Electronic portfolios: Perspectives of students, teachers and parents

This study explores the perspectives of students, teachers and parents to evaluate the use of digital portfolios as an additional way to capture and enhance the learning of elementary students in a public school setting and as an opportunity to communicate this learning to parents. The research questions address four problems: complex assessment of learning, parental participation, and student and teacher satisfaction and the impact of the portfolio on teaching methods. Particularly, we are interested in the subjective satisfaction of students, teachers and parents in the portfolio development process. We are also interested in whether students learn to reflect constructively on their work, whether teachers have changed their teaching methods and whether parents believe the portfolio was used or could be used for enhanced communications.     

The Erosion of FAPE for Students with LD

How schoolsfulfill Free and Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) requirements has evolved. Decades of general and special education reforms have led to dramatic increases in expectations for students in special education to be included in the general education classroom and curriculum and to achieve to the same high standards as their general education peers. Students with learning disabilities (LD) in particular are impacted by these reforms. The notion of their individually‐appropriate education has been slowly eroded as limitations in special education practices and the goals of education reform have been responded to. As special education intentions and practices advance, stakeholders have a responsibility to protect the FAPE of students with LD, to ensure meeting these students’ individualized learning needs.     

HIV and aids: Toward increased awareness and understanding of prevention and education research using meta‐analysis

This essay is a review of four projects that use meta‐analysis to summarize existing research on four behavioral issues for HIV/AIDS education and prevention. The first project considers the importance of behavioral routines to promote safer sex behavior and the need to consider how the gender of the participant impact on those discussions. The second project examines four issues (disclosure, social support, risk behavior, and childbearing) for those testing positive for HIV. The third project examines the impact that the announcement of Earvin “Magic”; Johnson on behaviors and attitudes of adults and children. The final project examines the difference in knowledge for one subgroup of U.S. society (Hispanics) compared to either White European or African Americans. The summaries of ongoing projects illustrate the importance of meta‐analysis as a means to aggregate existing research.     

今天有什么值得我爱吗?

平凡的生活中蕴含着生命的真理。理想与现实也不总是那么接近。我们往往忽视了身边最宝贵的东西,却对一些不切实际的东西津津乐道。阅读此篇,学会关爱你身边的一切。     

Designing deaf babies and the question of disability

This article explores the recent controversy surrounding a Deaf lesbian couple's deliberate attempt at finding a Deaf donor to increase their chances of having a d/Deaf baby. Many have criticized the Deaf couple for harming their child; Deaf advocates have responded that the couple's decision reflects a natural cultural desire. This article seeks to explore how the medical model of disability implicitly used on both sides of the debate has obscured important points. Once this controversy takes into consideration the social construction of disability, the ethical defense of seeking a deaf child gains further support. This leads to the ironic claim that seeking a deaf child could actually mitigate the conditions of disability within the family.     

The Southern mind and the savage ideal: deconstructing identities of place in the Cracker State

ABSTRACT

This qualitative study discusses one Southern college of education and its engagement with White supremacy. This research stemmed from the Institution’s publication of an offensive catalog cover and the subsequent reactions to its inherent racism. Following this incident, our institution was dubbed ‘Cracker State’ in the media, informing our decision to analyze the historical connotations of this term for our pre-service educators. Utilizing Critical Whiteness Studies and Southern epistemology frameworks, we reconceptualize White Fragility while pulling from this experience and data collected to advance a strategy for confronting Southern White supremacy. Participants included 154 majority White and female students. Data stemmed from document analysis and two years of empirical data drawn from classroom discussions and student assignments. Due to the demographics and location of our college, we utilize the autobiographical demand of place and pay particular attention to understanding the influence of the South on the development of our students’ ideology. We explore this Southern place utilizing the following themes: (1) romantic fictions, (2) the specter of guilt, (3) God’s chosen people, and (4) the final great tragedy of the South. The goal is to begin a conversation regarding place-based pedagogy.