Report of the Board of Managers and Superintendent

Successively Issued by: Halifax Asylum for the Blind; Halifax Institution for the Blind; Halifax School for the Blind

Report of the proceedings

Mode of access: Internet.

Annual report of the State Superintendent of Public Instruction of Tennessee for the scholastic year ending ...

"Submitted to the Governor."

Papers of the Michigan Academy of Science, Arts, and Letters.

GeoRef

Long-Term Impacts of a Museum School Experience on Science Identity

Thesis (Master's)--University of Washington, 2016-06

Literacy Content and Core Practices: Teacher Educator Pedagogy as the Bridge Between Knowing and Doing

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2016-04

Relationship between Comprehensive School Readiness Profiles and Longer-Term Academic Growth

Thesis (Master's)--University of Washington, 2016-06

Theory-of-mind development in oral deaf children with cochlear implants or conventional hearing aids

Background: In the context of the established finding that theory-of-mind (ToM) growth is seriously delayed in late-signing deaf children, and some evidence of equivalent delays in those learning speech with conventional hearing aids, this study's novel contribution was to explore ToM development in deaf children with cochlear implants. Implants can substantially boost auditory acuity and rates of language growth. Despite the implant, there are often problems socialising with hearing peers and some language difficulties, lending special theoretical interest to the present comparative design. Methods: A total of 52 children aged 4 to 12 years took a battery of false belief tests of ToM. There were 26 oral deaf children, half with implants and half with hearing aids, evenly divided between oral-only versus sign-plus-oral schools. Comparison groups of age-matched high-functioning children with autism and younger hearing children were also included. Results: No significant ToM differences emerged between deaf children with implants and those with hearing aids, nor between those in oral-only versus sign-plus-oral schools. Nor did the deaf children perform any better on the ToM tasks than their age peers with autism. Hearing preschoolers scored significantly higher than all other groups. For the deaf and the autistic children, as well as the preschoolers, rate of language development and verbal maturity significantly predicted variability in ToM, over and above chronological age. Conclusions: The finding that deaf children with cochlear implants are as delayed in ToM development as children with autism and their deaf peers with hearing aids or late sign language highlights the likely significance of peer interaction and early fluent communication with peers and family, whether in sign or in speech, in order to optimally facilitate the growth of social cognition and language.

Psychoeducational outcome at school age of preterm infants with bronchopulmonary dysplasia

Objective: To investigate the cognitive performance and educational attainment at school-age of children with bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), compared with a preterm control group of children. Methods: Seventy preterm infants with BPD and 61 birth weight matched controls were prospectively followed-up to school-age. The Weschler Intelligence Scale for Children - III (WISC), the Wide Range Achievement Test (WRAT) and the Developmental Test of Visual Motor Integration (VMI) were administered. The results were compared between the two groups and multiple regression analyses were performed to determine the effect of confounding variables. Results: The children in the BPD group performed less well on the Full Scale IQ (mean 86.7 vs 93.5; 95% CI, 1.9-11.7), Verbal IQ (mean 87.1 vs 94.1; 95% CI, 2.0-12.0) and the Performance IQ (mean 88.6 vs 95.2; 95% CI, 2.0-11.2) of the WISC, the reading component of the WRAT (mean 93.8 vs 98.9; 95% CI, 0.3-9.8) and the VMI (mean 88.9 vs 93.3; 95%, CI 1.1-7.8). Despite controlling for social and biological variables, statistical differences persisted for Full Scale and Verbal IQ and reading. A Verbal IQ >1 SD below the mean was found in 41% of BPD children compared to 21% of controls, while on the reading component of the WRAT a greater proportion of BPD children also had scores>1 SD below the mean. Conclusion: Impaired psychoeducational performance was found in preterm children with BPD compared to controls, especially in the areas of language abilities and reading skills. This supports a greater need for special educational services and counseling for parents for these children.

Attracting, recruiting and retaining male teachers: policy issues in the male teacher debate

Frequent calls for more male teachers are being made in English-speaking countries. Many of these calls are based upon the fact that the teaching profession has become (even more) 'feminized' and the presumption that this has had negative effects for the education of boys. The employment of more male teachers is sometimes suggested as a way to re-masculinize schools so they become more 'boy-friendly' and thus contribute to improving boys' school performance. The focus of this paper is on an Australian education policy document in the state of Queensland that is concerned with the attraction, recruitment and retention of male teachers in the government education system. It considers the failure of this document, as with many of the calls for more male teachers, to take into account complex matters of gender raised by feminism and the sociology of masculinities. The paper then critiques the primary argument given for the need for more male teachers: that is, that male teachers provide boys with much needed role models.

