education

Review of Realizing the Distinctive University: Vision and Values, Strategy and Culture by Mark William Roche.

Happenings@Hannon, November 2017, Loyola Marymount University

Happenings @ Hannon

No abstract provided.

Screaming Into The Ether: Assessing E-Resources Outreach Through Digital Touchpoints, Jamie G. Hazlitt, John Jackson

LMU Librarian Publications & Presentations

What is the impact of social media, targeted email, and other intentional promotional efforts on e-resource usage? Is there a correlation between e-resources marketing and the use of those resources? What data can we gather, what can we learn, and how can this be used to improve our communications with faculty and outreach via social media and digital spaces?

This presentation will explore the findings from the first year of a multi-year study on marketing e-resources at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. Librarians at the William H. Hannon Library examined the usage of specific e-resources over the course of …

It All Adds Up: Professional Development, Content Knowledge, And Self-Efficacy In Middle School Math Teachers, Wendy Creek

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

The math achievement of American students had been stagnant or falling since 2007, according to both national and international measures (NAEP, TIMSS, PISA). While the Common Core State Standards were partially a response to sinking levels of American math proficiency, those standards require a much greater depth of conceptual understanding of mathematics for teachers than previous standards, yet more than half of fifth- through eighth-grade math teachers are not certified to teach math. The federal government and school districts spend millions of dollars on teacher professional development, but little evidence shows what kind of professional development might be the most …

Using Assessment Data For Informed Decision-Making In Catholic High Schools, David Chambers

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

School leaders and principals have an obligation to use every tool at their disposal to maximize student achievement. All students deserve the best use of data to inform the decision-making of those entrusted to deliver the finest education available to them. The purpose of this study was to ascertain the perceptions of principals in Los Angeles Archdiocesan high schools about the use of assessment data in their schools by finding how they were using assessment data to inform curricular and pedagogical decisions, and then determining what factors affect the use of assessment data to inform their curricular decision-making.

This study …

Choose Your Own Adventure : A Thrilling Journey Of Collaborative Collection Assessment, Jamie G. Hazlitt, Madelynn Dickerson, Caroline Muglia, Jeremy Whitt

LMU Librarian Publications & Presentations

In 2016, the speakers embarked upon a multi-institutional project to compare print and e-book usage across four Southern California institutions (Claremont Colleges Library, Loyola Marymount University, Pepperdine University, and University of Southern California). The preliminary results of this comparative usage analysis, presented as a poster session at the Charleston Conference, revealed that print books in certain art and architecture classes and subclasses are used over e-books, suggesting “leanings” in format preferences of users.

While this collaborative research project provided provocative insights into art and architecture e-book usage, it also raised important research methods questions related to collaborative analysis using multiple …

Résumés D’Articles/Article Abstracts In French, Journal Of Catholic Education

Journal of Catholic Education

Résumés d’articles/Article Abstracts in French

Resúmenes De Artículos/Article Abstracts In Spanish, Journal Of Catholic Education

Journal of Catholic Education

Resúmenes de artículos/Article Abstracts in Spanish

Book Review: Catholic School Leadership, Thomas J. Kiely

Journal of Catholic Education

Review of Catholic School Leadership by Anthony J. Dosen and Barbara S. Rieckhoff

Book Review: Teaching Religious Literacy: A Guide To Religious And Spiritual Diversity In Higher Education, Tecora Rogers Harper

Journal of Catholic Education

Review of Teaching Religious Literacy: A Guide to Religious and Spiritual Diversity in Higher Education by Ariel Ennis

School Choice Vouchers And Special Education In Indiana Catholic Diocesan Schools, William H. Blackwell, June M. Robinson

Journal of Catholic Education

Catholic schools are now located at a crossroads of school choice voucher programs and special education services. With enrollment in Catholic schools declining over the past several decades, voucher programs that allow parents to use public funds for tuition at private schools – including tuition for students with disabilities – could possibly help to steady or even reverse this decline. This study examined the impact of Indiana’s statewide voucher program on Catholic schools, student enrollment, and special education services in three large diocesan school systems. The findings address issues related to enrollment growth, changing student population characteristics, special education services, …

Providing Access For Students With Moderate Disabilities: An Evaluation Of A Professional Development Program At A Catholic Elementary School, Matthew P. Cunningham, Karen K. Huchting, Diane Fogarty, Victoria Graf

