2021 Student Success in Writing Conference Program

The Student Success in Writing Conference is hosted by the Georgia Southern University Department of Writing and Linguistics and Georgia Southern University Continuing Education. The Student Success in Writing Conference (SSWC), established in 1999 to promote the success of students in writing courses at the secondary and post-secondary levels, is an intimate, one-day conference with national scope and blind-reviewed admissions. We are committed to offering practical workshops and theoretical presentations on topics related to the teaching and craft of writing. The conference also seeks to establish and maintain dialogue between college and high school educators

Review of school vision screening guidelines

Abstract: Background: Vision screenings are important in identifying visual anomalies likely to disrupt the physical, intellectual, social and emotional development of children. School health services globally include vision screenings, complementing a variety of associated screening services. Aim: This review article provides evidence for content, provision and efficacy of the vision screening services for children of school-going age and reports on the current practice of children’s vision screenings worldwide including in South Africa. Methods: Studies were identified from PubMed, Ebscohost and Science Direct with the search terms utilised during the selection of electronic articles and journals for the review. The target population includes children of school-going age from 6 to 19 years without previously known conditions associated with visual anomalies and learning-related problems. The quality of vision screening programmes and policies for the school-going age children in different countries were evaluated using Wilson and Jungner criteria.1 Results: Vision screening programmes worldwide appear to support comprehensive vision screening methods among pre-schoolers (from birth to ≤ 6 years vs. children of school-going age). The development of vision screening procedures in some countries in the United States of America (USA) was found to be grounded on epidemiologic findings and principles. These may have contributed towards the formulation of national vision screening guidelines for preschoolers that supported the detection of amblyopia and its associated conditions such as strabismus, anisometropia and myopia. School-going children’s vision screenings are not supported worldwide as research has shown that there is lack of benefits for detecting other visual anomalies such as vergence and accommodative dysfunctions. This is despite evidence provided by the literature reviewed that an association exists between prevalent accommodation and vergence dysfunctions including poor ocular motilities and poor near-vision, among children of school-going age with poor academic performance. Conclusion: The guidelines worldwide support school vision screenings, especially for the pre-schoolers by the school health nurses, with other programs having considered the teachers, optometrists or orthoptists as the appropriate personnel to conduct the school vision screenings. There is still a need for the effectiveness of the school vision-screening programmes to be investigated related to the importance of detecting convergence and accommodative dysfunctions for the school going age children

Independence and effectiveness: Messages from the role of Independent Reviewing Officers in England

This paper draws on research into the role of Independent Reviewing Officers (IROs) in England, exploring the dimensions and challenges of their ‘independence’. IROs are specialist social workers whose function is to review the cases of children in public care and ensure that they have appropriate plans and that these plans are being implemented in a timely manner. IROs are ‘independent’ in the sense that they are not the social worker to whom a child’s case is allocated, and do not have line management responsibility for the case, however they are employed by the same local authority. There are detailed regulations and government guidelines on their role, and high expectations, but what does independence mean in this context? The paper draws on a mixed methods study conducted by the authors in 2012-14, which included a survey of 122 files of children in care from four local authorities; interviews with 54 social workers, 54 IROs, 15 parents, and 15 young people; six focus groups; and nationally-distributed questionnaires for IROs (65), social work managers (46) and children’s guardians (39). The study found five dimensions of independence: professional, operational, perceived, institutional and effective. The IROs and social workers generally took more nuanced and pragmatic approaches to their inter-professional working than prescribed in the policy guidance or the pronouncements of politicians and judges, seeing this as more likely to be effective. IROs are not, and cannot be, the solution to all the problems that exist in services for children in care, and the other professionals involved should not be seen as necessarily any less capable or committed to the best interests of the children. Rather, the IRO is part of an interactive system of checks and balances which, together, may increase the likelihood that professional judgement will be exercised effectively on the child’s behalf

Georgia school laws and decisions /

Mode of access: Internet

Annual report of the Department of Education to the General Assembly of the State of Georgia ...

Mode of access: Internet

School architecture; plans and suggestions for building one, two, three, and four-room schoolhouses.

Mode of access: Internet

Compilation of laws and decisions relating to the public school system of Georgia, 1912.

Mode of access: Internet