Improving the Writing Skills of English Learners: An Impact on Student Learning Analysis

In this action research project, English learners’ (ELs) progress is monitored with a variety of formal and informal evaluation methods through the Impact on Student Learning Analysis (ISLA). The purpose of this ISLA is to: a) determine the effect of instruction; b) use assessment methods to guide instruction; and c) communicate the results to multiple audiences. As evidence of this, lessons centered on writing conventions were implemented, with formative writing assessments to guide future lessons. Writing quizzes were given every week to determine the effect of the instruction. As a result of this analysis, it was deduced which formal and informal evaluation methods best worked with these ELs. By directly focusing on writing conventions, all ELs showed an increase in writing convention knowledge and overall writing skills

Dear First-Year Teacher

As an educator of pre-service teachers, I am often reminded of those first days in the classroom. If I could go back and speak to myself as a First-Year Teacher, this reflection is what I would say

Stuck between a Rock and a Meth Cooking Husband: What Breaking Bad\u27s Skyler White Reaches about How the War on Drugs and Public Antipathy Constrain Women in Circumstance\u27s Choices

Part I begins with an analysis of how the criminal justice system functions as a patriarchal tool of the state to control and constrain the behavior of women of circumstance. In the War on Drugs, patriarchy within the criminal justice system leads women to distrust law enforcement and the courts, and forecloses their access to assistance from a system that uses them as pawns in its pursuit of male drug operatives who are often these women’s intimate partners. Part II examines how these legal constraints upon women of circumstance intersect with women’s gendered roles in their families to eliminate viable options for extracting themselves from the tenuous situations that are not of their making. Ultimately, the legal bind discussed in Part I does not exist in a vacuum, but is preconditioned by the woman’s family situation and this results in additional constraints on women of circumstance’s choices. Finally, Part III examines how the wide acceptance of stereotypes about what is and what is not appropriate female behavior results in public antipathy toward women involved with male drug operatives and works to substantiate the legal system’s problematic treatment of these women. Importantly, these hegemonic beliefs about women’s roles also stymy reforms geared at remediating the Scylla and Charybdis-like situation faced by women of circumstance. While theoretically illuminating, understanding the combined effect of these institutional, familial and social constraints is also of practical importance for reformers seeking to change a legal system that systematically ignores or preys upon the constraints that bind women of circumstance. Part IV offers mechanisms designed to affect meaningful reform in this area of the law

Exploring Programmatic Issues which Affect Continuing Legal Education in Kansas

This mixed methods research study identified common mandatory continuing legal education (MCLE) practices by Kansas providers and evaluated these against established adult and continuing education best practices

Breeding Birds of Mature Woodlands of Point Pelee National Park Prior to Infestation by Emerald Ash Borer, Agrilus planipennis

The Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) is a wood-boring beetle native to Asia that now infests and kills ash trees (Fraxinus spp.) in North America. Many ecological communities will be dramatically altered by the mortality of ash trees caused by this invasive insect. The EAB recently colonized Point Pelee National Park of Canada in extreme southwestern Ontario, Canada, a site famous for its unusual plant and animal diversity as well as its extraordinary bird migrations. We conducted a census of breeding birds in two ash-rich mature forests at Point Pelee in order to obtain baseline data on the breeding bird communities prior to changes in forest communities that are likely to be caused by the EAB. Here we report the results of the bird census and review possible changes to the breeding bird fauna of Point Pelee that may result from ash tree mortality and the associated disruption of forest communities

Attention Deficit HyperactivityDisorder (ADHD): Survey Report

In the spring of 2016, the New Hampshire Pediatric Improvement Partnership (NHPIP) conducted an online survey of NH pediatric and family practice clinicians to understand practice patterns, comfort level, and support needs relative to caring for pediatric patients with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Of the clinicians surveyed, 138 responded yielding a 13% response rate