Development asks that the inequity and unsustainability of the widening gap between rich and poor be narrowed, ultimately impacting on households in the most economically excluded communities. Local community-based organisations (CBOs) provide much of the organisational fabric through which development is delivered. Largely resourced by the poorest themselves, many of these CBOs aspire to attracting funds from the development aid industry. In attempting to comply with the rules of these funding sources and compete in funding relationships, organisations become players in the funding game fraught with power imbalance and seemingly contradictory incentives. Neither the funding agencies, intent on disbursement, nor the CBOs in their desire to build organisations and contribute to their communities, seem aware of the true costs of these relationships. Aid funding is complex, operating at numerous levels, across a multiplicity of varied organisations, stakeholders and contexts. Over the last 60 years, the aid industry has evolved complicated and highly engineered mechanisms to manage relationships with funding recipients, including detailed conventions for evaluation. As part of contractual obligation, criteria for success are pre-defined; outcomes are predicted; and targets are projected. Development, however, is not linear or predictable. It is contradictory and complex. Despite objections and alternatives since the late 1980s, ‘conventional’ linear, simplistic rationale has dogged the development industry. The HIV support sector as a focus for funding, capacity building and service contracts from government and international aid agencies, offers rich examples of aid industry dynamics. This research, set amongst small but established CBOs working in HIV/AIDS support in Soweto and Lawley (Gauteng) and Mabeskraal (North West Province), explores alternative evaluation approaches, methodologies and principles, based on grounded evaluation. Two models are tested and compared. Firstly, inward-looking, organisation-based, reflective self-evaluation using Stories and Metaphor. Than secondly, outward-looking, community research using a Most Significant Change approach. The evaluation processes developed help participating CBOs describe success and outcomes against their own criteria. The approaches use narrative, visual and metaphorical formats. The central purpose of the research is meta-evaluation aimed at an effective process using iterative, cumulative action research based on the principles of grounded theory. Meta-evaluation data included descriptions of the processes and the nature of evaluation results. They are analysed using reflection, learning and re-design in an action research cycle. The results provide both practical insights into conducting evaluation, and the principles of effective development in a CBO setting. They demonstrate that grounded evaluation can be used to understand organisational dynamics and programme outcomes. Participatory methods, particularly visual and verbal communication, are shown to be far superior to written communication in this setting. The results demonstrate the mutual compatibility and ethical inseparability of organisation development with evaluation, providing insight into the practice of utilisation-based evaluation. The value of appreciative inquiry and the risks of accusatory inquiry are described. A thread that runs through the results highlights the impact of power, ownership and process use in effective evaluation. The research has also elaborated some of the intractable contradictions and conundrums in development aid. Money carries the power vested in global economics and market forces. In making funding judgements, evaluators purvey the power of wealth inequity: the very power imbalance which itself purports to address. As a development practitioner, an evaluator’s role should be to facilitate pathways out of dependent mindsets. As gatekeepers to financial support, however, their work entrenches distortions in perceptions of wealth and power. These complex interactions of power and ownership demand moderation and compromise. The industry requires investment of greater energy into theoretical, methodological and practical research. Suggestions for such research are included. Without fresh creativity, development and evaluation will remain frustrated forces within an entrenched, self-perpetuating system of inequity and disparity. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Human Resource Management / unrestricted

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between building conditions and student achievement of students identified in the subgroups of poverty and minority in high schools in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The targeted population was identified by using the study conducted by Crook (2006) which included information obtained from seventy-two high schools across the Commonwealth of Virginia. Building conditions used in the study were based upon the responses received from principals on the Commonwealth Assessment of Physical Environment (CAPE) form. The scaled scores of economically disadvantaged students and minority students on the Standards of Learning tests administered in grades nine through eleven during the 2004-2005 school year were used to measure student achievement. The status of economically disadvantaged students was controlled by the classification of a student receiving free and reduced-priced lunch during the 2004-2005 school year. The status of minority students was controlled by ethnicity as reported by the individual schools to the Virginia Department of Education for the 2004-2005 school year. Two basic research questions guided this study and the researcher used t-tests to compare dependent variable means across independent variables. The research questions include: Is there a significant difference between the scores of economically disadvantaged students housed in building conditions rated substandard and those housed in buildings rated standard in the high schools in the Commonwealth of Virginia? Is there a significant difference between the scores of minority students housed in buildings rated substandard and those housed in buildings rated standard in the high schools in the Commonwealth of Virginia? This study found an inconsistent relationship between building conditions and the achievement of economically disadvantaged students. Therefore, the conclusion is that the condition of the school building does not apparently influence the achievement of economically disadvantaged students when they are housed in inferior buildings. In addition, this study found a positive relationship between building conditions and the achievement of minority students in the majority of the achievement measures. Therefore, the conclusion is that the condition of the school building does in fact influence the achievement of minority students when the building is in poor condition. / Ed. D.

