A study examining the impact of scaffolding young children\u27s acquisition of literacy in primary grades

This case study explores the implementation of scaffolding in literacy learning in a first grade classroom setting. The complexities and nuisances of scaffolding present in the elementary school classroom context during reading and writing instruction are examined. Ten first graders, five from a pilot study an five from the case study, are followed in reading and writing in a public school classroom. Themes indicate that students in lower elementary grades benefit from reading and writing instruction that include the following strategic elements: 1) leveled predictable texts; 2) small group guided reading and writing instruction; 3) systematic, strategic instruction based upon performance-based observation of student\u27s interaction with texts and self-generated writing; 4)integration of reading and writing lessons; and 5) teacher/student dialogues and conversations supporting language acquisition and development of student understandings

The Summit on Creativity and Aging in America

This report looks at how the federal government can leverage the arts to foster healthy aging and inclusive design for this growing population. This white paper features recommendations from the May 2015 Summit on Creativity and Aging in America, a convening of more than 70 experts hosted by the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Center for Creative Aging. The paper highlights recommendations on healthy aging, lifelong learning in the arts, and age-friendly community design. The summit was a precursor to the 2015 White House Conference on Aging, which addressed four major issues: retirement security, long-term services and supports, healthy aging, and elder abuse

The Index of Global Philanthropy 2007

The 2007 index presents a comparison of all developed countries' aid -- government as well as private -- to the developing world. The new index reveals that U.S. private giving in 2005 (latest available data), in the form of money, volunteer time, goods, and expertise to the developing world was at least $95 billion, compared with$27.6 billion in U.S. government aid abroad

Representational predicaments at three Hong Kong sites

Representational predicaments arise when a job incumbent believes that attributions and images assumed by dominant authorities unfavourably ignore, or disproportionately and unfavourably emphasize, aspects of the incumbent\u27s own work and social identity. This is likely to happen when the incumbent does not have a close relationship with a dominant authority, and when power asymmetries give the former relatively little control over which aspects of their work and social identity are made visible or invisible to the latter. We draw on critical incident interviews from three organizations to illustrate a typology of six types of representational predicament: invasive spotlighting, idiosyncratic spotlighting, embedded background work, paradoxical social visibility, standardization of work processes, and standardization of work outputs. We analyse responses to representational predicaments according to whether they entailed exit, voice, loyalty, or neglect. Incumbents tended to respond with loyalty if they felt able and willing to accommodate their work behaviour and/or social identity to the dominant representations, and if there were sufficient compensatory factors, such as intrinsic rewards from the work or solidarity with colleagues. Exit or neglect appeared to reflect the belief that it was impossible to accommodate. Power asymmetries appeared to deter voice. Individual employees with a close and cordial working relationship with a member of a dominant authority group, or who were relationally networked to one, appeared not to experience representational predicaments

The Relationship of Maternal Prepregnancy Body Mass Index and Pregnancy Weight Gain to Neurocognitive Function at Age 10 Years among Children Born Extremely Preterm

OBJECTIVE: To assess the association between maternal prepregnancy body mass index and adequacy of pregnancy weight gain in relation to neurocognitive function in school-aged children born extremely preterm. STUDY DESIGN: Study participants were 535 ten-year-old children enrolled previously in the prospective multicenter Extremely Low Gestational Age Newborns cohort study who were products of singleton pregnancies. Soon after delivery, mothers provided information about prepregnancy weight. Prepregnancy body mass index and adequacy of weight gain were characterized based on this information. Children underwent a neurocognitive evaluation at 10 years of age. RESULTS: Maternal prepregnancy obesity was associated with increased odds of a lower score for Differential Ability Scales-II Verbal IQ, for Developmental Neuropsychological Assessment-II measures of processing speed and visual fine motor control, and for Wechsler Individual Achievement Test-III Spelling. Children born to mothers who gained an excessive amount of weight were at increased odds of a low score on the Oral and Written Language Scales Oral Expression assessment. Conversely, children whose mother did not gain an adequate amount of weight were at increased odds of a lower score on the Oral and Written Language Scales Oral Expression and Wechsler Individual Achievement Test-III Word Reading assessments. CONCLUSION: In this cohort of infants born extremely preterm, maternal obesity was associated with poorer performance on some assessments of neurocognitive function. Our findings are consistent with the observational and experimental literature and suggest that opportunities may exist to mitigate risk through education and behavioral intervention before pregnancy

The Relationship Between Parenting and Delinquency: A Meta-analysis

This meta-analysis of 161 published and unpublished manuscripts was conducted to determine whether the association between parenting and delinquency exists and what the magnitude of this linkage is. The strongest links were found for parental monitoring, psychological control, and negative aspects of support such as rejection and hostility, accounting for up to 11% of the variance in delinquency. Several effect sizes were moderated by parent and child gender, child age, informant on parenting, and delinquency type, indicating that some parenting behaviors are more important for particular contexts or subsamples. Although both dimensions of warmth and support seem to be important, surprisingly very few studies focused on parenting styles. Furthermore, fewer than 20% of the studies focused on parenting behavior of fathers, despite the fact that the effect of poor support by fathers was larger than poor maternal support, particularly for sons. Implications for theory and parenting are discussed

Entre femmes

Frauen untereinander. Die Untersuchung der Beziehung zwischen amerikanischen schwarzen Hausangestelltinnen und deren weißen Chefinnen gilt der Erforschung einer Situation, in der drei Typen von Macht am Werk sind : Macht gegründet auf der Hierarchie der Klassen, der Rassen und der Geschlechter (gender). Die Analyse der Arbeitsbedingungen und der Art, in der jede der Frauen diese Situation erlebt, deckt die Bedeutung auf, die zwischenmenschlichen Ritualen der Ehrerbietung und des Maternalismus zukommen. Sie sind (wie niedriger Lohn und fehlendes Prestige) dieser Beziehung inhärent und erfüllen eine zentrale ideologishe Funktion ; diese wiederum hilft, das Weiterbestehen dieser Form von Arbeit und die Fortdauer eines auf Ungleichheiten begründeten sozialen Systems zu erklären.Between Women. This article examimes the mistress-servant relationship by focusing on African American household workers and their white employers in contemporary Boston. The discussion includes a description of the conditions of work (the labor, hours, pay, etc.), of women's reasons for becoming employers or domestics, of the meaning of the labor arrangement to the women involved, and of the salient interpersonal rituals of the relationship. The patterns that emerge suggest why this occupation has been so ubiquitous throughout the history of stratified societies : the conditions of work and the psychodynamics of the relationship support -both materially and ideologically- the maintenance of class, gender, and racial inequality.Entre femmes. A travers l'étude des relations qui s'établissent entre les domestiques noires américaines et leurs patronnes blanches, on se propose d 'explorer une situation qui met en oeuvre trois types de pouvoir fondés sur la hiérarchie entre les classes, les races et les sexes (gender). L'analyse des conditions de travail et de la manière dont chacune des femmes vit la situation, révèle l'importance des rituels interpersonnels de déférence et de maternalisme qui sont inhérents à cette relation (au même titre que les bas salaires et l'absence de prestige) et qui remplissent une fonction idéologique primordiale. Cette fonction contribue à expliquer la perpétuation de cette forme de travail et la persistance d'un système social fondé sur les inégalités.Rollins Judith. Entre femmes . In: Actes de la recherche en sciences sociales. Vol. 84, septembre 1990. Masculin/féminin-2. pp. 63-77