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Thesis (M. Ed. (Curriculum Studies)) -- University of Limpopo, 2016 / Refer to document

This dissertation is motivated by a straightforward question about a drastic change to American politics: why has the process of staffing the circuit courts of appeals, once so agreeable and bipartisan, seemed to have descended into almost complete partisan bitterness? Across the entire time series, these are, after all, the same courts endowed with the same power of judicial review. And when the process of staffing them was harmonious, the courts were nevertheless deciding the fate of major, controversial policies of national importance---such as the New Deal in the 1930s and civil rights in the 1950s---just as they do today. Yes, many other aspects of American politics have changed through the decades. But what could possibly explain such a complete reversal of course? I argue that this change, toward divisiveness and partisan warfare, is actually about the judiciary itself and the substantive manner by which the nominees are thought of---namely, the entry of judicial ideology into the debate through the innovation of circuit judges being evaluated on ideological terms. While taken for granted as central today, any ideological assessment of circuit court nominees, and in particular viewing them as having a comprehensive judicial philosophy as opposed to just a position on singular pressing issue of the day, was almost nonexistent for generations. Its entry into the process was piecemeal and somewhat complicated, but it eventually came to dominate and irrevocably polarize the business of staffing the courts. I argue that this was the key factor that leaves us where we are today. Broadly speaking, I consider the contributions and particular strengths of my dissertation, relative to previous scholarship, to be threefold. First is my argument and accompanying analyses which put the crucial (and severely understudied) role of judicial ideology front and center. Second, I analyze the entire lifespan of the circuit courts, whereas the previous scholarship looks only at (often relatively brief) subsets of their history. As far as I know, this is the first study to systematically look at all circuit court nominations from the establishment of these courts in 1891 through the modern era. Third, I collect and analyze a great deal of new data. In particular I focus on systematically utilizing extensive archival resources and build two original data sets related to the Senate's public and private evaluation of judicial nominees; and while there is certainly a qualitative aspect to much of this research, I also synthesize and make sense of it with quantitative analysis. In chapter 1, I explain the puzzle motivating this research, elaborate my argument, and lay out the theoretical, methodological, and data collection contributions of this dissertation. I also review the literature and describe the three existing schools of thought. In chapter 2, I give an overview of the history of the circuit courts from their founding to the present. In this data-heavy chapter, I examine multiple metrics individually, and using several of these I build a robust composite score of divisiveness for each nominee ever made to the circuit courts, from 1891 through 2020. As far as I know this has never been done before. I find overwhelming evidence that the process has fundamentally changed and become more divisive. In chapter 3, I dig more deeply into the timing of this change, and begin to explore how and why it happened---and begin my attempt at demonstrating how the evaluation of judicial ideology is central to this change. To do this I examine a massive data source that has never been utilized: the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings for all nominees. With both qualitative and quantitative analysis, I show that the evaluation of nominees has varied widely over time. Prior to 1979, nominees were evaluated almost exclusively based on their qualifications, with ideology examined only under special circumstances, which I explore in depth. In this time period, ideological scrutiny predicted a contentious confirmation process, providing evidence for my argument that ideological evaluation drove divisiveness. Also in this chapter, I analyze the post-1979 transition to the routine ideological evaluation that permanently altered the confirmation process. I find that Republicans and comprehensive judicial philosophies both played a key role. In chapter 4, I examine the senators' private evaluation of nominees, in part to serve as a check on the validity of my earlier data analysis and also to see if there is any difference between the senators' public and private goals in relation to the judiciary. To do this, I build an original data set of over 1000 internal letters and memoranda from senators, by searching the archival records of nearly every president since Benjamin Harrison as well as over 150 senators. Studying this material qualitatively and quantitatively, the findings here largely align with the analysis of the public committee hearings: for much of history senators were concerned mainly about qualifications, with ideological concern rare and under special circumstances, but eventually ideology came to be the predominant concern which ended the consensual and placid process. This immense historical record also brings to light additional senatorial goals, such as ensuring residents of their own state as well as personal friends obtain judicial appointments. In chapter 5, I focus in on the post-1979 era and I find that the more ideologically distant a nominee is from the Senate, the more divisive the confirmation process is. This provides evidence that the process is defined by ideology related to the nominees, not garden variety polarization of the system. In chapter 6, I conclude, trying to synthesize all of my findings as well as offer some thoughts on areas of future research.

Online learning is taking our nation by storm and changing the face of education forever. By 2014 we are projected to have 10 million students taking at least one online class (Nagel, 2009). The online revolution is one of the greatest changes the field of education has seen in the last 25 years (Greenway & Vanourek, 2006). This major shift in education also represents a major shift in how our teachers are prepared and what great teaching looks like in online settings. The online classroom is distinctly different than the brick-and-mortar classroom, and success in the classroom does not necessarily translate into the online environment (Watson, Murin, Vashaw, Gemin, & Rapp, 2011). Our students deserve the best online teachers to ensure the potential of online learning is fulfilled (Cavanaugh, Gillan, Kromrey, Hess, & Blomeyer, 2004). Top quality online teachers are those who have mastered or can demonstrate the ability to quickly learn the specific skills of technology, online instructional design and delivery, communication, and online learning professional development. This study will explore and analyze the impact of the website K-12 Online Staffing Solutions on the recruitment, hiring, and induction practices for K-12 online administrators. Using the research and development research model, developed by Borg and Gall (1989), the website will undergo a series of qualitative feedback and product revision cycles with participants. The results of the study showed that the website tool was easy to use and impacted the practice of virtual school administrators in Oregon. The results have implications beyond virtual charter schools in Oregon. Online learning is growing and administrators need practical, accessible, and research based tools to successfully meet the need for online K-12 options.

