The Effect of Digital Tablets\u27 Applications on Reading Achievement of First Graders in Two Private Schools

The focus of this research study was to determine the impact of integrating tablets into reading instruction in four first-grade classrooms in two private elementary schools in the southeastern United States. This is important because many schools are utilizing tablets in the instructional process and this seeks to determine if there is an academic value to their use in the classroom. The study was based on the cognitive theory of multimedia learning by Richard Mayer. The researcher sought to identify any possible differences in standardized test scores of students who used tablet applications during reading instruction versus students who did not. The researcher utilized the Children’s Progress Academic Assessment as the standardized testing tool. The researcher used a quasi-experimental research approach with nonequivalent control groups. A pretest/posttest design was used to examine the effectiveness of interactive reading and phonics applications when used for literacy instruction. This approach was used to compare groups and/or to measure change resulting from an experimental treatment in which one group received treatment and a control group received no treatment. Two classes received literacy instruction with specific applications delivered via a tablet while the other two received instruction in a traditional, guided reading approach. Interaction with the apps supported various components of Mayer’s theory. The results of the pretest/posttest indicated that there was a significant difference between the classes that used tablet apps during instruction when compared to the classes that did not. This led the researcher to conclude that there is indeed a value for use of tablet apps in the classroom. It is recommended that additional studies with larger sample sizes and including different subjects be conducted for further research

Characterization of SU-8 5 for MEMS Applications

SIJ-8 is a negative photoresist that is mainly used for MEMS technology. It is currently being used l~r micro-machined gears, accelerometers, and host of other MEMS structures. In these types of MEMS devices it is important to get an image with nearly vertical sidewall angles. For example with a micromachined gear, the gear would slip easily if the gears sidewall angle not near vertical. The focus of this project was to model the sidewall angle through a designed experiment and an ANOVA was run on the data using a computer program. Also, using a linear regression analysis the functionality of the sidewall angle is determined within the specified design space. The design space for the main design was set up by using testing and screening experiment where the all the factors were set to the high levels and low levels of the design for feasibility of the main design. The sidewall angle was obtained by using Scanning Electron Microscope to view the cross-section of the samples in the DOE

High School Choice in New York City: A Report on the School Choices and Placements of Low-Achieving Students

School choice policies, a fixture of efforts to improve public education in many cities. aim to enable families to choose a school that they believe will best meet their child's needs. In New York City, choice and the development of a diverse portfolio of options have played central roles in the Department of Education's high school reform efforts. This report examines the choices and placements of New York City's lowest-achieving students: those scoring among the bottom 20 percent on standardized state tests in middle school. Focusing on data from 2007 to 2011, the report looks at who these low-achieving students are, including how their demographics compare to other students in NYC, the educational challenges they face, and where they live. The bulk of the report reviews low-achieving students' most preferred schools and the ones to which they were ultimately assigned, assessing how these schools compare to those of their higher-achieving peers. The findings show that low-achieving students attended schools that were lower performing, on average, than those of all other students. This was driven by differences in students' initial choices: low-achieving students' first-choice schools were less selective, lower-performing, and more disadvantaged. Overall, lower-achievingand higher-achieving students were matched to their top choices at the same rate. Importantly, both low- and higher-achieving students appear to prefer schools that are close to home, suggesting that differences in students' choices likely reflect, at least in part, the fact that lower-achieving students are highly concentrated in poor neighborhoods, where options may be more limited

Advances in the biology, diagnosis and host-pathogen interactions of parvovirus B19

Increased recognition of parvovirus B19(B19), an erythrovirus, as a significant human pathogen that causes fetal loss and severe disease in immunocompromised patients has resulted in intensive efforts to understand the pathogenesis of B19-related disease, to improve diagnostic strategy that is deployed to detect B19 infection and blood-product contamination and, finally, to elucidate the nature of the cellular immune response that is elicited by the virus in diverse patient cohorts. It is becoming clear that at least three related erythrovirus strains (B19, A6/K71 and V9) are circulating in the general population and that viral entry into target cells is mediated by an expanding range of cellular receptors, including P antigen and -integrins. Persistent infection by B19 is emerging as a contributory factor in autoimmune disease, a hypothesis that is constrained by the detection of B19 in the skin of apparently healthy individuals. B19 infection during pregnancy may account for thousands of incidences of fetal loss per annum in Europe, North America and beyond, yet there is currently only minimal screening of pregnant women to assess serological status, and thereby risk of infection, upon becoming pregnant. Whilst major advances in diagnosis of B19 infection have taken place, including standardization of serological and DNA-based detection methodologies, blood donations that are targeted at high-risk groups are only beginning to be screened for B19 IgG and DNAas a means of minimizing exposure of at-risk patients to the virus. It is now firmly established that a Th1-mediated cellular immune response is mounted in immunocompetent individuals, a finding that should contribute to the development of an effective vaccine to prevent B19 infection in selected high-risk groups, including sickle-cell anaemics

Changing Labor Market Opportunities for Women and the Quality of Teachers 1957-1992

School officials and policy makers have grown increasingly concerned about their ability to attract and retain talented teachers. A number of authors have shown that in recent years the brightest students at least those with the highest verbal and math scores on standardized tests are less likely to enter teaching. In addition, it is frequently claimed that the ability of schools to attract these top students has been steadily declining for years. There is, however, surprisingly little evidence measuring the extent to which this popular proposition is true. We have good reason to suspect that the quality of those entering teaching has fallen over time. Teaching has remained a predominately female profession for years; at the same time, the employment opportunities for talented women outside of teaching have soared. In this paper, we combine data from four longitudinal surveys of high school graduates spanning the years 1957-1992 to examine how the propensity for talented women to enter teaching has changed over time. We find that while the quality of the average new female teacher has fallen only slightly over this period, the likelihood that a female from the top of her high school class will eventually enter teaching has fallen dramatically from 1964 to 1992 by our estimation, from almost 20% to under 4%.

