School-Community Partnerships in Rural Schools: Leadership, Renewal, and a Sense of Place

Rural schools are vulnerable to imitating the reform standards of national and urban school. Urban schools, to which much of the research on current reform efforts has been directed, are not rural schools writ large. Neither are rural communities like urban neighborhood communities. Hodgkinson and Obarakpor (1994) declared rural poverty is not the same as urban poverty in a different setting (p. 2). Rather, the context of rural has its own set of community identifiers that make rural schools dramatically different from their metropolitan counterparts. The goals and purposes of schooling and educational renewal processes appropriate for urban and suburban schools may be inappropriate for rural schools. As aptly expressed by Theobald and Nachtigal (1995), The work of the rural school is no longer to emulate the urban or suburban school, but to attend to its own place (p. 132). Rural students face many challenges in gaining a sound education, but one of the advantages they have is that their schools are set in a community context that values a sense of place and offers a unique set of conditions for building the social capital important for helping students succeed in school

Nutrient and Silicon Isotope Dynamics in the Laptev Sea and Implications for Nutrient Availability in the Transpolar Drift

Realistic prediction of the near-future response of Arctic Ocean primary productivity to ongoing warming and sea ice loss requires a mechanistic understanding of the processes controlling nutrient bioavailability. To evaluate continental nutrient inputs, biological utilization and the influence of mixing and winter processes in the Laptev Sea, the major source region of the Transpolar Drift, we compare observed with preformed concentrations of dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN), phosphorus (DIP), silicic acid (DSi) and silicon isotope compositions of DSi (δ30SiDSi) obtained for two summers (2013, 2014) and one winter (2012). In summer, preformed nutrient concentrations persisted in the surface layer of the southeastern Laptev Sea, while diatom-dominated utilization caused intense northward drawdown and a pronounced shift in δ30SiDSi from +0.91 to +3.82 ‰. The modeled Si isotope fractionation suggests that DSi in the northern Laptev Sea originated from the Lena River during the spring freshet, while in the southeastern Laptev Sea it was continuously supplied by it during the summer. Primary productivity fueled by river-borne nutrients was enhanced by admixture of DIN- and DIP-rich Atlantic-sourced waters to the surface, either by convective mixing during the previous winter or by occasional storm-induced stratification breakdowns in late summer. Substantial enrichments of DSi (+240 %) and DIP (+90 %) beneath the Lena River plume were caused by sea ice-driven redistribution and remineralization. Predicted weaker stratification on the outer Laptev shelf will enhance DSi utilization and removal through greater vertical DIN supply, which will limit DSi export and reduce diatom-dominated primary productivity in the Transpolar Drift. Key Points - Surface DIN, DIP, DSi and Si isotope dynamics are controlled by marine and riverine inputs and uptake by phytoplankton - Strong DIP and DSi enrichments beneath the Lena River plume are due to sea ice-driven nutrient redistribution and remineralization - Enhanced DSi utilization in the Laptev Sea will lead to a reduced diatom-dominated primary productivity in the Transpolar Drif

The distribution of late-Quaternary woody taxa in Eurasia: evidence from a new macrofossil database

We present a database of late-Quaternary plant microfossil records for northern Eurasia (from 23° to 180°E and 46° to 76°N) comprising 281 localities, over 2300 samples and over 13,000 individual records. Samples are individually radiocarbon dated or are assigned ages via age models fitted to sequences of calibrated radiocarbon dates within a section. Tree species characteristic of modern northern forests (e.g. Picea, Larix, tree-Betula) are recorded at least intermittently from prior to the last glacial maximum (LGM), through the LGM and Lateglacial, to the Holocene, and some records locate trees close to the limits of the Scandinavian ice sheet, supporting the hypothesis that some taxa persisted in northern refugia during the last glacial cycle. Northern trees show differing spatio-temporal patterns across Siberia: deciduous trees were widespread in the Lateglacial, with individuals occurring across much of their contemporary ranges, while evergreen conifers expanded northwards to their range limits in the Holocene.The full-text of this article is not available in ORA, but you may be able to access the article via the publisher copy link on this record page

