Native american related materials in elementary science instruction

The low achievement of Native American students, as measured by standardized tests, results from a number of factors, including the lack of cultural relevance of curriculum materials used in their instruction. Using a pretest–posttest control group design, Native American students in Bureau of Indian Affairs schools in Grades 4–8 who were taught science using culturally relevant materials achieved significantly higher and displayed a significantly more positive attitude toward Native Americans and science than comparable students who were taught science without the culturally relevant materials. It is suggested that when educators of Native Americans teach science, they should use materials that incorporate frequent reference to Native Americans and science.     

Community leadership development: Observations about the past and future

Walter A. Denero is currently the Fanning Leadership Fellow in the Fanning Leadership Center at the University of Georgia. He formerly served as director of the Model Cities Program in Athens and has done extensive community leadership development throughout the southeast.     

Evaluating deaf students' readiness to meet the English language and literacy demands of postsecondary educational programs

The purpose of this study was to investigate alternative methods for evaluating deaf students' readiness to meet the English language and literacy demands of postsecondary educational programs. In the first part of the study, scores obtained by a large sample of deaf students on the ACT Assessment (ACT Composite score and scores on the ACT English and Reading tests) were compared to their scores on various measures of English language and literacy skills. In the second part of the study, the performance of a smaller sample of deaf students on the ESL Reading and ESL Grammar/Usage components of COMPASS/ESL was compared to their performance on a set of concurrent measures of English skills. The results of this investigation demonstrate that neither the ACT Assessment nor COMPASS/ESL are appropriate for the full range of deaf students seeking admission to postsecondary educational programs. However, the ACT Assessment is appropriate for deaf students seeking admission to transferable (BS and AAS) degree programs, and the ESL Reading and Grammar/Usage tests appear to be appropriate for deaf students seeking admission to nontransferable (AOS) degree programs. Taken together, the combination of the ACT Assessment and COMPASS/ESL appear able to provide a valid, reliable, and coherent approach to admissions screening assessment for the full range of deaf students seeking admission to postsecondary programs.     

Boys go fishing,girls work at home: gender roles,poverty and unequal school access among semi-nomadic fishing communities in South Western Madagascar

Drawing from data gathered in South Western Madagascar in 2011, the work explores the combination of poverty and traditional gender roles as a critical factor in determining unequal school access among young people from semi-nomadic fishing communities. It demonstrates that from the age of early puberty, most boys go fishing with their fathers and brothers whilst most girls from the same families work at home. In contrast to the school systems observed in many developing society contexts, which demonstrate female marginalisation, in South Western Madagascar both boys and girls are marginalised. Instruments of global policy designs, such as positive discrimination for girls, seem ill-suited to resolve the problem. Instead, the authors call for a more tailored and context-specific approach to address the particular challenges amongst semi-nomadic fishing communities in Madagascar.     

The Effect of Globalisation in Africa and the Choice of Language in Publishing

This article shows us some of the problems of the domination of the ex-colonial languages for intellectual life in Africa. The author notes that English serves fundamentally the interests of those for whom it is both an export commodity and a language of conquest and domination. He argues that there is no compelling reason for adopting a foreign language as a national one. On the contrary, there is ample evidence that such linguistic imposition does more harm than good. When a language is artificially imposed, students are rarely able to master it sufficiently to work comfortably in it. Not only do they fail to acquire proficiency in the foreign language; they also lose proficiency in their own languages, becoming twice disadvantaged. The author sees dependency on a foreign language, like other forms of dependency, as a liability that a nation can ill afford. He quotes Ali Mazrui who raises the question: Will Africa ever effectively "take off" when it is so tightly held hostage to the languages of the former imperial masters?