Difficulties that the students that enter to the 7th level of the Básica General Clelia F. de Martínez present in the learning of english

It is our concern that students from Pre-Media that enter lo the 7°' level of the Educación Básica General present some difficulties in learning English. The limited formation of the teachers, the lack of appropriate didactic material and the lack of methodological guides among others, can be mentioned as some of the possible reasons of this situation. With this research it is tried to know through a survey which the main difficulties the students that enter to the 7°' level of the Básica General Clelia F.de Martínez have. The application of a test of knowledge, which has been nominated as a diagnostic test of previous knowledge, let us to know which are the topics the students do not master and which are those they master beuer. Through this diagnostic test, it is our purpose tú detect, taken into account the topics that the students have developed in the elementary level from 1° to 6° level, if exists differences in the academic performance of the students that come from rural arca schools in comparison with those who come from urban arca schools

Identifying the Plessy Remainder: State Exploitation of Private Discriminatory-Impact Actions

Public education in the U.S. is arguably more racially segregated now than it was in 1954, when the U.S. Supreme Court declared in Brown v. Board of Education that in the field of public education the doctrine of separate but equal\u27 has no place. Although scholars may differ in the extent they believe that racial integration might be necessary for educational equality, most agree that educational segregation, whether imposed by law, socioeconomics, or happenstance, is not likely to reverse in any meaningful way in the near future. In the absence of a recognized federal right to education, federal-court- supervised school desegregation has been, perhaps, the most viable vehicle for students of color to access educational opportunities enjoyed by white students. This phenomenon remains salient, almost to the point of truism, but not because of any inherent or behavioral differences among students by race or because of any benefits proximity to whiteness affords students of color. Rather, the desegregation remedy is primarily a function of intractable political and socioeconomic realities that enable educational opportunity hoarding by wealthier and whiter stakeholders at the expense of poorer Black stakeholders and stakeholders of color

Ready to Write: Exploring the Student Perspective on the Transition to College

Written communication is a cornerstone of college and career success, yet many students arrive at college underprepared for the writing demands of the academic discourse community. The potential reasons for the perceived gap in writing ability point to the ongoing challenges of education in the United States. As the population pursuing college degrees becomes more diverse, expectations differ between high school and college, equity in education issues persist and standardization focuses on academic skills, overlooking the potential role that nonacademic or soft skills play in student success. When decisions are made to address these concerns, the student perspective is frequently left out of the discussion. By taking a Participatory Action Research approach, this study explored the skills, habits, and behaviors used in the transition to college and college writing from the student perspective. The research team included 20 first-time freshmen college students and one instructor/university researcher in a first semester Written Communication I course. Research data consisted of a survey, journals, discussion board posts, partner dialogues, final research papers and presentations, and reflections on the process. Emergent themes included the need for students to take responsibility and manage themselves, to adjust their attitudes and expectations, and to recognize the role of writing and reading in academic success. The results validated the intricate link between writing and college success and the role that nonacademic skills play in fulfilling academic goals. In addition, the team found value in conducting this type of study during the college transition process. This PAR study emphasized that college students can and should take control of their education and highlighted how colleges and high schools could support students in the preparation and transition stages. The co-researchers made many specific suggestions for future development and further research. However, the research team realized the most immediate benefits by seeing how they were able to use what they observed and researched to improve their own experience and the experiences of future freshmen. By aligning the study with the course goals and learning outcomes, the research team witnessed firsthand the power that can come from writing and having their voices heard

Analyzing Twitter Feeds to Facilitate Crises Informatics and Disaster Response During Mass Emergencies

It is a common practice these days for general public to use various micro-blogging platforms, predominantly Twitter, to share ideas, opinions and information about things and life. Twitter is also being increasingly used as a popular source of information sharing during natural disasters and mass emergencies to update and communicate the extent of the geographic phenomena, report the affected population and casualties, request or provide volunteering services and to share the status of disaster recovery process initiated by humanitarian-aid and disaster-management organizations. Recent research in this area has affirmed the potential use of such social media data for various disaster response tasks. Even though the availability of social media data is massive, open and free, there is a significant limitation in making sense of this data because of its high volume, variety, velocity, value, variability and veracity. The current work provides a comprehensive framework of text processing and analysis performed on several thousands of tweets shared on Twitter during natural disaster events. Specifically, this work em- ploys state-of-the-art machine learning techniques from natural language processing on tweet content to process the ginormous data generated at the time of disasters. This study shall serve as a basis to provide useful actionable information to the crises management and mitigation teams in planning and preparation of effective disaster response and to facilitate the development of future automated systems for handling crises situations

The Privileges or Immunities Clause, Abridged: A Critique of Kurt Lash on the Fourteenth Amendment

