A Pragmatic Legacy: Charles Wilson’s Politics and the Battle for His Archival Heritage

Congressman Charlie Wilson served Texas and the United States with distinction throughout his political career, leaving a profound impact on East Texas and the global stage. Known for his progressive policies in the Texas Legislature and his influential role in U.S. foreign policy during his tenure in Congress, Wilson’s pragmatic political career and legacy is preserved in the Charlie Wilson Congressional Papers collection at the East Texas Research Center (ETRC). Despite its historical significance, the collection faced decades of delayed processing, disorganization, and neglect of archival best practices. This public history thesis confronts these challenges by detailing the efforts to process, preserve, digitize, and finally make the entire collection of documents, audio-visual items, photographs, and artifacts accessible to the public. The author examines the application of archival best practices, analyzes the intersection of archival work and public history, and reflects on the importance of preserving political archival collections

Book Review: Interrogating Integration: Sport, Celebrity, and Scandal in the Making of New Germany

This review discusses Interrogating Integration: Sport, Celebrity, and Scandal in the Making of New Germany by Kate Zambon. Through discourse analysis of media narratives, Zambon demonstrates that athletes and celebrities of immigrant or minority backgrounds become symbolic figures whose successes and failures test the nation’s integration project, with case studies including the 2006 World Cup, the Sarrazin debate, and the Integration Bambi Awards. The book’s originality lies in moving beyond legal or policy frameworks to foreground mediated narratives, offering clear and coherent arguments supported by a logically organized structure. While the absence of comparative perspectives and audience reception studies leaves room for future inquiry, the book contributes significantly to German studies and sport scholarship by linking cultural politics to questions of identity and legitimacy. It also carries practical implications for sport business professionals concerned with sponsorship, diversity, and brand reputation

Balancing the Clock: Work Hours and Work-Life Balance Among Texas Principals

This study examines the work-life balance of Texas principals, focusing on role balance, overload, and ease and how these factors vary across different school levels when accounting for hours worked. Principals are critical to the success of schools but often face significant stress and burnout due to excessive job demands, long working hours, and limited support, which can lead to turnover. Using a quantitative, cross-sectional design, the study analyzes survey data from 122 principals across Texas, with findings suggesting that while high school principals report lower role overload and higher role ease than their elementary and middle school counterparts, they also work the most hours. Conversely, elementary and middle school principals experience greater role overload and lower ease, potentially due to fewer administrative support resources and more complex student needs. The study further reveals that increased hours worked contribute to higher role overload and lower role ease across all school levels. These results underscore the need for targeted interventions to support principals, especially at elementary and middle schools, including additional administrative support and professional development opportunities in time management and stress management. The study highlights the importance of promoting role balance to reduce burnout and improve retention, ultimately fostering more stable leadership in Texas schools

LIDAR-BASED DELINEATION OF KARST FEATURES IN THE GYPSUM PLAIN, EDDY COUNTY, NEW MEXICO AND CULBERSON COUNTY, TEXAS

The Gypsum Plain of the Delaware Basin encompasses approximately 1,800 km2 of massive to laminated gypsum (anhydrite in the subsurface) outcrop of early Ochoan Castile and Salado strata. These extensive Permian-age evaporites host significant karst phenomena as a result of the region\u27s complex hydrogeologic system which has continuously evolved since the early Paleogene. Karst features that manifest surficially as sinkholes when breached range from extensive hypogene cave systems to epigene features and suffosion caves. In contrast, paleo-collapse structures forming breccia pipes attesting to more ancient karst within these strata often manifest as topographic highs across the Gypsum Plain. Until recently, the lack of accessible, high-resolution LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) data has restricted karst studies on the distribution and speleogenetic evolution of the entire Gypsum Plain to imagery analyses. In this study, high-resolution (70-centimeter accuracy) LiDAR data analyses were used to assess the spatial extent of major surficial karst manifestations through constructed Digital Elevation Models (DEMs). DEM analyses were used to delineate sinkhole features, while sinkhole morphometrics analyses was used to infer origins; high sphericity suggests collapse origins and low sphericity suggests solutional incision origins. After GIS-based verification, spatial sinkhole analyses were refined to produce a spatial density map of surficial karst manifestations across the Gypsum Plain. This includes the delineation of regions dominated by hypogene or epigene karst origins, as inferred from sinkhole morphometric analyses