Journal of Catholic Education

After a significant policy change led to the admittance of students with moderate disabilities, St. Agnes School (SAS; pseudonym)—a Catholic PK-8 school in Southern California—implemented an 18-month professional development (PD) program to improve teachers’ inclusive classroom practices. Grounded in the theoretical framework of Universal Design for Learning (UDL; Center for Applied Special Technology, 2015b), the PD program included cyclical, one-on-one instructional coaching sessions that were led by trained UDL coaches and consisted of lesson demonstrations and personalized feedback. While SAS teachers held state credentials, most had very little training to work with students with special needs prior to this PD; …

De Marillac Academy: Perseverance, Purpose, And Promise, Rebecca A. Proehl Phd, Lisa Ayon, Desiree Braganza, Gloria Aquino Sosa

Journal of Catholic Education

For many years, the Catholic school system within the United States was considered the preeminent educational institution, particularly for poor and marginalized students that live in low income, inner city areas. Now, given the large number of school closures, the Catholic school system’s long-standing goal of educating economically disadvantaged students in inner city schools is in peril. In this study, the researchers examined De Marillac Academy, a Catholic, tuition-free middle school, located in the Tenderloin District in San Francisco, CA, to identify both the non-cognitive skills students have learned and the organizational factors in place, which have contributed to these …

The Interactional Production Of Race And Religious Identity In An Urban Catholic School, Robert Jean Leblanc

Journal of Catholic Education

This paper describes how students in an urban Catholic school draw on racial and religious categories to construct classroom-specific identities during coursework. When students engage with each other in classroom discussions, they use broadly circulating, institutional, and event-level categories to position one another, and in doing so articulate who may speak and participate in class talk. This paper draws from interactional ethnographic data, showing how Vietnamese American and African American students used different religious and racial categories to delimit the interactional floor during class time and in the process exclude speakers.

La producción de las interacciones de la identidad racial …

Communities Of Practice: A Consortium Of Catholic Elementary Schools’ Collaborative Journey, Karen K. Huchting, Matthew P. Cunningham, Ursula S. Aldana, Delmy Ruiz

Journal of Catholic Education

Archdioceses and dioceses around the United States continue to brainstorm innovative ways to market their schools in an education system that provides a number of choices to parents and their children. Applying Wenger’s (1998) learning theory entitled Communities of Practice (COPs), the purpose of this case study was to investigate one such plan to improve the viability of three inner-city Catholic elementary schools that had similar missions, were located within just a few miles of one another, and served the same neighborhoods of a working-class, culture-rich Latino community in Southern California. Data collection included in-depth interviews with principals and teachers …

Who Do You Say You Are: Relationships And Faith In Catholic Schools, Jennifer S. Maney, Carrie King, Thomas J. Kiely

Journal of Catholic Education

This study aimed to evaluate and articulate what makes Catholic schools special and effective by measuring culture and climate in five Catholic high schools and two Catholic elementary schools in a large metropolitan area in the Midwest United States. The seven schools represented a variety of student demographics, location, and size of school. Findings of this study included: the Catholic identity of schools must become an intentional aspect of the planning, orientation, training, and evaluation of the faculty and administration; faculty-student relationships are rarely measured regarding their effectiveness in bolstering academic achievement or Catholic mission effectiveness; cultural awareness and cultural …

A Content Analysis Of Catholic School Written Discipline Policies, Daniel L. Philippe, Claudia M. Hernandez-Melis, Pamela Fenning, Katie N. B. Sears, Emily M. Mcdonough, Elizabeth Lawrence, Michael Boyle

Journal of Catholic Education

School discipline has traditionally endorsed the use of exclusionary practices (i.e. suspension and expulsion). Such practices can have a negative short- and long-term impact on student lives, and tend to be enforced disproportionately with certain student populations. Although public school discipline policies have received increased scrutiny in recent years, Catholic school policies have received very little attention. This study presents the results of a content analysis of the written discipline policies of 33 Catholic secondary schools from two dioceses within a major metropolitan area. Results suggest that although variability exists in the types of behaviors included in formal written policies, …

Welcoming The Stranger, Antonio Spadaro Sj

Journal of Catholic Education

Text of Fr. Spadaro’s talk at the at the 23rd annual Catholic School Executive Leadership Dinner, hosted by the Center for Catholic School Leadership and Faith-Based Education at Fordham University on May 31, 2017.

Haunting Of Hannon V: Saturday Program, Amanda Lazzarone

Haunting of Hannon 2017 Promotional Materials

No abstract provided.