In earlier writings, both of us have expressed sympathy for the view that the Privileges or Immunities Clause affords absolute protection to unenumerated rights, such as those contained in the Civil Rights Act of 1866, and authorizes Congress to enact protective legislation. Neither of us, however, has engaged with Kurt Lash’s most recent and unique two-class interpretation of the original meaning of the Privileges or Immunities Clause in the depth that it deserves. Nor have we evaluated his recent efforts to demonstrate that the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process of Law Clause empowers the federal courts and Congress to protect unenumerated rights like the right to make contracts, among others listed in the Civil Rights Act of 1866. In this Article, we will do so. We will contend that Lash has provided readers with an abridged version of the Privileges or Immunities Clause. In future writing, we will advance a competing account of the original public meaning of the Privileges or Immunities Clause. We will also develop a framework that can be used by judges and legislators to identify the rights protected by the Clause, to thwart state abridgments of those rights, and to evaluate congressional legislation that is purportedly designed to protect those rights. Part I provides an exposition of Lash’s thesis. Because his arguments are complex, and rely on diverse evidence, our summary is lengthy. Given the multiplicity of his publications on the subject, we think an accurate summary of Lash’s approach is both independently worthwhile and a necessary prelude to any critique. Part II systematically critiques Lash’s evidence and arguments. We find that Lash’s enumerated-rights-only—or “ERO”—theory has little support in antebellum jurisprudence; that the evidence Lash offers to show that John Bingham, upon whose testimony Lash heavily relies, held Lash’s ERO theory is equivocal at best; and that Lash’s ERO theory was not widely shared by the Fourteenth Amendment’s framers. We then explain why evidence from the debate over ratification does not indicate that the ERO theory was embraced by the public. Next, we canvass postratification jurisprudence and congressional debates over various pieces of civil rights legislation both prior to and shortly after the Supreme Court’s fateful decisions in the Slaughter-House Cases and United States v. Cruikshank—decisions that are generally regarded as having rendered the Privileges or Immunities a “practical nullity.” We find that the interpretations of the Clause that are contained in these materials are, for the most part, inconsistent with Lash’s ERO theory. Finally, we engage and respond to Lash’s argument that the political dynamics during the relevant time period made it impossible for any constitutional amendment that delegated to Congress and the federal courts the power to enforce unenumerated rights to be ratified

Gaming: Occupation-Based NBCOT Exam Preparation

The purpose of this scholarly project was to create a novel, unique, and effective preparation tool for the National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy (NBCOT) certification examination. A literature review of 40 evidence-based journal articles addressed adult learning principles; guidelines for facilitating learning; types of, advantages, and disadvantages of using gaming in higher education; and preparation methods for high-stakes examinations. Information reviewed also included current preparation tools; exam blueprint; and domain, task, and knowledge statements ofthe NBCOT certification examination. An Open Book: NBCOT Exam Prep Game is a board game that can be used as a supplementary preparation tool for candidates who are preparing for the NBCOT certification examination. A board game was chosen for its ability to reduce anxiety, increase motivation to study, allow test takers to learn perspectives from one another, and increase confidence for taking an exam. An Open Book: NBCOT Exam Prep Game is designed to use group discussion, simulated exercise, problem-solving activities, case methods, and peer-helping activities to stimulate learning and provide the opportunity to apply knowledge required for passing the certification exam. Adult learning principles and concepts from the Occupational Adaptation model provide the foundation for the project design. The design of the game board and questions were developed with the blueprint of the NBCOT examination and the validated domain, task, and knowledge statements as foundational information. Evidence in the literature supports the use of games in higher education to reduce anxiety, increase motivation to study, allow test takers to learn perspectives from one another, and increase confidence for taking an exam. The product of this scholarly project presents a social learning tool in the form of a board game that incorporates adult learning principles, concepts of the Occupational Adaptation model, and the NBCOT blueprint and domain, task, and knowledge statements reflecting current practice in occupational therapy. An Open Book: NBCOT Exam Prep Game is designed to supplement current preparation tools

Integrating reading and study skills with language arts and social studies (Grades 7 and 8)

To increase reading comprehension in the content areas of Language Arts and Social Studies in Grades 7 and 8, the content area teachers can present reading and study skills for their respective course or courses

State Courts and Constitutional Structure

In a famous 1977 article, Justice William Brennan called on state courts to interpret the individual-rights provisions of their state constitutions more expansively than analogous federal guarantees. Over the years, state constitutions have served as the foundation for important individual-rights decisions, yet their provisions remain unfamiliar to and often ignored by lawyers, scholars, and judges. In an insightful new book, 51 Imperfect Solutions: The Making of American Constitutional Law, Judge Jeffrey Sutton renews Justice Brennan’s call for judicial federalism but recasts it in a number of important ways. Most significantly, he invites us to understand state constitutionalism not solely or primarily as a liberal ratchet, but instead as a structural feature of our governmental system that modulates the timing, process, and substance of individual-rights enforcement. The conventional focus on the federal judiciary as the principal locus of rights innovation, he explains, does not accord with our constitutional history and disserves both state and federal courts. Urging greater balance between state and federal courts in protecting individual rights, Judge Sutton treats state constitutionalism as a mechanism for channeling constitutional debate in a diverse democracy and mitigating the risks of winner-take-all decision-making by the U.S. Supreme Court