(2009). Toward the Structural Transformation of Schools: Innovations in Staffing. Learning Point Associates The troubled economy is driving school organizations to become more efficient and driving the business community to demand that schools produce graduates with different sets of skills. States are finally uniting around common student learning standards as the student population grows more diverse. And the new administration is pouring an unprecedented amount of money into education to support thoughtful innovation. To thrive, not just survive, in this new age, the very heart of schools–instruction–must undergo transformation. To harness the opportunities for large-scale instructional reform that these disruptions bring, it is the position of Learning Point Associates that states should lead the structural transformation of schooling, beginning with revolutionizing how they think about, prepare, license, deploy, and support educators. Many states have gotten a head start on improving the quality of instruction in America's schools by working to build a holistic system of educator… [PDF]
(2009). Legislative Agenda for the 111th Congress, 2009-2010. Arc of the United States For many decades, the six national disability advocacy organizations that endorse the legislative agenda contained in this document have recognized the vital role the federal government plays in the everyday lives of children and adults with developmental disabilities and their families. From civil rights protections to community housing, from special education to Social Security benefits, from job training to basic health care, from transportation to long term supports and services and more, the federal government spends billions of dollars, both directly and in partnership with state government, on people with developmental disabilities. These programs are funded though entitlement programs such as Medicaid and Medicare and discretionary programs such as vocational rehabilitation, HUD housing, and education. Following an Introduction, the publication includes both fiscal policy and programmatic agenda. The partnering organizations call on Congress to: (1) Address the unmet needs… [PDF]
(2009). Program Integrity, Controlled Growth Spell Success for Roots of Empathy. Education Canada, v49 n5 spec iss p52-54, 56. Childhood is a universal aspect of the human condition. Yet the landscape of childhood is changing rapidly. On playgrounds young children carry cell phones, and in classrooms children are more sophisticated in their use of computers and digital media than the adults in their lives. Most young adolescents are prolific communicators via text and instant message. They assemble rich and complex interrelationships with peers through social networking. This changing landscape is what author and innovation theorist Clayton Christensen is alerting people to with his theory of disruptive innovation applied to the field of education. A disruptive innovation is one that improves or supplants a product or service in ways the market does not expect. Applying this idea to education, Christensen suggests that by 2019 half of class time in all schools will involve children doing customized learning on computers. It is certainly a possibility that children will be taught differently a decade from now… [Direct]
(2001). Organizational Enhancement. Symposium 30. [AHRD Conference, 2001]. This document contains four papers on organizational enhancement and human resource development (HRD). "Motivation to Improve Work through Learning in Human Resource Development" (Sharon S. Naquin, Elwood F. Holton III) argues that HRD's traditional conceptualization of motivation should be expanded to incorporate motivation to use learning to improve performance. "Improving Performance through HRD: Towards a Multi Level Model" (A.A.M. [Ida] Wognum) reports on a Dutch study that identified the following five factors as important to HRD effectiveness: strategic alignment; the problem serving as the starting point for HRD; the company HRD climate; the position of the HRD department; and the form of HRD interventions. "Exploring Organization Commitment in a Non-Profit Service Organization" (Constantine Kontoghiorghes, Nancy Bryant) discusses a study that identified the following four key predictors of employee commitment: company satisfaction; the extent… [PDF]
(2006). Recess for Elementary School Students. Position Statement. National Association for Sport and Physical Education It is the position of the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE) that all elementary school children should be provided with at least one daily period of recess of at least 20 minutes in length. Recess is an essential component of a comprehensive school physical activity program and of the total education experience for elementary school students. Various organizations including the United States Department of Health and Human Services and the United States Department of Education (USDHHS & USDE, 2000), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, 1997), National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC, 1998), and American Association for the Child's Right to Play (IPA/USA, n.d.) support school recess as an integral component of a child's physical, social, and academic development. This paper presents the recommendations of NASPE on recess implementation…. [PDF]
(1991). Choose Life! Unborn Children and the Right to Life. Intermediate Level: Grades 5-6. This curriculum is designed to assist Catholic school teachers and parish catechists in their efforts to foster a pro-life attitude in students in grades 5 and 6. Following an introduction is the curriculum, which features six lessons. These are: (1) The miracle of life around us; (2) Respect for all life; (3) The miracle of human life; (4) Abortion and the facts; (5) Abortion and the right to life; and (6) Choose life. Student handouts are included in the lessons, and a series of fetal development visuals are appended. (DB)…
(2005). Ethical Issues and Best Practice Considerations for Internet Research. Journal of Family and Consumer Sciences, v97 n3 p34-39 Sep. With rapidly increasing public use of the Internet and advances in Web technologies, family and consumer sciences researchers have the opportunity to conduct Internet-based research. However, online research raises critical ethical issues concerning human subjects that have an impact on research practices. This article provides a review of the literature on Internet research ethics and reviews the application of ethical principles for conducting online studies. Best practice considerations are offered to protect the confidentiality and rights of participants in Internet research and to ensure that the field remains viable for future research….
