Second Annual Report of the Independent Evaluation of the California Master Plan for Special Education Volume 2

This volume of the Second Annual Report on the California Master Plan for Special Education contains supporting technical information for the findings reported in Volume I. In the first section of this appendix, the method used to select the 25 sample areas is described. The second section details the methodology used for selecting teachers and parents for the questionnaire survey and presents response rates by area for each group surveyed. The third section explains the methodology used to develop the indices of knowledge, satisfaction, and skill. The fourth section des­cribes the procedures used for the follow-up of survey activities, presents the results of the nonresponse bias survey, and contains tables of the standard errors and confidence intervals for questions used in the parent and teacher questionnaires

Third Annual Report of the Independent Evaluation of the California Master Plan for Special Education

This is the Third Annual Report on the independent evaluation of the California Master Plan for Special Education, which was mandated in Assembly Bill 1250 and Senate Bill 1870. It contains the findings from follow-up studies in six Master Plan (MP) and four non-Master Plan (NMP) areas during 1979-80. The findings are based on responses of administrators, support personnel, and special education and regular classroom teachers to question­ naires and to questions asked during interviews conducted by SRI staff mem­ bers during 1-week visits to each of the 10 sites. The following topics were explored in greater depth during the year: · Comparison of enrollment and placement patterns for 1978-79 and 1979-80. · Local evaluation efforts, record keeping, and data management. The role of the resource specialist. · Inservice training for the regular classroom teacher. Parent involvement and participation. · Interagency agreements and the use of other types of outside re­sources

Moving beyond entry-level competencies: The role of the recreation management internship in the moral development of college students

This mixed methods study explored aspects of the internship experience that are responsible for moral growth changes among undergraduates in a recreation management discipline. This study addressed four aims: (1) to investigate changes in interns\u27 moral reasoning as determined by the Defining Issues Test 2 (DIT-2) over the course of a 14-week internship experience, (2) to examine the relationship between interns\u27 level of moral reasoning and performance during the internship experience, (3) to explore convergence and divergence between the theoretical patterns of NeoKohlbergian theory of moral development and the observed patterns of intern moral judgment and actions, and (4) to identify aspects of the internship experience that appear responsible for moral growth changes among interns. In phase one of the study, the DIT-2 was administered to 33 recreation management interns in a pre and post-test format. In phase two of the study, 10 interns were purposefully selected to serve as case studies based on their level of post-conventional reasoning on the DIT-2 pre-test. Multiple forms of qualitative data were collected including semi-structured interviews, artifacts, and observations. A paired samples t-test showed a statistically significant difference in Personal Interest and Post-Conventional schema, and N-2 scores for 33 recreation management interns who completed a 14-week internship experience. In relation to the mean final performance measures among interns, both the Spearman rho correlation and a 3x3 cross-tabulation for distribution levels showed insignificant results. Using an outcome pattern matching technique (Trochim, 1989), significant convergence was noted between the theoretical patterns of NeoKohlbergian theory of moral development and the observed patterns of intern judgments and actions for the 10 intern cases. This convergence was reflected in two primary patterns: (1) as interns used lower judgment schemas, they tended to make judgments from an egocentric perspective and demonstrated behaviors that were based on protecting personal interests, and (2) as interns used the Post-Conventional schema, they tended to make judgments that adhered to moral principles and demonstrated behaviors that reflected a concern for others. In order to explore aspects of the internship experience that appeared to influence intern moral development, all qualitative data sources were coded and three themes emerged: (1) the type of internship setting is critical to intern moral development, (2) the internship site supervisor and senior staff members are vital resources for interns as they begin to negotiate the ethical landmines of practice, and (3) the nature of the intern role impacts ethical decision-making among interns

Understanding the Reasons for Mobile Commerce Adoption and Use

The popularization of wireless and portable information communication technologies has generated many studies towards adoption and use by academics and practitioners. Most studies have used as the theoretical framework theory of planned behaviour, technology acceptance model or an extended or combined version of those models like Venkatesh et al.’s UTAUT. This paper proposes the use of Sheth, Newman and Gross’ (1991) theory of consumption values combined with the means-end chain model to contribute to the development of a predictive model of mobile commerce adoption and use

The Value of Life Histories in Researching the Adoption and Use of M-Services

Mobile services are a very important part of the e-commerce landscape. Although research has been conducted on what services people use and what value they attach to those services we know little about why people attach those perceived values. The theory of consumer value provides a theoretical framework to examine the adoption of mobile services. We use a life history research methodology to demonstrate that a biographical account can help in uncovering the “why” of perceived value. The life histories used in the paper highlight that the approach can be used to explain adoption and use of a product in relation to a person’s lifestyle, needs, and experiences. From the examples, we can see that mobile services often have a functional value attached to them at the outset but social and epistemic value can follow when people are keen to experiment and feel part of a social community of use

Adoption of m-commerce: A question of values?

