“Is it because I’m black?”: Creating Space for Diversity in the Christian University

This paper examines the experiences of a black female faculty member as she enters the Christian university where there is limited ethnic diversity. She experiences critical student responses to her teaching which lead her to consider the reasons why she may be experiencing such resistance. As she confronts the possibility that it’s because she’s black, she enters into an on-going dialogue with a white male faculty member. Their experiences and conversations create a space for shared learning. The paper raises the question of how Christian universities might intentionally create space for faculty of color to feel welcome and embraced in the community

Savannah Hockey Classic: An Evaluation of Event Personality and Economic Impact

In 2009, the Savannah Sports Council hosted its 11th annual Savannah Hockey Classic. In order to assist the future marketing of this event, a study was undertaken to assist the Savannah Sports Council in 3 major ways: (1) To obtain a consumer profile of spectators, (2) to explore the economic impact of the event on the city of Savannah, and (3) to discover the perceived personality of the event (assist in sponsor recruitment). To reach the objectives of the study, a survey was conducted with 267 spectators of the Savannah Hockey Classic. The survey consisted of four sections: (1) Economic impact (2) Consumer behavior & preferences, (3) Attitude and image perceptions of the event and organizing body, and (4) Consumer demographic characteristics. The majority of respondents were male (62%) and Caucasian (95%). While their average age was 36, 78% of respondents were between the ages of 25 to 59. Spectators tended to be educated (61% with a college degree of some sort) and affluent (63% earn \u3e $50,000). Just over half (56%) of the spectators traveled to Savannah to attend the event. Eighty-one of the eighty-three out-of-town respondents reported spending at least 1 night in Savannah. However, 50% of out-of-town respondents said they would have come to Savannah even if the Hockey Classic was not taking place. Eighty-two percent said they would be visiting Savannah at some point in the following 3 months. This suggests that while the Hockey Classic is a popular event, most of the visitors would travel to Savannah even if the event did not take place. Spectators appear to have developed very positive feelings about the Savannah Hockey Classic. On a 7-point scale, respondents reported the following scores on a variety of items: Gratitude toward the Savannah Sports Council for organizing the event was very high 6.5, attitude regarding the success and quality of the hockey event itself was 6.4, and fan identification with the event was reported at 6.1. With regard to the image/brand of the event, respondents perceive the Hockey Classic to be: An exciting event (6.4 out of 7), a sincere/wholesome event (6.3 out of 7), and a competent and successful event (6.3 out of 7)

The Hurricane Exposure, Adversity, and Recovery Tool (HEART): Developing and Validating a Risk Screening Instrument for Youth Exposed to Hurricane Harvey

Given the increasing regularity with which severe (named) hurricanes arise, there is a need for valid, practically useful measures that facilitate child-centered post-hurricane situation analysis and needs assessment. Measures that accurately assess the most potent hurricane-related risk factors are essential to identifying youth at risk for developing posttraumatic stress reactions and providing them with effective post-disaster support. With feedback from community stakeholders (e.g., school personnel, physicians and hospital staff, community clinicians), we developed the Hurricane Exposure, Adversity, and Recovery Tool (HEART), a 29-item self-report measure of hurricane risk factors. Test development procedures included: (1) Reviewing the literature regarding hurricane exposure-related risk factors in youth; (2) Generating a developmentally-informed test item pool; (3) Conducting interviews with clinicians, as well as youth impacted by Hurricane Harvey, to evaluate the comprehensibility and acceptability of candidate items; and (4) evaluating endorsement rates for hurricane exposure-related risk factors among (N = 107) youth in an outpatient clinic specializing in the treatment of childhood trauma and loss. Disaster-related exposure, pre-existing indicators of risk, and ongoing post-disaster adversities were correlated with posttraumatic stress and depressive symptoms. These results provide support for an integrative approach to post-hurricane screening for both hurricane-specific (e.g., witnessing injuries) and non-specific (e.g., prior trauma) factors

Pathways to Economic Outcomes and the Impact of Health: Comparing Hispanic and Non-Hispanic Adults after Foster Care

Abstract This study examines the financial outcomes in adulthood of Hispanics (N = 87) and White (Non-Hispanic, N = 498) persons placed in foster care during childhood. It uses the Casey Family Programs National Alumni Study (CFPNAS) database. Path models including predictors such as gender, education, having a partner, preparation for leaving care, and problem characteristics yielded predominantly similar effects for Hispanic and White Non-Hispanic respondents. The direct effect of physical and mental health conditions such as physical or learning disability, visual or hearing impairments, or DSM disorders more strongly predicted negative outcomes for White (Non-Hispanic) respondents than for Hispanic ones

Event Planner Sensitivity to the Needs of Individuals with Visual Disability at Meetings and Events

Special events, such as fairs, conventions, ballgames, and concerts are typically activities people attend to participate in the festivities and enjoy with friends and family members. For individuals with disabilities, however, these types of events can create more challenges than enjoyment. Despite a thorough review of the literature, no studies were found which evaluated the experiences of individuals who are blind and have visual impairments at events and meetings. The aim of this study was to determine the current level of accessibility at meetings perceived by consumers who are blind and visually impaired. Respondents to the survey indicated many obstacles to accessing meetings including: discrimination, a paucity of accessible features, and accessibility features that are not truly accessible for consumers who are blind and visually impaired. Recommendations are provided for increasing meeting and event accessibility for consumers who are blind and visually impaired

Effects of a Peer-To-Peer Mentoring Program: Supporting First-Year College Students’ Academic and Social Integration on Campus

This paper presents findings from a peer-to-peer mentoring program supporting ethnically diverse first-generation students at a mid-sized university in the Southwest. Research on mentoring during the undergraduate years has placed emphasis on the quality of lived-collegiate experiences from both a peer-mentor and mentee perspective (Crisp, Baker, Griffen, Lusnford, & Pifer, 2017). Using a mixed methods approach, two survey instruments and qualitative analysis, interviews with peer-mentors and mentees suggested student development occurred through various means: (i) academics, (ii) university involvement, and (iii) the reinforcement of friendship. These findings reinforce theory first drawn from Tinto’s (1993) student integration perspectives (e.g., academic and social integration). Peer-mentors fulfilled their roles, while mentees who were actively involved in the program reported to have benefitted the most. The effectiveness of the mentoring program highlighted contributions to enhancing, at least one of the following, for all mentees: first-year experience, degree of college involvement, and overall retention rate

Addressing barriers to learning: In the classroom and schoolwide.

