School Counselors\u27 Perceptions about lnterventions for At-Risk Students Including Grade Retention: Implications for School Leaders

The term at-risk is used by educators and policymakers to describe a wide variety of students who struggle in schools (Kronholz, 2011). Factors associated with labeling students at-risk include minority status, poverty, language difficulties, low school attendance, and poor family support (Re~ Akpo-Sanni, Losike-Sedimo, 2012; Stockard, 2010). For many at-risk students, reading at a proficient level is a primary concern for school leaders and teachers (Allington, 2011; McAlenney & Coyne, 2011), especially with increased accountability including school sanctions for not closing reading achievement gaps (Chappell, Nunnery, Pribesh, & Hager, 2011). Although a plethora of interventions have been proposed to assist at-risk students, requiring students to repeat a grade continues to be used as a threat for students who are not proficient, despite evidence that suggests grade retention is detrimental to students on various outcomes (Battistin & Schizzerotto, 2012; Webley, 2012)

Gender, Policing and Social Control:Examining Police Officers’ Perceptions of and Responses to Young Women Depicted as Violent

In Britain, there have been growing concerns over the increasing female prison population and treatment of girls and women by the criminal justice system (see Carlen and Worrall, 2004; Hedderman, 2004; Batchelor, 2005; Hutson and Myers, 2006; Sharpe, 2009). In particular, there has been a rising female prison population in Scotland which has been associated with greater punitive controls over the behaviour of women (McIvor and Burman, 2011). The British press have depicted a social problem of certain young women becoming more violent and have attributed this to women’s liberation, particularly in the night time economy (MacAskill and Goodwin, 2004; Gray, 2006; Evening News, 2008). These concerns have attracted widespread media and political attention leading to a steady growth in academic research exploring the apparent rise of violent young women (Burman et al., 2003; Burman, 2004b; Batchelor, 2005). Despite this, there are relatively few studies that examine responses to young women with an emphasis on violent offences. Furthermore, there is a lack of research that has examined the role police officers have played in the control and depiction of young women’s violence. This research investigates the perceptions of and responses to young women depicted as violent from police officers in Scotland. Thirty three qualitative interviews were carried out with front line police officers in 2008 to investigate social control mechanisms employed to regulate the behaviour of young women. The research utilised feminist perspectives to develop an understanding of how young women deemed as violent face formal and informal mechanisms of social control from police officers. The study challenges the apparent increase in violence among young women and instead argues that institutional controls have contributed to young women being labelled as violent. Changes in police practices and zero tolerance approaches towards violence have resulted in a net widening effect that has impacted on the number of young women (and men) being brought to the attention of the police for violent offences. It is argued that this mechanism of institutional control could be a contributing factor towards the rise in the number of young women being charged for violent offences. Police discretion on the basis of gender did have an influence on arrest practices for some of the officers, but there was insufficient evidence to suggest the police officers responded any harsher or more lenient towards women. However, what was apparent was that police officers believed women needed to be ‘controlled’; they perceived them as more unmanageable than men and this defiance towards authority resulted in women being arrested. Women depicted as violent remain to be categorised on the basis of socially constructed gender norms and it is argued that this mechanism of discursive control continues to locate violence within the realm of masculinity. In conclusion, women who are depicted as violent are portrayed as unfeminine and in need of greater social control which is exercised through both formal and informal measures by police officers

Editorial: Critical Reflections on Higher Education in Prison

Editorial: Critical Reflections on Higher Education in Priso

A Comprehensive Evaluation of Benthic Invertebrate Communities in the Emory River, Watts Bar Reservoir, TN

