School Development in Urbanizing Areas

Good schools are essential for building thriving urban areas. They are important for preparing the future human resource and directly contribute to social and economic development of a place. They not only act as magnets for prospective residents, but also are necessary for retaining current population. As public infrastructure, schools mirror their neighborhood. “Their location, design and physical condition are important determinants of neighborhood quality, regional growth and change, and quality of life.”2 They impact housing development and utility requirements among many things. Hence, planning for schools along with other infrastructure in an area is essential. Schools are very challenging to plan, especially in urbanizing areas with changing demographic dynamics, where the development market and housing development can shift drastically a number of times. In such places projecting the future school enrollments is very difficult and in case of large population influx, school development can be unable to catch up with population growth which results in overcrowding. Typical is the case of Arlington County VA. In the past two decades the County has changed dramatically from a collection of bedroom communities in Washington DC Metro Region to a thriving urban area. Its metro accessible urban corridors are among most desired locations for development in the region. However, converting single family neighborhoods into high density areas has put a lot of pressure on its school facilities and has resulted in overcrowded schools. Its public school enrollment has grown by 19% from 2009 to 2014.3 While the percentage of population under 5 years age has increased in last 10 years, those in the 5-19 age group have decreased4. Hence, there is more pressure on the elementary school facilities than others in the County. Design-wise, elementary schools, due to their size, can be imagined as a community component. There are a number of strategies that can be used to develop elementary school in urbanizing areas as a part of the neighborhood. Experimenting with space planning and building on partnership and mixed-use opportunities can help produce better designs for new schools in future. This thesis is an attempt to develop elementary school models for urbanizing areas of Arlington County. The school models will be designed keeping in mind the shifting nature of population and resulting student enrollments in these areas. They will also aim to be efficient and sustainable, and lead to the next generation design for elementary school education. The overall purpose of the project is to address barriers to elementary school development in urbanizing areas through creative design and planning strategies. To test above mentioned ideas, the Joint-Use School typology of housing +school design has been identified for elementary school development in urbanizing areas in this thesis project. The development is based on the Arlington Public School’s Program guidelines (catering to 600 students). The site selected for this project is Clarendon West (part of Red Top Cab Properties) in Clarendon, Arlington County VA.

A Summary of Archaeological Excavations from 1983-1986 at the Green Family Print Shop, 18AP29, Annapolis, Maryland

18AP29, the Green Family Printshop, also known as the Jonas Green site, was excavated from 1983 to 1986 by Archaeology in Annapolis and Historic Annapolis Foundation. The site is not only the home of a significant figure in colonial Maryland but is also the location of one of the first colonial printing operations in Maryland. This site represents an important pre-industrial business in Annapolis. While this domestic site is complicated and rich, one of the most fascinating aspect of 18AP29 is the discovery of a large quantity of printers' type. Extensive analysis of the printers' type and documentary research on one of the print shop's products, the colonial newspaper, the Maryland Gazette, provides insights into the print culture which was developing during the 18th and 19th centuries. This report summarizes the stratigraphic analysis, minimum vessel counts, and faunal analysis. It provides some description of the printers' type.

Federal Nutrition Assistance at Farmers’ Markets: Evaluating Self-Efficacy and the Home Nutrition Environment

SNAP and WIC help alleviate food insecurity among low-income families; however, some still struggle with fruit and vegetable accessibility. Farmers' markets present the opportunity to purchase fresher foods than other food retailers; therefore, we chose this environment to conduct our research. A survey of 70 WIC/SNAP shoppers at three D.C. metropolitan area farmers' markets assessed the correlation between parental self-efficacy and the home nutrition environment (composed of family health behavior, perceived barriers, and fruit and vegetable offerings in the home) and found a significant relationship. Interviews were used to evaluate market accessibility, SNAP/WIC benefit redemption, and the feasibility of accepting these benefits. Both market participants and coordinators mentioned the greater variety and superior quality of farmers' market produce but also suggested several improvements. Findings suggest that SNAP incentive programs may increase fruit and vegetable purchases. Programs targeting consumer self efficacy may also produce positive outcomes.

