Safe Proms in High-Risk Times

In the spring of Pete\u27s senior year, Jeri told me that he was probably going to stop keeping his secret and would likely bring his boyfriend to the prom. I exhaled a heavy combination of a laugh and a scoff. You\u27ve got to talk him out of it, I said, matter-of- factly. My initial response had no relationship to my feelings toward the morality of homosexuality, nor did it result from any deeply held philosophical or religious views on homosexuality. The gut level response came, sadly, from a purely administrative, managerial, try to keep the lid on mentality. We talked about the potential reactions, mainly on the part of the students. We both had concerns about Pete\u27s elementary-age siblings, who also attended the school. To be sure, my initial reaction was selfish, which is not something I\u27m proud of. Looking back, what bothers me most is that my initial reaction of self-pity has to pale in comparison to the needs of a young man who is trying to find his way in the world and who had not felt comfortable and confident enough to end his charade, even in his home school and community

Safe Proms in High-Risk Times

In the spring of Pete\u27s senior year, Jeri told me that he was probably going to stop keeping his secret and would likely bring his boyfriend to the prom. I exhaled a heavy combination of a laugh and a scoff. You\u27ve got to talk him out of it, I said, matter-of- factly. My initial response had no relationship to my feelings toward the morality of homosexuality, nor did it result from any deeply held philosophical or religious views on homosexuality. The gut level response came, sadly, from a purely administrative, managerial, try to keep the lid on mentality. We talked about the potential reactions, mainly on the part of the students. We both had concerns about Pete\u27s elementary-age siblings, who also attended the school. To be sure, my initial reaction was selfish, which is not something I\u27m proud of. Looking back, what bothers me most is that my initial reaction of self-pity has to pale in comparison to the needs of a young man who is trying to find his way in the world and who had not felt comfortable and confident enough to end his charade, even in his home school and community

Playing for Keeps

Research shows that recess can contribute to student achlevement and the well-being of children. Unfortunately, academic pressures are pushing recess out of the school day. It\u27s always amusing when children respond to the age-old What\u27s your favorite class question with, Recess! Many of us answered the question the same way as the youngsters do. Recess, we know, is an essential component of the elementary school day. Research points to the importance of outdoor play and how essential it is to the well-being of students. A 2010 study by the Robert Wood Jolmson Foundation revealed that 96 percent of principals surveyed believe that recess has a positive impact on social development. Nearly eight in 10 principals in the same study reported that recess has a positive impact on academic achievement. Despite this, many districts have slashed recess in response to increasing pressures related to NCLB and a drive to increase test scores. School leaders may find it hard to achieve a balance. On one hand, pressure to avoid assorted watch lists continues to intensify, budgets are stressed. and more instructional time must be found. On the other hand, schools seek to temper this high-stakes atmosphere by meeting students\u27 affective, developmental, and social needs. A growing number of schools have chosen to eliminate or reduce recess time in all effort to increase instructional time and test scores. To further investigate current recess trends, we at the National Program for Playground Safety, with the Educational Leadership program at the University of Northern Iowa, conducted a study of Iowa public school principals\u27 perceptions of recess and district playground policies. A summary of the findings offers good news for schools caught between the rock and hard place of the value of recess versus achievement pressure. The findings yielded four recommendations that can easily be implemented with little to no expense

Playing for Keeps

Research shows that recess can contribute to student achlevement and the well-being of children. Unfortunately, academic pressures are pushing recess out of the school day. It\u27s always amusing when children respond to the age-old What\u27s your favorite class question with, Recess! Many of us answered the question the same way as the youngsters do. Recess, we know, is an essential component of the elementary school day. Research points to the importance of outdoor play and how essential it is to the well-being of students. A 2010 study by the Robert Wood Jolmson Foundation revealed that 96 percent of principals surveyed believe that recess has a positive impact on social development. Nearly eight in 10 principals in the same study reported that recess has a positive impact on academic achievement. Despite this, many districts have slashed recess in response to increasing pressures related to NCLB and a drive to increase test scores. School leaders may find it hard to achieve a balance. On one hand, pressure to avoid assorted watch lists continues to intensify, budgets are stressed. and more instructional time must be found. On the other hand, schools seek to temper this high-stakes atmosphere by meeting students\u27 affective, developmental, and social needs. A growing number of schools have chosen to eliminate or reduce recess time in all effort to increase instructional time and test scores. To further investigate current recess trends, we at the National Program for Playground Safety, with the Educational Leadership program at the University of Northern Iowa, conducted a study of Iowa public school principals\u27 perceptions of recess and district playground policies. A summary of the findings offers good news for schools caught between the rock and hard place of the value of recess versus achievement pressure. The findings yielded four recommendations that can easily be implemented with little to no expense

Champion or Chump: Using a Book-Length Case Study to Evaluate a Mythical Principal

This study examined how 130 participants enrolled in the University of Northern Iowa (UNI) principalship program completed a standards-based evaluation after reading a book-length case study of a mythical principal. Application of the Iowa Standards for School Leaders (ISSL), which mirror the Interstate School Leadership Licensure Consortium (ISLLC) and Educational Leadership Constituency Council (ELCC) standards reveal widespread agreement on the principal\u27s performance related to vision, instruction, management, collaboration and politics. However, participants were distinctly split as to the mythical principal\u27s ethics. The authors discuss potential responses to literature that identify many programs as weak and inadequate by providing more authentic and rigorous experiences around ethics and other practical issues for preservice principals

