The Impact of the “Universal Voyager Literacy” Reading Program on Reading Achievement and Instructional Practices in an Urban School District

Founded in 1994, Voyager Expanded Learning is a provider of K-3 in-school reading programs, as well as K-8 reading intervention programs for school districts throughout the United States. Voyager Universal Literacy\u27s systematic, precise framework fully addresses the five elements of reading instruction, through an explicit succession of ability growth. Voyager Universal Literacy was developed to be a comprehensive program encompassing the subsequent requisites: in-school broad reading program, progress monitoring methods, extensive-day and summer activities, home learning syllabus, implementation monitoring, and on-going professional development. Voyager Universal Literacy Program activities are organized to provide a thorough range and progression for reading instruction. The purpose of this study was to analyze the impact of the Universal Voyager Literacy Program on reading achievement and teacher instructional practices in an urban school district, and to determine the extent to which this impact varies across Title I and non-Title I schools and student gender. Results indicated that students in the Universal Voyager Literacy Program performed similarly compared to students in non-Voyager programs in terms of reading test scores. Although the main effect was not significant, there was a significant interaction between program and Title I status. Title I students performed better in Voyager schools; whereas, students in non-Title I schools performed better in non-Voyager schools. Observations occurred during the reading block and lasted approximately 40 minutes. The observation focused on classroom environment and teacher instructional strategies. The literacy environment in the classrooms of the Voyager Program teachers and the non-Voyager Program teachers were very similar. During informal classroom observations, the researcher witnessed varying levels of student/teacher interaction and student engagement. Additionally, teachers\u27 instructional behaviors differ from classroom to classroom. For instance, several teachers utilized strategies that required student conversation—such as “turn and talk”; “think-pair and share”; student/teacher reading conferences. Whereas, in two other classrooms the “direct instruction” practice was utilized—where the teacher was the primary voice in the room. The teacher lectured and then released students to practice independently at their desks. Very little student/teacher interaction occurred during the observation. Future research studies which focus on the relationship between program implementation and student outcomes are recommended. Additionally, an examination of student performance on a wider range of assessment instruments should be used to help researchers determine which of the five key areas of reading acquisition are most impacted by the Voyager program

A Quantitative Study of the Impact of Leadership on School Culture in a Small Rural School District as Measured by Stakeholder Satisfaction

This study examined the relationship of school leadership on school culture. Given the demands on educational leaders, the goal is to improve student achievement and school culture. The literature review examines the previous study of the history of school leadership, history of school culture, effective school leadership, elements of effective school culture, and public perception as it relates to school culture. The literature review discusses leadership styles and how each one contributes to positive school culture as perceived by various stakeholders to build the case for the current study. The study uses the School Culture Triage Survey by Wagner (2002). It is a 17-item Likert scale survey defining three variables–professional collaboration, affiliative collegiality, and self-determination/efficacy. The analysis was done with hierarchical linear modeling and stepwise multiple regression. By using the combination of methods, it was confirmed that leadership does have a statistically significant impact on school culture. A positive correlation was found to exist in all schools with variables with comparison to professional collaboration. In schools, including the three middle schools in this study, school leaders need to focus on valuing teacher ideas, trusting the professional judgment of teachers, praising teachers who perform well, involving teachers in decision-making, facilitating teachers working together, keeping teachers informed about current issues, rewarding teachers for experimenting with new ideas and techniques, supporting risk-taking and innovation in teaching, and protecting instruction and planning time

A Comprehensive, Tailored Approach to New Faculty Mentoring

The presenters will discuss the best practices in the development of a comprehensive mentoring plan for new faculty that address teaching, service, research, and practice. A case study and discussion will address how to develop and tailor a mentoring plan according to faculty role, rank, education, and experience

Supporting older eyewitnesses’ episodic memory: the self-administered interview and sketch reinstatement of context

