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Nebline, July 2021

NEBLINE Newsletter Archive from Nebraska Extension in Lancaster County

Smart Techniques Conserve Water in Your Yard

Building a Healthy Community: What Lincolnites Say

Recipe of the Month

Saving and Sing and Storing Garden Seeds

Garden Guide: Things to Do This Month

Naturally Occurring Elements in Groundwater: Last in a Series - Uranium

UNL East Campus Discovery Days

Nebraska 4rs Nutrient Stewardship Field Day

Ants in the Home & Landscape

Lawn Care and Young Children: Creating a Safe and Fun Place to Play

Heart of 4-H Volunteer Award: Marti Thomson

Summer Programming 4-H Interns

4-H Announcements for 4H'ers and Volunteers

Extension News

Extension Calendar

Rise Of Catholic Schools In The Global South And Implications For University Research, Quentin Wodon

Journal of Catholic Education

Building on a presentation made at the closing plenary of OIEC’s World Congress in New York, this paper considers two trends affecting Catholic education globally and their potential implications for university research and programs in support of K12 schools. The first trend is the shift of enrollment in K12 Catholic education towards the global south and especially Africa in terms of the sheer number of students enrolled in schools. The second trend relates to the deepening learning crisis in K12 education affecting much of the developing world, and again especially Africa. These two trends have implications for university research and …

Organizational Climate In Schools Across The Archdiocese Of Detroit, Ben Pogodzinski, Anne Morris

Journal of Catholic Education

To help inform continuous improvement efforts across Catholic Schools in the Archdiocese of Detroit (AOD), the Catholic Identity Program Effectiveness Surveys were administered to parents, students, and faculty/staff across schools in the AOD during Winter 2018. This work sought to identify variation in responses across respondents and schools. Additionally, we sought to identify an association between the survey responses and enrollment trends across schools. Our findings show some significant differences in responses across the domains of the survey as well as across respondent group. The initial analysis found no statistically significant association between measures of organizational climate and enrollment trends, …

No Good Options: Analysis Of Catholic School Reopening Plans In Fall 2020, Monica J. Kowalski, Stephen M. Ponisciak

Journal of Catholic Education

As schools across the country made decisions about how to safely reopen during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Fall of 2020, Catholic schools reopened for in-person instruction more than surrounding public schools. This study analyzes published reopening plans from 136 Catholic schools in 18 different states to explore how schools reopened and how they communicated their plans. Results showed that Catholic schools mostly did not decide to reopen virtually, consistent with local health data trends and public school decisions. Rather, Catholic schools offered in-person education with health and safety protocols in place. Most schools in the sample did not communicate …

Laudato Si’: A Prophetic Message, Agbonkhianmeghe E. Orobator

Journal of Catholic Education

A mounting body of evidence demonstrates that our generation and our civilization teeter on the brink of a man-made disaster of global scale. Climate change stands as the defining question of our century. Calls to global action are as strident and passionate as the enormity of the situation is grave and consequential. Of particular significance is Pope Francis’ encyclical letter Laudato Si’ on the care for our Common Home. This article discusses some of the main messages from Laudato Si’ including its call for pedagogical models of “ecological education” or “environmental education”. The article is adapted with minor modifications from …

Latino Family Engagement In A Network Of Catholic Bilingual Schools, Gabrielle Oliveira, Eunhye Cho, Olivia Barbieri

Journal of Catholic Education

In this article, we examine how a Network of Catholic Bilingual Schools (NCBS) serves Latino populations by examining the leadership’s narratives of the school services and outreach. By employing a survey with 16 principals in the NCBS, we argue that the rate of engagement is similar between Latino and non-Latino parents, although the nature of the activities varied. Despite the long-held belief that Latino parents are less likely to participate in schooling than non-Latino parents, we found that Latino parents committed their participation in schools across cultural, linguistic, or religious activities. We highlight how principals acknowledge and describe Latino families’ …

Implementing Excellence In Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion In The Library Workforce: Tips To Overcome Challenges, Kanu A. Nagra, Bernadette M. López-Fitzsimmons

Publications and Research

Diversifying the library workforce is challenging, with the graduation data of library and information science degrees not representing equity in demographics for diverse populations. Is this the reason for the lack of diversity among library staff or are recruitment practices not based on measurable performance standards? Both questions call upon the library and information science (LIS) profession to address diverse staffing issues to remedy these challenges.