Voices in the Hallway: Three Rural Iowa Schools

Students,faculty, administration, and community members of three Iowa rural school districts were interviewed to identify educational issues in their communities The results of the Iowa investigation are compared with the results of the Claremont Graduate School investigation published in Voices from the inside: A report on schooling from inside the classroom (1992). The Claremont study investigated large urban schools. The Iowa study provides insight into small, rural school districts. Although similar issues emerged from the two studies, other issues demonstrated the different realities of education in rural Iowa and education in a large culturally diverse urban setting

Come out, stay out, stand out: Eight stories of gay and lesbian high school students

Existing research, though limited, portrays a bleak picture for gay and lesbian students. The majority of the literature is of a quantitative nature and often reveals many challenges for gay.and lesbian students, including verbal and physical harassment, low self-esteem, poor grades, and a particularly high risk of suicide, among other dangers. As a result, many gay and lesbian students remain in the closet. In 2000 a scholarship was established in honor of Matthew Shepard, a University of Wyoming student who was the victim of an anti-gay murder. The Matthew Shepard Scholarship is a privately-funded award given annually to openly gay and lesbian high school students in Iowa, covering books, tuition, and fees at an Iowa regents\u27 institution. While sexual orientation has commanded significant attention in the media and political landscape, research into the school experiences of gay and lesbian high school students, particularly research of a qualitative nature that captures the nuances and uniqueness of students\u27 individual experiences, is notably lacking. Eight Matthew Shepard Scholarship winners were interviewed in this qualitative inquiry to gain an understanding of their lives and school experiences. Triangulated indepth interviews were analyzed to identify emerging themes. Their experiences reveal that, while each faced significant challenges related to their sexual orientation, they are much like their heterosexual peers in terms of a universal human need for acceptance. Coming out was a turning point for gaining acceptance, which in tum allowed them to ultimately be selected as Matthew Shepard Scholars. Their status as scholarship winners further enhanced their lives, despite the burdens of being gay or lesbian in a homophobic society. The research offers a number of implications for educators. Among them are the importance of acceptance and a need for greater awareness from educators in addressing homophobic and hostile school atmospheres. The results also demonstrate a desire among the students to bring about change through existing channels. It also identifies a need for more research into gay and lesbian students\u27 experiences and the need to acknowledge the presence of gay and lesbian students in all types of school settings

Weighing In: Rural Iowa Principals’ Perceptions of State-Mandated Teaching Evaluation Standards

As the accountability movement has gained momentum, policy makers and educators have strived to strike a difficult balance between the sometimes competing demands at the local, state, and federal levels. Efforts to improve accountability and teacher evaluation have taken an especially unique route in Iowa, where local control and resistance to state mandated curricular standards have been popular topics from the statehouse to the convenience store. This research explores principals’ impressions of Iowa’s state-mandated standards for best-practice teaching (as opposed to state mandated curricular standards). Further, the research examined the extent to which the Iowa Teaching Standards (ITS) and accompanying Iowa Evaluator Approval Training Program (IEATP) have impacted the way teacher evaluations are conducted in the state’s rural schools. Evidence indicates that most principals felt that ITS and the accompanying IEATP made them feel adequately or very well prepared to conduct teacher evaluations. In addition, 65% of respondents reported that IAETP had changed the way teachers are evaluated

Graduate Program Redesign to Prepare 21st Century Educational Leaders

The content of this article is focused on the theme of curriculum renewal and redesign in three university-based principal preparation programs from diverse sections of the country: Campbell University in North Carolina, the University of Northern Iowa, and the University of Texas at Brownsville.Questions originally posed to representatives of the three principal preparation programs were as follows: • To what state or national standards are the programs aligned?• How did program faculty engage in curriculum redesign and ongoing renewal?• What delivery systems are offered: cohort, online, hybrid, etc.?• How are field experiences and internships conducted?• How do faculty members assess candidates’ mastery of standards-aligned competencies? The redesign processes undertaken by faculty members from the three leadership preparation programs were explored by addressing common components culled from the questions: standards, curriculum renewal and redesign, field experiences and internships, assessment, and lessons learned. Conclusions summarize the common points that have made the processes successful. It is the authors’ hope that the lessons learned from our combined experiences with principal preparation program redesign will be helpful to educational leadership faculty members engaged in similar processes at other colleges or universities

Advanced power sources for space missions

Approaches to satisfying the power requirements of space-based Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) missions are studied. The power requirements for non-SDI military space missions and for civil space missions of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) are also considered. The more demanding SDI power requirements appear to encompass many, if not all, of the power requirements for those missions. Study results indicate that practical fulfillment of SDI requirements will necessitate substantial advances in the state of the art of power technology. SDI goals include the capability to operate space-based beam weapons, sometimes referred to as directed-energy weapons. Such weapons pose unprecedented power requirements, both during preparation for battle and during battle conditions. The power regimes for these two sets of applications are referred to as alert mode and burst mode, respectively. Alert-mode power requirements are presently stated to range from about 100 kW to a few megawatts for cumulative durations of about a year or more. Burst-mode power requirements are roughly estimated to range from tens to hundreds of megawatts for durations of a few hundred to a few thousand seconds. There are two likely energy sources, chemical and nuclear, for powering SDI directed-energy weapons during the alert and burst modes. The choice between chemical and nuclear space power systems depends in large part on the total duration during which power must be provided. Complete study findings, conclusions, and eight recommendations are reported