The engineering link project: Learning about engineering by becoming an engineer

There has been a greater emphasis over the past few years of encouraging high school students to take up engineering as a career. This is due to a greater need for engineers in society, particularly in areas that are suffering a skills shortage. Both the engineering profession and universities across Australia have moved to address this shortage, with a proliferation of engineering outreach activities and programs the result. The Engineering Link Group (TELG) began the Engineering Link Project (ELP) over a decade ago with a focus on helping motivated high school students make an informed choice about engineering as a career. It also aimed at encouraging more high school students to study maths and science at high school. From the start the ELP was designed so that the students became engineers, rather than just hear from or watch engineers. Real working engineers pose problems to groups of students for them solve over the course of a day. In this way, students experience what it is like to be an engineer. It has been found that the project does help high school students make more informed career choices about engineering. The project also gave the students real life and practical reasons for studying sciences and mathematics at high school. © 2005, Australasian Association for Engineering Education

PERCEPÇÃO DE AUTO-ESTIMA E QUALIDADE DE VIDA DO JOVEM-ADULTO SURDO UNIVERSITÁRIO

O presente trabalho tem como tema central a opinião do surdo universitário sobre sua auto- estima e qualidade vida. Os objetivos foram conhecer o joven-adulto surdo universitário, segundo sua opinião, buscando especificamente identificar os fatores que contribuíram para o seu desenvolvimento psicológico e sua auto-estima; e identificar as características da qualidade de vida, considerando os aspectos físico, psicológico, relações sociais e meio ambiente. Participaram desta pesquisa 3 jovens-adultos surdos, universitários. O método utilizado foi o descritivo qualitativo, usando-se como fonte de coleta de dados a entrevista livre e o WHOQOL-bref. O método qualitativo na área da saúde visa investigar o significado que os fenômenos sentimentos, idéias, vivências, manifestações, dentre outros, tem para as pessoas e que dão molde às suas vidas incluindo os cuidados com a saúde. Percebemos que ao atingirem a fase adulta, os sujeitos pesquisados conseguem tomar decisões e escolher seus caminhos com maior liberdade em função das experiências e condições que lhes foram apresentadas. Verificamos que as situações vividas no ambiente escolar e o aprendizado da língua de sinais contribuíram para sua constituição como sujeito não limitado à condição da surdez. Foi possível identificar que possuem expectativas profissionais futuras e expressaram suas dificuldades, desejos, frustrações diante do mercado de trabalho, relações sociais e familiares como qualquer outro individuo, encontrando recursos internos para o enfrentamento das circunstâncias cotidianas. Os resultados da pesquisa também permitiram observar que os surdos reconhecem o grau de satisfação que têm com a vida, seu estado de saúde e cuidados com seu bem-estar físico, psicológico e social. Concluímos que ao recontar sua história de vida os surdos têm a possibilidade de se reconhecer como sujeitos e a oportunidade de dar continuidade às próprias vivências que contribuíram para seu bem-estar

Purchase decision-making in fair trade and the ethical 'gap':'is there a fair trade twix?'

Children are increasingly being recognised as a significant force in the retail market place, as primary consumers, influencers of others, and as future customers. This paper adds to the literature on children as consumers by exploring their attitudinal responses to a specific group of products: Fair Trade lines. There has been no research to date that has specifically addressed children as consumers of Fair Trade or the ethical purchase decision-making process in this area. The methodological approach taken here is an essentially interpretive and naturalistic analysis of two focus groups of school children. The analysis found that there is an urgent need to develop meaningful Fair Trade brands that combine strong brand knowledge and positive brand images to bridge the ethical purchase gap between the formation of clear ethical attitudes and actual ethical purchase behaviour. Such an approach would both capture more of the children’s primary market and influence future purchase behaviour. It is argued that Fair Trade actors should coordinate new marketing communications campaigns that build brand knowledge structures holistically around the Fair Trade process and that extend beyond merely raising consumer awareness.

The impact of performance measurement in strategic planning

Purpose – To investigate the impact of performance measurement in strategic planning process. Design/methodology/approach – A large scale survey was conducted online with Warwick Business School alumni. The questionnaire was based on the Strategic Development Process model by Dyson. The questionnaire was designed to map the current practice of strategic planning and to determine its most influential factors on the effectiveness of the process. All questions were close ended and a seven-point Likert scale used. The independent variables were grouped into four meaningful factors by factor analysis (Varimax, coefficient of rotation 0.4). The factors produced were used to build regression models (stepwise) for the five assessments of strategic planning process. Regression models were developed for the totality of the responses, comparing SMEs and large organizations and comparing organizations operating in slowly and rapidly changing environments. Findings – The results indicate that performance measurement stands as one of the four main factors characterising the current practice of strategic planning. This research has determined that complexity coming from organizational size and rate of change in the sector creates variation in the impact of performance measurement in strategic planning. Large organizations and organizations operating in rapidly changing environments make greater use of performance measurement. Research limitations/implications – This research is based on subjective data, therefore the conclusions do not concern the impact of strategic planning process' elements on the organizational performance achievements, but on the success/effectiveness of the strategic planning process itself. Practical implications – This research raises a series of questions about the use and potential impact of performance measurement, especially in the categories of organizations that are not significantly influenced by its utilisation. It contributes to the field of performance measurement impact. Originality/value – This research fills in the gap literature concerning the lack of large scale surveys on strategic development processes and performance measurement. It also contributes in the literature of this field by providing empirical evidences on the impact of performance measurement upon the strategic planning process.

Decomposing school and school-type efficiency

This paper puts forward a Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) approach to decomposing a pupil's under-attainment at school. Under-attainment is attributed to the pupil, the school and the type of funding regime under which the school operates. A pupil-level analysis is used firstly on a within school and secondly on a between school basis, grouping schools by type such as state-funded, independent and so on. Overall measures of each pupil's efficiency are thus disentangled into pupil, school and school-type efficiencies. This approach provides schools with a set of efficiency measures, each one conveying different information. © 2001 Elsevier Science B.V.