(2004). The Limits of Socialisation. Interchange: A Quarterly Review of Education, v35 n3 p353-364 Sep. The article deals with the question of living with others, one of the most significant relationships of human life, and challenge the common understanding of the origins of living with others, where a human being is not just becoming a social but also a moral being through social institutions of societies. This common understanding of a social relationship, fostered and nurtured by a given society, places the responsibility for the possibility of living with others on the other. Drawing on the work from the sociologists Zygmunt Bauman and George Simmel and the philosophers Emmanuel Levinas and Knud Logstrup we argue that the possibility of living with others is based on the rights of the other rather than of the rights to determine whom the other is. By focusing on the relation between the individual and the society on the one hand, and the connections between being moral and being social on the other hand, we suggest that the process of socialisation is devastating not only for… [Direct]
(1984). Civil Rights in Crisis: The Reagan Administration's Reforms. This paper identifies major changes in the area of civil rights which have been instituted during President Reagan's term in office and discusses their implications for Hispanics. Section I briefly outlines central themes of the Administration's attitude towards civil rights. Questions about their negative impact on Hispanics are raised. The next six sections discuss particular developments within a different Federal department or commission. Subjects are as follows: in section II, the Department of Justice (agency leadership, affirmative action, voting rights, fair housing, Federal grant recipient compliance, tax-exempt status for schools, and school desegregation); in section III, the Department of Education (use of the intent test, bilingual education, education block grants, and education for the handicapped); in section IV, the Department of Health and Human Services (increased voluntary compliance and block grants); in section V, the Department of Labor; in section VI, the…
(1986). Role of Adult Education and Mass Media for Civic Education. Report of the Asian Pacific Seminar (New Delhi, India, September 10-14, 1985). This publication contains six presentations from a seminar that stressed that the problem of adult education should be viewed from the angle of human resource development and all necessary interdepartmental linkages should be developed. The keynote address, "Major Challenges and Prospects of Adult Education for the Year 2000" (T. M. Sakya), is followed by a list of seminar conclusions and recommendations. The six presentations are "Adult Education for the Year 2000: Challenges and Prospects" (S. C. Dutta); "Adult Education for the Year 2000: Challenges and Prospects" (Sunthorn Sunanchai); "Role of Adult Education for Promoting Civic Rights and Responsibilities" (Satyen Maitra); "Role of Mass Media in Adult and Civic Education: Some Observations" (J. S. Yadava); "Electronic Media for Adult Education" (B. B. Mohanty); and "Role of Mass Media for Adult Education in India: A Status Paper" (S. K. Tuteja). Seven group…
(2019). Youth Bullying Prevention in the District of Columbia: School Year 2017-18 Report. Publication 2019-17. Child Trends Strong anti-bullying policies are foundational to effective bullying prevention. The Youth Bullying Prevention Act of 2012 (YBPA; DC Law L19-167) is among the most comprehensive bullying prevention policies across the United States and its territories. The law and its implementing regulations require all schools and youth-serving agencies (including, but not limited to, government agencies, libraries, nonprofits, and community centers) to adopt comprehensive anti-bullying policies, implement thorough reporting and investigation procedures, provide training for staff, and maintain and report incident data. The law further requires the Mayor to provide, on a biennial basis, a report to Council regarding the current implementation of the Act and a summary of the status of bullying in the District of Columbia. This report serves to fulfill this requirement for school year (SY) 2017-2018. Like its previous iterations, this report provides a detailed summary of each educational… [PDF]
