Digital Tablets in the Classroom: A Perspective from Students

Technology has been increasingly incorporated into the classroom environment to enhance the teaching process. Although there is research on the effects and use within the classroom, there is currently a need to investigate ways in which digital tablets such as iPads could be utilized in the classroom by the perspective of students. This study involves a thematic analysis of student essays from the Boston Public School system to examine the perceived utility of digit tablets in the classroom as students respond to an essay prompt inquiring about the potential benefits of a hypothetical digital tablet integration initiative at their school.  Students report that digital tablets can be beneficial to teachers in three main areas, including through facilitating learning and communication (Student-Teacher Interactions), improved organization (Teacher Organization), and as a problem-solving tool for the wasting of paper and need for computers (Resolution of Teacher Dilemmas). These findings support the notion of continued professional development to implement and fully utilize digital tablet technology in the classroom. Keywords: technology, classroom, education, iPads, digital tablets DOI: 10.7176/JEP/11-15-02 Publication date:May 31st 202

Project Grow: A reading fluency intervention

Fluency, or the ability to read with speed, accuracy, and proper expression, has been identified as a critical component of literacy attainment and has been consistently linked with reading proficiency. Interventions to promote reading fluency have focused on oral reading by elementary school students to teachers, parents, peers, and even therapy dogs. Although these interventions provide an enriching and effective mechanism to promote literacy attainment, they are inherently resource dependent requiring the presence of others. In order to provide effective literacy intervention that bolsters a student’s autonomy and that is less dependent upon other people as mediators, more research should be dedicated to understanding the child’s ability to practice oral reading regularly and independently through other engaging and interactive means. A six-week intervention to bolster reading fluency was designed in which third grade students engaged in oral reading to succulent plants. Measures of reading fluency including prosody, comprehension, and attitude towards reading were assessed to compare the intervention and control group on specific performance outcome measures (fluency and comprehension). The intervention group pre and post-test scores were associated with a significant increase in reading fluency as measured by words per minute and reading comprehension. In comparison to the control group of students who engaged in silent reading without a plant, the intervention group also demonstrated a significant increase in reading comprehension. Overall, 88% of the students in the intervention group reported enjoying the intervention. Although the small sample size of the study is a limiting factor, the findings provide initial support for an innovative intervention to promote reading fluency with elementary school students. Other methodological limitations, implications, and future studies are discussed.Doctor of Philosoph

The Presidential Avoidance Canon

This Article identifies an overlooked yet potent canon of statutory construction: the presidential avoidance canon. Under this rule, courts will not interpret a generally applicable statute to apply to the President, his close advisers, or the Executive Office of the President (EOP), absent a clear statement. Even where a statute explicitly applies to the EOP, courts may narrowly construe the law to exempt those EOP components whose sole function is to advise and assist the President. Applying this rule, courts have narrowly construed the Administrative Procedure Act, the Freedom of Information Act, the Privacy Act, the Federal Records Act, the Presidential Records Act, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, anti-nepotism laws, and inspector general reporting requirements. Unlike other canons of construction, which subtly influence interpretation, this canon has driven courts to conclusions starkly at odds with the plain texts of these statutes. Despite its significant impact, the presidential avoidance canon has received little scholarly attention. This Article fills the gap in the literature by tracing the history, logic, and potential applications of this canon of construction. It identifies the development of this canon in Supreme Court precedents from the Jefferson, Johnson, and Nixon administrations. It documents how courts and the Department of Justice have applied the doctrine to landmark legislation. It then extrapolates the logic of this canon to new contexts, including the Federal Tort Claims Act, the Whistleblower Protection Act, the Inspector General Act, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, and the Hatch Act. It concludes by discussing the canon’s scope, justification, and utility

Restoring Indian Reservation Status: An Empirical Analysis

In McGirt v. Oklahoma, the Supreme Court held that the eastern half of Oklahoma was Indian country. This bombshell decision was contrary to settled expectations and government practices spanning 111 years. It also was representative of an increasing trend of federal courts recognizing Indian sovereignty over large and economically significant areas of the country, even where Indians have not asserted these claims in many years and where Indians form a small minority of the inhabitants. Although McGirt and similar cases fundamentally turn on questions of statutory and treaty interpretation, they are often couched in consequence-based arguments about the good or bad economic effects of altering existing jurisdictional relationships. One side raises a “parade of horribles.” The other contends that “the sky is not falling.” Yet, to date, there is hardly any empirical literature to ground these debates. Litigants have instead been forced to rely upon impressionistic reasoning and economic intuitions. We evaluate these competing empirical claims by exploiting natural experiments: judicial rulings altering the status quo of Indian reservation status. Applying well-established econometric techniques, we first examine the Tenth Circuit’s Murphy v. Royal decision in 2017 and the Supreme Court’s McGirt v. Oklahoma decision in 2020, which both held that the eastern half of Oklahoma was in fact Indian country. To do so, we leverage monthly employment data at the county level, annual output data at the county level, and daily financial data for public companies incorporated in Oklahoma. Contrary to the “falling sky” hypothesis that recognition of Indian jurisdiction would negatively impact the local economy, we observe no statistically significant effect of the Tenth Circuit or Supreme Court opinions on economic output in the affected counties. We supplement these findings by analyzing five further case studies. These include three Supreme Court decisions: Nebraska v. Parker (concerning the Village of Pender, Nebraska); City of Sherrill v. Oneida Indian Nation (City of Sherrill, New York); and South Dakota v. Yankton Sioux Tribe (Mix County, South Dakota). We also analyze settlements between tribes and state governments in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan, in 2010 and Tacoma, Washington, in 1989. On balance, we report no statistically significant evidence that recognition of tribal jurisdiction reduces economic performance in the affected counties, and we provide several hypotheses to contextualize these findings. These results have important consequences for future litigation related to tribal sovereignty