2012-13 Arkansas Test Results

In early August, the Arkansas Department of Education (ADE) released the 2012-2013 test score results. The following brief will highlight the results of these tests, compare achievement scores over time, and provide a glimpse of regional achievement results for the following exams: Benchmark Exam (Grades 3-8) End-of-Course Exam (Algebra I, Geometry, Biology, and Grade 11 Literacy). Iowa Test of Basic Skills (Grades 1-9

Your Lips Are Moving...but the Words Aren\u27t Clear: Dissecting the Presumption That Jurors Understand Instructions

This Article examines and questions the jurisprudence that turns a blind eye to evidence that the jury instruction presumption, the assumption that juries understand their instructions, is ill-founded. While the presumption applies in any jury trial, the Article emphasizes the particular injustice associated with is application in criminal cases. Evidentiary presumption bases upon anything less violates an accused’s right to due process of law. Therefore, it is particularly troubling that in criminal cases, the presumption regarding the efficacy of crucial jury instructions remain baseless

Water, behavior, and health in Alaska

Thesis (Ph.D.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2014.This dissertation addresses the need for a better understanding of how water and sanitation infrastructure and water use behaviors come together to influence health. The ultimate aim is to inform water infrastructure designs and behavior change programming for the prevention of acute respiratory infections (ARIs), skin infections, and diarrhea. All three diseases are of public health significance in Alaska, and all three can be prevented by proper access and use of water and sanitation services. I begin the dissertation by illustrating that some residents who have access to treated water continue to consume untreated river water and rain. In fact, 82% of respondents (n=172) reported that some of their drinking water came from an untreated source. Motives for drinking untreated water could be categorized into six themes: chemicals, taste, health, access, tradition, and cost. The next chapter describes the design and impact of a health promotion program to increase consumption of treated water. Self-reported data revealed that from pre- to post-intervention, the proportion of households drinking mostly treated water increased by 21% (39% to 60%), p < 0.0001. The third chapter reports changes in water use and health as reported by participants who recently received modern sanitation services. Most participants (n=101; 74%) reported improved community health. A prominent theme was that better access to treated water increased children’s ability to drink treated water and perform hand washing and bathing, practices known to prevent ARIs, skin infections and diarrhea. Based on the findings, I recommend: 1) providing inhouse piped water service where feasible, 2) development of an alternative water and sanitation system that provides adequate quantities of water for homes that may not be provided in-house piped water service, and 3) providing health promotion to encourage healthy water use, either in combination with provision of in-house water service, or as a stand-alone intervention.Chapter 1: Introduction -- Chapter 2: Consuming Untreated Water in Four Southwestern Alaska Native Communities: Reasons Revealed and Recommendations for Change -- Chapter 3: Alaska Native Consumers Show Increased Treated Drinking Water Consumption Following Project Meq-Egtaq -- Chapter 4: Alaska Native Consumers of Modern Sanitation Services Provide Insights to inform Infrastructure Designs and Health Promotion Planning -- Chapter 5: Conclusion

The Voice of Reason—Why Recent Judicial Interpretations of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act’s Restrictions on Habeas Corpus Are Wrong

By filing a petition for a federal writ of habeas corpus, a prisoner initiates a legal proceeding collateral to the direct appeals process. Federal statutes set forth the procedure and parameters of habeas corpus review. The Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA) first signed into law by President Clinton in 1996, included significant cut-backs in the availability of federal writs of habeas corpus. This was by congressional design. Yet, despite the dire predictions, for most of the first decade of AEDPA’s reign, the door to habeas relief remained open. More recently, however, the Supreme Court reinterpreted a key portion of the statute. Pursuant to this new interpretation, habeas corpus relief could become virtually unattainable. During the Supreme Court’s 2011–2012 Term, the Court denied habeas corpus relief to petitioners who demonstrated significant deprivations of constitutional rights. At the root of recent obstacles to relief is the interpretation of a short, but key clause in AEDPA’s amendments to 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d)(1). Pursuant to the statute, a federal court may only grant a writ if a state court’s adjudication on the merits “was contrary to, or involved an unreasonable application of, clearly established Federal law, as determined by the Supreme Court of the United States.” This article discusses the reasons why the interpretation or standard that defines the “unreasonable application” clause has proven to be most critical to the availability of habeas corpus relief

Heating Up the Debate: E-cigarettes and Instagram

Electronic cigarette (“e-cigarette”) posts on Instagram are increasing daily. Two compelling reasons to investigate e-cigarette content on Instagram are: the large numbers of young people on Instagram and recent research suggesting that e-cigarettes function as tobacco smoking initiation products, especially among teens. For this study, a representative sample of 854 e-cigarette hashtag (“#”) ecig posts were compiled from Instagram in October 2014. A content analysis was then performed on these posts to determine the frequency and composition of such categories as product shots, promotion, event sponsorship, “vape-selfies,” and health-related messages. Noteworthy findings include the preponderance of e-cigarette product shots, “follower giveaway” contests to increase electronic word-of-mouth (“eWOM”), “blowing cloud” contests promoting e-cigarettes and the “vaping lifestyle,” and the near absence of health information concerning e-cigarettes

Growin\u27 Up: An Assessment of Adult Self-Image in Clinical Law Students

A novice at any age will understandably lack the confidence that only experience can foster. Nevertheless, the thesis of this article is that the clinic student’s self-image inhibits his or her confidence in a different way...This paper will draw upon theories of psychological and moral development to explore the ingredients of being an adult and having an adult self-image. Part II describes various useful measures for determining the commencement of adulthood. Part III applies the criteria explained in Part II and asks, then attempts to answer, the question of whether the majority of clinic law students are adults. Part IV highlights the obstacles to achieving adulthood faced by contemporary law students both prior to and during law school. Part V discusses the importance of an adult self-image in becoming a professional and whether it is even more important in the legal profession. It argues that having a better understanding of where our students stand developmentally enhances our effectiveness. Part VI stresses that, at the very least, clinic teachers must be mindful that the psychological movement of our students into adulthood is an important event and is key to their performance as lawyers. In this final Part, I suggest ways in which we can support our students’ transition into adulthood

A Critical Study of Youth and Youth Work and a Workable Plan of Youth Evangelism for the Local Church

The youth of the United States of America have fallen to the lowest moral and spiritual level of any generation of youth which has yet lived in this country. Never before was there a time when such a majority of the criminals were of the adolescent and youth age. Secular authorities along with moralists and religious leaders are alarmed and are searching earnestly for an answer to the problems of juvenile delinquency. The glamorous advertising of liquor, superemphasizing of sex, glorification of materialism, degeneration of the home, along with numerous other anti-spiritual emphases of the past decade, has produced a generation of youth whose basic philosophy is to eat, drink and be merry