Equal access in education has proven to be less than sufficient regarding academic success for all students (Atchison et al., 2017; Glynn and Wassell, 2018). Previous research indicates that despite efforts to impart significant reforms in public education within the United States, few gains have been made regarding equity among students (Glynn and Wassell, 2018). Some researchers have recommended that school divisions provide equal access to education pathways as a step in the right direction for educators, administrators, and school divisions; as employing equity in education provides all students with the resources needed to experience academic success (Atchison et al., 2017). This is because equity impacts educational opportunities as it entails the experiences of individuals and social identifiers (Atchison et al., 2017). The purpose of this study was to identify variables that contribute to the minority student enrollment gap in advanced, Advanced Placement (AP), and International Baccalaureate (IB) English and Math courses at the high school level. The researcher used a multiple regression analysis to assess if significant gaps of enrollment in advanced, AP, and IB English and Math courses exist between minority and non-minority students in Virginia public high schools from 2015-2020. The possible impacts of attendance and economic status on minority student enrollment in advanced, AP, and IB English and Math courses were also examined. The results of the study yielded significant enrollment gaps between minority and non-minority students in advanced, AP, and IB English and Math courses in Virginia public high schools. / Doctor of Education / Equal access in education has proven to be less than sufficient regarding academic success for all students (Atchison et al., 2017; Glynn and Wassell, 2018). Previous research indicates that despite efforts to impart significant reforms in public education within the United States, few gains have been made regarding equity among students (Glynn and Wassell, 2018). Some researchers have recommended that school divisions provide equal access to education pathways as a step in the right direction for educators, administrators, and school divisions; as employing equity in education provides all students with the resources needed to experience academic success (Atchison et al., 2017). This is because equity impacts educational opportunities as it entails the experiences of individuals and social identifiers (Atchison et al., 2017). The purpose of this study was to identify variables that contribute to the minority student enrollment gap in advanced, Advanced Placement (AP), and International Baccalaureate (IB) English and Math courses at the high school level. The researcher used a multiple regression analysis to assess if significant gaps of enrollment in advanced, AP, and IB English and Math courses exist between minority and non-minority students in Virginia public high schools from 2015-2020. The researcher also simultaneously examined the possible impacts of attendance and economic status on minority student enrollment in advanced, AP, and IB English and Math courses. The researcher found that significant gaps exist between minority and non-minority students in advanced, AP, and IB English and Math courses in Virginia public high schools.

Literature on intergenerational relationships has indicated the importance of respect in these relationships. To date, research has focused mainly on defining the construct of respect or looking at how it presents itself within intergenerational relationships. Little attention has been paid to the experience of respect, leaving a gap, more specifically in the study of the way in which older persons experience respect within intergenerational relationships. Respect has been defined in current literature as a combination of behaviours, attitudes and feelings. Respect is always experienced in relationships between people and accordingly the self-interactional group theory (SIGT) was used as a theoretical framework for understanding older persons’ experience of respect in their relationships with middle adolescents. The focus was specifically placed on their relationships with middle adolescents because of rifts relating to their experience of relational interactions that have been found to exist in these relationships in studies focusing on older youth. Research was conducted in the economically vulnerable community of Vaalharts, situated in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa, in which the importance of supportive relationships for older persons is especially relevant. The findings of the study could potentially lead to the development of programmes to strengthen these relationships. Twelve participants (9 female and 3 male) over the age of 60 took part in Mmogo-method® sessions in order to gain an understanding of their subjective experience of the construct of respect. By using the Mmogo-method®, visual data (photos of their presentations made for the Mmogo-method®) and textual data were obtained. In addition, self-reflective journals containing open-ended questions (completed voluntarily by the participants) added to the trustworthiness of the study by using more than one data-gathering method. All data were analysed to derive themes that painted a vivid picture of the older persons’ experience of respect. The photos taken during the Mmogo-method® sessions were visually analysed while textual data were analysed thematically. Findings indicated that the older persons linked respect to the constructs of care and love. It was also seen that certain behaviours, such as using appropriate language and appropriate forms of address, were important aspects of respect. Respect in the relationships between the older persons and middle adolescents has a reciprocal nature and the older persons portrayed attitudes of mutual respect in these interactions. They also expressed their need for middle adolescents to demonstrate their gratitude and, for their part, to have opportunities to model respectful behaviour to middle adolescents. Respect as a construct is experienced by the older persons as an interactional manifestation of the current definitions and forms of respect as presented in literature. It is recommended that similar studies be done with other groups of older persons in order to obtain a broader view of