1,428 research outputs found
Leadership in Charter Schools A Case Study of Blackstone Valley Prep Mayoral Academy
This case study seeks to identify the leadership practices in a high performing charter school in order to determine specific practices that are effective, especially when educating minority and underprivileged students. This study is partnered with Blackstone Valley Prep Mayoral Academy (BVP), a mayoral charter school system consisting of six schools grades k-12. BVP is performing significantly statistically better than neighboring districts as well as Rhode Island schools as a whole. This research explores the leadership approaches and practices used to drive the success achieved by BVP. The data collected for this study derives from interviews with school administrators, faculty, and staff, observations of Board and Cabinet meetings, as well as various scholarly sources. The results include a strong focus on Autonomy and Best Practices, a People oriented approach, Learning by doing and seeing, and Managing change and controversy
Talking Back: Ignatian Colleagues Advancing Partners in Mission for the Future of Jesuit Higher Education
Early college placement testing: Outcomes and impacts of the Early ACCUPLACER partnership
The Early ACCUPLACER Program was administered in partnership between the University of Alaska (UAA) and Anchorage School District (ASD) between 2006 and 2013. Using the UAA placement test (ACCUPLACER) as an instructional tool, the program intended to help students understand the differences between high school graduation requirements and college-level coursework. Test scores were used to advise students to take more rigorous high school curricula so they would be better prepared for the academic expectations of the college environment. In its seven years of operation, the program served thousands of ASD students.
This report reviews Early ACCUPLACER test scores and subsequent academic performance for high school juniors and seniors who tested in the 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 academic years. The data show that, at the time of testing, many of those high school students’ test scores would place them into developmental classes in college. This analysis was unable to examine high school transcripts to see whether or not students heeded advice to take additional and more rigorous high school courses; however, by following the participants who subsequently attended college in the UA system1, the data show:
• Students who participated in the program did not exhibit substantively higher college placement test scores than other incoming students who did not receive the intervention.
• Most students who participated in the program performed better on the test at the time of college matriculation than when they took it in high school, but the increases in performance, on average, were not large enough to change their recommended course placements. For approximately a quarter of students, test performance decreased between high school and college.
• Upon matriculation, more students needed developmental coursework in math than in English or reading.
• Upon attending college, between two-thirds and three-quarters of the Early ACCUPLACER program participants performed well enough in their first year to meet eligibility requirements for federal financial aid.
• Persistence rates for Early ACCUPLACER participants were slightly higher than the overall UAA rates; however they were similar to other recent high school graduates, who tend to have higher persistence rates than nontraditional-aged students.
The data suggest that the program did not significantly impact the college readiness or later college performance for its participants who later attended UA. However, the data and literature suggest opportunities to use high school-college partnerships as part of a robust outreach agenda. Recommendations include evaluating the relationship between high school course-taking behavior and college readiness, and broadening the definition of “college readiness” to include other attributes known to promote success.Executive Summary / Introduction / Method / Findings / Discussing / Recommendations / Conclusion / Reference
Good collaborations: A case study of the Health Information Technology partnership
The Health Information Technology grant was a collaborative partnership between the Cook Inlet Tribal
Council (CITC), the University of Alaska Community & Technical College (UAA CTC) and the University of
Alaska Southeast (UAS) to establish the infrastructure for a distance-delivered Occupational
Endorsement in Health Information Technology. This document describes a case study research project
that explored the activities of the collaboration, specifically as they pertain to student services and
outcomes.
Student eligibility criteria included: Alaska Native, low-income, GED or high school diploma, and a 10th
grade TABE test score; many of the student participants exhibited demographic characteristics that
placed them at high risk for noncompletion. Ultimately, 10 of 25 (40%) completed the credential, and of
these graduates, five are continuing their postsecondary studies for an associate’s or bachelor’s degree.
These success rates that exceed national averages for community college students prompted the team
to explore the program elements that contributed to student success.
A qualitative case study collected interview data from student completers, program staff, and faculty. It
also reviewed program documents, and included visits to the physical spaces where the program was
delivered.
Tangible or material resources that contributed to the program’s success included stipends for student
tuition and fees plus hourly compensation for time spent in class; the provision of laptops; adequate
technology; staff and services that supported college transitions, social and personal needs, and
academic success; a face-to-face kickoff event; and a cohort model. Qualitative aspects of the program
that fostered success include staff commitment and positive attitude; clear roles for partners with a
distributed workload; alignment of program objectives to each of the partners’ missions;
communication; and student perseverance.
Program elements that need to be revised, expanded, or improved prior to a second iteration include
course sequencing, recruitment, technology, class times, and additional stipends. Opportunities for
additional programming include industry involvement, career exploration, options for students who
“change majors” or decide that the HIT field is not a good fit for their interests, job seeking and career
planning support, additional attention to college readiness and soft skills, and incorporation of Alaska
Native culture.