Mobile commerce is experiencing rapid growth. The underlying reasons for adoption of mobile services at the individual level are still unclear. The aim af this paper is to examine theoretical explanations for mobile adoption and to assess the significance of perceived values as an explanatory theory at the individual level. An understanding of consumers\u27 perceived values can be useful for organisations since it has a deeper explanatory capability because it examines the intrinsic rationale in the decision making process. These can be more easily used/or predictive purposes

The Development and Analysis of Base Line Data for the Estimation of Incidence in the Handicapped School Age Population

The purpose of this study was, first, to examine and critique the more popular incidence sources for handicapping conditions in the school age population, and second, to establish reasonably reliable base line data on which the future analysis of special population groups can be grounded. On the basis of this study, we suggest that the National Center of Health Statistics estimates become the primary source for further analysis due to both their reliability and comparability. It is questionable whether these figures could be refined further by conducting an independent national survey of school children. Data reliability is important, since even very small errors in estimating the number of children to be served can have significant financial implications. For example, on the basis of individual state estimates of the excess costs of serving handicapped children, the average state expenditure is $726 per child. Since no state spends less than$400, this figure can be used as illustrative of minimal changes in costs for given errors in estimation. Thus, assuming an excess cost formula and a minimum reimbursement of $400 per child, a one-tenth of one percent error would cost approximately$18 million. Another important aspect of this report is that it focuses on age group differences in the handicapped population. The use of aggregate estimates across age groups and grade levels has been somewhat misleading in the past. This is because there are significant differences in the age distribution of certain handicapping conditions, at least in terms of their impact upon the ability of a child to benefit from regular education. As suggested in this report, there is a significant drop in reported incidence at the age that typically corresponds to the transition period between elementary and secondary school. It is also interesting that the greatest differences in identification patterns between BEH and NCHS occur at the elementary level. The only difference at the secondary level is in the identification of the emotionally disturbed. The striking difference in distribution in age and grade levels in some handicapped classifications clearly identifies the need for federal consideration of these factors in developing a strategy for targeting of funds

Proactive or Reactive? Optimal Management of an Invasive Forest Pest in a Spatial Framework

This paper offers a preliminary investigation into the conditions under which it might be optimal to engage in proactive management of a non-timber forest resource in the presence of an invasive species whose spread is unaffected by management action. Proactive management is defined as treating an uninfected area in order to encourage healthy ecosystem function, given that the arrival of the invasive is inevitable. Inspired by the problem of white pine blister rust in the Rocky Mountain west, the model was solved under varying assumptions concerning the scale of management action, benefit and costs, the discount rate, and uncertainty of spread. Results showed that proactive strategies tended to be optimal when, ceteris paribus, a) more resources are available for treatment; b) the costs of treatment are rapidly increasing in forest health, or conversely, the benefits of healthy and unhealthy stands are relatively similar; and c) the discount rate is low. The introduction of uncertainty did not significantly affect the likelihood of a proactive management strategy being optimal, but did show that the conditional probabilities of infection play important role in the decision of which uninfected stand should be treated if a choice is available to the manager.Crop Production/Industries, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Labour mobility and diaspora: An overview of Solomon Islands’ historical regulatory experience, 1850s-2013

With less than 4,500 of its population of around 600,000 living overseas in 2013, the Solomon Islands ranks 138th in the world for diaspora formation. At these levels the scale of the diaspora as a proportion of population (0.8 percent) remains lower than it was in the early 20th century, when more than 5,000 Solomon islanders were compulsorily repatriated from Queensland under early Australian Commonwealth legislation. This working paper retraces and reframes the history of Solomon Islands labour mobility and diaspora formation since the 1850s, considering it in relation to the wider institutional and macro-regulatory machineries of three phases or regimes of economic, trade and mobility regulation. These regimes are referred to in this paper as: 1.liberal imperial, 2. national territorial and 3. International neoliberal. We argue that Solomon Islanders’ participation in labour mobility has been substantial under all three phases, but that international mobility and diaspora formation only developed significantly under the liberal imperial regime. Even then, however, its development proved precarious. The ways regional actors and governments acting within the different regimes have framed and segmented labour markets continue to powerfully shape mobility and diaspora outcomes. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of the situation to date for future economic development and security in Solomon Islands