Education Commons^™

New State Laws Reflect The Rethinking Of Excessive Mandated Standardized Testing In America's Public Schools, Renalia Smith Dubose

Florida A & M University Law Review

The largest standardized testing cheating scandal in American history has caused many to question the practice of excessive standardized testing in America’s public education system. In the spring of 2013, thirty-five educators in Atlanta, Georgia, including the former superintendent, principals, teachers, and testing coordinators were indicted for cheating on statewide-standardized tests. The situation in Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia, triggered a conversation about excessive mandated standardized testing in America’s public schools and caused public outcry against the negative impact of standardized testing. As a result, new state laws are being passed throughout the United States to not only end the rapid …

Food Insecurity Challenge To Families In The Greater Chattanooga Area: The Case Of The Food Bank, Samantha K. Elliott, Irina Khmelko, Richard Beeland

Journal of Adolescent and Family Health

This paper discusses food insecurity challenges to families in the Greater Chattanooga Area and factors that contribute to combating the challenge. Specifically, the paper places regional developments in a national context and analyzes the multiple roles of regional food banks in this process. Food banks have shifted focus from providing foods with sufficient caloric intake to also ensuring that they are providing food with sufficient nutritional value. We identify several factors that contribute to this change, including federal policy changes, economic fluctuations, the nutrition initiative, and organizational changes from the umbrella organization, Feeding America. This case also explores the reaction …

Using A Merit-Based Scholarship Program To Increase Rates Of College Enrollment In An Urban School District: The Case Of The Pittsburgh Promise, Robert Bozick, Gabriella Gonzalez, John Engberg

Journal of Student Financial Aid

The Pittsburgh Promise is a scholarship program that provides $5,000 per year toward college tuition for public high school graduates in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania who earned a 2.5 GPA and a 90% attendance record. This study used a difference-in-difference design to assess whether the introduction of the Promise scholarship program directly influenced changes in rates of college enrollment among students graduating from Pittsburgh public high schools in years immediately following the launch of the program. Becker’s (1964) standard human capital investment model, which predicts that youth make cost-benefit calculations to guide their college enrollment decisions, provides the framework for the analysis. …

Training Together: State Policy And Collective Participation In Early Educator Professional Development, Anne Douglass, Alice Carter, Frank Smith, Sherri Killins

New England Journal of Public Policy

This study used one state’s early care and education work-force registry and professional development attendance data to examine early educator patterns of professional development participation and the extent of collective participation. The article presents the concept of collective participation in professional development, discusses its potential benefits, and highlights the utility of statewide digital tracking of early educators’ patterns of professional development for informing policy. Results show that collective participation is uncommon in early education and care but can be increased through professional development policy decisions. The article concludes with implications for research and policy.

Civic Meanings: Understanding The Constellations Of Democratic And Civic Beliefs Of Educators, Elizabeth A. Lowham, James R. Lowham

Democracy and Education

There is little doubt of public school’s role in the enculturation of youth into American democracy. There are several aspects about which little is known that should be addressed prior to seeking options to understand and address civic education for the 21st century: first, the desired civic knowledge, skills, and predispositions are not clearly identified; and second, little is known about the knowledge, skills, and beliefs of the faculty, administration, staff and board of education members about democracy or the patterns of congruence among adults connected to K–12 education. In this pilot study, we investigate the patterns of beliefs through …

Experiences, Perceived Challenges, And Support Systems Of Early College High School Students, Karen P. Sáenz, Julie P. Combs

Administrative Issues Journal

In this qualitative study, the prior experiences, perceived challenges, and support systems of 17 Grade 12 Hispanic students at an early college high school were explored using the framework of social capital theory. Utilizing Moustakas’s phenomenological design, data were collected using focus group and individuals interviews. Several themes emerged and were related to the conceptual framework of social capital, such as the school environment, support from family and teachers, and the students’ identify and values. Understanding the experiences of the Grade 12 students can provide valuable information for high school and college administrators in an ECHS setting.

Faculty Observables And Self-Reported Responsiveness To Academic Dishonesty, Robert T. Burrus, Jr., Adam T. Jones, William H. Sackley, Michael Walker

Administrative Issues Journal

Prior to 2009, a mid-sized public institution in the southeast had a faculty-driven honor policy characterized by little education about the policy and no tracking of repeat offenders. An updated code, implemented in August of 2009, required that students sign an honor pledge, created a formal student honor board, and developed a process to track and hold accountable, repeat offenders. Self-reported data on faculty vigilance to detect and punish cheating is collected both prior to and after a change in the honor code at a mid-sized public institution in the southeast. We find that, at the time of the first …

The Complementary Effects Of Empathy And Nonverbal Communication Training On Persuasion Capabilities, Robin T. Peterson, James M. Leonhardt

Administrative Issues Journal

This paper investigates the possible complementary effects that training in empathy and nonverbal communication may have on persuasion capabilities. The narrative considers implications from the literature and describes an exploratory study in which students, in a managerial setting, were trained in empathy and nonverbal communication. Subsequent evaluations of these students by faculty evaluators and the students themselves provide preliminary evidence that training in empathy, on the one hand, and nonverbal communication on the other can be effective, but concurrent training in both of these is superior to concentration in only one. This is the first research report which deals with …