A review of program elements that worked and need improvement identified opportunities to better
align theory and philosophy, and to strengthen communication between staff and faculty who have
complementary responsibilities to one another and to students. These discussions are recommended in
order to develop more intentional and focused recruiting, to strengthen communication, and to develop
a more culturally responsive curriculum.
Though the program does not yet present itself as a best practice model, the program strengths and
lessons learned were used to develop considerations for other programs and partnerships wishing to
develop similar delivery methods.Office of Vocational and Adult Education
Community &Technical College, University of Alaska AnchorageIntroduction / Health Information Technology / The credential / Employment landscape / Partners / Structure / Timeline & Schedule / Student Cohort / Outcomes / Method, participation, and analysis / Findings / What worked: The tangibles / What worked: the intangibles / What didn't work / Opportunities / Discussion / Philosophical -Student success / Theoretical: frameworks / Recommendations / Recruitment / Communication / Curriculum / Replication / Conclusion / References / Appendix: Considerations for replicatio
An evaluation plan of bus architectures and protocols using the NASA Ames intelligent redundant actuation system
Means for evaluating data bus architectures and protocols for highly integrated flight control system applications are needed. Described are the criteria and plans to do this by using the NASA/Ames Intelligent Redundant Actuation System (IRAS) experimental set-up. Candidate bus architectures differ from one another in terms of: topology, access control, message transfer schemes, message characteristics, initialization. data flow control, transmission rates, fault tolerance, and time synchronization. The evaluation criteria are developed relative to these features. A preliminary, analytical evaluation of four candidate busses (MIL-STD-1553B, DATAC, Ethernet, and HSIS) is described. A bus must be exercised in a real-time environment to evaluate its dynamic characteristics. A plan for real-time evaluation of these four busses using a combination of hardware and simulation techniques is presented
Quiet Clean Short-haul Experimental Engine (QCSEE) main reduction gears detailed design report
Lightweight turbine engines with geared slower speed fans are considered. The design of two similar but different gear ratio, minimum weight, epicyclic star configuration main reduction gears for the under the wing (UTW) and over the wing (OTW) engines is discussed. The UTW engine reduction gear has a ratio of 2.465:1 and a 100% power design rating of 9885 kW (13,256 hp) at 3143 rpm fan speed. The OTW engine reduction gear has a ratio of 2.062:1 and a 100% power design rating of 12813 kW (17183 hp) at 3861 rpm fan speed. Details of configuration, stresses, deflections, and lubrication are presented
It’s more than just dollars: Problematizing salary as the sole mechanism for recruiting and retaining teachers in rural Alaska
Staffing rural Alaska schools with a stable workforce of qualified teachers has been perennially challenging, and the failure to do so harms student achievement. In the spring of 2014, the Alaska Department of Administration contracted with the Center for Alaska Education Policy Research to produce a uniform salary schedule and community cost differentials with the objective of attracting and retaining highly-qualified teachers to Alaskan communities. In this paper, we summarize the findings of that study, including opportunities for significant teacher salary increases. However, we discuss the role of salary in teachers’ decisions to stay or leave rural communities, noting that other working conditions are stronger predictors of teacher attrition. We argue that salaries alone will not ensure a stable and qualified teacher workforce, instead positing that efforts to improve Alaska’s rural schools and teacher retention outcomes will require both adequate compensation and attention to the working conditions.Ye
Superconducting microstrip amplifiers with sub-Kelvin noise temperature near 4 GHz
We present measurements of an amplifier operating at 3.8 GHz with 150 MHz of
bandwidth based on the microstrip input-coil resonance of a dc superconducting
quantum interference device (SQUID) with submicron Josephson junctions. The
noise temperature is measured using two methods: comparing the signal-to-noise
ratio of the system with and without the SQUID in the amplifier chain, and
using a modified Y-factor technique where calibrated narrowband noise is mixed
up to the SQUID amplifier operating frequency. With the SQUID cooled to 0.35 K
we observe a minimum system noise temperature of 0.55 K, dominated
by the contribution from the SQUID amplifier
Alaska career pathways: A baseline analysis
This report details the findings from a 2013 statewide study of career pathways (CP) and programs of study (PoS) in secondary districts in Alaska. Twenty-seven of Alaska’s 54 districts provided data around the maturity of their CP/PoS, the availability of different CP/PoS, how career planning is addressed, and the availability of courses and PoS in the Health Sciences cluster. The differences between urban and rural communities are often noted in conversations around education, programming and policy in Alaska, and the data in this report reflect this established phenomenon. The contribution of this report is in helping to demystify and contextualize some of these known differences, and to make differentiated recommendations for moving forward.Acknowledgements / Executive summary / Introduction / Context for study / Method / Participation / Part I - Maturity of career pathway components / Part II - Available PoS within the career clusters / Part III Career planning / Part IV Health / Implications / Limitations / Recommendations / Conclusions / Reference
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