Evaluating the effectiveness of response to intervention in ELA and Math for sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students

Abstract This study examined the combined effectiveness of Tier I and Tier II instruction in the context of a Response to Intervention framework with sixth, seventh and eighth grade students both in ELA and Math. The Tier I interventions emphasized topics from the Grade Level Expectations that the students were having difficulties grasping during regular classroom instruction. Tier II instruction mainly emphasized preparing students for the standardized iLEAP and LEAP tests. These students were then compared with a group of similar students who did not receive tiered instructions (control group). Students who participated in Tier I or Tier II instructions outperformed the control group in Math on standardized tests and the post tests. There was no significant difference found between the two groups in ELA

Between Nation and faith – A Study of Intersectional of Young Muslim Women in Swansea

Over the past two decades, Muslim women have been seen as either oppressed or socially incompatible with wider Western society. The hijab has been a topic of political debate and a physical marker of the “other”, making the study of Muslim women’s identities vital in order to counter discrimination. This is especially important when considering the second generation of Western Muslim young women. It is important to explore these identities not in isolation, but within the context of their multiple intersectional elements of race, ethnicity, gender, and faith. Identity has to be looked at within the wider spatial framework of how it is practiced in everyday life. In order to develop a better understanding of how these identities are formed, practised and understood within a social context and the broader framework of national identities, it has to be looked at within the wider spatial framework of how it is practised in everyday life. This thesis examines how identities of second generation Muslim Welsh women are constructed and expressed within everyday spaces and places. By using a mixture of approaches in methodology, findings were gathered by questioning 30 participants through interviews as well as focus groups, and by asking participants to collect visual images. The thesis investigates three key themes: the construction and embodied experiences of national and religious identities; gendered identities and feminism; and finally the sense of belonging to a collective religious or/and national Welsh identity. Through this we can access contemporary experiences of how young Muslim women living in Wales balance their identities when faced with the wider political, and social challenges of the society

Authentic Leadership, Employee Wellbeing and Employee Creativity: The Mediating Role of Knowledge Sharing

The role of authentic leadership has been stressed in the management literature. We have examined how an authentic leader can influence employee well-being, creativity and knowledge sharing in the context of Pakistan. The results derived from a sample of 200 project managers suggest that authentic leadership plays a significant role in creating a culture of knowledge sharing and creativity. Moreover, leaders are also concerned about the well-being of employees. In addition, authentic leaders through knowledge sharing influence employee creativity. The study recommends that managers should adopt an authentic leadership style as it creates a culture of knowledge sharing and give autonomy to workers. Moreover, authentic leaders are open to new ideas and welcome personal and organizational criticism. This helps employees to relieve their job-related stress which positively influences employee attitude and gives the firm a competitive edge.Keywords: Authentic leadership, knowledge sharing, employee well-being, employee creativity

Insights from Nursing Students about Factors Affecting and Strategies Supporting their Mental Health

Introduction: Nursing students experience high stress and mental health issues. It is essential to pay adequate attention to students’ mental health so they are trained to deliver quality patient care in complex settings. In order to provide a healthy environment to student nurses, it is essential that nursing students’ voices are heard. This study aims to explore nursing students’ perceptions about factors that influence their mental health and understand strategies that support mental health during nursing education. Methods: The study used an exploratory descriptive qualitative design to achieve the objective. Purposive sampling was used to recruit nursing students from a university representing undergraduate and graduate nursing programs. Data were collected using four focus group discussions. All discussions were audio recorded and transcribed. Coding was generated by the research team to drive key themes and sub themes. Results: The 28 participants identified teachers’ attitude, university environment and family responsibilities as key factors influencing their mental health. They also recommended several strategies for nursing institutions to promote students’ mental health during training. Conclusion: Nursing students are the future of healthcare systems. It is important that their mental health is given priority during nursing training. Promoting mental health would help nursing institutions create environments that foster health and well-being of students. These findings may also be useful for promoting mental health of students in other healthcare disciplines

Pakistani Elite Press and Public Agenda: The Case of Women Social Issues

This study attempts to find the correlation between the coverage of social issues of women by Pakistani elite press and the preferences of its readers regarding the coverage. The results show that Pakistani elite press has its own policy to give space and prominence by covering social issues of women in its contents and its readers are not agreed with its policy. The policy adopted by both dailies is different from each other. The News did not give more space and prominence to the issues in its coverage. The issues of murder and rape are on the top in the list of the agenda of The News. On the other hand, The daily Dawn has a policy to highlight the issues by covering them with more space and prominence. The issues of murder and women rights are on the top in the list of the agenda of Dawn. While in perspective of audience characteristics, the readers those higher in age, education, belong to social sciences, female, and married comparatively have more correspondence with the agenda of the dailies. The issues of murder, rape, and women rights have received maximum coverage by Pakistani elite press in overall coverage. Keywords: Elite, Newspapers, Women, Social, Issues, Dawn, New

Bayesian Analysis of Gamma Model with Laplace Approximation

Abstract: Among all the important failure time distributions, Gamma distribution is the one which is flexible, widely understood and offers a good fit to continuous, skewed reliability data. But the non availability of simple and closed forms of reliability and hazard functions of gamma model had restricted its use. This paper provides a solution to these problems in R by employing Laplace approximation for asymptotic evaluation of integrals. However, the whole demonstration is in Bayesian framework. The asymptotic results have been cross-verified with the simulation results. Real-world problems have been used for illustrative purposes

Training & Development, Organizational Commitment and Turnover Intentions in SMEs

Training and development is an important tool for motivating employees and increasing organizational performance. Therefore, we have developed a new model in which we have empirically tested four direct relationships, three mediating relationships, and one moderating effect. We have collected the data from selected SMEs in Karachi. A total of 410 questionnaires were distributed, and 385 valid responses were available. The instrument was adapted from earlier studies. We have used Smart PLS for data analysis. Of the four direct hypotheses, we found support for two of them. Similarly, we only found support for one indirect hypothesis and no support for the moderating relationship. The study found that antecedents “availability of training and managerial support for training†stimulate organizational commitment. However, we did not find any support for the “association between motivation to learn and organizational commitment†in Karachi SMEs. In contrast to earlier literature, we found that “organizational commitment stimulates turnover intentions.†Organizational commitment mediates (1) availability of training and turnover intentions, and (2) managerial support and turnover intentions. However, the study did not support organizational commitment’s mediating role on motivation to learn and turnover intentions. Similarly, constituent attachment did not have a moderating effect in our study

Enhancement of critical thinking in curriculum design and delivery: A randomized controlled trial for educators

Critical thinking is an important outcome criterion of higher education in any discipline including nursing. If nursing programs envisaged preparing graduates who are equipped with critical thinking, then the educators who plan and deliver the programs must exhibit higher level thinking in their teaching practices. This paper presents finding of the 1st phase of a National level research study that aims to assess, develop and enhance educators’ critical thinking capacity