how members of economically vulnerable communities experience respect in their relationships with middle adolescents. The data in this study demonstrate what current literature says about respect, and adds to previous research by achieving an understanding of how older persons’ experience the construct rather than exploring only the definition of respect or how it presents in intergenerational relationships. / MSc (Research Psychology), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Literature on intergenerational relationships has indicated the importance of respect in these relationships. To date, research has focused mainly on defining the construct of respect or looking at how it presents itself within intergenerational relationships. Little attention has been paid to the experience of respect, leaving a gap, more specifically in the study of the way in which older persons experience respect within intergenerational relationships. Respect has been defined in current literature as a combination of behaviours, attitudes and feelings. Respect is always experienced in relationships between people and accordingly the self-interactional group theory (SIGT) was used as a theoretical framework for understanding older persons’ experience of respect in their relationships with middle adolescents. The focus was specifically placed on their relationships with middle adolescents because of rifts relating to their experience of relational interactions that have been found to exist in these relationships in studies focusing on older youth. Research was conducted in the economically vulnerable community of Vaalharts, situated in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa, in which the importance of supportive relationships for older persons is especially relevant. The findings of the study could potentially lead to the development of programmes to strengthen these relationships. Twelve participants (9 female and 3 male) over the age of 60 took part in Mmogo-method® sessions in order to gain an understanding of their subjective experience of the construct of respect. By using the Mmogo-method®, visual data (photos of their presentations made for the Mmogo-method®) and textual data were obtained. In addition, self-reflective journals containing open-ended questions (completed voluntarily by the participants) added to the trustworthiness of the study by using more than one data-gathering method. All data were analysed to derive themes that painted a vivid picture of the older persons’ experience of respect. The photos taken during the Mmogo-method® sessions were visually analysed while textual data were analysed thematically. Findings indicated that the older persons linked respect to the constructs of care and love. It was also seen that certain behaviours, such as using appropriate language and appropriate forms of address, were important aspects of respect. Respect in the relationships between the older persons and middle adolescents has a reciprocal nature and the older persons portrayed attitudes of mutual respect in these interactions. They also expressed their need for middle adolescents to demonstrate their gratitude and, for their part, to have opportunities to model respectful behaviour to middle adolescents. Respect as a construct is experienced by the older persons as an interactional manifestation of the current definitions and forms of respect as presented in literature. It is recommended that similar studies be done with other groups of older persons in order to obtain a broader view of how members of economically vulnerable communities experience respect in their relationships with middle adolescents. The data in this study demonstrate what current literature says about respect, and adds to previous research by achieving an understanding of how older persons’ experience the construct rather than exploring only the definition of respect or how it presents in intergenerational relationships. / MSc (Research Psychology), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Migrant children are considered one of the most at-risk populations in the United States. They confront multiple obstacles of poverty, poor health, mobility, and limited English proficiency (LEP). These factors contribute to the difficulties that migrant children may encounter in the educational system. Once a migrant student is identified as having a disability, he/she faces problems not only because of his/her migratory lifestyle but also because of his/her disability. Little research has been conducted regarding migrant students with disabilities. Many questions remain unanswered. Some of the literature alludes to an underrepresentation of migrant students in special education, but no empirical research exists. The purpose of the study is two-fold. The first is to examine the extent of the migrant student population that is currently identified as having disabilities in the school districts across the state of Texas. The second purpose of the study is to examine the common characteristics of school districts that have a disproportionate representation of migrant students served by special education. Data for the 2000-2001 school year was obtained from the Texas Education Agency (TEA) from their Public Education Information Management System (PEIMS) and the Program Analysis System (PAS). There were 223 districts included in the sample. There were 71,656 migrant students in the sample with 9,078 migrant students receiving special education services. Migrant students across the state of Texas were primarily Hispanic and economically disadvantaged. Forty five percent of all migrants were also LEP. Although 12% of the migrant population across the state received special education services during the 2000-2001 school year, further analysis demonstrated that there was a higher percentage of migrant students that received services under the Learning Disability category when compared to all students, excluding migrants. There were also a number of districts that had an overrepresentation of migrant students that received special education services, while others had an underrepresentation of migrant LEP students that received special education services. Overall, this study indicates that there is a disproportionate representation of migrant students that received special education services across the school districts of Texas.

