Support for Instructional Leadership: Supervision, Mentoring, and Professional Development for U.S. School Leaders - Findings from the American School Leader Panel

With school leadership second only to teaching among school-related influences on student learning, principals can play an important role in school success. But how do their districts promote their effectiveness, especially in improving teaching? Based on a survey of the American School Leader Panel, a representative sample of principals from across the United States, this report explores the prevalence and quality of three important on-the-job supports for school leaders: supervision, mentorship and professional development (as defined by at least a day focused on principals). The good news is that two-thirds of principals report receiving some support. The bad news is that more than two thirds (68 percent) report that they don't receive all three sources of help. Mentoring, for example, is typically available only to first- or second-year principals or those encountering difficulties on the job, and only a minority of principals report that their districts require mentoring, even for first-year (49 percent of respondents) or struggling principals (21 percent). Also, the prevalence of support a principal receives may depend on the size of his or her school district. Both mentoring and professional development are more readily available in larger and medium-sized districts than smaller ones. The value principals place on the support they receive is linked to whether the support emphasizes the key aspect of principals' job—improving teachers' instruction. For example, all of the principals (100 percent) who reported that their mentors focused on instruction to a great extent also said that they prized the mentoring. That compares with a minority (40 percent) of principals who said their mentors devoted little to no time to instruction

Children’s Literature, Translation and Censorship: The Spanish Translations of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn under Franco’s Dictatorship (1939-1975)

Children’s literature usually consists of texts that are written by adults for a child readership. This situation results in children’s literature operating as an adult-constructed notion, based on assumptions about children and childhood. Due to children’s literature being a constructed notion, a space for adult manipulation of texts for children is thus created. Subsequently, texts written for children are often imbued with adult ideologies. This also occurs in the translation of children’s literature. In order to explore the influences of adult ideological agendas on the translation of children’s literature, this thesis examines the production of texts translated for children under state censorship during Franco’s Spain (1939-1975), with a particular focus on the translations of Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885). Through a comparative study of the distinct versions of the translations of the novel, produced across different stages of Franco’s dictatorship, along with the censorship records, this study will uncover how certain Issues of the novel have induced translation problems, due to the politico-ideological constraints that the receptor system imposed on the production of texts translated for children. At the same time, through a detailed examination of the translators’ solutions to the translation problems present in Huckleberry Finn, this study will also shed light on the dynamics of children’s literary system: despite the constraints imposed by the regime on texts translated for children, methods were designed so as to tackle and even to challenge the censorship constraints. Lastly, this study also highlights the way that theories developed in translation studies can enhance children’s literature studies and vice versa

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in women after Hurricane Katrina: predictors and symptom endorsement

Hurricane Katrina devastated areas of New Orleans and caused the evacuation of most of the city’s residents. Many people were exposed to dangerous storms and flooding and lost many of their possessions. One of the most common psychological disorders following a disaster is Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. This study describes the PTSD symptom endorsement of a sample of women who experienced Hurricane Katrina. In addition, many of these women had previous trauma histories which are also described. Participants included 287 women from New Orleans, Jefferson and East Baton Rouge Parish recruited for a larger study on mother’s and children’s psychological functioning in the aftermath of Katrina. Participants completed the Posttraumatic Stress Diagnostic Scale and a hurricane exposure questionnaire at 4-7 months (T1) and 14-17 months (T2) post-Katrina. Trauma history, hurricane exposure and demographic variables such as race, income and education were entered into a regression analysis to predict PTSD symptom severity at Time 1. These variables and PTSD symptom severity at T1 were entered into a second regression analysis to predict PTSD symptom severity at T2. At T1, hurricane exposure, trauma history and education predicted T1 PTSD symptom severity. At T2, only T1 PTSD symptom severity was significantly predictive of T2 PTSD symptom severity. Results of the analyses and the description of symptom endorsement are discussed in light of current criticisms about the conceptualization of PTSD

Longitudinal predictors of school problems in youth affected by Hurricane Katrina

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, youth faced significant disruption to their lives due to the storm damage and, for many, long-term evacuation. One domain of functioning that faced significant threat because of this disruption was student engagement. The purpose of this study was to examine predictors of student engagement, as measured by the BASC-2-SRP School Problems scale, in youth affected by the Hurricane Katrina over four time points (3-7 months, 13-17 months, 19-22 months and 25-27 months post-Katrina). Participants included 426 youths living in New Orleans and the surrounding parishes at the time Hurricane Katrina made land-fall. Examined predictors included hurricane exposure, PTSD symptoms, peer and parent social support, violence exposure, internalizing problems, and externalizing problems. Analyses included repeated measures ANOVA and hierarchical regression. Results indicated stability in student engagement, internalizing problems, externalizing problems, and violence exposure across time. PTSD symptom severity decreased over time. Social support increased over time. Predictors at Time 1 showed decreasing influence and were no longer significant by Time 4. Analyses showed an evolving picture of predictors of student engagement over time

The influence of ambient environment on the growth and fitness of glyphosate-resistant and -susceptible giant ragweed (Ambrosia trifida L.) biotypes

Glyphosate-resistant giant ragweed can be found in agricultural fields throughout the mid-western United States and southwestern Ontario. Environmental factors can influence growth and herbicide efficacy in C3 plant species. I measured the aboveground injury to resistant and susceptible seedlings for 28 d following glyphosate treatment to test the hypothesis that young leaf stages would be more susceptible to glyphosate under warm, dry, low-CO2 conditions. Glyphosate-resistance was not affected by environmental factors, leaf stage, or glyphosate dose, but plants grown at the highest temperature after spray had the least glyphosate injury. Resistant alleles may be associated with fitness penalties because they are rare in populations without herbicide selection pressures; however, in a greenhouse trial, resistant biotypes recovered from glyphosate injury and produced seeds. My results suggest that potentially stressful growth conditions and treatment at young growth stages will not improve the control of resistant giant ragweed biotypes

Youth Agency and Ideology: La Movida and the Demise of the Francoist Regime

Review of: Valencia-García, Louie Dean. Antiauthoritarian Youth Culture in Francoist Spain: Clashing with Fascism. Bloomsbury, 2018