Valedictorians in the Making: A Study of Influential Factors Affecting Student Success

This study uncovers the sources of motivation and perseverance which drove valedictorians to relentlessly achieve to the highest degree throughout their educational careers. These findings reveal factors which could positively affect lower ranking students. Hearing from those who achieved academic success brings clarity to PK-12 educators regarding the most effective strategies to boost struggling learners. A qualitative case study of 15 valedictorians from the Midwestern United States involved learning how highest-ranking high school graduates describe their PK-12 experiences and achievement story. Interviews with valedictorians provided an in-depth look at how their experiences affected class rank. Factors in their journey which proved most influential to their success highlight the need for change in our schools. Exploring experiences from valedictorians with various demographics provided insights regarding home life, school, and peers. This study revealed mindsets of each student along with habits and priorities. The findings of this research uncovered the influences in the lives of valedictorians including families, teachers, schools, and peers. Additionally, faith and significant artifacts shaped their lives, both personally and academically. These influences lead to the development of personal qualities. Personal qualities significant to valedictorians’ success were extensive. The mindset, ability to manage time, and personality type all influenced the students’ achievements. Attitude, confidence, and habits also played a role in their success. The findings revealed adversities which valedictorians were subject to throughout their educational experiences. These adversities, as varied as the difficulties all students face, ranged from peer suicide to broken families, a pandemic, and mobility. Through all these issues, students used the resources of their influencers as well as the personal qualities they developed to work through and overcome the adversities they faced. Based on the analysis of these findings, recommendations for families and schools, and communities focused on building robust supports for students. In addition, teaching strong personal qualities at a young age promotes a healthy mindset. Finally, teaching students to balance life as a life-long skill ensures success beyond high school

Special education and general education teacher attitudes toward inclusion

Includes bibliographical references

Neurophysiologic Investigation of the Auditory What and Where Pathways in Young and Middle-Aged Adults

When a sound is heard, individuals intrinsically attempt to identify the sound and its location. This automatic and parallel processing is known as the auditory “what” and “where” pathways. The present study involved the neurophysiologic investigation of the auditory dual pathways in an attention and working memory task as a function of age. Using identical stimuli, event-related potentials were measured in young and middle-aged adults with normal hearing for both pitch identification (“what” pathway) and location (“where” pathway). Results showed differences in cortical processing of the “what” and “where” pathways as a function of age and task instruction. Although processing differences of the “what” and “where” pathways have been reported, this study investigated early age-related changes in the auditory dual pathways. In the attention task, young adults displayed increased P3 amplitude for the “what” compared to “where” pathway. On the contrary, middle-age participants displayed similar P3 amplitudes for both the “what” and “where” tasks. In the working memory task, middle-aged adults displayed greater reliance on working memory (as evidenced by increased sustained frontal negativity) in the “what” compared to “where” pathway while young adults showed equal processing effort. Our findings indicate the “what” pathway is more sensitive to age-related changes than the “where” pathway

The Use of Cortisol and HbA1c as Biomarkers of Stress in University Administrators

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of perceived stress and cardiorespiratory fitness on cortisol and HbA1c, biomarkers of stress, in a group of select university administrators. The impact of gender on these relationships was of special concern. METHODS: University administrators with job titles of Chancellor, Provost, Vice Chancellors and Vice Provosts of the university, and Deans and Associate Deans at the college level were recruited. Twenty-five administrators (15 males and 10 females) agreed to participate and completed a battery of assessments that included completion of the University Administrative Concerns Questionnaire, a finger-stick blood test for HbA1c, estimation of cardiorespiratory fitness, and analysis of salivary cortisol over the course of two days. Data were analyzed using a series of unpaired t-tests to examine gender differences in the variables of interest. The relationships between variables were examined separately for the genders using multiple regression analyses. RESULTS: The results of the gender comparisons revealed that men and women scored similarly on the variables of perceived administrative stress, t (23) = 0.50 p = .62, cardiorespiratory fitness, t (23) = -1.28 p = .21, and HbA1c, t (23) = -0.57 p = .57. However there was a significant difference for cortisol AUC, t (23) = -3.00 p = .0064, with males having significantly greater cortisol concentrations. The effect sizes for these analyses were small to moderate, except for cortisol AUC, where a large (d = 1.22) effect was found. The results of the multiple regression analyses indicated that neither cortisol AUC or HbA1c were significantly predicted by perceived stress and cardiorespiratory fitness in either gender. However, prediction of HbA1c for females did account for a promising 42% of the variance, with fitness accounting for more of variability than perceived stress. Despite the lack of predictive power, the analyses revealed several gender differences in the magnitude and direction of the correlations between variables. This indicates that despite similar mean values for stress and fitness related variables, the relationships between the variables may be different for men and women, warranting further research

Special Education Teacher Retention in Small Schools

Special education teacher attrition is a widespread problem in the United States (Billingsley 2005; Boe, 2006; Duffy & Forgan, 2005). Although researchers have explored factors that increase special education teacher retention, such as increased involvement from administrators, more time for collaboration with general education teachers, and limits on caseloads to maintain appropriate work loads, the perspective of experienced special education teachers in small primary schools (schools with fewer than 500 students serving pre-kindergarten through third grade) has received little attention. Small schools have many advantages, but special educators in small schools face some particular issues, including the fact that they typically have few special education colleagues, must often work with students and teachers in multiple grade levels, and must accommodate caseloads increasing in size throughout the year as many students become eligible for services in the early grades. To gain the perspective of special education teachers regarding the factors contributing to their decisions to stay in small schools, I have designed a multiple-case study in the context of a small school district. This inquiry is intended to fill the gap in the retention literature by surveying and interviewing special educators working in small schools. The primary research question is: From the perspective of experienced special education teachers serving pre-kindergarten (PK) and kindergarten through third grade (K-3) students in small schools, what kinds of organizational and individual characteristics influence their decision to continue teaching special education in a small school? INDEX WORDS: Special education, Small schools, Attrition, Retentio

Teaching homophones in grades one, two and three

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit

Teaching Dante\u27s \u27Divine Comedy\u27 in 21st-century America: A conversation with Kristina Marie Olson

Kristina Marie Olson is Associate Professor of Italian at George Mason University in Virginia. She is a member of the editorial board of Bibliotheca Dantesca and the President of the American Boccaccio Association. Together with Christopher Kleinhenz, she edited the volume Approaches to Teaching Dante’s Divine Comedy, which follows a first edition in 1982, edited by Carole Slade

What happened to the Coffeehouse, and what stands in its place today?

Abbot Pennings answers a question about the history of the Coffeehouse, archived from the SNC website

Policy-Making and Connections to Violence: A Case Study of India

This paper explores the role of identity-based, or discriminatory, policy in facilitating the outbreak of ethnopolitical violence in India. A discriminatory policy is the merging of communal group identity with the state apparatus. It is argued that as the Indian government enacts policies beneficial or discriminatory to particular identity groups within the country, other groups feel threatened. Groups who feel disadvantaged by the policy may begin to fear for their own security and political interests motivating them to rebel. When focusing on Indian policy and ethnopolitical violence during the period 1945 to 2000, the authors find that, although there are many cases of seemingly spontaneous episodes of violence, when identitybased policies do occur, they are often followed by violence and/or protest