Ninth-grade interventions and the impact on high school graduation rates

There is a need to become economically sensible when deciding on new school initiatives and reforms. This is partly due to increasing accountability and tightening school budgets. Hertzog & Morgan (1999) found the freshman year sets the tone for a student‟s entire high school career. Yet, frequently, ninth-graders struggle to feel connected to school and therefore experience failure. Often times this period of failure is related to the developmental process the ninth-grader experiences. Many ninth-graders struggle in various areas including behavioral growth, social pressures, and adjusting to the rigidity of high school (Mizelle & Irvin, 2000). Researchers have found that personalizing high school for the developmentally unique ninth-grader can lead to academic success (Klem & Connell, 2004). This study examined 15 specific interventions based on recommendations and strategies offered by Breaking Ranks II (NASSP, 2004). Principals of Michigan high schools of similar size and geography were asked to respond to a survey indicating their participation and implementation date of specific ninth-grade interventions. The data were analyzed through frequency tables, paired t-tests, repeated measures ANOVA, Pearson Product-Moment correlations, and a multiple regression analysis. Demographic data were also considered. Results indicate that participating schools generally implement some ninth-grade interventions. However, implementation does not necessarily result in a positive change in graduation rates. The results indicate a statistically significant relationship between transition program interventions and graduation rates and a marginally significant relationship between the looping interventions and graduation rates. Grouping interventions do not necessarily impact graduation rates. Results indicate that the year prior graduation rate is the largest predictor of graduation rates and that per pupil expenditure is a marginally significant predictor of graduation rates

Targeting Macrophytes: Increased Water Quality Through Optimized Vegetation Considerations for Constructed Wetlands

This study of constructed wetland design investigated relationships between macrophyte species selection and planting density for water quality improvement. A lab-scale wetland was compared against a pilot-scale wetland in San Antonio, Texas at Mitchell Lake to measure differences in effluent water quality improvement using three native macrophyte species. Using a novel, two-phase method, a targeting macrophyte was identified from among other species based on its marked capability for improving water quality factors, then was planted in varied majority densities to compare differences in treatment effectiveness. The results of this study showed that this complimentary approach to wetland design displayed significant improvement of certain treatment parameters than the evenly-planted species distribution of the pilot study. These findings demonstrate that constructed wetland design can be optimized by selecting and planting macrophytes based on their effectiveness in targeting site-specific water quality concerns by capitalizing on their individual traits within complex wetland systems

The Response of the Maine Food System to the Onset of COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 crisis had an immediate and extensive effect on food systems. Consumers suffered income shocks. Restaurants were forced to close. Wholesale markets for agricultural and seafood products disappeared. Retail food outlets had to balance increased demand, bottlenecks in their ability to resupply, and concerns for the health of their customers. Uncertainty about when these challenges would lessen contributed to the complexity of the decisions facing actors all throughout the system. The authors of this article bring together data from various sources to describe the response of the Maine food system to the onset of this crisis. Our descriptive analysis includes the actions, concerns, and adaptations of food producers, consumers, and vendors as they sought to weather and adapt to a challenging situation

The Figure in Art: Selections from the Gettysburg College Collection

The Figure in Art: Selections from the Gettysburg College Collection is the second annual exhibition curated by students enrolled in the Art History Methods class. This exhibition is an exciting academic endeavor and provides an incredible opportunity for engaged learning, research, and curatorial experience. The eleven student curators are Diane Brennan, Rebecca Duffy, Kristy Garcia, Megan Haugh, Dakota Homsey, Molly Lindberg, Kathya Lopez, Kelly Maguire, Kylie McBride, Carolyn McBrady and Erica Schaumberg. Their research presents a multifaceted view of the representation of figures in various art forms from different periods and cultures.https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/artcatalogs/1017/thumbnail.jp

Alien Registration- Mcbrady, Charles (Portland, Cumberland County)

https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/23725/thumbnail.jp

Teaching to Teach History: A Study of a University-Based System of Teacher Preparation

Both history and education courses comprise a significant portion of certification requirements for prospective history teachers. Teaching ambitiously requires mastery of many practices and bodies of knowledge, including disciplinary, pedagogical, and pedagogical content knowledge, learned in that history and education coursework. However, researchers have often treated history and education coursework separately. Missing from our understanding is how history and education courses impact each other’s depictions of teaching history, and what prospective teachers learn about history and teaching history in each setting. This study examines the intersection of history and education coursework by investigating what prospective teachers learn about how to teach history in different contexts. It follows instructors and prospective teachers in three courses offered in one semester at Indiana University: an American history survey, a social studies methods course, and a writing-intensive history seminar. Indiana University has a long history of historians interested in teaching, a School of Education with strong commitments to disciplinary literacy, and active cooperation across these two departments. As such, it presents a telling case for effective practices of preparing prospective history teachers across history and education courses. While at Indiana University, I observed and filmed courses, collected instructional materials, and regularly interviewed instructors and focal prospective teachers. I asked prospective teachers what they noticed from the courses and what they could imagine using from courses in their teaching. I coded transcripts of interviews and class sessions for the types of knowledge and practices presented by instructors and recognized by prospective teachers. I employed three frameworks of apprenticeship to analyze how instructors presented knowledge and practices: apprenticeship of observation, cognitive apprenticeship, and the framework of representation, decomposition, and approximation for teaching practice. In analyzing patterns of what prospective teachers noticed, I found that they often fell into a pitfall of experience: over-contextualizing based on the type of course. Even though historians used and discussed many laudable pedagogical practices, prospective teachers tended to focus on disciplinary knowledge in history courses, not viewing historians’ pedagogical practices as something they could or should adopt for their own classroom. Conversely, education instructors frequently presented disciplinary knowledge. However, in the context of an education course, prospective teachers tended to focus on pedagogical moves, while not focusing on the disciplinary knowledge. Additionally, I found actions that supported broadening prospective teachers’ professional vision to notice more in each type of course. Instructors employed metacognition in their teaching, explaining reasons for presenting instructional activities and how they aligned with instructional goals. Instructors reminded students frequently of their future careers as teachers. Education instructors thoughtfully selected historical knowledge to demonstrate pedagogical techniques and reinforced its importance. Finally, regularly asking prospective teachers what they noticed from courses led them to notice more. These findings suggest practices other institutions could use to strengthen teacher training and collaboration between schools of education and history departments, as well as practices that could improve history instruction at elementary, secondary, and collegiate levels.PHDEducational StudiesUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/140938/1/jmcbrady_1.pd

Alien Registration- Mcbrady, Charles (Portland, Cumberland County)

https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/23725/thumbnail.jp

Decoding the Disciplines as a Pedagogy of Teacher Education

This paper makes a conceptual argument for using the Decoding the Disciplines research paradigm as a pedagogical innovation in the field of teacher education. It incorporates empirical findings from a research project in which teacher candidates conduct Decoding interviews to deepen understanding of historical thinking and learn pedagogical practices. Results indicate teacher candidates benefitted from conducting Decoding the Disciplines research and saw connections between that research and their future practice