abstract: This study examines the genesis, practice, and Native experiences of stakeholders with two Arizona kindergarten through 12th grade (K-12) statute that mandate instruction of Native American history. The research questions relate to the original intent of the policies, implementation in urban school districts, how Native American parents experienced Native American history in their own education and their aspirations for this type of instruction in their children's education. Lomawaima and McCarty's (2006) safety zone theory was utilized to structure and analyze data. Critical Indigenous Research Methodologies (CIRM) (Brayboy, Gough, Leonard, Roehl, & Solym, 2012; Smith, 2012) was used in this interpretive policy analysis and phenomenological research study. Interviews were conducted with policymakers, a department of education official, urban school district personnel, and Native American parents with children in the pertinent school districts. Data included in-depth interview and legislative committee meeting transcripts, artifacts including bill versions, summaries and fact sheets, school board manuals, and the state social studies standards. The findings indicate that the intent of the statutes was to foster a better understanding among students (and hence, the state's citizenry) leading toward reciprocal government-to-government relationships between tribal nations and non-tribal governments. Teaching sovereignty and self-determination were fundamental. Although the school-based participants had limited knowledge of the policies, the district personnel believed they implemented the mandates because the state social studies standards were utilized to frame instruction. However, the 45 social studies standards related to Native Americans focus on extinct (referred to as historic in the standards) Native societies. The social studies standards ignore contemporary tribal nations and are thus inefficacious in supporting the goal of a better understanding of sovereignty, or in supporting Native American self-determination. The Native parent participants defied stereotypical images; they were involved in their children's educational attainment and were reintroducing cultural and tribal capital. Recommendations include allocating funds to support implementation of the policies at the local school and state levels, establishing culturally responsive curriculum that recognizes and promotes tribal nations and tribal sovereignty, and strengthening relationships between tribal nations, school districts, and the state department of education. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ed.D. Educational Administration and Supervision 2014

Wildland fire behavior research in the last 100 years has largely focused on understanding the physical phenomena behind fire spread and on developing models that can predict fire behavior. Research advances in the areas of live-fuel combustion and combustion modeling have highlighted several weaknesses in the current approach to fire research. Some of those areas include poor characterization of solid fuels in combustion modeling, a lack of understanding of the dominant heat transfer mechanisms in fire spread, a lack of understanding regarding the theory of live-fuel combustion, and a lack of understanding regarding the behavior of flames near slopes. In this work, the physical properties, chemical properties and burning behavior of the foliage from ten live shrub and conifer fuels were measured throughout a one-year period. Burn experiments were performed using different heating modes, namely convection-only, radiation-only and combined convection and radiation. Models to predict the physical properties and burning behavior were developed and reported. The flame behavior and associated heat flux from fires near slopes were also measured. Several important conclusions are evident from analysis of the data, namely (1) seasonal variability of the measured physical properties was found to be adequately explained without the use of a seasonal parameter. (2) ignition and burning behavior cannot be described using single-parameter correlations similar to those used for dead fuels, (3) moisture content, sample mass, apparent density (broad-leaf species), surface area (broad-leaf), sample width (needle species) and stem diameter (needle) were identified as the most important predictors of fire behavior in live fuels, (4) volatiles content, ether extractives, and ash content were not significant predictors of fire behavior under the conditions studied, (5) broadleaf species experienced a significant increase in burning rate when convection and radiation were used together compared to convection alone while needle species showed no significant difference between convection-only and convection combined with radiation, (6) there is no practical difference between heating modes from the perspective of the solid—it is only the amount of energy absorbed and the resulting solid temperature that matter, and (7) a radiant flux of 50 kW m-2 alone was not sufficient to ignite the fuel sample under experimental conditions used in this research, (8) the average flame tilt angle at which the behavior of a flame near a slope deviated from the behavior of a flame on flat ground was between 20° and 40°, depending on the criteria used, and (9) the traditional view of safe separation distance for a safety zone as the distance from the flame base is inadequate for fires near slopes.