The Implementation and Impact of Growth Mindset in a North Texas School District

Growth mindset strategies are linked to positive academic behaviors. Additionally, it is common knowledge that a school’s learning environment and the teachers’ attitudes and points of view are influential on student learning. However, leaders of school districts continue to struggle with effecting necessary changes to alter schools’ culture and implement practices that align with growth mindset. One North Texas suburban school district (Coppell Independent School District) is leading a shared effort to ensure growth mindset culture and practices are implemented district-wide. The purpose of this single case study was to understand how district leaders, school leaders, and teachers incorporated growth mindset principles into the culture and educational practices at Coppell and how they perceived the impact of growth mindset. A sample of 15 administrators, leaders, and teachers participated. The results of thematic analysis of semistructured interviews and document analysis revealed mindset is incorporated into the culture and educational practices as revealed through the following themes: (a) leaders and teachers live and support growth mindset; (b) the environment is designed to promote growth; (c) building positive relationships is a priority; (d) valuing growth is promoted through language and communication; (e) failure, struggles, and mistakes are okay; (f) risk and effort are encouraged; and (g) assessment and grading practices emphasize learning. Results of the thematic analysis of interviews and documents on the impact of growth mindset include (a) there is a positive impact of unleashing the potential of individuals and the group and (b) continuous improvement and self-reflection are a result of growth mindset. Recommendations for future research and for school districts considering implementing growth mindset into their culture and educational practices are provided

Shaping Twenty-first-century Civil Rights Advocacy: Latinos in Metro Atlanta

AbstractThis article chronicles the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund's civil rights history in Atlanta and the Southeast from 2000 to 2009 and beyond. It draws on testimonies of maldef officials, as well as pertinent historical, social science, and legal scholarship and media accounts, to reveal changing regional Latino migration and settlement patterns and emerging twenty-first-century legal advocacy strategies. Also covered are organized responses to state and local anti-immigrant ordinances passed after September 11, 2001, resistance to residential and workplace discrimination faced by suburban undocumented immigrants, and the fragile nature of coalitions in the contemporary Latino civil rights movement

EXPLORATORY TESTS ON POSSIBLE INJURIOUS AFTER EFFECTS OF PIGEON PEAS ON SUBSEQUENT CROPS

EXPLORATORY TESTS ON POSSIBLE INJURIOUS AFTER EFFECTS OF PIGEON PEAS ON SUBSEQUENT CROP

Fabrication of poly (vinylidene fluoride) films by ultrasonic spray coating; uniformity and piezoelectric properties

Piezoelectric Poly (vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) films with high flexibility are a suitable and promising replacement for rigid ceramic piezoelectric materials. However, for this purpose, enhancing piezoelectric properties and adopting an industrial fabrication method are of great importance. In this study, 5–9 µm thick PVDF films were fabricated by a nozzle-less ultrasonic spray coating (USC) system, followed by an annealing process at 100 °C. By applying proper spraying parameters, we could obtain highly uniform films with large d33 values (48 pm/V) and 56% crystallinity. Results show that the uniformity of the films plays an important role in the final piezoelectric properties. Thus, ultrasonic spray coating method can be used for fabrication of large-scale piezoelectric films with no need for poling or stretching processes

A new genus of Phengodidae (Coleoptera) from the Neotropical Region

Cleicosta, a new genus of Phengodidae containing two new species, C. equatoreana sp. nov., and C. monaguense sp. nov., are described. Additionally, a new combination for Cenophengus breviplumatus Wittmer, 1976 is included. Cleicosta gen. nov., is the thirty-eighth genus assigned to the beetle family Phengodidae in the new world and is also the most morphologically similar to Cenophengus LeConte, 1881. Both genera exhibit clearly separated tentorial pits, vertical frons and simple tarsomeres. In Cleicosta gen. nov., however, the antennal rami are 1.5 times longer than the corresponding antennomere, the pronotum is subquadrate and the elytra are short, reaching the first or second abdominal segment. In addition, it presents an aedeagus with lateral lobes slender, parallel exteriorly, narrowed medially to toothless apex

EL DOLO Y LA CULPA GRAVE EN EL CONTRATO DE SEGURO

No parece razonable que tenga cabida en el seguro la cobertura de los actos dolosos de los asegurados ni de las que deban responder. Amparar hechos intencionados de los asegurados va en contra de la licitud de los contratos, de los principios del seguro – no existe el alea que es consustancial al contrato de seguro – y, además, se excluyen expresamente en las pólizas. Esta cuestión, que es pacífica en los seguros de daños y de personas en los que la relación se establece entre el asegurador y el asegurado, no lo es en los seguros de responsabilidad civil, en los que aparece un tercero, ajeno a la relación jurídica asegurador/asegurado, al que la Ley le ortoga una protección especial, en virtud, sobre todo, de la posibilidad del ejercicio de la acción directa del artículo 76 LCS. En este trabajo analizamos la polémica que se da entre los artículos 19 y 76 LCS. Mientras el primero, norma aplicable a todas las modalidades de seguro, no da cabida a los actos causados por mala fe de los asegurados; el segundo, en cambio, permite reclamar a la  aseguradora, incluso en los supuestos de hechos dolosos de los asegurados