In January 2002, President George W. Bush signed the No Child Left Behind legislation into law. The law established new standards of accountability for individual students, schools, and school systems. Because of No Child Left Behind, the penalties for schools with poor academic performance in our country are the loss of reputation, student enrollment, and financial support. The purpose of this study was to determine if there was a difference in standardized test scores in reading and math between fourth-grade students in Title I schools and those in NonTitle I schools. The study focused on the following subgroups: gender, economically disadvantaged students, and students with disabilities. The data were gathered from an analysis of standardized test scores in reading and math of fourth-grade students in 172 elementary schools located in 21 East Tennessee school systems. The data were collected from the 2002-2003 Terra Nova Standardized Assessment Test scores. The Terra Nova test is a standardized test used to evaluate academic progress in the state of Tennessee. In summary, there were some differences between Title I and NonTitle I fourth-grade students in the subject areas of reading and math. Significant differences were noted within the subcategory of gender in both reading and math. Significant differences were also noted within the subcategory of students with disabilities in the content area of math. No significant differences were found in reading for students with disabilities. There were no significant differences between Title I and NonTitle I schools in reading and math within the subcategory of economically disadvantaged students.

Federal legislation known as the No Child Left Behind act has required states to close achievement gaps. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between special education spending by districts in the state of Tennessee and standardized achievement for students with disabilities. Secondary data were obtained from the Tennessee Department of Education’s website (www.tn.gov/education). Data from each local education association were collected for the years of 2010-2014 in the areas of special education spending, special education population, and TCAP proficiency percentages in reading and math grades 3-8. Data from each local education association were collected for the years of 2011-2014 for gap size percentages between students with and without disabilities for reading and math grades 3-8 and the percentage of economically disadvantaged students. The researcher performed 6 Pearson correlation coefficient tests for this analysis. The findings showed a positive correlation between spending and performance on standardized assessments in the areas of reading and mathematics for students with disabilities. The analysis indicated that per pupil expenditures in special education has not had a statistically significant impact on reducing the gap size between students with and without disabilities. However, the percentage of economically disadvantaged students in a local education association inversely impacted the gap size. Those local education agencies with a higher population of economically disadvantaged students were more likely to have smaller gap sizes between students with and without disabilities in reading and mathematics on standardized testing.

This essay is included as a sub-study of a survey about child poverty, which the Department of Sociology at Uppsala University, the Ombudsman for Children and Gillbergska Stiftelsen (the Gillberg’s foundation) has been commissioned by Uppsala Town to implement. The intent of this essay is to investigate how three pre-school managers in the municipal preschool in Uppsala describe child poverty, how they see the preschool’s social responsibility and how they manage child poverty in their practical operation. The essay is a qualitative study and informants' responses has been analyzed and related to symbolic interactionism, the thesis theoretical basis. The results show that pre-school managers' understanding and description of child poverty differ. Child poverty is not a topic discussed very much in early childhood education and insight into families' financial situation is very small. Preschool managers testify that families rarely talk about their financial situation and poverty seem to be seen as something private that the school should not put themselves in, poverty also seems to be associated with shame. Preschool heads out that preschool has responsibility for all children within the business and is responsible for getting views on child abuse but preschool's role in relation to economically disadvantaged children seems to be unclear and there are no general guidelines on how to act if a child is struggling financially. / Denna uppsats ingår som en delstudie i ett kartläggningsprojekt om barnfattigdom som Sociologiska Institutionen vid Uppsala Universitet, Barnombudsmannen och Gillbergska Stiftelsen fått i uppdrag från Uppsala kommun att genomföra. Uppsatsens syfte är att undersöka hur tre förskolechefer inom den kommunala förskoleverksamheten i Uppsala beskriver barnfattigdom, hur de ser på förskolans sociala ansvar samt hur man arbetar med och hanterar barnfattigdom inom verksamheten i praktiken. Uppsatsen är en kvalitativ intervjustudie och informanternas svar har analyserats utifrån meningskoncentrerad innehållsanalys kopplat till tidigare forskning och begrepp från symbolisk interaktionism, uppsatsens teoretiska utgångspunkt. Resultaten visar att förskolechefernas förståelse och beskrivning av barnfattigdom skiljer sig åt. Barnfattigdom är inget ämne som diskuteras speciellt mycket inom förskoleverksamheten och insynen i familjernas ekonomiska situation är mycket liten. Resultaten visar att det finns en välvilja hos personalen att hjälpa utsatta barn men att det är svårt att tala om fattigdom med föräldrarna eftersom det är förknippat med skam. Fattigdom tycks ses som något privat och något som förskolan inte ska lägga sig i ifall inte familjerna själva väljer att öppna sig, vilket familjer tycks göra i mycket liten utsträckning. Förskole-cheferna påpekar att förskolan har ansvar för alla barn inom verksamheten och är ansvarig för att få syn på barn som far illa men förskolans roll i förhållande till ekonomiskt utsatta barn tycks vara oklar och det saknas generella riktlinjer för hur man ska agera om ett barn har det svårt ekonomiskt.

