Curb Your Enthusiasm: The Rise of Hedge Fund Activist Shareholders and the Duty Of Loyalty

Shareholder activism has been a growing problem in the corporate world, creating numerous dilemmas for the board of directors of companies. Activist shareholders can unsettle a company, pressuring the directors to make decisions according to the course of business the activists would prefer, and thus interfering with the traditional role of directors as the decision-makers of a company. With this new development in the business world, legal scholars have been debating if this activism needs to be controlled and, if so, what measures can be taken to reach a balance. This Note examines the traditional corporate principles such as the shareholder primacy theory and the principle of “one share, one vote,” evaluating the benefits and the costs of adhering to these theories amidst the changing landscape in the business and legal world. This Note then proposes that the traditional concept of the duty of loyalty can be applied to activist shareholders, much like it has been applied to the directors and majority shareholders in the past, based on a fact-by-fact analysis

Preschoolers’ Social Behavior and Context Coding System

Coding Guidelines 1. Observe during free play, small groups, routines/transitions, and outdoor play on two different days per child. Do not observe during large group activity. 2. Observe the target child’s behavior for 20 seconds and code for 30 seconds. 3. Context: a.) Coded as mutually exclusive subcategories. 4. Nature of Activity: a.) Coded as mutually exclusive subcategories. b.) If ‘Daily routines/transitions’ was coded, the Type of Activity should be coded as one of the four types relevant to daily routines/transitions (i.e., Personal care, Meal and snack, Clean up, or Transition activity). 5. Type of Activity: a.) The types of activities should be coded as mutually exclusive subcategories. b.) If two types of activities occurred during the 20 seconds, code the one that happened for the majority of time. c.) If Nature of Activity was coded as ‘Daily routines/transitions,’ the Type of Activity can only be one of the four types relevant to daily routines/transitions (i.e., Personal care, Meal and snack, Clean up, or Transition activity). 6. Group Composition: a.) The target child does not have to have interactions with people around him/her. This is about who was physically available within 3 feet from the target child. b.) If the target child was within 3 feet from one or more peers, circle T (typically developing child; child without disabilities), D (child with disabilities), and/or E (English language learner). 7. Type of Social Play: a.) If Type of Social Play is Unoccupied/Wandering, Onlooker, Parallel play or on-task behavior, Interactive play: Engaged with adult(s), do not code Nature of Peer Interaction. b.) These are mutually exclusive subcategories. Code the highest level of social play. c.) If the target child interacted with one or more peers, circle T (typically developing child), D (child with a disability), and/or E (English language learner). 8. Nature of Peer Interaction: a.) Code Initiate/Respond and Positive/Negative. b.) Initiate means that the target child began the verbal or nonverbal interaction with peer(s) first during an interval; Respond means that s/he responded to peer(s)’ initiation for most of the time during the interval. c.) Circle V (Verbal) or N (Nonverbal) for each behavior observed. Code as many behaviors as possible (these are not mutually exclusive subcategories)

Typically Developing Preschoolers’ Behavior Toward Peers with Disabilities in Inclusive Classroom Contexts

This study aimed to investigate typically developing preschoolers’ behavior toward peers with disabilities in inclusive classrooms, focusing on the co-occurrence of the interactions between children with and without disabilities with various classroom contexts. Behaviors of 22 typically developing preschoolers were observed and coded on two different days in both indoor and outdoor classrooms during free play, small group activities, transitions, and meals/snack. Typically developing children interacted with peers with disabilities for a small amount of time; the interactions were significantly more likely in the outdoor classroom, in either child- or teacher-directed activities, and in play activities. There was a lack of adults’ intentional scaffolding for social interactions between children with and without disabilities even when they were near the children. Activity contexts contribute to children’s social behavior, and teachers need more support and training with inclusive and collaborative practices

Young Children’s Decisions to Include Peers with Physical Disabilities in Play

The authors examined factors related to preschool children’s reasoning about including a hypothetical peer with a physical disability in different play activities. They hypothesized that children’s inclusion decisions would be influenced by features of the physical environment, attention to issues of fairness and equity, and individual child characteristics. Participants comprised 72 children enrolled in inclusive preschool classrooms. Children’s ideas about inclusion and their inclusion decisions were gathered in response to vignettes reflecting experiences that children are likely to encounter in preschool. The authors found that children were significantly more likely to say that they would include a child with a physical disability in an activity requiring few motor skills. Children’s inclusion decisions were also significantly associated with their developing theory-of-mind skills and with prompts that encouraged them to consider issues of fairness and equity when making a decision. These results suggest that adaptations of planned activities that promote participation by reducing motor demands for all children, along with attention to issues of fairness and equity of opportunity, may be effective classroomwide interventions to support inclusion of children with disabilities in play activities with peers

Examining the Role of Teacher Presence and Scaffolding in Preschoolers’ Peer Interactions

The current study aimed to examine the associations between teacher presence and social scaffolding and preschool children’s peer interactions. Using a time sampling method, peer interactions of 22 four- and five-year-old preschoolers (12 girls; Mage = 52.95 months) and teacher behavior were observed on two different days during various classroom activities in seven public preschool classrooms. Eco-behavioral analyses revealed that (a) teacher presence was negatively associated with positive peer interactions; (b) teacher absence was positively associated with negative peer interactions; (c) positive change of peer interactions was more likely to occur when the teacher was present; (d) children showed more positive peer interactions during child-directed activities than during adult-directed activities or daily routines and transitions; and (e) teacher’s social scaffolding was positively associated with children’s positive peer interactions although it occurred only for 3.61% of the intervals during which the teacher was in close proximity to children. In addition, although the likelihood for children’s positive interaction was over 2 times higher in child-directed activities in comparison to adult-directed activities, teacher presence still seems very important for inhibiting negative peer interactions

Classroom Readiness for Successful Inclusion: Teacher Factors and Preschool Children’s Experience with and Attitudes toward Peers with Disabilities

The current study examined (1) associations among teachers’ experiences regarding children with disabilities (i.e., education, specialized training, years of work experience), their attitudes toward disabilities, and their classroom practices in relation to inclusion and (2) associations among children’s attitudes toward peers with disabilities and child and teacher factors. Ninety-one 4- and 5-year-old children participated in an interview, and their teachers completed a survey. Teachers’ specialized training and bachelor’s degree in early childhood education (ECE) were positively associated with their inclusive practices in the classroom; teachers’ bachelor’s degree in ECE and experiences working with children with disabilities were positively associated with their attitudes toward disabilities and inclusion; and children’s perceived contact with people who have disabilities was positively associated their attitudes toward peers with disabilities. However, none of the teacher factors predicted children’s attitudes toward peers with disabilities. Early childhood teachers need more training opportunities to learn about disabilities to develop positive attitudes toward disabilities and inclusion. Providing frequent contact with people with disabilities may enhance children’s acceptance of peers with disabilities

Teacher Questioning Practices in Early Childhood Science Activities

This study explores teachers’ use of questioning during collaborative science exploratory activities. We classified a total of 755 questions across 14 preschool science lessons implemented by four teachers by type (open- or closed-ended) and content (science- or non-science-related) while also recording the intended recipient. Results revealed that, overall, teachers primarily asked closed-ended questions to children during preschool science activities. While closed-ended questions outnumbered open-ended, science-related questions were more likely to be open-ended questions. We noticed this trend whether the teacher directed the question to a group of children or an individual child. Gender of the child recipient was also explored with no significant differences found. Results indicate that collaborative science exploratory activities may be an ideal context for increasing teachers’ use of open-ended questions. Background and training of teachers may also play a role in the use of open-ended questions in a science activity context