Environmental support at retrieval improves episodic performance, yet there exists very few empirically evaluated techniques for supporting older witnesses/victims’ remembering (> 65years). We investigated two techniques for use in a criminal justice context - the Self-Administered Interview and Sketch Reinstatement of Context. Older adults (N =134) witnessed an unexpected live event, following which half immediately completed a Self-Administered Interview and half did not (Time 1). All were interviewed 48 hours later (Time 2) using one of three face-to-face interview techniques: Sketch Reinstatement of Context, Mental Reinstatement of Context, or no support Control. Those who completed a Self-Administered Interview at Time 1 recalled more correct information at Time 2 irrespective of interview condition and confabulated less. Likewise, participants interviewed using the Sketch Reinstatement of Context technique recalled more correct information and confabulated less, whether they had completed a Self-Administered Interview, or not. However, the Self-Administered Interview + Sketch Reinstatement of Context was the most effective combination, indicating an interaction between stabilizing a memory trace quickly and how sketching appears to scaffold memory retrieval during face-to-face interviews

Sequential Implementation of Monte Carlo Tests with Uniformly Bounded Resampling Risk

This paper introduces an open-ended sequential algorithm for computing the p-value of a test using Monte Carlo simulation. It guarantees that the resampling risk, the probability of a different decision than the one based on the theoretical p-value, is uniformly bounded by an arbitrarily small constant. Previously suggested sequential or non-sequential algorithms, using a bounded sample size, do not have this property. Although the algorithm is open-ended, the expected number of steps is finite, except when the p-value is on the threshold between rejecting and not rejecting. The algorithm is suitable as standard for implementing tests that require (re-)sampling. It can also be used in other situations: to check whether a test is conservative, iteratively to implement double bootstrap tests, and to determine the sample size required for a certain power.Comment: Major Revision 15 pages, 4 figure

Vibronic interactions in the visible and near-infrared spectra of C60− anions

Electron-phonon coupling is an important factor in understanding many properties of the C60 fullerides. However, there has been little success in quantifying the strength of the vibronic coupling in C60 ions, with considerable disagreement between experimental and theoretical results. We will show that neglect of quadratic coupling in previous models for C60- ions results in a significant overestimate of the linear coupling constants. Including quadratic coupling allows a coherent interpretation to be made of earlier experimental and theoretical results which at first sight are incompatible

Improving Loss Estimation for Woodframe Buildings. Volume 2: Appendices

This report documents Tasks 4.1 and 4.5 of the CUREE-Caltech Woodframe Project. It presents a theoretical and empirical methodology for creating probabilistic relationships between seismic shaking severity and physical damage and loss for buildings in general, and for woodframe buildings in particular. The methodology, called assembly-based vulnerability (ABV), is illustrated for 19 specific woodframe buildings of varying ages, sizes, configuration, quality of construction, and retrofit and redesign conditions. The study employs variations on four basic floorplans, called index buildings. These include a small house and a large house, a townhouse and an apartment building. The resulting seismic vulnerability functions give the probability distribution of repair cost as a function of instrumental ground-motion severity. These vulnerability functions are useful by themselves, and are also transformed to seismic fragility functions compatible with the HAZUS software. The methods and data employed here use well-accepted structural engineering techniques, laboratory test data and computer programs produced by Element 1 of the CUREE-Caltech Woodframe Project, other recently published research, and standard construction cost-estimating methods. While based on such well established principles, this report represents a substantially new contribution to the field of earthquake loss estimation. Its methodology is notable in that it calculates detailed structural response using nonlinear time-history structural analysis as opposed to the simplifying assumptions required by nonlinear pushover methods. It models physical damage at the level of individual building assemblies such as individual windows, segments of wall, etc., for which detailed laboratory testing is available, as opposed to two or three broad component categories that cannot be directly tested. And it explicitly models uncertainty in ground motion, structural response, component damageability, and contractor costs. Consequently, a very detailed, verifiable, probabilistic picture of physical performance and repair cost is produced, capable of informing a variety of decisions regarding seismic retrofit, code development, code enforcement, performance-based design for above-code applications, and insurance practices