Exploring Teacher Attitudes, Experiences, and Beliefs of the Development and Implementation of Faculty Data Teams (TM) in a Midwestern School District

Purpose. The purpose of this study was to describe the development and implementation of Data Teams™ in a Midwestern school district and to explore what influenced teachers to become effective team members. It analyzed the product and process of creating Data Teams™ who competently used data to make academic standards work by identifying power standards, analyzing data, setting goals, implementing research-based effective teaching strategies, and assessing student performance and adult behaviors that had a direct impact on student achievement. Method. A qualitative case study design was used for this investigation as it explored the narratives of 10 elementary teachers on their life experiences, attitudes, and beliefs from serving on Data Teams™. Results. In response to the first research question—What life experiences have helped to sculpt elementary teachers into effective Data Teams™?—the primary life experiences identified by the teachers were past experiences, collaboration, and relationships. In response to the second research question—What influenced individual members to become cooperative collaborators?—the primary themes in collaboration were a positive attitude, the perceived benefits of collaboration, and a collaborative mind-set. In response to the third research question—How did individual teacher experiences, attitudes, and beliefs impact the work of Data Teams™–the primary themes identified were roles and fidelity to the norms of collaboration, deep implementation of the model, and high standards. Conclusion. Members of the Data Teams™ agreed that their experiences in collaboration prior to their participation in Data Teams™ allowed them to build relationships with teachers that are essential to effective collaboration. Additionally, they agreed that the development of a positive attitude towards collaboration, coupled with an understanding of the benefits associated with collaboration, helped to develop a collaborative mind-set. Furthermore, they agreed that developing and operating under norms of collaboration were essential to team success. Also, they agreed that deep implementation of the Data Team™ process was essential for student improvement. Finally, they agreed that it was important to set high standards and goals that were both realistic and achievable

Signals of nonlinear, multiscale and stochastic processes in coastal landscapes

Salt marshes are some of the most productive and valuable landscapes on earth, but they are vulnerable to the effects of sea-level rise, erosion and eutrophication. These processes act on a wide range of temporal and spatial scales, which complicate assessments of the health and stability of marsh ecosystems. High-frequency monitoring using in situ sensors captures the complete range of these dynamics, but extracting meaningful physical and ecological information from these signals requires process-based models coupled with statistical techniques. I develop and apply such methods to study two coastal landscapes, a coastal pine forest on the Eastern Shore of Virginia and a mesotidal salt marsh complex in the Plum Island Estuary, Massachusetts. Observations from groundwater wells in the Virginia pine forest indicate that storms are the dominant controls on the hydrology of the forest and that tidal influence is nonexistent. This forest exhibits a distinct spatial pattern in age structure in which young trees do not grow at low elevations. This pattern can be explained by a model that includes the interaction of sea-level rise, storms and the age-dependent variation in tree stress response, which predicts that the long-term evolution of the boundary is an ecological ratchet. Stresses due to sea-level rise slowly push the boundary at which young trees can survive upslope. Powerful storms then kill the mature, persistent forest at low elevations, which quickly pushes the forest boundary up to the regeneration boundary. Salt marshes need to accumulate sediment to replenish material lost as sea-level rises and creek banks erode. Fluxes of sediment can be monitored with simultaneous high-frequency observations of flow from acoustic Doppler current profilers and turbidity from optical backscattering sensors. I first investigate the relationship between water level and flow in marsh channels and develop predictive stage-discharge models to simplify the monitoring of fluxes. I then construct sediment budgets for eleven salt marshes in the Plum Island Estuary. The observed budgets depend strongly on the unique hydrodynamic conditions of each marsh channel. Variability in these conditions leads to the observed spatial and temporal variability in sediment fluxes from these marshes

James W. Vanstone 1925-2001

James W. VanStone died suddenly of heart failure on February 28, 2001 at the age of 75.... VanStone was one of anthropology's foremost and most prolific northern scholars.... Although VanStone's master's work was on Plains archaeology, we are fortunate that he met fellow Penn graduate student J. Louis Giddings and began to look north. In 1950, Jim accompanied Giddings to Norton Sound, Alaska, where they tested archaeological sites between Golovnin Bay and Shaktoolik and carried out the third season's excavation at Cape Denbigh.... In 1951, VanStone inherited the position formerly held by Giddings at the University of Alaska. While in Fairbanks, he did archaeological surveys and excavations on Nunivak Island, the Copper River, and the Kenai Peninsula. With Wendell Oswalt, VanStone co-founded Anthropological Papers of the University of Alaska. During this period, Jim authored a number of papers. Perhaps the most significant was "Russian Exploration in Interior Alaska, an Extract from the Journal of Andrei Glazunov ... one of the first modern uses of Russian-language sources in Alaskan anthropology. Also during this period, he spent a full year living in Point Hope, the result of which was Point Hope: an Eskimo Village in Transition ... which remains a seminal work on Alaskan Eskimo modernization. Jim left the University of Alaska in 1958 and spent a year "bumming around Europe.... After his return to the United States, VanStone accepted a position at the University of Toronto, where he remained until 1966. While at Toronto, he initiated and carried out several significant projects, including ethnographic studies among the Chipewyan at Lutselk'e (formerly Snowdrift) and ethnohistorical and ethnoarchaeological studies in southwestern Alaska. VanStone and Wendell Oswalt's excavations at Crow Village on the Kuskokwim River pioneered the use of archaeology as a means to augment oral and written sources in constructing a historical ethnography of a Native people. The Crow Village work set the stage for much of VanStone's research between 1963 and 1979, which featured extensive use of archival sources, archaeology and ethnographic field studies in examining Alaska Native cultural change in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries.... In the midst of this research, Jim returned to Chicago, becoming Curator of North American Archaeology and Ethnology for the Field Museum of Natural History, a position he held until his retirement in 1993.... In the course of his career, VanStone authored, co-authored, or edited more than 140 articles, books, and monographs. ... A nearly complete list of his publications can be found in the Arctic Anthropology festschrift, No Boundaries: Papers in Honor of James W. VanStone (Pratt et al., 1998)...

Examining Pre-Service Teacher Candidates’ Sources and Levels of Knowledge about Autism Spectrum Disorders

This study was designed to identify what pre-service teacher candidates knew about autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and how they had acquired that knowledge in order to design more effective preparation courses. Teacher candidates (N=87) from three teacher preparation programs completed questionnaires during, or prior to, their first special education course. The findings indicate a relationship between sources of knowledge about ASD and actual levels of knowledge. Based on the findings, the authors argue that there is a need for coursework that focuses on effective intervention strategies and utilizes direct opportunities for teacher candidates to work with students with ASD

Exploring The Use of Witness Testimony in Special Education Due Process Hearings

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act 2004 (IDEA) protects the rights of parents and/or guardians of children with disabilities to utilize the due process system to settle disagreements with school districts regarding their children’s Individualized Education Program (IEP). In the event that these disputes move before a due process hearing officer, it is common for each side to enlist experts to provide testimony to support one of the parties involved. In the current study, we examined the use of expert witness testimony in due process hearings in five large states throughout the United States. Findings indicated several concerning trends, such as data reporting differences between states, and parents/guardians having less attorney representation and utilizing witness testimony less frequently than school districts. In addition, we found that hearing officer decisions were most often decided in the favor of the districts. We will discuss these findings in the context of a social justice framework and suggest recommendations