AN EVALUATION OF A SCHOOL SYSTEM'S EFFORT TO DEVELOP AND IMPLEMENT A LEADERSHIP PREPARATION PROGRAM

This study is a program evaluation of one school system’s effort to develop and implement a leadership preparation program. The study was designed to determine if the implementation of the GROW program addressed the problem of the lack of qualified and interested leadership candidates currently within the district. Data were gathered to determine if the completers of the district-designed GROW program had an increased level of interest in securing school leadership positions. The framework for the study was based on Donald Kirkpatrick's (2006) Model of Program Evaluation and included four levels of evaluation: (1) reaction, (2) learning, (3) behavior, and (4) overall results of the program. Quantitative and qualitative evaluation methods used in the study included surveys, questionnaires, pre and post assessments, and individual interviews. The findings of the study indicate that the GROW program was effective for participants and beneficial to the school district. GROW participants reported a high level of satisfaction with the program and felt better prepared for school leadership positions. The research revealed emergent themes that supported participant growth in key leadership principles. The research also supported the value of the cohort model, the powerful influence of “tapping�, and advantages of a district run program as compared to university programs. Ninety-five percent of GROW program participants reported an increased level of interest in school leadership. The GROW program was perceived as effective in increasing the number of interested and qualified candidates for school leadership positions in the host district. Further, preliminary data from this study was used in a grant proposal to the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation seeking funding support for leadership initiatives in Craven County Schools. The grant was awarded in the amount of ninety thousand dollars. The results of this study have impacted the future of leadership initiatives in Craven County Schools

Occupant comfort, the housing industry and electricity infrastructure: understanding the synergies

Despite increasingly stringent energy performance regulations for new homes, southeast Queensland has a high and growing penetration of, and reliance on, air conditioners to provide thermal comfort to housing inhabitants. This reliance impacts on electricity infrastructure investment which is the key driving force behind rising electricity prices. This paper reports initial findings of a research project that seeks to better understand three key issues: (i) how families manage their thermal comfort in summer and how well their homes limit overheating; (ii) the extent to which the homes have been constructed according to the building approval documentation; and (iii) the impact that these issues have on urban design, especially in relation to electricity infrastructure in urban developments

High-end fashion manufacturing in the UK - product, process and vision: Recommendations for a Designer and Fashion Manufacturer Alliance and a Designer Innovation and Sampling Centre

The Centre for Fashion Enterprise (CFE) was commissioned by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) to undertake a feasibility study to explore fully the market need for a new high-end production hub. This was in direct response to the need highlighted in the DCMS report, Creative Britain - New Talents For The New Economy, published in 2008. This study has confirmed that there is a need. However the need is for a sampling and innovation facility rather than a production hub. Designers reported a shortage of high quality sampling capacity in the UK, as well as difficulties in getting small quantities produced. Additionally, they do not know where or how to source appropriate manufacturing in the UK, Europe or globally, at the quality the market requires

High-end fashion manufacturing in the UK - product, process and vision. Recommendations for education, training and accreditation

The Centre for Fashion Enterprise (CFE) was commissioned by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) to undertake a feasibility study to explore fully the market need for a new high-end production hub. This was in direct response to the need highlighted in the DCMS report, Creative Britain - New Talents For The New Economy, published in 2008. In addition to finding a need for a sampling and innovation facility1 (outlined in a separate document), the study identified significant problems relating to education and skills training in the sector. Recommendations are given in this report as to how these might be addressed, as well as a recommendation for an accreditation scheme that would aim to raise production quality standards within the sector

High-end fashion manufacturing in the UK - product, process and vision: Recommendations for a Designer and Fashion Manufacturer Alliance and a Designer Innovation and Sampling Centre

The Centre for Fashion Enterprise (CFE) was commissioned by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) to undertake a feasibility study to explore fully the market need for a new high-end production hub. This was in direct response to the need highlighted in the DCMS report, Creative Britain - New Talents For The New Economy, published in 2008. This study has confirmed that there is a need. However the need is for a sampling and innovation facility rather than a production hub. Designers reported a shortage of high quality sampling capacity in the UK, as well as difficulties in getting small quantities produced. Additionally, they do not know where or how to source appropriate manufacturing in the UK, Europe or globally, at the quality the market requires

New distribution format for ICM Newsletter

The print version of the Integrated Crop Management (ICM) Newsletter will be discontinued at the close of the 2007 calendar year. A new distribution format of the ICM Newsletter is planned for 2008. Discontinuation of the printed version was a difficult decision. However, in recent years, we have experienced a steady decrease in the number of subscribers for the print version and a steady increase in printing, design, handling and shipping costs. During the newsletter’s 19-year run, ISU was the first land-grant university to publish a full color crops newsletter and deliver it to subscribers that same week. This task was accomplished through the diligence of tight scheduling and strict deadlines, under the leadership of Dr. Marlin Rice, ISU Extension entomologist and the executive editor of this newsletter

Allotments and alternative food networks: the case of Plymouth, UK

Alternative food networks (AFNs) are the focus of an ‘explosive growth’ of research in Europe (Goodman 2004), and the term covers a wide range of activities, from food banks, community gardens, and farmers’ markets, to community supported or organic agriculture. However, there is an impasse in differing positions over whether AFNs represent an exclusionary place-based ‘quality turn’ (Ilbery and Kneafsey 2000), or whether they contribute to inclusive local communities, sustainability and food security (Tregear 2011, Kirwan and Maye 2013). This research aimed to clarify these debates, through exploration of UK allotments as a benchmark for AFNs, using the case of Plymouth, SW England. A political ecology perspective of social-ecological systems (Ostrom 2008) was used to investigate the activities, relations and governance involved in allotments and AFNs, organised through the concepts of multidimensional capital assets (Bebbington 1999). This research demonstrates how activities on allotments involve human, social, cultural, natural and political capital assets, encompassing both basic food security and a quality turn towards ‘good food’ (Sage 2003). Taking the long view, it is seen that the relative importance of the different asset dimensions are contingent on wider socio-political settings. Relations on allotments illustrate the building of social capital, which extends to wider communities of interest, practice and place (Harrington et al. 2008), and which involves values of social justice that can be explained as diverse or care economies (Gibson-Graham 2008, Dowler et al. 2010). However, the politics and governance of allotments are largely influenced by neoliberal policies that favour oligopolistic and transnational food systems and restrict urban land allocations for place-based food initiatives. Present-day urban population densities are at levels far higher than envisaged for the original garden cities. Nevertheless, alliances at neighbourhood, city, regional, national and transnational scales are coalescing around the values represented in the original setting up of the UK allotment system: of self-reliance, human-scale settlements and the restorative value of the natural environment. Any realization of the potential contribution of allotments and AFNs to the sustainability and resilience of food supplies for urban populations (Armitage et al. 2008, Folke et al. 2010) ultimately depends on multilevel responses to a large range of challenges. Finally, the thesis contends that, in the present day, evidence is building up around the potential of allotments and many other AFN activities, or place-based food systems, to meet multiple policy objectives through aligned values