(inter)FACE: A Study of Black Families Advocating for their Children’s Education

Black students are consistently overrepresented in categories of academic underachievement. Parent engagement has long been touted as an effective strategy for improving the educational outcomes of Black children. However, most parent engagement research reflects deficit based perspectives frame Black parents as problems that must be fixed or mitigated before they can positively contribute to their children’s education. Consequently, parent engagement research and frameworks ignore the perspectives of Black parents and the assets they use to participate effectively in parent engagement. In this case study, I draw on individual and focus group interview data, documents, and observations, to examine how fifteen Black families, collectively known as FACE: 1) define and participate in parental engagement, 2) experience barriers to and opportunities for engagement, and 3) experience benefits of engagement for their children and their own personal development. Guided by Black Feminist and Critical Race Theories, I show how Black families in this study used a myriad of engagement strategies to improve their children’s educational experiences which were invisible to schools and how they used school-sanctioned engagement activities to meet their own objectives. Ultimately, I argue that school-centered parent engagement frameworks and models are ineffective for empowering Black families and accounting for the essential ways that these families contribute to the well-being of their children. Based on my findings, I discuss implications for theory, practice and policy, and research, and make recommendations for a more family-centered approach to parent engagement.

A Retrospective-Longitudinal Examination of the Relationship between Apportionment of Seat Time in Community-College Algebra Courses and Student Academic Performance

During the past decade, there has been a dramatic increase by postsecondary institutions in providing academic programs and course offerings in a multitude of formats and venues (Biemiller, 2009; Kucsera & Zimmaro, 2010; Lang, 2009; Mangan, 2008). Strategies pertaining to reapportionment of course-delivery seat time have been a major facet of these institutional initiatives; most notably, within many open-door 2-year colleges. Often, these enrollment-management decisions are driven by the desire to increase market-share, optimize the usage of finite facility capacity, and contain costs, especially during these economically turbulent times. So, while enrollments have surged to the point where nearly one in three 18-to-24 year-old U.S. undergraduates are community college students (Pew Research Center, 2009), graduation rates, on average, still remain distressingly low (Complete College America, 2011). Among the learning-theory constructs related to seat-time reapportionment efforts is the cognitive phenomenon commonly referred to as the spacing effect, the degree to which learning is enhanced by a series of shorter, separated sessions as opposed to fewer, more massed episodes. This ex post facto study explored whether seat time in a postsecondary developmental-level algebra course is significantly related to: course success; course-enrollment persistence; and, longitudinally, the time to successfully complete a general-education-level mathematics course. Hierarchical logistic regression and discrete-time survival analysis were used to perform a multi-level, multivariable analysis of a student cohort (N = 3,284) enrolled at a large, multi-campus, urban community college. The subjects were retrospectively tracked over a 2-year longitudinal period. The study found that students in long seat-time classes tended to withdraw earlier and more often than did their peers in short seat-time classes (p < .05). Additionally, a model comprised of nine statistically significant covariates (all with p-values less than .01) was constructed. However, no longitudinal seat-time group differences were detected nor was there sufficient statistical evidence to conclude that seat time was predictive of developmental-level course success. A principal aim of this study was to demonstrate—to educational leaders, researchers, and institutional-research/business-intelligence professionals—the advantages and computational practicability of survival analysis, an underused but more powerful way to investigate changes in students over time.

2007-2008 higher education state accountability report

Spartanburg Community College reports to the Budget and Control Board its annual accountability report that includes an executive summary, a description of the leadership system, customer focus and satisfaction and other performance criteria, mission, and program descriptions and budgets.

2008-2009 higher education state accountability report

Spartanburg Community College reports to the Budget and Control Board its annual accountability report that includes an executive summary, a description of the leadership system, customer focus and satisfaction and other performance criteria, mission, and program descriptions and budgets.

2009-2010 higher education state accountability report

Spartanburg Community College reports to the Budget and Control Board its annual accountability report that includes an executive summary, a description of the leadership system, customer focus and satisfaction and other performance criteria, mission, and program descriptions and budgets.

2011-2012 higher education state accountability report

Spartanburg Community College reports to the Budget and Control Board its annual accountability report that includes an executive summary, a description of the leadership system, customer focus and satisfaction and other performance criteria, mission, and program descriptions and budgets.

2012-2013 higher education state accountability report

Spartanburg Community College reports to the Budget and Control Board its annual accountability report that includes an executive summary, a description of the leadership system, customer focus and satisfaction and other performance criteria, mission, and program descriptions and budgets.

Prenatal education: profile and expectations of the couples.

Develop the capacities of women/couples to stay healthy during pregnancy, becoming aware of the rights, needs and potential problems of maternal and newborn health is a challenge for nurses and midwives who work with this population (Departamento de Reducir los Riesgos del Embarazo 2010). Prenatal education is a good strategy to meet the needs of pregnant women/couples, to improve outcomes in health and community development (Svenson, Barclay & Cooke 2006). Knowing the profile and expectations of the participants in these prenatal education groups, improves the quality of prenatal education programs and enables higher qualification of the professionals who promote them.

Cidadania e educação física : matrizes históricas e políticas, contradições e perspectivas = Citizenship and physical education : historical and political matrices, perspectives and contradictions

Universidade Estadual de Campinas . Faculdade de Educação Física

Closing the gender gap in Bangladesh: Inequality in education, employment and earnings

Assesses the status of women in Bangladesh by analysing the dynamics of female participation in labour force and education as well as gender earnings differentials at the macro level. The study finds evidence of growing commercialisation of women’s work in Bangladesh. Although the bulk of the female labour force is engaged in self-employment activities in the rural area or in low-skilled textile and readymade garment industries in the urban area, women’s participation in high-skill and entrepreneurial jobs as well as various decision-making bodies is also on the rise. While the gender wage differentials have been considerably reduced in many industries, in general women tend to be paid less than men. There have been remarkable improvements in women’s educational attainments compared to men. Further, female access to education is found to be highly correlated with overall female labour force participation, and relative to male participation. The overall results are suggestive of an improvement in the status of women in Bangladesh.

Radiographers and radiation protection: education, training and CPD

The increasing use of ionizing radiation for medical purposes emphasizes the concern about safety and justification of using ionizing radiation. This is linked with the use of new and high-dose X-ray technology (particularly CT). According to the UNSCEAR 2010 Report the total number of diagnostic medical examinations (both medical and dental) is estimated to have risen from 2.4 billion (period 1991–1996) to 3.6 billion (period 1997– 2008) - a marked increase in collective doses. An appropriate use of technology aiming diagnostic or therapy and respecting the ALARA principle is a mandatory requisite to safely perform any radiological procedure. Radiation protection is thus, a concern of all specialists in the radiology field ( radiologists, radiographers, medical physicists, among other professional groups). The importance of education and training of these professionals in reducing patients’ doses while maintaining the desired level of quality in medical exposures, as well as precise therapeutic treatments is well recognized. Education, training and continuing professional development (CPD) constitute a triad pointing towards the radiographers’ development of competences in the radiation protection field. This presentation excludes the radiographer role and competences in the fields of ultrasonography and MRI.

The relationship between public education expenditure and economic growth: The case of India

The paper reviews the theoretical and the empirical case for public investment in education in India. Though the theoretical literature provides a backing for such a policy, the empirical literature fails to find a robust relation between education expenditure and growth. Expenditure on education is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for growth. It seems that the effectiveness of education expenditure depends on the institutional and labour market characteristics of the economy. The effectiveness of education investments also depends on other factors such as trade openness. Due to these aforesaid factors, we argue that the empirical relation between education expenditure and growth for India has been inconsistent.