An essential part of regional policy is the definition of areas which should be supported with regard to the balanced development of the region. The present thesis deals with analysis of methodical progresses in definition of problem regions in the Czech Republic which then is used to fulfil the main task of the work - making up The metodology of delimitation of economically weak areas of South Bohemia region. Introductory chapters devote to the aims of the work and summarize the used literature. The chapter ``methodology of the processing{\crq}q explains the use of various methodologies for the processing of this work. The following chapter brings a brief overview related to the regional policy. The next chapter is devoted to some selected socio-geographical characteristics of South Bohemia region. The following chapters give an overview of definition of problem regions at the national and regional levels. The last and main chapter deals with the creation of methodology of delimitation of economically weak areas of South Bohemia region. Thesis contains a number of tables, graphs and cartograms which with regard to the nature of the work make an essential part of it.

Bakgrund: I Sverige har alla rätt till god hälsa. Faktorer som inverkar på hälsa är individens levnadsvanor och ekonomi. Faktorer som sjukdom, sociala relationer och arbetslöshet inverkar på antalet socioekonomiskt utsatta personer som ökar i antal. Distriktssköterskan har en viktig roll i hälsofrämjande arbete med personer i socioekonomisk utsatthet genom rådgivning, stöd och sätta upp individuella mål så personen hittar sin egen drivkraft till att göra livsstilsförändringar.   Syfte: Syfte med studien var att beskriva distriktssköterskors erfarenhet av att arbeta hälsofrämjande med personer i socioekonomisk utsatthet   Metod: Studien hade en beskrivande design med kvalitativ ansats. Data samlades in med semistrukturerade intervjuer utifrån en intervjuguide med öppna frågor. Nio distriktssköterskor deltog. Analysen genomfördes med kvalitativ innehållsanalys.   Huvudresultat: Distriktssköterskorna beskrev att bemötande, skapa tillit och behandla alla lika var viktigt. De beskrev olika strategier för att nå fram till dessa personer genom att möta personen där den är, göra förändringar i små steg och ha regelbundna uppföljningar för att uppnå ett hållbart resultat i det hälsofrämjande arbetet med livsstilsförändringar.   Slutsats: För att uppnå ett hållbart resultat i det hälsofrämjande arbetet med personer i socioekonomisk utsatthet och livsstilsförändringar var det viktigt att möta personen där den var, göra förändringar i små steg och ha regelbundna uppföljningar. / Background: In Sweden everyone has the right to good health. Factors affecting health are the individual's lifestyle and finances. Factors such as illness, social relationships and unemployment affect the number of socio-economically vulnerable people who increase in numbers. The district nurse has an important role in health promotion work with people in socio-economic vulnerability through counseling, support and setting individual goals so people who have their own driving force to make lifestyle changes.   Purpose: The purpose of the study was to describe the district nurses' experience of working health promotion with persons in socio-economic vulnerability.   Method: The study had a description design with a qualitative approach. Data was collected with semi-structured interviews based on an interview guide with open questions. Nine district nurses participated. The analysis was conducted with qualitative content analysis.   Main result: The district nurses described that attending, creating trust and treating everyone equally was important. They describe different strategies for reaching these people by meeting people where they are, making changes in small steps and having regular follow-ups to achieve a sustainable result in the health promotion work on lifestile changes.   Conclusion: In order to achive a sustainable result in the health promotion work with people in socio-economic vulnerability and lifestyle changes, it was important to meet people where it was, make changes in small steps and have regular follow-ups.

The problem with which this investigation is concerned is that of determining the ability of economically disadvantaged black children to comprehend a specific grammatical operation, the non-identity requirement of pronominalization. In addition, the study is also concerned with describing selected characteristics of the language of the subjects in the study through the utilization of a task of imitation. The subjects of the study were forty-eight black children who were between the ages of four and ten years. All subjects were from families in which the natural parents were living together in the same household. The parents and children were native residents of the area and were recipients of federal welfare aid. None of the subjects in the study had histories of physiological, psychological, neurological, or auditory problems, and none were presently enrolled in rehabilitative language programs. A general estimate of intelligence was provided by the administration of the Columbia Mental Maturity Scale.