Compulsory attendance: an analysis of litigation

The purpose of this research was to examine court cases dealing with compulsory attendance laws, also known as compulsory education laws, for the purpose of establishing the issues, outcomes, and trends in compulsory attendance litigation. In this manner, school officials could be provided guidance on dealing with issues surrounding the attendance of students in their local schools. The research design was qualitative, document-based and historical in nature, and was drawn from the court records for one hundred court cases about compulsory attendance. The court cases were obtained from the Bounds Law Library on the campus of The University of Alabama. The research questions driving this project addressed the issues, outcomes, and trends reported by the judge in compulsory attendance litigation. From the issues, outcomes, and trends, guiding principles for school administrators with regard to compulsory attendance policy were developed. The court cases involved were the result of constitutional challenges to the applicable compulsory attendance laws, challenges of attendance policies, requests for or the denial of religious exemptions, weapon possession, challenges of minimum instructional standards, children being unruly, infringement of religious beliefs, weapon possession, removal of a student from the regular educational setting, and parental neglect. The jurisdictions represented included a wide variety of judicial settings from across the United States with the exception of the United States Supreme Court. (Published By University of Alabama Libraries

The Modern Red SchoolHouse reform design: elementary school teachers' perceptions of implementation

The Obey-Porter bill was passed in 1997 to supply funds to low-performing schools to implement scientifically research-based reform models. The Modern Red SchoolHouse design was one of the highly adopted designs by schools and districts across the nation to help improve schools and is the focus of this study. Now that extensive funding such as the Obey-Porter bill has ended, there is limited research on the sustainability of these adopted designs. This study analyzes the implementation, capacity-building, and sustainability of this widely implemented comprehensive school design, the Modern Red SchoolHouse (MRSH) design. This study puts emphasis on the importance of studying sustainability from the perceptions of the teachers while examining principal, implementation process, and school characteristics that impact sustainability. The Modern Red School House Teacher Survey (MTS) was used to evaluate the teachers' perceptions of the sense of presence of the six-core capacity-building components of the design. The 173 teachers in this study were from 11 former MRSH sites established between 1998-2005 from the South Region: 3. The 11 principals who participated in the study completed the Principal's Questionnaire and provided additional information about their schools. The study concluded that these schools were perceived by teachers as having a presence of capacity-building components. Major findings include the following: (a) principal leadership is vital to successful whole school implementation and sustainability, (b) the critical challenge of principals in comprehensive school reform is creating a network of strong relationships within and across faculty and staff through communication and professional development, (c) parents, teachers and other stakes holders must be involved in the decision-making process, (d) whole school reform must be balanced with and modified to accountability efforts if it is to be sustained. This research adds to the knowledge base of sustainability of comprehensive school reform by exploring the perceptions and actions of elementary teachers who have worked with the Modern Red SchoolHouse design. Implications for practice include allowing teachers and parents to take part in decision-making related to reform initiatives and developing learning communities that sustain both teacher and principal motivation toward adopted reform initiatives. (Published By University of Alabama Libraries

The psychosocial development and increased fluency of users of the speecheasy device: a multiple unit case study

This dissertation study explored the efficacy of the SpeechEasy® device for individuals who are gainfully employed stutterers and who participated in workplace education learning activities. This study attempted to fill a gap in the literature regarding efficacy of the SpeechEasy® device. It employed a qualitative multiple unit case study method, which explored six individuals` use of the SpeechEasy® device using an auto-ethnographic narrative theoretical framework based on the methodological tradition of Smith and Sparkes` (2008) five identity perspectives. Findings indicate participants` satisfaction with the SpeechEasy® device in reducing their stuttering. This led to improved confidence and self-image. They also reported their willingness to assume visible roles within their organizations that required fluent speech including increased participation in workplace training. In addition, the participants reported increased opportunities for promotion and job placement. The results of this study indicate that morale and efficiency in the workplace increases in organizations where individuals who stutter begin using the SpeechEasy device. Likewise, these individuals, including the researcher, recognize the personal advantage in developing higher levels of psychosocial development through an improved self-image and increased self-confidence brought about from using this devise. Employers and Speech Pathologists need to be aware of the findings of this study to enable them to assist their employees and clients who stutter in constructing plans that will lead to the purchase and use of the Speech Easy device. (Published By University of Alabama Libraries