Investigation of Mentoring for Instructional Leadership within an Educational Consortium

The support of novice principals in their development as instructional leaders is an issue that impacts all school districts. Mentoring is a common method of supporting novices in their development and this study sought to understand the ways in which district members within a midwestern educational consortium were using mentoring to increase instructional leadership skills. First, the study sought to understand how districts supported development of instructional leadership through mentoring. Second, the study looked at if and how districts adjusted supports to meet the modern shift in principal roles from building managers to instructional leaders. Through a combination of interviews and focus groups with members of the Educational Consortium’s Human Resources Task Force and practicing principals from member districts in a doctoral program at the member university, the study was able to build an understanding of current methods of support for novice principals as instructional leaders. It also offered an opportunity to understand the viewpoint of principals with less than ten years of experience, who received either formal or informal support as novices, and to compare those viewpoints to those expressed by the district representatives from the task force. The results of the study supported existing research that mentoring programs often focus mostly on the survival of a novice principal in their first year and are limited in their direct support for instructional leadership. The study also found that even within formal programs of mentoring novice principals, the overall structure and design was quite limited in the scope, objectives, and feedback systems. The study suggests that opportunities exist for member districts to utilize existing mechanisms in place within the Educational Consortium to create a more comprehensive mentoring program with specific efforts around: instructional leadership, clear outcomes for mentors and mentees, and systems for obtaining and utilizing feedback from mentors and mentees. It also advocates for the investigation of ways the consortium members can support mentoring in smaller districts where staff size does not currently allow formal mentoring to exist

Web Based Cyber Forensics Training For Law Enforcement

Training and education are two of the most important aspects within cyber forensics. These topics have been of concern since the inception of the field. Training law enforcement is particularly important to ensure proper execution of the digital forensics process. It is also important because the proliferation of technology in to society continues to grow at an exponential rate. Just as technology is used for good there are those that will choose to use it for criminal gains. It is critical that Law Enforcement have the tools and training in cyber forensics. This research looked to determine if web based training was a feasible platform for cyber forensics training. A group of Indiana State Police Troopers were asked to participate in an online study where they were presented cyber forensics training material. That study showed that there was statistical significance between the treatment groups and the control group. The results from the study showed that web based training is an effective means to train a large group of law enforcement officers

Filling a Need: Administrative Practices in Mason County, WV One-room Schools from 1935-1950

The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine how administrative practices were carried out in Mason County, West Virginia’s one-room schools from 1935-1950. These practices were examined using Gulick and Urwick’s (1936) seven functions of the administrator and school-community relations as the framework. Twelve persons were interviewed for this study over the span of three months. Eleven of these persons were former one-room school teachers in Mason County. Of these eleven former teachers, two became central office administrators overseeing one-room schools. The twelfth person was a community leader in Mason County who attended a one-room school. The results of this study support accessed literature that one-room school teachers did take on a day to day administrative role in the rural one-room school setting in Mason County. Some of Gulick and Urwick’s (1936) administrative functions were implemented at the central office and some were implemented at the school building level in Mason County. A key component of administrative practice undertaken at the one-room school site was the development and maintenance of positive school-community relations with the teacher playing a strong role in this practice. The implication of this study is that the development of positive school-community relations is important to gaining and assuring community support in the rural school setting

The natural resources of Bolinas Lagoon: their status and future

This publication is an integral part of the Department's high-priority inventory and assessment of coastal marshland and tideflat resources. It is intended as a guide for citizens, planners, administrators, and all others interested in the use and development of coastal lands and waters. Although the resources and problems of Bolinas Lagoon have probably been the subject of more biological and physical investigations than any small estuarine area of the California coast, many of the pertinent reports and information are not readily available to the public. Consequently, it is one purpose of this report to summarize the lagoon's history, ecological attractions, educational values and the problems facing its continued existence. At the same time, it should provide concerned citizens with a knowledge of the sources of additional and more specific information. Publication of this report is consistent with the obligation of the Department of Fish and Game to do everything in its power to protect and maintain the State's fish and wildlife resources. Therefore, its purpose transcends local issues on pollution and development, and the Department is, in fact, submitting a report to the people on the status and future of part of its inheritance and the dowry of coming generations. The report is the third of a scheduled series. It follows similar releases on Upper Newport Bay (Orange County) and Goleta Slough (Santa Barbara county) in March and June of 1970. Documentation of the resources of other critical areas is in progress. There will be future reports of this nature on Elkhorn Slough, Morro Bay, Tomales Bay, Humboldt Bay, and highly threatened marshlands in southern California. (137 pp.