Exploring Non-Contact Time In Early Childhood Education, Erin Hamel

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Early childhood teachers have been the subject of many studies. Their qualifications, practices, and interactions with children have been widely researched as avenues for improving early childhood education. Yet little is known about the work supports early childhood teachers need to be successful. Non-contact time is one element of a supportive work environment that supports teachers’ ability to address their professional expectations. However, information and guidance on non-contact time is lacking or absent from the literature. This study addresses this gap by exploring non-contact time from the perspectives of directors and teachers.

An embedded mixed methods design was used to …

Belonging: A Mixed-Methods Analysis Of Communication Coaching Workshops On Participation And Self-Esteem For International Students With Non-Native Accents At The University Of Nebraska-Lincoln, Michaela Reddel

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The current study explored survey results of 17 participants who were international students with accents at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. These participants participated in a communication workshop hosted by the researcher who is a Speech-Language Pathology graduate student. The Acculturation Model (Berry, 1997), the work by Dai and Chen (2014) in Intercultural Communication Competence, and evidence-based practices from the field of Speech-Language Pathology informed the creation of this study and the workshops. The workshops were designed for participants to learn various communication strategies with the purpose of increasing communication participation and self-esteem. The goal of increasing these two constructs was …

Investigating The Fit Of The Generalized Graded Unfolding Model (Ggum) When Calibrated To Irt Generated Data From Dominance And Ideal Point Models, Abdulla Alzarouni

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The assessment of model fit in latent trait modelling, better known as item response theory (IRT), is an integral part of model testing if one is to make valid inferences about the estimated parameters and their properties based on the selected IRT model. Though important, the assessment of model fit has been less utilized in IRT research than it should. For example, there have been less research investigating fit for polytomous dominance models such the Graded Response Model (GRM), and to a lesser extent ideal point models such as the Generalized Graded Unfolding Models (GGUM), both in its dichotomous and …

Understanding The Needs And Knowledge Base Of Developing Speech-Language Pathology Programs: A Preliminary Mixed Methods Survey In The United States, Elaine Williams

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The field of speech-language pathology provides important rehabilitation services for communication and swallowing disorders. Unfortunately, these services are lacking around the world, specifically in Majority countries, formally known as third world countries. This is significant given the high proportion of people with disabilities in Majority countries. While speech-language pathology services are actively being introduced to these areas, it is often with the inappropriate transfer of Minority world values. In an effort to provide a less biased and more formal approach to collaborating with countries requesting help to establish speech-language pathology services, the author of this thesis is proposing a process …

Examining The Effects Of The Write Sounds Intervention With First Grade Students, Brittany Wambold

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Students who have difficulty with reading and writing are at risk to continue having difficulty throughout their schooling. Lack of time and resources may be a contributing factor for students not receiving additional instruction for both skills. However, there is evidence that balanced reading and writing programs can be effective. The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of the Write Sounds intervention for students who had deficits in reading and writing. This study was a multiple baseline across participants design with three first-grade students who showed difficulty with reading, spelling, and phonemic awareness. Students received 40 minutes …

Challenges And Opportunities For Catholic Schools Globally: Insights From Oiec's World Congress, Gerald Cattaro, Philippe Richard, Quentin Wodon

Journal of Catholic Education

Every four years, the International Office of Catholic Education (OIEC in French) organizes its World Congress as an opportunity for participants — including school teachers and principals, to share their experiences and achievements, as well as the challenges they face. In June 2019, the Educatio Si Congress took place in New York in partnership with Fordham University. The theme of the Congress was “Educating to fraternal humanism to build a civilization of love.” The closing plenary was held at the United Nations to highlight the contribution of Catholic schools to the fourth Sustainable Education Goal (SDG4), namely ensuring inclusive and …

The Death Of An Academic Department: Sense-Losing And Sacred Loss, Diane D. Walsh, Kathy D. Richardson, Marie Tylsova, William Guri, Ian Tucker Brown, Kari O'Grady Ph.D.