Pathways to an Elite Education: Exploring Strategies to Diversify NYC's Specialized High Schools

NYC's specialized high schools are well known for their elite academics, but also heavily criticized for their lack of diversity. Indeed, girls and, most starkly, Black and Latino students are under-represented at the schools. A central question has been the extent to which the schools' admissions policy -- which admits students solely based on their performance on the Specialized High School Admissions Test (SHSAT) -- is to blame.This brief examines students' pathways from middle school to matriculation at a specialized high school, and simulates the effects of various admissions criteria that have been proposed as alternatives to the current policy. Analyzing data from 2005 to 2013, we found that while the SHSAT is (by design) the most important factor determining who attends the specialized high schools, it is not the only factor. Many students -- including many high-achieving students -- do not take the SHSAT at all, and some of those offered admission decide to go to high school elsewhere.Overall, our findings show that the disparities in the specialized high schools largely reflect system-wide inequalities. By any standardized measure, Black, Latino and low-income students are under-represented among the City's "highest achievers." Future Research Alliance work will dig into these systemic inequalities, aiming to identify strategies to expand access for traditionally disadvantaged students

Pathways to an Elite Education: Application, Admission, and Matriculation to New York City's Specialized High Schools (Working Paper)

New York City's elite public specialized high schools have a long history of offering a rigorous college preparatory education to the City's most academically talented students. Though immensely popular and highly selective, their policy of admitting students on the basis of a single entrance exam has been heavily criticized. Many argue, for example, that the policy inhibits diversity at the schools, which are predominately Asian, White, and male. In this paper, we provide a descriptive analysis of the "pipeline" from middle school to matriculation at a specialized high school, identifying group-level differences in rates of application, admission, and enrollment unexplained by measures of prior achievement. These differences serve to highlight points of intervention to improve access for under-represented groups. We also look at the role of middle schools in the pipeline, examining the distribution of offers across middle schools and testing for middle school effects on application and admission. Finally, we simulate the effects of alternative admissions rules on the composition of students at the specialized high schools

Income Inequality, the Median Voter, and the Support for Public Education

Using a panel of U.S. school districts spanning 1970 – 2000, we examine the relationship between income inequality and fiscal support for public education. In contrast with recent theoretical and empirical work suggesting a negative relationship between inequality and public spending, we find results consistent with a median voter model, in which inequality that reduces the median voter’s tax share induces higher local spending on public education. We estimate that 12 to 22 percent of the increase in local school spending over this period is attributable to rising inequality.

Four Decades of Change in U.S. Public Education: Essays on Teacher Quality and School Finance

Several decades of research in the economics of education have shown that both the quality and quantity of school resources are important for student outcomes. In this dissertation, I present two essays that address changes in both the quality and quantity of resources available to public schools over the past four decades (1960 2000). First, in chapter two I examine how the propensity for high test-scoring females to enter the teaching profession has changed over a forty-year period of occupational desegregation. While it has long been presumed that improved labor market opportunities for women have adversely affected the quality of teachers (over three quarters of whom are female), there is surprisingly little evidence measuring the extent to which this is true. In this essay, I combine data from five longitudinal surveys of high school graduates spanning the years 1957 to 2000 to evaluate this claim. I find that while the test score ranking of the average new female teacher has fallen only slightly over this period, the likelihood that a female in the top decile of her high school class entered teaching has plummeted. Next, in chapter three I examine the impact of rising within school district population heterogeneity and income inequality on local per-pupil expenditure and public school participation rates. Like the nation at large, the populations of school districts in the United States have become significantly more diverse, in (among other dimensions) racial and ethnic background, schooling, and income. Using a merged panel of school district demographics and financial data for 8,700 unified school districts over the 1970 to 2000 period, I look at the effects of this rising heterogeneity on the support for local public schools. I find that rising within-district income inequality is associated with greater per-pupil expenditure, a result consistent with a median voter model in which a lower tax price to the median voter results in greater per-pupil spending. Greater fractionalization in race and educational attainment appears to reduce per-pupil expenditure and increase enrollment in private schools

The Grizzly, February 10, 2022

A BEAR-y High-Tech Campus • Airtag Tracking Concerns Reach Ursinus Campus • Ursinus\u27 Newest Investment: KN95 Masks • Dr. Rebecca Jaroff\u27s Last Hurrah! • The Return of WVOU - Ursinus\u27 Voice • Opinions: Should Professors Ask Pronouns? • Spring Sports are Back! • Swimmer\u27s Retreathttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/grizzlynews/1978/thumbnail.jp