Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Widening The Aperture: A Case Study Of Widening The Definition Of Evidence For Strategy, Jennifer James, Sandra Hilliard

The Foundation Review

The need to “widen the aperture” to consider different types and sources of evidence is paramount to sharpening grantmaking strategies that are in service of those we seek to serve. This article describes an underlying process of identifying and applying equity considerations in the evidence considered for strategy development in the context of a large, national foundation.

The aim was to develop a “common evidence base” — the core of which was a database library — and what was understood from the evidence was synthesized to bring together what was currently known, the edges of the foundation’s understanding, and emerging …

Panel Discussion: The Right To Education: With Liberty, Justice, And Education For All?

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

No abstract provided.

A Partnered Approach To School Change In A Rural Community: Reflections And Recommendations, Sara Rimm-Kaufman, Mary Fant Donnan, Dianne Garcia, Melinda Snead-Johnson, Eugene Kotulka, Lia Sandilos

The Foundation Review

With so many education policies and practices made at the local level, community-based foundations are in a unique position to support their local school districts in taking a comprehensive, systematic approach to improving the lives of young people. This article describes a research–practice partnership designed to produce school improvement in a rural community in western Virginia and reflects on a three-year collaboration among The Alleghany Foundation, two school districts, and the University of Virginia.

The partners identified challenges and strengths within the school districts and the community; gathered and analyzed existing district data and new findings from interviews and surveys …

Leadership Opportunities In Education For Individuals With Disabilities, Sean Daniel Kinder

Administrative Issues Journal

This study examines the perceptions of individuals with disabilities concerning employment opportunities as administrative leaders in public school contexts. A discussion of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, as well as the definition of what is considered a legal disability, as provided in Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Additionally, this piece explains Critical Disability Theory as a theoretical lens that provides perspective and highlights the methods used in the data collection process. It reports preliminary findings and concludes with a discussion of why this educational issue is of significance.

The Use Of Twitter In The Creation Of Educational Professional Learning Opportunities, Carrie R. Ross, Robert M. Maninger, Kimberly N. Laprairie, Sam Sullivan

Administrative Issues Journal

This study sought to examine how educators are using Twitter to increase their professional learning opportunities beyond the boundaries of traditional professional development offers, and whether educators feel a greater sense of fulfillment receiving professional development through networking and community learning than they do through traditional means of learning. A population of 160 educators—105 females and 55 males between the ages of 22 and 65—were surveyed using education related hashtags on Twitter. Thirty-two educators from the survey population elected to participate in an interview. The study discovered that educators are frequently using Twitter professionally to collaborate, network, and engage in …

Standardized Predictive Testing: Practices, Policies, And Outcomes, Lisette Barton, Pamela Willson, Rae Langford, Barbara Schreiner

Administrative Issues Journal

The aims of this study were to describe current policy practice related to the use of the HESI™ Exit Exam in schools of nursing and to determine which policies result in higher HESI Exit Scores. Deans and directors of nursing schools that administered Elsevier HESI Exit Exam to students during the 2010 academic year were queried. Data were collected regarding students’ HESI Exit Exam results, national nursing licensure examination outcomes, and the schools’ standardized testing policies. A stratified random sample of schools and a total of 5438 student records were obtained, 3084 from Associate Degree (AD) and 2354 from Baccalaureate …

Reviewing The Roots Of Response To Intervention:Is There Enough Research To Support The Promise?, Tammi R. Ridgeway, Debra P. Price, Cynthia G. Simpson, Chad A. Rose

Administrative Issues Journal

In the United States, Response to Intervention (RtI) is used to promote the use of evidence-based instruction in educational institutions, with the goal of supporting general and specialized educators and enabling these professionals to work together in a comprehensive, integrated manner. In doing so, RtI provides a protocol for identifying students with specific academic deficits and who demonstrate the need for individualized forms of instruction. Specifically, professional educators utilize quantitative data accumulated from common student assessment scores, which is thought to reflect a student’s response to instruction in the general classroom, in addition to his or her response to more …

Business Education And Gender Bias At The ‘C-Level', Gina L. Miller, Faye A. Sisk

Administrative Issues Journal

Women in business are perceived to have been successful; however, the numbers of women in ‘C-level’ positions (e.g., CEO, CFO, CIO, etc.) provide evidence to the contrary. This paper examines obstacles to women rising to ‘C-level’ positions and how business education contributes to, but may ultimately help resolve these problems by identifying ways to increase the effectiveness of business education and educators regarding gender bias. Barriers that prevent women from advancement and contributing factors in business education are identified. Recommendations for strategies in business education to reduce, manage, and create awareness of gender bias in the classroom are presented. For …

Generic Wish-Lists For State-Centric Policies, Edzia Carvalho

Human Rights & Human Welfare

The Central America depicted in the article under review resembles a region visited by the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse—colonial Conquest, civil War, Famine and other natural disasters, and poverty, disease and Death. Added to this list of woes are the recent drug-fueled conflict, democratic instability, weak state capacity, and the socio-economic fallout of the economic recession in the United States. While the first half of the article records these problems, the author shifts gears in the second half and provides an array of responses to these challenges, with a forceful recommendation that states in the region focus their efforts …

A Centrist Solution To Central American Violence And Inequality, Devin Joshi

Human Rights & Human Welfare

The northern triangle of Central America (El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras) has experienced horrific violence, poverty, and a vicious cycle of human rights violations for decades. Repeated natural disasters and the re-routing of the drug trade through Central America are not helping the situation. On the other hand, nearby Costa Rica has achieved a much higher standard of human rights, public safety, and political stability. Why? Costa Rica has put in place four pillars of development and stability lacking in most other countries in the region: a stronger state, an educated population, inter-racial cooperation, and a more inclusive democracy. For …

Administrative Strategies For Preparing Teaching Candidates To Be Building-Level Technology Change Agents, Richard Rose

Administrative Issues Journal

Teacher education graduates in their early years of service are ill-prepared to act as building-level change agents who can advocate for the enhanced use of technology in the classroom. In this study, a group of experienced teachers seeking the M.Ed. in Educational Technology suggest that the lack of confidence which new teachers show in relation to technology can be traced back to the absence of rigorous technical skill-building in both their Introduction to Educational Technology class and methods classes. These tech-savvy mid-career teachers then identify obstacles to enhancing pre-service teacher education programs with more effective preparation in teaching with technology …

Education And Hispanics In Hypergrowth Areas: The Georgia Question In American Schooling, Robert A. Devillar, Binbin Jiang

Journal of Global Initiatives: Policy, Pedagogy, Perspective

No abstract provided.

Bedouin Women In The Naqab, Israel: Ongoing Transformation, Marcy M. Wells

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Since its inception in 1948, the state of Israel has based development plans on an agenda of nation-building that has systematically excluded Palestinian Arab citizens such as the indigenous Bedouin. Policies of relocation, resettlement, and restructuring have been imposed on the Bedouin, forcing them from their ancestral lands and lifestyle in the Naqab (or Negev, as it is called in Hebrew) desert of southern Israel. The rapid and involuntary transition from self-sufficient, semi-nomadic, pastoral life to sedentarization and modernization has resulted in dependency on a state that treats the Bedouin as minority outsiders through unjust social, political, and economic structures. …