High-stakes testing

Relatively recent federal education initiatives, such as No Child Left Behind (NCLB; 2001), have focused on school accountability for student achievement including achievement of traditionally at-risk populations, such as students in special education, students from low-income or high poverty areas, and students who speak English as a new second language. Additionally, these federal initiatives also mandate that all students take the same test measuring grade level standards despite research that has demonstrated that students from at-risk populations are sometimes at a disadvantage on high-stakes tests. Furthermore, initiatives such as NCLB are often at odds with other education initiatives such as IDEA, which states that students in special education should be tested at their respective level. Therefore, the current study proposed to examine the relationship between Cattell-Horn-Carroll cognitive abilities and performance on a state-wide high-stakes achievement test. There currently are no studies examining such a relationship. This study used Multivariate Regression Analysis, in order to investigate the relationship between CHC cognitive and achievement abilities and performance on a state-wide high-stakes achievement test, namely the ISTEP+, with 45 children who had been referred for a psychoeducational evaluation to determine special education eligibility and who had also taken the ISTEP+. No statistically significant result was found between the WJ-III-COG broad CHC abilities and performance on the English/Language Arts and Math performance of the ISTEP+. Furthermore, no statistically significant result was found between the WJ-III-ACH and Math performance on the ISTEP+. However, a statistically significant result was found between the WJ-III-ACH Passage Comprehension subtest and the English/Language Arts portion of the ISTEP+. The results indicated that students who had higher scores on the Passage Comprehension subtest also had higher scores on the English/Language Arts portion of the ISTEP+. The current study took a step forward in the area of the relationship between CHC and academic achievement, particularly state-mandated high-stakes testing given the dearth of research in this area. Given the data from the current study indicating a statistically significant relationship between Passage Comprehension and English/Language Arts from the ISTEP+, the current study has practical implications for school psychologists, especially when school psychologists are being asked to make predictions regarding a student’s academic achievement. Results of the current study might help elucidate reading problems and recommended interventions for those reading problems.Department of Educational PsychologyThesis (Ph. D.

Radionuclide Concentrations in the Arkansas River Upstream and Downstream from the Nuclear I Power Generating Facility

This report summarizes results obtained from a program designed to measure very low levels of some commonly produced radionuc1ides in the Dardenelle Lake area of the Arkansas River near the Arkansas Nuclear I Power Station operated by Arkansas Power and Light Company. The main thrust of this program was to determine the increase in the concentration of the radionuclides as a result of reactor operation as a function of their distance from the source. It was hoped to extend this study to include the effects of these emissions on the uptake of radionuclides into biological systems and their deposition in sediments

Combined calculi for photon orbital and spin angular momenta

Context. Wavelength, photon spin angular momentum (PSAM), and photon orbital angular momentum (POAM), completely describe the state of a photon or an electric field (an ensemble of photons). Wavelength relates directly to energy and linear momentum, the corresponding kinetic quantities. PSAMand POAM, themselves kinetic quantities, are colloquially known as polarization and optical vortices, respectively. Astrophysical sources emit photons that carry this information. Aims. PSAM characteristics of an electric field (intensity) are compactly described by the Jones (Stokes/Mueller) calculus. Similarly, I created calculi to represent POAM characteristics of electric fields and intensities in an astrophysical context. Adding wavelength dependence to all of these calculi is trivial. The next logical steps are to 1) form photon total angular momentum (PTAM = POAM + PSAM) calculi; 2) prove their validity using operators and expectation values; and 3) show that instrumental PSAM can affect measured POAM values for certain types electric fields. Methods. I derive the PTAM calculi of electric fields and intensities by combining the POAM and PSAM calculi. I show how these quantities propagate from celestial sphere to image plane. I also form the PTAMoperator (the sum of the POAMand PSAMoperators), with and without instrumental PSAM, and calculate the corresponding expectation values. Results. Apart from the vector, matrix, dot product, and direct product symbols, the PTAM and POAM calculi appear superficially identical. I provide tables with all possible forms of PTAM calculi. I prove that PTAM expectation values are correct for instruments with and without instrumental PSAM. I also show that POAM measurements of "unfactored" PTAM electric fields passing through non-zero instrumental circular PSAM can be biased. Conclusions. The combined PTAM calculi provide insight into how to mathematically model PTAM sources and calibrate POAMand PSAM- induced POAM measurement errors

Fate of Some Common Radionuclides Found in Dardanelle Lake

Four factors influence the concentrations of radionuclides in Dardanelle Lake water: injections due to fallout and discharge from Nuclear I coupled with losses due to decay, to dilution and to sedimentation. It is possible to estimate the first three factors and to measure monthly changes in the concentrations of Sr-89, Ce-141, Cs-137, Co-38, Ce-144, and Sr-90 - Y-90 during periods when the concentrations of these nuclides are abnormally high (after large releases or the Chinese weapons tests) or abnormally low (during reactor refueling)

Infinity and Beyond

This paper attempts to explore the concept of infinity regarding the nature of God, by responding to several criticisms regarding the concept of an infinite being. Andrew Lavin, in his article The Theological use of Infinity explains that the concept of an infinite God is inconsistent, and suggests that a finite God would be more conceivable. This paper analyzes each of Lavin\u27s objections and his reasoning behind them as well as his understanding of the concept of infinity in itself

NONPARAMETRIC ANALYSIS OF PRODUCTION EFFICIENCY: DISCUSSION

Productivity Analysis,