The Development and Use of Learning - Skill Centers in the Bible Schools

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A Fair Power Domain for Actor Computations

This report describes research done at the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Support for the laboratory's artificial intelligence research is provided in part by the Office of Naval Research of the Department of Defense under Contract N00014-75-C-0522.Actor-based languages feature extreme concurrency, allow side effects, and specify a form of fairness which permits unbounded nondeterminism. This makes it difficult to provide a satisfactory mathematical foundation for the semantics. Due to the high degree of parallelism, an oracle semantics would be intractable. A weakest precondition semantics is out of the question because of the possibility of unbounded nondeterminism. The most attractive approach, fixed point semantics using power domains, has not been helpful because the available power domain constructions, although very general, seemed to deal inadequately with fairness. By taking advantage of the relatively complex structure of the actor computation domain C, however, a power domain P(C) can be defined which is similar to Smyth's weak power domain but richer. Actor systems, which are collections of mutually recursive primitive actors with side effects, may be assigned meanings as least fixed points of their associated continuous functions acting on this power domain. Given a denotation A ∈ P(C), the set of possible complete computations of the actor system it represents is the set of least upper bounds of a certain set of "fair" chain in A, and this set of chains is definable within A itself without recourse to oracles or an auxiliary interpretive semantics. It should be emphasized that this power domain construction is not nearly as generally applicable as those of the Plotkin [Pl] and Smyth [Sm], which can be used with any complete partial order. Fairness seems to require that the domain from which the power domain is to be constructed contain sufficient operational information.Department of Defense Office of Naval Researc

Processes Utilized by High School Students Reading Scientific Text

In response to an increased emphasis on disciplinary literacy in the secondary science classroom, an investigation of the literacy processes utilized by high school students while reading scientific text was undertaken. A think-aloud protocol was implemented to collect data on the processes students used when not prompted while reading a magazine article and a selection from a textbook. Following the think-aloud, participants provided an oral summary that was analyzed for content and quality to assess the effectiveness of the strategies. The data showed that familiarity with text structure and prior knowledge of the content affected the processes utilized. Differences between groups (frustration, instructional, and independent levels) were noted in reading both texts. Overall, participants made references to graphics but did not rely on the content of the graphics for clarification purposes. Group differences included the amount of attention given to content vocabulary; independent level readers spent more time previewing and reviewing vocabulary. Summary scores indicated that instructional level participants used processes most effectively. Frustration level readers demonstrated the ability to utilize a variety of processes through one-time use. Findings suggested: 1) increasing instruction on interpretation of graphics; 2) providing students with varied forms of scientific text; 3) focus on teaching strategies to frustration level readers; 4) encouraging summarization activities in the classroom; and 5) using multiple forms of assessment to identify disciplinary literacy processes

Global Time in Actor Computations

This research was supported by a National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship in mathematics.MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory National Science Foundatio

A Church Built on Charity: Augustine\u27s Ecclesiology

This thesis will undertake the mission of articulating the ecclesiological thought of Augustine with particular emphasis on charity as the fundamental component to church unity. Hopefully, this will further demonstrate his inclusivity, not exclusivity. The beginnings of this thesis will simply show his influences, and thus serve as a background to understanding the mind of Augustine. The next step will take the reader into the world of Augustine’s theology of charity. Charity in the Christian life is the result of being gifted with God’s grace; how charity works and how proper, authentic charity appears will be the topic of the section. The second section of this thesis will concern itself with Donatism and Augustine’s ecclesiology. It will examine multiple complementary views of Church held by Augustine: mystical communion, Body of Christ, field hospital, etc., and demonstrate where charity exists and why its existence is crucial for church unity. The final chapter will explore Augustine’s mature theology of nature and grace, in order to reflect his universal sense of a need for grace that sets everyone on the same level

Holding School Leaders Accountable: Estimating the Effects of Retrospective Evaluations of Kentucky School District Superintendents

This research represents an attempt to apply the theory of retrospective voting to the issue of turnover among Kentucky school district superintendents. The analysis tests the hypothesis that poor school district performance should increase superintendent performance. The hypothesis is tested using accountability data compiled by the Kentucky Department of Education. The analysis reveals somewhat mixed support for the hypothesis. Different performance measures have different kinds of impact. Schools with students scoring high on math and writing were more likely to experience superintendent turnover than other school districts were. The index scores for science and social studies had a negative, statistically significant effect upon turnover. The district spending measure had a negative, statistically significant coefficient, indicating that the bigger spending districts had somewhat lower turnover than did other districts. Surprisingly, the superintendent salary measure is positively and significantly associated with turnover

School Resources and Student Outcomes in Kentucky Public High Schools

This paper examines the effect of various input measures upon student outcomes within Kentucky public high schools from 2001 to 2004, using a pooled, cross­ sectional time series research design with panel-coIlected standard errors (PCSE). The results indicate mixed support for the proposition that school resources are related to desired school outcomes. Overall school spending seems to have no systematic impact Schools that seem to perform well have few indigent students, many teachers with master\u27s degrees, and fairly high numbers of volunteers. The authors offer some conjectures about the significance and meaning of these findings, especially in light of different findings in other extant research. It is likely that many of the differences in results are attributable to the choice of school-level measures rather than individual student-level indicators

Explaining State-Level Student Dropout Rates: The Impact of Exit Exams and Public School Resources

This paper examines one key indicator of school performance, the dropout rate among the public school students at the state level from 1998 to 2002, using a. pooled, cross-sectional time series research design. In this analysis the effects of high stakes testing (i.e., exit exams required for graduation), funding levels, and other school resources are examined. The results ind.irate that exit exams have no statistically significant effects upon dropout rates. Per pupil expenditures do not seem to reduce dropouts and may in fact have a positive effect at the state level. However, the analysis indicates that high pupil to teacher ratios and population change increase dropout rates. In addition, collective bargaining among public school teachers is found to reduce fu·opout rates. These findings indicate that mneh of the fear that exit exams will lead to massive dropout rates is misplaced

Agency Design and State Administrators: Political Insulation and Managers’ Views of Their Workplace

This paper examines the impact of agency design upon the perceived workplace conditions within state agencies. The research examines whether insulating features of agency structure such as independent commission status, removal of officers only for cause, and fixed terms for agency leaders are associated with perceptions by state agency managers that their work processes and environments are free of micromanagement and interference from political actors. Data are drawn from the National Administrative Studies Project III, with additional information collected from state agency web sites and statutes. We largely find that administrators working within agencies headed by officials with fixed terms of service believe that top management trusts employees much more than do employees in other agencies. They also have much more pride in the agencies in which they work. We also find that agencies having a commission structure have managers that are perceived to be willing to take risks