An Analysis of the Implementation and Perceived Effectiveness of the SchoolMAX Family Portal

ABSTRACT Title of Document: AN ANALYSIS OF THE IMPLEMENTATION AND PERCEIVED EFFECTIVENESS OF THE SCHOOLMAX FAMILY PORTAL Warren Wesley Watts, Doctor of Education, 2015 Directed By: Margaret J. McLaughlin, Ph.D. Department of Counseling, Higher Education and Special Education School districts have spent millions of dollars implementing student information systems that offer family portals with web-based access to parents and students. One of the main purposes of these systems is to improve school-to-home communication. Research has shown that when school-to-home communication is implemented effectively, parent involvement improves and student achievement increases (Epstein, 2001). The purpose of the study was to (a) understand why parents used or refrained from using the family portal and (b) determine what barriers to use might exist. To this end, this descriptive study identified the information parent users accessed in the SchoolMAX family portal, determined how frequently parents accessed the portal, and ascertained whether parents perceived an increase in communication with their children about academic matters after they began accessing the portal. Finally, the study sought to identify whether barriers existed that prevented parents from using the family portal. The inquiry employed three data sources to answer the aforementioned queries. These sources included (a) a survey sent electronically to 19,108 parents who registered online for the SchoolMAX family portal; (b) SchoolMAX portal usage data from the student information system for system usage between January 1, 2015 and June 30, 2015; and (c) a paper survey sent to 691 parents of students that had never used the SchoolMAX family portal in one elementary school, one middle school and one high school that were representative of other schools in the district. Survey results indicated that parents at all grade levels used the family portal. Usage data also confirmed that approximately 19% of the students had parents who monitored their progress through the family portal. Usage data also showed that parents were monitoring approximately 25% of students in secondary schools (6th – 12th grade) and 16% of students in elementary schools. Of the wide menu of resources available through the SchoolMAX family portal, parents used three areas most frequently: attendance, daily grades, and report cards. Approximately 70% of parents responded that their communication had improved with their children about academic matters since they started using the SchoolMAX family portal, and 90% of parents responded that the SchoolMAX family portal was an effective or somewhat effective tool. Parents also expressed interest in the addition of additional information to the SchoolMAX family portal. Specifically, the top three additions parents wanted to see included homework assignments, high stakes test scores, and graduation requirements. Parents also reported that 92% of them spoke to their children at least 2 to 3 times per week about academics. Due to the low response rate of the parent non-user survey, potential barriers to using the SchoolMAX family portal could not be addressed in this study. However, this issue may be a useful research topic in a future study. Keywords: school to home communication, student information systems, family portal, parent portal

Development Begins at Home: Women and the Domestic Economy in Brazil, 1945-1975

A number of historians of twentieth-century Latin America have identified ways that national labor laws, civil codes, social welfare programs, and business practices contributed to a gendered division of society that subordinated women to men in national economic development, household management, and familial relations. Few scholars, however, have critically explored women's roles as consumers and housewives in these intertwined realms. This work examines the Brazilian case after the Second World War, arguing that economic policies and business practices associated with “developmentalism” [Portuguese: desenvolvimentismo] created openings for women to engage in debates about national progress and transnational standards of modernity. While acknowledging that an asymmetry of gender relations persisted, the study demonstrates that urban women expanded their agency in this period, especially over areas of economic and family life deemed "domestic." This dissertation examines periodicals, consumer research statistics, public opinion surveys, personal interviews, corporate archives, the archives of key women’s organizations, and government officials’ records to identify the role that women and household economies played in Brazilian developmentalism between 1945 and 1975. Its principal argument is that business and political elites attempted to define gender roles for adult urban women as housewives and mothers, linking their management of the household to familial well-being and national modernization. In turn, Brazilian women deployed these idealized roles in public to advance their own economic interests, especially in the management of household finances and consumption, as well as to expand legal rights for married women, and increase women’s participation in the workforce. As the market for women's labor expanded with continued industrialization, these efforts defined a more active role for women in the economy and in debates about the trajectory of national development policies.