To conduct this qualitative dissertation study, a phenomenological approach was utilized. The purpose of the study was to examine the perspectives of highly motivated, economically disadvantaged, middle school students to discover the factors that they identified as integral to their overall development and their intrinsic motivation, over time, to learn. A key component of this study was to give voice to the students who participated in this study and utilize their perspectives as a primary data source. Participants in this study included six middle school students, identified as economically disadvantaged, two from fifth grade and four from the seventh grade. Self-determination theory was used as a theoretical framework to guide and inform the analysis of students' perspectives, obtained through individual, semi-structured interviews with each student and classroom observations. Six themes, related to students' intrinsic motivation to learn and succeed in school, were identified. Extrinsic factors were also prominent. Although students expressed a true love of learning, they also acknowledged that external factors such as grades and testing influenced their motivation to learn. Autonomy, competence, and relatedness were major factors at play in the school, classrooms, and homes of these students. Recommendation for practice suggest that teachers, administrators, and parents shift their emphasis away from testing and grades to a greater focus on the internal factors that motivate students to learn so students will be more likely to enjoy the learning process and develop, both in school and over their life span, a love of learning in the process.

There is a high rate of academic failure among disadvantaged preschool and post preschool students in some school districts in Virginia, yet little is understood about the relationship between education models and academic performance among economically disadvantaged students (EDS). The problem explored is the absence of classroom exercises in pre and post preschools that capitalize on cognitive development to improve executive function (EF) and self-regulation (SR) skills. The purpose of this study is to understand if a change in current classroom practices impacts academic performance among low-income students. Narrative policy serves as a theoretical guide in this qualitative case study that focused on the perceptions of principals, teachers, and administrators regarding best practices for preschool and post-preschool students and, secondly, how teachers implement classroom exercises to capitalize on the development of executive function and self-regulation skills among economically disadvantaged students. All data were inductively coded and then subjected to a thematic analysis procedure and included archived school report cards, preschool enrollment, and semi structured interviews with 3 former teachers now serving as administrators who supervise classroom activities. Findings indicate that best practices for EDS were a responsive classroom approach to correct disruptive behavior while developing mental capacity and simultaneously capitalizing on exercises to improve EF and SR skills in a classroom environment. Implications of social change begin with the empowerment of students, teachers, and administrators. Policy recommendations for social change include mandating two years of high-quality preschool for EDS as well as pursuing policies supporting SR and EF skills.

The purpose of this study was to explore the use of Animal-Assisted Therapy in Educational Psychology. An empirical study of limited extent was undertaken, which was qualitative by nature and conducted from an interpretivist paradigm. I made use of a therapeutic case, which served as an in-depth case study. Visual data, creative expression, interviews, narrative expression and field notes were employed as data-gathering methods. Data were analysed by means of document analysis. A young boy of 14 years, with whom I have previously worked as a therapist, was the participant in the study. The findings of the study were, firstly that the use of AAT could enable the attainment of goals in therapy. Implementing AAT as a therapeutic tool provided motivation for participation in therapy from the participant. Secondly the use of an animal (dog) in the therapeutic process promoted the formation of a personal, caring, and emotional relationship with the primary participant. Thirdly, psychological benefits in the use of AAT were revealed by this study, namely the opportunity to promote socialisation, self-esteem, communication, interaction and participation in therapy. Fourthly AAT had a value in working with a socio-economically vulnerable child, addressing several of the needs identified in order to enhance the well-being of the child. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Educational Psychology / unrestricted

Magister Economicae - MEcon / Entrepreneurship has been regarded as a solution to various developmental challenges such as unemployment, inequality, and poverty, which are inherent among the marginalised populations. However, the high rate of failure of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) remain an impediment to the use of entrepreneurship as a means to ameliorate the challenges. This is especially the case among young entrepreneurs. In addition, given the imperativeness of financial literacy in the success of SMEs, this study determines the influences of financial literacy on entrepreneurial success within the marginalised communities. It also explores and identifies the reasons why failure rates are high among young entrepreneurs in the economically disadvantaged community of Khayelitsha, Cape Town. This study employs a concurrent mixed methods design, making use of both quantitative and qualitative data. A survey is conducted in Khayelitsha using the snowballing sampling technique due to difficulty in accessing young entrepreneurs. The quantitative data from the survey provides demographic and socioeconomic information on young entrepreneurs