Effective Principals in 2025 from the Lens of the Supervisor

The ever-changing and complex nature of school leadership requires schools to have principals who have strong leadership skills and experience. In this study, the researchers sought to define the essence of effective principals through the lens of their supervisors. Using phenomenological inquiry, we interviewed four assistant superintendents of large school districts in the Greater Houston area. These supervisors, who supervise several school principals, believe successful principals are passionate, driven leaders with well-developed leadership and communication skills who can accurately assess the school culture and the level of teacher buy-in. Implications for training principals and future research are shared

Understanding AI in Education: Perspectives from Midwest School Stakeholder

This research project aimed to delve into the perceptions and comprehension of artificial intelligence (AI) policy and usage among key stakeholders in Midwest schools, including superintendents, principals, teachers, and school librarians. This qualitative study explored the nuanced perspectives and insights of these individuals, shedding light on their understanding, concerns, and attitudes towards the integration of AI technologies within educational settings. Through in-depth focus groups and thematic analysis, the study endeavors to contribute valuable insights into the evolving landscape of AI in education, informing policy decisions and educational practices for the benefit of students and educators alike

Voices from the Frontline: School Leaders on Effective Communication

This qualitative cross-case study aimed to explore effective communication in suburban and urban schools. The study investigated K-12 leaders\u27 perceptions of effective communication with parents in suburban and urban school districts. Three open-ended questions guided the research: 1) What are principals’ perceptions of effective communication with parents?, 2) What are principals’ perceptions of effective strategies of school-home communication?, and 3) What are the barriers that may obstruct effective communication between principals and families? This cross-case study is unique as it focused on school leaders\u27 perspectives to define effective communication. Strategies, methods, and barriers were identified by participant school leaders. The findings of this study resulted in four primary themes: the definition of effective communication, strategies of effective communication, methods and ways of effective communication, and barriers to effective communication. These themes provide valuable insights that can be applied to professional practice by k-12 school leaders

Disproportionality of African Americans in Texas Special Education

Research has indicated that historically, African Americans received disproportionate special education services (Fish, 2019; Sabnis et al., 2020; Sullivan & Osher, 2019; Watkins & Kurtz, 2001). This is specifically problematic in states and cities with smaller proportions of African Americans, such as Texas. Data indicate that the Texas Education Agency (TEA) remains non-compliant with the implementation of its Corrective Action Plan (CAP), which was issued federally by the Office of Special Education Programs due to restricting the percentage of students qualifying for special education (Morgan et al., 2023). The purpose of this study was to categorize, quantify, and examine the African American student disproportionality in Texas special education programs utilizing a within-group analytic strategy drawing upon DisCrit and the QuantCrit tenet: number and groups are not natural or neutral. This exploratory, descriptive quantitative analysis investigated statewide special education data from when the special education restricting percentage was removed from 2017-2018 to current special education data from the 2022-2023 school year

A Pre- and Post-Pandemic Analysis of the Reading College Readiness of Texas Hispanic Boys by Their Economic Status

In this multiyear study, we addressed the relationship of economic status (i.e., Economically Disadvantaged, Not Economically Disadvantaged) to the reading college readiness skills of Texas Hispanic high school boys. Texas statewide data on the state-mandated English I End-of-Course exam were obtained for two years pre-pandemic and the last four years post-pandemic. The three grade level standards on the STAAR English I End-of-Course exam (i.e., Approaches Grade Level, Meets Grade Level, and Masters Grade Level) were analyzed by economic status. Inferential statistical analyses revealed that lower percentages of Hispanic boys who were economically disadvantaged met the Approaches Grade Level, Meets Grade Level, and Masters Grade Level standards than Hispanic boys who were not economically disadvantaged. Extremely low percentages of Hispanic boys met the Masters Grade Level standard, regardless of their economic status. Of concern was that almost three fourths of Hispanic boys met the Texas criteria for being economically disadvantaged. Implications for policy and for practice were provided, as well as recommendations for future research investigations

Ignite Collaboration for Interactive Meetings

This article explores how intentional design, inclusive facilitation, and purposeful tools can transform meetings into interactive environments that foster collaboration, creativity, and meaningful outcomes. Designed for educators, instructional leaders, and organizational facilitators, it provides practical strategies to elevate meetings through collaboration, interactivity, and purposeful design