Do Learning Communities Matter?: An Examination Of The Retention Of At-Risk African American Students At An Urban, Commuter, Research University

The effectiveness of learning community participation on the retention of at-risk, African American students at a public, urban, primarily commuter, research institution was the focus of this research. A nonexperimental, retrospective, descriptive, cohort research design was used with a sample of 318 first time in any college (FTIAC) African American students enrolled in the Alternative Admission Division (AAD) of Metropolitan Urban University (MUU) starting in the fall 2006 semester. The primary research hypothesis was that African American students who were admitted into the AAD at MUU in the fall 2006 semester would have greater academic outcomes (e.g. grade point average and credit hours earned) and persistence (retention and graduation rates) in a six-year period than African American AAD students who did not participate in a learning community in the fall 2006 semester. Three research questions were used to test the hypothesis: 1. Among alternative admissions college students, is there a difference in the six-year retention rates for students who participated in learning communities as compared to students who did not participate in a learning community? 2. Among alternative admissions college students, is there a difference in the number of credit hours earned for students who participated in learning communities as compared to students who did not participate in a learning community? 3. Among alternative admissions college students, is there a difference in cumulative GPA for students who participated in learning communities as compared to students who did not participate in a learning community? Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data. The results of the descriptive statistics did not indicate any statistically significant differences between the two groups. Independent sample t-tests were used to examine the research questions. Based on the research results, there were no statistically significant differences between students who participated in learning communities and those who did not. Additional research on the effect of learning communities on student retention for African American, FTIAC, at-risk, students at MUU is warranted

Harm Reduction at Work

Outlines how hiring and mobilizing people who use drugs helps improve harm reduction programs. Offers policies for the workplace; strategies for recruitment, training, supervision, support, discipline, and conflict resolution; and two case studies

Culturally Appropriate Authentic Assessments: Exploring the Use of Authentic Assessments for African American Children at Risk for Special Education in Urban Settings

Authentic assessments provide an alternative to informal and formal assessments which may reduce the number of African Americans in special education programs. This literature review will explore the use of authentic assessment for at risk students in special education programs in urban settings

Monitoring and evaluation of family interventions (Information on families supported to March 2010) RR044

Josie Dixon, Vera Schneider, Cheryl Lloyd, Alice Reeves, Clarissa White, Wojtek Tomaszewski, Rosie Green and Eleanor Irelan

Monitoring and evaluation of family interventions: information on families supported to March 2010 (Research report DFE-RR044)

"This report updates and builds on the previous research by presenting and analysing FIIS [Family intervention Information system] data provided by family intervention staff up to and including 31 March 2010. The report is primarily based on simple descriptive statistics which provide a summary of the quantitative evidence. In addition statistical modelling (logistic regression) was used to look at the factors associated with successful and unsuccessful outcomes." - Page 14

Project Evidence: Responding to the Changing Professional Learning Needs of Mentors in Initial Teacher Education

This positioning paper seeks to contribute to the knowledge base of the changing professional learning needs of supervising or mentor teachers in initial teacher education. To do so, we draw from the work of Project Evidence, an Australian Office of Learning and Teaching funded project, designed to support teacher education through the development of a professional learning website. Our focus in this paper is our growing understanding of the complex work of teachers as they navigate new supervisory and mentoring roles in the current education context of high stakes standardisation. We examine the implications for their changing work practices within the policy imperative to build effective school-university partnerships in teacher education. Within this context, we discuss the ways in which Project Evidence has attempted to (re)position the emphasis of the work of the mentor teacher away from the dual role of assessor and supervisor to encompass their own professional learning