No description available.

No description available.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:29:13Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2008-08-08Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T18:39:00Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 rodrigues_psh_me_ilha.pdf: 1449825 bytes, checksum: 50a4c406b10888a1e0ff3573410e7ede (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / O gerenciamento dos resíduos sólidos urbanos consiste em realizar as seguintes etapas: geração, acondicionamento, armazenamento, coleta, transporte e disposição final. Os tipos de disposição final são: lixão, aterro controlado e aterro sanitário. A proposta da dissertação foi realizar uma análise de viabilidade econômica de um aterro sanitário para cidade de pequeno porte, através do método da Relação Benefício - Custo (RBC). O estudo de caso foi feito para a cidade de Ilha Solteira, que se situa no noroeste do Estado de São Paulo, e apresenta aproximadamente 25.700 habitantes. A pesquisa consistiu em desenvolver as seguintes atividades: coleta de dados sobre a produção de resíduos sólidos urbanos, cálculo dos custos, cálculo dos benefícios e cálculo da Relação Benefício - Custo para o aterro sanitário. O método da Relação Benefício – Custo consiste em determinar o valor presente dos benefícios e dividir pelo valor presente dos custos. O resultado foi analisado em termos do valor obtido da RBC para o aterro sanitário. O valor da RBC obtido foi 0,16 menor que 1, portanto o aterro sanitário é economicamente inviável para o estudo de caso / The management of urban solid waste consists of the following stages: generation; conditioning; storage; collection; transportation and disposal. The kinds of disposal are: garbage dump; landfill dump and sanitary landfill. The dissertation proposal was to realize an economic viability analysis of a sanitary landfill for a small city using the benefit-cost ratio method (BCR). The case study was realized for Ilha Solteira city located in the northwest of São Paulo State. The city provides approximately 25.700 inhabitants. The research was to develop the following activities: data collection of the solid waste production; costs calculation; benefits calculation and benefit-cost ratio calculation for the sanitary landfill. The benefit-cost ratio method consists in determine the benefits present values and divide the costs present values. The results were analyzed in terms of the BRC value obtained. The value of BRC obtained was 0.16 lower than 1, so the sanitary landfill is economically unfeasible for the case study

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / This study set out to investigate the conditions under which urban issues triggered grassroots mobilization in Metropolitan Cape Town, South Africa between 1976 and 1986. It sought to understand the form taken by such collective behavior and tried to discover the relations of power that inform urban social movements, locally, regionally and nationally. I did not only observe neighborhood social life, but neighborhood-based protests. Through a close observation of social practices in different neighborhoods I have managed to document the influence of urban social movements on the dominant relations of power in Cape Town. In this regard, I have demonstrated that through the organizational strategies and mobilizational tactics of neighborhood associations, political institutions in Black townships have been turned upside down; social relationships in some neighborhoods have been dramatically challenged and reviewed, and perhaps most significantly the legacy of constructed cultural silence amongst the oppressed and exploited has been significantly eroded from unconscious acquiescence to the status quo to a conscious disobedience to the dominant relations of power politically, economically and ideologically. It is in the mobilizational moments of resistance and organizational strategies of city-wide neighborhood networks in the form of urban social movements that there emerge, through conscious struggle, the organic potential and conjunctural possibilities for the construction and propagation of counterhegemonic social relations in the arena of conflict and contestation where the State, since 1976 is finding it increasingly difficult to elicit the consent of the governed. Thus, it is in this historically-informed context that urban social movements are first and foremost an expression of an organized attempt by the people at the grassroots level to transform the dominant Apartheid practices at all levels of society.