The release of fly ash at the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Kingston Fossil Plant (KIF) on 22 December 2008 discharged approximately 4.1 million cubic meters of coal ash into the adjacent aquatic and terrestrial systems. Previous benthic invertebrate investigations conducted by TVA and collaborative researchers concluded that benthic invertebrates in the Emory River were at moderate risk from ash-related constituents, primarily arsenic, in ash-contaminated sediment that remained in the Emory River following extensive dredging efforts. These conclusions were based on the observation of statistically significant reductions in growth and biomass in laboratory toxicity tests with Emory River sediment. Benthic invertebrate community survey results from 2010, however, did not support this conclusion. These previous surveys evaluated benthic invertebrate community data and sediment data across a large spatial scale, providing an “area-wide” interpretation of the relationships between the benthic invertebrate community results to the ash release. In the present research, co-located sediment and benthic invertebrate community samples were collected from nine locations in the Emory River. Community metric results were compared among samples, locations, and previous years and to co-located sediment chemistry and physical sediment properties. Temporal trends were also evaluated over a 5-year period of time at two locations to gauge if an initial impact and/or recovery could be determined. Despite this refined investigation, no trends or significant differences were identified between ash-impacted locations compared to the reference location, and no evidence of an initial impact or subsequent recovery trends were established. Furthermore, no significant relationships could be established between benthic invertebrate community metrics and sediment chemistry results. This information is important for the informed monitoring, remediation, and damage assessment of the benthic invertebrate community at the Kingston Ash Recovery site. This research also increases our knowledge of benthic invertebrate tolerance to metal mixtures in sediment of natural systems

A holistic model of corporate governance - a new research framework

Purpose &ndash; The purpose of this paper is to propose a new model of corporate governance that is holistic &ndash; incorporating internal and macro perspectives across legal, regulatory, sociological, ethical, human resource management, behavioural and corporate strategic frameworks. Researchers have signalled the need for &ldquo;new theoretical perspectives and new models of governance&rdquo; due to a dearth of research that is context-driven, empirical, and encapsulating the full spectrum of reasons and actions contributing to corporate crises.Design/methodology/approach &ndash; The approach consists of theory building by reviewing the literature and examining the gaps and limitations.Findings &ndash; The proposed model is a distinctive contribution to theory and practice in three ways. First, it integrates the firm-specific, micro factors with the country-specific, macro factors to illustrate the holistic nature of corporate governance. Second, shareholders and stakeholders are shown to be only one component of the model. Third, it veers away from singular approaches, to dealing with corporate governance using a multi-disciplinary perspective. The paper argues that such a holistic and integrated view is a necessity for understanding governance systems.Research limitations/implications &ndash; The challenge is to operationalize the model and test it empirically.Practical implications &ndash; The model is instructive and of use for practitioners in attempting to understand, explain and develop governance models that are appropriate to their national and industry settings.Originality/value &ndash; This paper argues that narrow-based models are limited in their approach and in a sound and integrative review of the up-to-date literature contributes to theory-building on corporate governance.<br /

An empirical investigation of hybrid corporate governance systems in large firms : evidence from India

The heightened pace of corporate governance reforms has focussed attention on countryspecific governance models. In relation to India, scholars have observed that a hybrid of the outsider Anglo-Saxon system and the insider Continental system is likely. This paper reportsthe results of a study that investigated the corporate governance system of five large firms in 2008. It presents evidence based on publicly available documents and twelve key executive interviews. The paper initially presents a literature review and establishes six propositionsbased on the distinguishing features of the two major systems, and then presents the methodology, findings and discussion. The governance characteristics of the Indian firms are classified in terms of the two systems with a view to assessing the extent and nature of hybridization. The findings endorse the hybrid corporate governance system in India.However, the scope of this study was limited to large listed companies and business groups. Future research should use a larger and more diverse sample including private and unaffiliated firms for outcomes that can be generalized.<br /

Anglo-based governance-rules versus flexibility : A continual debate

There has never been a better time for an insightful look at international corporate governance. This rather timely, up-to-date and authorative is based on the latest regional and international research, with contributions coming from a hand-picked team of experts. This exciting edited text explores and analyses the issues, trends and challenges for corporate governance in the future as well as today. &nbsp

Wyoming’s Instructional Facilitator Program: Teachers’ Beliefs about the Impact of Coaching on Practice