The Arizona Summit: Tough Times in a Tough Land

Western repositories have much to gain and little to lose from statewide initiatives that promote cooperative collection management policies. The region\u27s topography, demographics, boom-bust cycles, and flood of new residents threaten their missions and their very existence. Add competition, backlogs, duplication, and fragmented collections to this volatile mix and it renders the collecting environment untenable

Study of the application of advanced technologies to laminar-flow control systems for subsonic transports. Volume 2: Analyses

For abstract, see N76-24144

Study of the application of advanced technologies to laminar flow control systems for subsonic transports. Volume 1: Summary

A study was conducted to evaluate the technical and economic feasibility of applying laminar flow control to the wings and empennage of long-range subsonic transport aircraft compatible with initial operation in 1985. For a design mission range of 10,186 km (5500 n mi), advanced technology laminar-flow-control (LFC) and turbulent-flow (TF) aircraft were developed for both 200 and 400-passenger payloads, and compared on the basis of production costs, direct operating costs, and fuel efficiency. Parametric analyses were conducted to establish the optimum geometry for LFC and TF aircraft, advanced LFC system concepts and arrangements were evaluated, and configuration variations maximizing the effectiveness of LFC were developed. For the final LFC aircraft, analyses were conducted to define maintenance costs and procedures, manufacturing costs and procedures, and operational considerations peculiar to LFC aircraft. Compared to the corresponding advanced technology TF transports, the 200- and 400-passenger LFC aircraft realized reductions in fuel consumption up to 28.2%, reductions in direct operating costs up to 8.4%, and improvements in fuel efficiency, in ssm/lb of fuel, up to 39.4%. Compared to current commercial transports at the design range, the LFC study aircraft demonstrate improvements in fuel efficiency up to 131%. Research and technology requirements requisite to the development of LFC transport aircraft were identified

Episodic medication adherence in adolescents and young adults with perinatally acquired HIV: a within-participants approach

Due to the success of antiretroviral (ART) medications, young people living with perinatally acquired HIV (PHIV+) are now surviving into adolescence and young adulthood. Understanding factors influencing ART non-adherence in this group is important in developing effective adherence interventions. Most studies of ART adherence in HIV-positive populations assess differences in adherence levels and adherence predictors between participants, over a period of time (global adherence). Many individuals living with HIV, however, including PHIV+ young people, take medication inconsistently. To investigate this pattern of adherence, a within-participants design, focussing on specific episodes of adherence and non-adherence, is suitable (episodic adherence). A within-participants design was used with 29 PHIV+ young people (17 female, median age 17 years, range 14–22 years), enrolled in the UK Adolescents and Adults Living with Perinatal HIV cohort study. Participants were eligible if they could identify one dose of medication taken and one dose they had missed in the previous two months. For each of the two episodes (one adherent, one non-adherent), behavioural factors (whom they were with, location, routine, day, reminders) and psychological factors at the time of the episode (information about medication, adherence motivation, perceived behavioural skills to adhere to medication – derived from the Information-Motivation-Behavioural Skills (IMB) Model – and affect) were assessed in a questionnaire. Non-adherence was significantly associated with weekend days (Friday to Sunday versus Monday to Thursday, p = .001), lack of routine (p = .004), and being out of the home (p = .003), but not with whom the young person was with or whether they were reminded to take medication. Non-adherence was associated with lower levels of behavioural skills (p < .001), and lower positive affect (p = .005). Non-adherence was not significantly associated with negative affect, information about ART, or ART motivation. The use of situationally specific strategies to enhance adherence in young people who take their medication inconsistently is proposed

Association between Pre - diagnosis Physical Activity and Risk of Breast Cancer Recurrence – the California Teachers Study

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Marketing to an Engineering School: Promotion of Library Resources, Services and the Subject Librarian

The communication between the library and the school of engineering needed to be reestablished a few years after the dedicated engineering library was consolidated with the main library at a small private research university. To accomplish this, a marketing plan was developed to promote available library resources and services including the engineering reference librarian to the engineering students and faculty. The plan was developed by following the steps of a business marketing plan that was adapted for non-profit service organizations. These steps included identifying the target user groups, evaluating the status quo with a SWOT analysis and using a Qualtrics web survey to further understand and define the user groups and their needs. The information from the market analysis was then used to create a promotional marketing program aimed to influence engineering students, faculty and staff to increase the use of library services and improve information literacy