(2008). Writing, Technology and Teens. Pew Internet & American Life Project Teenagers' lives are filled with writing. All teens write for school, and 93% of teens say they write for their own pleasure. Most notably, the vast majority of teens have eagerly embraced written communication with their peers as they share messages on their social network pages, in emails and instant messages online, and through fast-paced thumb choreography on their cell phones. This raises a major question: What, if anything, connects the formal writing teens do and the informal e-communication they exchange on digital screens? A considerable number of educators and children's advocates worry that James Billington, the Librarian of Congress, was right when he recently suggested that young Americans' electronic communication might be damaging \the basic unit of human thought–the sentence.\ They are concerned that the quality of writing by young Americans is being degraded by their electronic communication, with its carefree spelling, lax punctuation and grammar, and its acronym… [PDF]
(2008). Security and Paperwork Keep Prison Researchers on The Outside. Chronicle of Higher Education, v54 n29 pA13 Mar. The American prison apparatus is larger today than ever before. The Pew Center on the States reported in February 2008 that more than one in 100 American adults live behind bars. However, few are scrutinizing the everyday experiences of the 2.3 million people in American prisons and jails. Scholars who want to do ethnographic fieldwork in prisons face a long row of hurdles, including suspicious wardens and human-subjects committees that can take many months to approve applications. In interviews, prison scholars offered thoughts about how to balance public need for information about prisons with the protection of prisoners' safety and dignity. Would-be prison researchers today must simultaneously apply to a state or federal department of corrections and also to their own university's institutional review board. The process can take a year or more, and even then, in some states, local prison wardens have the right to veto the permission granted by the state bureaucracy. A former… [Direct]
(2008). On Religious Subjects in School Education. Russian Education and Society, v50 n10 p6-15 Oct. These days, problems of relations between the church and the schools are at the focus of attention of sociologists. In present-day Russia, religion, particularly the Orthodox religion, is acknowledged to have the right to contribute to the formation of the Russian state and culture. According to the findings of recent sociological surveys, many Russians see the religious heritage as a vital component of the national culture, as a characteristic of spirituality and morality in combination with universal human values such as love, peace, and justice. In 2003, the demand for traditional moral, ethical, and spiritual values, and their increasing role in the upbringing of the rising generation, prompted the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation to publish a number of documents that recommended the introduction of subjects relating to religious themes in the schools. The authors carried out a pilot survey in February 2007 to determine the "opinions of teachers in the primary… [Direct]
(1988). Biology, Medicine, and the Bill of Rights. Special Report. The rapid progress in the biological sciences has resulted in many social, ethical, and legal issues. In medical practice, public health programs, research laboratories, law enforcement, insurance, the patenting process, agriculture, genetic counseling, and other fields, legal controversies and public policy debates have developed. Some of these issues entail challenges to traditional interpretations of constitutional principles. This report deals with the implications of new developments in biological sciences as they relate to the freedoms and protections embedded in the Bill of Rights. The chapters are: (1) \Biology and the Constitution\; (2) \Personal Rights and Technological Might\; (3) \The New Biology\; (4) \Human Genetics and the Constitution\; (5) \Public Health Techniques and Technologies\; and (6) \Medical Interventions: The Beginning and End of Life.\ The appendix contains a list of the Office of Technology (OTA) reviewers, contractors, workshop participants, and… [PDF]