Journal of Catholic Education

An unexpected academic department closure can be deeply unsettling to many stakeholders. Department closure is typically intended to be a cost-saving measure; however, department closure can be a difficult, time-consuming process with unexpected consequences. This study takes a hermeneutical phenomenological approach to explore the impact of the closure of an academic department. Participants were enrolled in one of the department’s academic programs at the time of the closure announcement and during data collection. Results indicated that participants sanctified the department, a process in which persons instill an object or aspect of their lives with spiritual significance (Pargament, Magyar, Benore, & …

The Creation Of The Regis Jesuit High School Girls Division: Same Sex Education For Young Women In American Catholic Jesuit Secondary Education, Sajit U. Kabadi Ph.D.

Journal of Catholic Education

Findings from a historiographic case study are reported. Qualitative data was collected from a series of interviews and cultural artifacts exploring the history of the creation of the Regis Jesuit High School, Girls Division- the first American all girls Catholic Jesuit high school. The study traces the process of how Regis Jesuit became a co-divisional campus educating both women and men in same sex classes utilizing Ignatian Strategic Planning conceptual framework that emphasizes the Jesuit concept of Magis while exploring its impact on the historical and contemporary role that women play in the Jesuit mission.

Social Encyclicals And The Worker: The Evolution Of Catholic Labor Schools In Pennsylvania, Paul Lubienecki, Phd

Journal of Catholic Education

Many often identified the Catholic Church with the cause of labor and worker’s rights in the United States. However that was not the common situation encountered by laborers throughout most of the nineteenth century. The proclamation of the social encyclicals: Pope Leo XIII’s Rerum Novarum (1891) and Pope Pius XI’s Quadragesimo Anno (1931) elevated the status of the worker, endorsed worker associations and placed the Catholic Church as an advocate of worker’s rights. But for the worker to clearly understand this change as well as his rights and duties education was vital. For workers in Pennsylvania, especially in Pittsburgh and …

Social Reconstruction: American Catholics Radical Response To The Social Gospel Movement And Progressives., Paul Lubienecki, Phd

Journal of Catholic Education

At the fin de siècle the Industrial Revolution created egregious physical, emotional and spiritual conditions for American society and especially for the worker but who would come forward to alleviate those conditions? Protestants implemented their Social Gospel Movement as a proposed cure to these problems. Secular Progressives engaged in a more activist role both materially and through legislation. Both of these groups had limited successes with disappointing outcomes. America’s Catholics, more accustomed to living and working in industrialized neighborhoods, eventually developed their own programs and agenda to address social and labor concerns. However some scholars believed that Catholic efforts merely …

Preparing Priests To Lead Parish Schools: Concerns And Recommendations, Thomas A. Simonds S.J., Timothy Cook, Max Engel, Ronald D. Fussell, Jean Hearn, Jerry Meyer

Journal of Catholic Education

Canon law recognizes the pastor as the chief educational officer (CEO) of the parish school. However, recent studies demonstrate that seminaries do not prepare seminarians for work in or leadership of Catholic schools, and recent scholarship also demonstrates that an increasing number of seminarians lack the desire to lead a parish school. Our research study examined the post-seminary preparation of priests for leadership of parish schools. We also explored alternative governance models for Catholic schools. We conducted structured interviews with 10 national leaders to explore these two areas of interest. Our findings demonstrate that preparation of newly ordained …

Activities, Advantages, And Inequalities: The Theory And Practice Of Sports, Arts, And Service In Catholic High Schools, Andrew M. Guest

Journal of Catholic Education

Catholic schools have a particular tradition of excellence in the types of sports, arts, and service activities that have a prominent role in contemporary American education and youth culture. When Sports Illustrated magazine, for example, rated the top High School athletic programs in the United States over half (13 of the 25) were Catholic schools, despite the fact that only about three percent of American secondary schools are Catholic. Likewise, though other types of activity programs are harder to quantify, many Catholic schools have extensive and high quality offerings in music, drama, community service, and other domains that serve to …

A New Vision For Education Towards Fraternal Humanism, Vincenzo Zani

Journal of Catholic Education

This article considers three fundamental perspectives for Catholic education, all mentioned in the encyclical letter Populorum Progressio of Paul VI, which have also been present in the teachings of successive pontiffs. The first perspective is the need to build a new civilization and the idea that ”the world suffers due to lack of thought.” The second perspective is the idea that ”there is no true humanism but in the opening to the Absolute.” The third perspective is the idea that at the origin of injustice there is a lack of fraternity. The second Vatican Council stated that ”true education should …