Young v. Fordice: Challenging Dual Registration under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act

Symposium - An Analysis of Mississippi Cases Argued before the United State Supreme Cour

Expectations and Experiences of African American Students at Two Predominantly White Universities in Southern Appalachia.

This study addressed the academic, cultural, and social expectations and experiences of 20 African American juniors and seniors at 2 predominantly White universities in the southern Appalachian region of the United States. The participants\u27 described experiences revealed how institutional practices promoted or obstructed their persistence to graduation. Qualitative ethnographic methodology with critical race theory as the conceptual framework guided the study. This approach allowed for the perspectives and lived experiences of the students to be voiced and heard. Data collected included their stories based on semistructured interviews, document reviews, and observations. The constant comparison method was used to analyze the data through the critical race interpretive lens of racism as the persistent reality of people of color. In combination, the data illustrated the positive and negative impacts of student-institution relationships and the campus racial climate on African American students\u27 experiences at the universities under study. Findings indicated a dissonance between the students\u27 academic, cultural, and social expectations and experiences primarily caused by unanticipated racist experiences in the classrooms, on the campuses, and in the campus\u27 communities-at-large. Positive relationships with administrators, faculty members, and staff emerged as the most significant contributors to the students\u27 capability to safely and successfully navigate academic, social, and cultural pathways leading to graduation. Recommendations based on the results of the study are provided for university administrators, faculty members, and staff who are committed to improving the college experience and persistence to graduation rates for students of color matriculating at predominantly White universities

BLENDED LEARNING: STUDENT PERCEPTION OF FACE-TO-FACE AND ONLINE EFL LESSONS

With the ever-increasing development of technology, online teaching is more readily accepted as a viable component in teaching and learning, and blended learning, the combining of online and face-to-face learning, is becoming commonplace in many higher education institutions. Blended learning is, particularly in developing countries, in its early stages and not without its challenges. Asynchronous online lessons are currently still more prevalent in many areas of South-East Asia, perhaps due to potential difficulty in obtaining strong Internet connections, which may deter educators from synchronous options. Technological media have the potential to broaden the scope of resources available in teaching and to enhance the language learning experience. Although research to date shows some focus on blended learning, literature on distance online teaching seems more prevalent. This study exposed 112 Malaysian undergraduate EFL students' responses to an online lesson as part of an English grammar course, and investigates common student perceptions of the online lesson as compared with face-to-face lessons. Questionnaires using qualitative (Likert scale questions) and quantitative (open-ended questions) approaches provided data for content analysis to determine common student perceptions, with particular reference to motivation and interest. In general, more students associated in-class lessons with higher motivation and more interest, due to better understanding, valued classroom interaction with the lecturer and peers, and input from the lecturer. Students preferring the online lesson cited speed and convenience of study and flexibility of time and place of study as reasons for their choice. Skilful implementation of online lessons can enhance a language course but should not undermine the value of face-to-face instruction with EFL teachers

Genre Studies: Temporary Homogeneous Grouping to Improve Reading or Merely another Form of Tracking?

For the last fifty years, raising the achievement levels of students thought to be “at-risk” has proven to be one of the most difficult and vexing problems facing educators. Although many different strategies have been tried with varying levels of success, no single at-risk solution has emerged that both promotes significant achievement gains and helps to narrow the achievement gap between people of color and whites. This study examined the effectiveness of a particular district-wide literacy strategy in its first year that focused on literacy to educate students identified as “at-risk”. Specifically, this study used data gathered from two measures of reading achievement, the Stanford Achievement Test (SAT9) and the Stanford Diagnostic Reading Test (SDRT), to determine the impact that a special literacy block of classes, known as Genre Studies, had on the reading scores of 102 at risk children enrolled in a southern California secondary school. In addition to measuring the absolute success of these students, their relative success was also measured by comparing them with a matched sample of non-Genre Studies students from the previous year. Multiple regression analysis was also used to explain why some of the Genre Studies students gained more through the intervention than others. Results suggest that only a small percentage of the Genre Studies students (9%) became eligible for regular English classes as a result of the two-hour literacy block intervention. In fact, attendance, course credits, and students\u27 need for modified curriculum all had a negative affect on the change in Genre Studies students\u27 SDRT reading scores, whereas grade point average and Hispanic ethnicity had a positive affect on the change in the SDRT reading score. In addition, Hispanic students, and white females gained at least a year\u27s growth in reading as a result of the intervention; Asian females gained almost a year\u27s growth, African American females, Asian males, and white males showed a decline in their reading scores, and African American males showed no growth at all for the year. The analysis also revealed that students who took a regular, one-hour English class for a year did no worse than the Genre Studies students who participated in the two-hour literacy block class for a year. Thus, this study concludes that in at least one secondary school in southern California, the stratification of Genre Studies students into a homogeneous group was in essence, a de facto form of tracking

Literacy Educators’ Perspectives on Transformation and Authenticity

We discuss how adults with low literacy skills have transformed through education and also raise epistemological questions on education’s place in the transformation and learning process

Expectations and Experiences of African American Students at Two Predominantly White Universities in Southern Appalachia

Abstract is available to download

KSU Women\u27s Choir, When Silence Becomes Singing

Kennesaw State University School of Music presents When Silence Becomes Singing, featuring KSU Women\u27s Choir.https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/musicprograms/1369/thumbnail.jp

Challenging Buckley v. Valeo: A Legal Strategy

In its 1976 ruling in Buckley v. Valeo, the United States Supreme Court sanctioned a system of unlimited campaign spending in federal elections. Since that ruling, this nation has witnessed an explosion of political expenditures. The 1996 election cycle marked the most expensive election in U.S. history, with congressional and presidential candidates spending a total of more than $2 billion. Campaign spending has also dramatically risen in state and local elections across the country. Unlimited spending poses a serious threat to our democratic process. It undermines public confidence in our elections and in our democratic institutions. It presents an increased danger of actual corruption as large contributors dominate the financing of public election campaigns. It places enormous time pressures on officeholders running for re-election, interfering with their ability to carry out their governing duties. It enables candidates with wealth or access to wealth to drown out the voices of lesserfunded candidates and their supporters. It violates the promise of political equality