Heritage Language Maintenance and Biliteracy Development for Immigrants' Children: A Study of Chinese Immigrants' Family Language Policy and Biliteracy Practices

This study reports on research that examines the family language policy (FLP) and biliteracy practices of middle-class Chinese immigrant families in a metropolitan area in the southwest of the U.S. by exploring language practices pattern among family members, language and literacy environment at home, parents’ language management, parents’ language attitudes and ideologies, and biliteracy practices. In this study, I employed mixed methods, including survey and interviews, to investigate Chinese immigrant parents’ FLP, biliteracy practices, their life stories, and their experience of raising and nurturing children in an English-dominant society. Survey questionnaires were distributed to 55 Chinese immigrant parents and interviews were conducted with five families, including mothers and children. One finding from this study is that the language practices pattern at home shows the trend of language shift among the Chinese immigrants’ children. Children prefer speaking English with parents, siblings, and peers, and home literacy environment for children manifests an English-dominant trend. Chinese immigrant parents’ language attitudes and ideologies are largely influenced by English-only ideology. The priority for learning English surpasses the importance of Chinese learning, which is demonstrated by the English-dominant home literacy practices and an English-dominant language policy. Parents invest more in English literacy activities and materials for children, and very few parents implement Chinese-only policy for their children. A second finding from this study is that a multitude of factors from different sources shape and influence Chinese immigrants’ FLP and biliteracy practices. The factors consist of family-related factors, social factors, linguistic factors, and individual factors. A third finding from this study is that a wide variety of strategies are adopted by Chinese immigrant families, which have raised quite balanced bilingual children, to help children maintain Chinese heritage language (HL) and develop both English and Chinese literacy. The close examination and comparison of different families with English monolingual children, with children who have limited knowledge of HL, and with quite balanced bilingual children, this study discovers that immigrant parents, especially mothers, play a fundamental and irreplaceable role in their children’s HL maintenance and biliteracy development and it recommends to immigrant parents in how to implement the findings of this study to nurture their children to become bilingual and biliterate. Due to the limited number and restricted area and group of participant sampling, the results of this study may not be generalized to other groups in different contexts.

FAMILY CHARACTERISTICS, STATE PROGRAM EFFECTIVENESS, AND REPORT OF INADEQUATE CARE AMONG FAMILIES OF YOUNG CHILDREN WITH HEARING LOSS

Approximately 1.6 per 1,000 newborns in the U.S. are born with hearing loss. Congenital hearing loss poses a risk to their speech, language, cognitive, and social-emotional development. Early detection and intervention can improve outcomes. Every state has an Early Hearing Detection and Intervention program (EHDI) to promote and track screening, audiological assessments and linkage to early intervention. However, a large percentage of children are “lost to system (LTS),” meaning that they did not receive recommended care or that it was not reported. This study used data from the 2009-2010 National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs and data from the 2011 EHDI Hearing Screening and Follow-Up Survey to examine how 1) family characteristics; 2) EHDI program effectiveness, as determined by LTS percentages; and 3) the family conditions of education and poverty are related to parental report of inadequate care. The sample comprised 684 children between the ages of 0 and 5 years with hearing loss. The results indicated that living in states with less effective EHDI programs was associated with an increased likelihood of not receiving early intervention services (EIS) and of reporting poor family-centered communication. Sibling classification was associated with both receipt of EIS and report of unmet need. Single mothers were less likely to report increased difficulties accessing care. Poor and less educated families, assessed separately, who lived in states with less effective EHDI programs, were more likely to report non-receipt of EIS and less likely to report unmet need as compared to similar families living in states with more effective programs. Poor families living in states with less effective programs were more likely to report less coordinated care than were poor families living in states with more effective programs. This study supports the conclusion that both family characteristics and the effectiveness of state programs affect quality of care outcomes. It appears that less effective state programs affect disadvantaged families’ service receipt report more than that of advantaged families. These findings are important because they may provide insights into the development of targeted efforts to improve the system of care for children with hearing loss.