In 2006, the Wyoming state government allocated monies for the Department of Education to fund the work of Instructional Facilitators, or coaches, in schools across the state (Wyoming Department of Education, 2008). In Spring 2009, after the program had been in place for two years, an ex-post facto study was designed to examine the impact of the program on teacher practice. An online survey was used to collect data from classroom teachers throughout Wyoming’s public schools. Teachers answered questions about the extent of their work with Instructional Facilitators, the activities that they worked on with Instructional Facilitators, and the impact of their work with Instructional Facilitators on their practice. Results indicate that while a large number of teachers reported spending a small amount of time working with Instructional Facilitators, a small number of teachers reported spending a great deal of time working with Instructional Facilitators. Although differences by teaching level were apparent, the majority of respondents indicated they wished to continue working with an Instructional Facilitator and that Wyoming is spending its money wisely on the program. Discussion of these findings includes implications for Instructional Facilitator workloads and the need to focus their work on specific outcomes

Blueprint For Whale Conservation: Implementing The Marine Mammal Protection Act

Over its twenty-four year history, the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 (MMPA) has had both its successes and its failures, yet it remains one of the cornerstones of marine conservation and one of the most effective mechanisms to protect marine mammals. Marine mammals now face threats, however, that are global in scope and involve humans and our shared use of the marine environment. Diminishing marine resources and diminishing federal funds force fishers and conservationists to develop creative initiatives to conserve marine mammals, marine habitats, and species diversity, while still promoting economically viable fisheries. Marine mammals often compete with humans for the same fish, or occur in areas where fishing is conducted. As a result they are sometimes incidentally taken during commercial fishing operations. The regulation of such operations to protect marine mammals has become a critical, and often volatile, issue. Since its enactment, the MMPA has prohibited the take of marine mammals incidental to commercial fishing unless authorized by an incidental take permit or a small take exemption. The problem of the incidental take of marine mammals in commercial fishing reached a climax in 1988, when it became apparent that the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) was unable to make the necessary determinations that would enable it to authorize takes for affected marine mammal stocks. The resulting Kokechik Fishermen\u27s Association v. Secretary of Commerce court decision uncovered the permit-issuing system\u27s inherent flaw: the fact that the information upon which permit-issuing decisions were being made was not sufficient to be certain that incidental takes would not harm marine mammal stocks. This discovery brought together representatives of the environmental community and the fishing industry in 1988 to find a way to enable fishers to fish, while minimizing the impact of their activities on marine mammals. These representatives agreed on a series of points which they subsequently presented to the Senate Commerce Committee and the House Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee. Based on these points, Congress passed the MMPA Amendments of 1988, which established an information gathering program and an Interim Exemption Program for Commercial Fisheries. After analysis of the Interim Exemption Program and after NMFS proposed a long-term regime to authorize incidental takes in commercial fisheries in 1993, the environmental community and the fishing industry met again. They developed amendments that resulted in sweeping changes to the MMPA\u27s provisions governing the incidental take of marine mammals in commercial fisheries, which were adopted by Congress in 1994. Today, representatives of the fishing industry, the conservation community, and federal and state agencies continue their work through incidental take reduction teams to develop measures reducing the incidental mortality and serious injury of marine mammals in commercial fisheries. Part II of this Article explores the history of the MMPA and explains why this type of cooperative approach promises to be effective for marine mammal conservation. Part III examines the benefits of developing conservation strategies using facilitated negotiations versus traditional adversarial tactics, and how these strategies expedite efforts to reduce or eliminate marine mammal mortality in commercial fisheries. Part IV provides an update on the status of the implementation of the 1994 Amendments to the MMPA, and Part V evaluates the effectiveness of using take reduction teams to develop management strategies to reduce marine mammal incidental mortality and serious injury. Finally, this Article concludes by identifying areas of potential conflict between the fishing industry and the conservation community in the next reauthorization of the MMPA