IntroductionPublic education is at a crossroads. Moving in new directions is imperative. Just tweaking and tinkering with old ideas is a recipe for disaster.Continuing challenges confronting public education highlight why moving school improvement policy and practice in new directions is imperative. With a view to enhancing graduation rates and successful transitions to post-secondary opportunities and well-being, pressing challenges include:Increasing equity of opportunity for every student to succeed, narrowing the achievement gap, and countering the school to prison pipeline Reducing unnecessary referrals for special assistance and special education; Improving school climate and retaining good teachers Reducing the number of low performing schools.As education leaders well know, meeting these challenges requires making sustainable progress inimproving supports for specific subgroups (e.g., English Learners, immigrant newcomers, lagging minorities, homeless students, students with disabilities) increasing the number of disconnected students who re-engage in classroom learning and thus improving attendance, reducing disruptive behaviors (e.g., including bullying and sexual harassment), and decreasing suspensions and dropouts increasing family and community engagement with schools responding effectively when schools experience crises events and preventing crises whenever possible.In some schools, continuous progress related to these concerns is being made. For many districts, however, sustainable progress remains elusive – and will continue to be so as long as the focus of school improvement policy and practice is mainly on improving instruction. Efforts to expand the use of instructional technology, develop new curriculum standards, make teachers more accountable, and improve teacher preparation and licensing all have merit; but they are insufficient for addressing the many everyday barriers to learning and teaching that interfere with effective student engagement in classroom instruction.Most policy makers and administrators know that good instruction delivered by highly qualified teachers cannot ensure that all students have an equal opportunity to succeed at school.Even the best teacher can’t do the job alone. Teachers need student and learning supports in the classroom and schoolwide in order to personalize instruction and provide special assistance when students manifest learning, behavior, and emotional problems. Unfortunately, school improvement plans continue to give short shrift to these critical matters.We recognize, as did a Carnegie Task Force on Education, that school systems are not responsible for meeting every need of their students. But as the task force stressed: when the need directly affects learning, the school must meet the challenge.The most pressing challenge is to enhance equity of opportunity by fundamentally improving how schools address barriers to learning and teaching. The future of public education depends on moving in new directions to accomplish this.Now is the time to fundamentally transform how schools address factors that keep too many students from doing well at school. And while transformation is never easy, pioneering work across the country is showing the way. Trailblazers are redeploying existing funds allocated for addressing barriers to learning and weaving these together with the invaluable resources that can be garnered by collaboration with other agencies and with community stakeholders, family members, and students themselves.The first step in moving forward is to escape old ideas. The second step is to incorporate a new vision in school improvement planning for addressing barriers to learning and teaching and re-engaging disconnected students. Our analyses envision a plan that designs and develops a unified, comprehensive, and equitable system of student and learning supports. The third step is to develop a strategic plan for systemic change, scale-up, and sustainability.This book highlights each of these matters. We invite you to join us in the quest to enhance equity of opportunity for all students to succeed at school and beyond. And we look forward to hearing from you about moving schools forward to make the rhetoric of the Every Student Succeeds Act a reality

ILR School Ph.D. Dissertations

Compiled by Susan LaCette.ILRSchoolPhD.pdf: 4022 downloads, before Oct. 1, 2020

Latina Women in the United States: Child Care Preferences and Arrangements

Formal child care has been associated with myriad benefits for children, such as improvements in cognitive development and language skills. Immigrant children may derive unique benefits from formal child care, as research has also confirmed that center-based child care is associated with gains in English language proficiency and school readiness. However, immigrant families are less likely than nonimmigrant families to enroll their children in formal child care. Considering the growing immigrant population in the US—a large proportion of which is Latino—more research is needed to understand the child care decision-making processes of immigrant Latino families. The current study examined the previously understudied social and internal factors that may influence the child care preferences and arrangements of immigrant and nonimmigrant Latina women. The study sample comprised 278 Latina women living in the US. Of these participants, 43% were born in the US and 57% were born outside of the US; 32% were currently pregnant and 68% were parenting at least one child. Participants were recruited from Offerwise’s Hispanic Panel to complete an online survey covering questions related to demographic characteristics, child care preferences and arrangements, social support, perceived quality of child care types, acculturation, and beliefs about maternal employment. Results demonstrated that immigrant and nonimmigrant Latina participants differed significantly in their beliefs about maternal employment, perceptions of relative child care quality, and levels of acculturation. Multiple regression models of social and internal factors (e.g., social support and importance of trust in a caregiver) predicted relative and center-based child care preference and utilization, although few individual factors significantly predicted these outcomes. Findings indicate that the child care decision-making process cannot be assumed to be homogenous across Latina immigrant and nonimmigrant women, and that this decision-making process is influenced by social and internal factors. Future research should incorporate concrete, social, and internal factors in models predicting child care preferences and arrangements