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 …

Using Emergence Theory-Based Curriculum To Teach Compromise Skills To Students With Autistic Spectrum Disorders, Lance Fein, Don Jones

Administrative Issues Journal

This study addresses the compromise skills that are taught to students diagnosed with autistic spectrum disorders (ASD) and related social and communication deficits. A private school in the southeastern United States implemented an emergence theory-based curriculum to address these skills, yet no formal analysis was conducted to determine its effectiveness. Guided by cognitive development and constructivist theories, a concurrent, mixed methods, case study design was used to investigate the impact of this curriculum on teaching compromise skills to middle school students with ASD and related deficits. For the qualitative sequence, teacher observations and compromise interventions from eight participants were open …

Emotional Support Animals, Service Animals, And Pets On Campus, C. W. Von Bergen

Administrative Issues Journal

For decades, universities have been accommodating physically disabled students who require guide dogs and other types of service animals. Within the past several years, however, mentally disabled students have increasingly petitioned colleges with no-pet policies to permit them to bring their animals on campus because they need a companion or emotional support animal to make college life easier and to reduce their stress, loneliness, depression, and/or anxiety. Institutions that unlawfully reject such requests are finding themselves in court and charged with disability discrimination. Schools are understandably confused about their obligation, if any, to waive their no-pet rules under these circumstances. …

Letter From The Editor, Kelly S. Moor

Administrative Issues Journal

No abstract provided.

Administrative Issues Journal: Table Of Contents

Administrative Issues Journal

No abstract provided.

The Historical Role Of Women In Higher Education, Patsy Parker

Administrative Issues Journal

Historically, females, as compared to males, have represented a lower percentage of college professors and administrators in the United States. The tendency for males to outnumber females in the professoriate and college administration has existed since United States higher education institutions formed in the early 1800s and still persists today. Fluctuations in women’s participation rate have been influenced by the economy’s history and society’s expectations of females. Observation of the employment trends for females offers an interesting look at the evolving role of women in the United States workforce, in general, and in the university setting, in particular.

The Impact Of Unionization On University Performance, Mark Cassell, Odeh Halaseh

Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy

This study examines faculty unions’ impact on the organizational efficiency and effectiveness of public four-year institutions of higher learning. The article theorizes the causal connections between faculty unions to higher education performance. The study also presents results of a cross-sectional time series analysis and a cross-sectional analysis of higher education performance using data from the Department of Education’s Integrated Post Secondary Data System (IPEDS) spanning more than two decades and over 430 public universities and colleges. We find support for the view that unionization improves organizational efficiency and effectiveness. At the same time the research raises important methodological and substantive …

From Ivory To Babel To A New Foundation, Richard Boris

Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy

During my 12 years at the NationalCenter for Collective Bargaining in Higher Education and the Professions, I observed with increasing frustration the inability of administration and faculty leaders—union and governance—to fully grasp, analyze, and find pathways out of public higher education’s current existential crisis.

My many years of observing leaders of public higher education lead me to the inescapable conclusion that together the leaders share a culture that shorts strategic planning, thinking, and boldness and instead favors ad-hoc, incremental acceptance of the ever-changing, slimmed-down state of affairs. The rarified bubbles of presidential cabinets and union boards symbiotically promote policies that, …

A Legal Analysis Of The University Of Maine’S Ban On Firearms Following District Of Columbia V. Heller, Abigail Macdonald

The Cohen Journal

On April 16, 2007, the deadliest shooting by a single gunman took place on the college campus of Virginia Tech, taking the lives of 33 individuals (Johnson 2007). This event shook America, and yet the next year it was followed by six more shooting deaths at Northern Illinois University (Northern Illinois University 2008) and three more at Louisiana Technical College (BBC News 2008). Many universities around the country have responded to these events by either establishing firearm bans or strengthening and clinging to their existing policies, and the University of Maine is no exception (University of Maine 2004). Yet in …

A Meta-Analysis Of Crew Resource Management/Incident Command Systems Implementation Studies In The Fire And Emergency Services, John C. Griffith, Donna L. Roberts, Ronald T. Wakeham Ph.D.

Journal of Aviation/Aerospace Education & Research

This research is a meta-analysis of studies on Crew Resource Management (CRM)/Incident Command System implementation in the fire and emergency services. After a thorough literature review, four sets of results were analyzed to determine if CRM training was effective. An aggregate total of 283 test scores were evaluated. The data indicated that CRM training was effective in all studies analyzed. Fixed and random effects models indicated significance as well. The studies had a high degree of heterogeneity probably due to different training and testing procedures used. The data support the use of CRM training in the fire and emergency services. …

Chile’S Educational Reform: The Struggle Between Nationalization And Privatization, Vannia J. Zelaya

Pepperdine Policy Review

This paper looks into Chile's educational system and the recent policy reforms that President Michelle Bachelet seeks to establish. More specifically, this paper explores the "Proyecto de Ley de Fin al Lucro, la Selección y el Copago," which aims to eliminate private for-profit institutions within the public system, admission selectivity, and mandatory copay fees. With this, Bachelet's administration along with Chile's Ministry of Education intend to end the inequality of access to education, which is part of Chile's broader problem of great socioeconomic inequality. This particular policy is part of Bachelet's comprehensive educational system reform, and it brings Chile's voucher …