Gentrification,Charter Schools,and Enrollment Patterns in Washington,DC: Shared Growth or New Forms of Educational Inequality?

ABSTRACT

Cities in the United States and across the world have experienced gentrification at the same time as school choice policies have become more popular. This research examines the relationship between gentrification and charter schooling, seeking to understand how together they affect demographic composition of schools across Washington, DC. This study uses geographic information systems (GIS) mapping and statistical techniques to show that gentrified neighborhoods are more likely to have charter schools. Additionally, the demographic compositions of charter schools and traditional public schools differ depending on the gentrification classification of the census tract in which the schools are located. While a handful of diverse charter schools exist in gentrified neighborhoods and some diverse public schools exist in traditionally affluent neighborhoods, schools in Washington, DC remain racially and economically isolated overall.     

Biomechanics and visual-motor control: how it has, is, and will be used to reveal the secrets of hitting a cricket ball

Cricket batting is an incredibly complex task which requires the coordination of full-body movements to successfully hit a fast moving ball. Biomechanical studies on batting have helped to shed light on how this intricate skill may be performed, yet the many different techniques exhibited by batters make the systematic examination of batting difficult. This review seeks to critically evaluate the existing literature examining cricket batting, but doing so by exploring the strong but often neglected relationship between biomechanics and visual-motor control. In three separate sections, the paper seeks to address (i) the different theories of motor control which may help to explain how skilled batters can hit a ball, (ii) strategies used by batters to overcome the (at times excessive) temporal constraints, and (iii) an interpretation from a visual-motor perspective of the prevailing biomechanical data on batting.     

Pursuing higher education: adaptation challenges and coping strategies of rural students at urban universities in Bangladesh

Tertiary Education and Management - This study examines how students from rural areas in Bangladesh face particular challenges in adapting to university dormitories in urban areas. There has been...     

Domains and Levels of Pedagogical Innovation in Schools Using ICT: Ten Innovative Schools in Israel

The study reported here is based on the results of two international studies: IEA's Second Information Technology in Education Study (SITES) Module 2, focusing on innovative pedagogical practices at the classroom level, and OECD/CERI Case Studies of ICT and Organizational Innovation, focusing on ICT related innovations at the school system level. In the paper we analyze the data collected in ten innovative schools in Israel which have incorporated ICT in unique ways and have succeeded in devising innovative classroom pedagogies and school system changes. The major research questions addressed are: (a) What levels of innovation were observed in the participant schools, and in which domains? (b) How does the level of innovation in the various domains vary among and within schools? (c) What correlation patterns among levels of innovation in the various domains can be identified? The results of ten comprehensive case studies of exemplary schools in Israel were analyzed by mean of the innovation analysis schema developed by us for characterizing ICT-based educational innovations.     

Serum gamma glutamyl transferase (γ-GT) activity in alcoholics with liver abscess and chronic alcoholics

Gamma Glutamyl Transferase (γ-GT) is a microsomal enzyme. Its activity in serum is assayed in alcoholics with liver abscess and alcoholics without liver abscess after screening by ultrasonography. The enzyme activity in serum is increased by 334% in the patients with liver abscess compared to normal control subjects (p<0.0001), and 172% when compared to patients with chronic alcoholism without liver abscess (p<0.0001). The enzyme activity was increased by 59.3% in the serum of patients without liver abscess compared to the normal control subjects (p<0.001). Measurement of γ-GT in serum appears to be a sensitive index in the diagnosis of alcoholics with liver abscess.     

Closing the Gaps and Filling the STEM Pipeline: A Multidisciplinary Approach

There is a growing demand for degreed science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) professionals, but the production of degreed STEM students is not keeping pace. Problems exist at every juncture along the pipeline. Too few students choose to major in STEM disciplines. Many of those who do major in STEM drop out or change majors. Females and minorities remain underrepresented in STEM. The success rate of college students who are from low-income background or first-generation students is much lower than that of students who do not face such challenges. Some of those who successfully complete their degree need help in making the transition to the workforce after graduation. A program at Lamar University takes a multidisciplinary approach to addressing these problems. It is designed to recruit, retain and transition undergraduates to careers in STEM, focusing its efforts on five science disciplines and on these “at-risk” students. The program was supported by a 5-year grant from the National Science Foundation and is supported through August 31, 2016 by Lamar University and a grant from ExxonMobil. A formal assessment plan documents the program’s success. The program received an award from the Texas Higher Education Board for its contributions towards Closing the Gaps in Higher Education in Texas. This paper describes the program’s theoretical framework, research questions, methods, evaluation plan, and instruments. It presents an analysis of the results achieved using these methods and implications for improvements to the program resulting from lessons learned.