Given the high-risk nature of military flight operations and the significant resources required to train U.S. Naval Aviation personnel, continual improvement is required in the selection process. In addition to general commissioning requirements and aeromedical standards, the U.S. Navy utilizes the Aviation Selection Test Battery (ASTB) to select commissioned aviation students. Although the ASTB has been a good predictor of aviation student performance in training, it was proposed that incremental improvement could be gained with the introduction of novel, computer administered performancebased measures: Block Rotation (BRT) and a Navy-developed Compensatory Tracking task. This work constituted an initial validation of the BRT, an interactive virtual analog of Shepard-Metzler’s (1971) Mental Rotation task that was developed with the intention of quantifying mental rotation and psychomotor ability. For Compensatory Tracking, this work sought to determine if data gathered concord with results in extant literature, confirming the validity of the task. Data from the BRT were examined to determine task reliability and to formulate relevant quantitative/predictive performance human models. Results showed that the BRT performance is a valid spatial ability predictor whose output can be modeled, and that Compensatory Tracking task data concord with the psychometric properties of tracking tasks that have been previously presented in the literature.

Historically, Black women‘s workplace experiences have been understudied, partially due to an implicit assumption that their experiences are subsumed by research on Black men and/or White women. This oversight is even more evident in the field of management. However, considerable attention has been given to the debate about whether Black women are at a double advantage (i.e., as supposed affirmative action ―two-for-one bargains‖) or at a double disadvantage due to their double marginalizing characteristics. Empirical research in the area has found support for each side, furthering the debate, but also advancing an overly simplistic explanation for a set of experiences that is certainly much more complicated. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the conditions under which Black women, when seeking managerial employment, are at a double advantage or disadvantage, using Critical Race Feminism, Cox‘s Interactional Model of Cultural Diversity (IMCD; 1994), and theories of social categorization as the theoretical foundation. A 2 (sex) x 2 (race) x 2 (demographic composition of the workplace) betweensubjects design was used to test the hypotheses that the Black female applicant would have a double disadvantage in a more demographically balanced organization and double advantage in an organization that is more White and male. Participants (N = 361) reviewed information about an organization (where demographic composition was manipulated) and three available management positions. They also reviewed a fictional professional networking profile of a job applicant where race and sex were manipulated iv through photos, and job qualifications and experience were held constant. Based on all of the information, they rated the applicant on his/her suitability for the jobs. Results of planned contrasts and ANOVAs showed partial support for the hypotheses. In the balanced organization, the Black female applicant was rated lower in suitability for entry-level management than the Black male and White female applicants. Likewise, she was rated higher than the Black male and White female applicants in the less diverse organization, when evaluated for upper-level management. Thus, the study clarifies the theories of double advantage and double disadvantage by identifying organizational composition as a moderator of the relationship between applicant race/sex and employment outcomes (i.e., management suitability ratings). The implications of these findings are discussed.

This study investigates the involvement of teacher unions in the implementation of the Employment of Educators Act (Act 76 of 1998) at school level. Union involvement at school level is still characterized by controversy when it comes to the filling of promotional posts and the redeployment of educators. The inappropriate involvement of unions by ignoring their observer status, may lead to the infringement of educators’ rights if it goes unchecked by the DoE. This may consequently result in poor performance by educators who may feel discriminated against during the redeployment and the filling of promotional posts. Teacher unions have the responsibility to ensure that educators are not victimized. If unions abdicate this responsibility and attend to only key union members when promotional posts are filled, they will cease to be effective unions. Unions who protect non-dedicated and unqualified educators from redeployment will lose the respect of the teaching fraternity, and eventually their membership numbers will dwindle. This was a qualitative and exploratory study based on the grounded theoretical approach. It was conducted in Districts 11 and 12 of the Gauteng Department of Education using focus groups and one-on-one interviews with the various stakeholders from the Department of Education, and leaders of the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union, and the National Association of Professional Teachers’ Organizations in South Africa. The findings indicate that during the filling of promotional posts, the unions tend to use undue influence to have their members promoted, to the detriment of deserving and better qualified educators. During the redeployment process they protect their members against principals who declared them in excess. It was reported that principals make use of the redeployment processes to get rid of educators who are often absent from school because of union work during school hours. If the Department of Education does not seriously take control of the situation in respect of the filling of promotional posts and the redeployment of educators, then the teacher unions will take over. / Educational Studies / D. Ed. (Educational Management)

Thesis (MSocialWork)--Stellenbosch University, 2014. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: According to the South African Constitution, every child has the right to parental care, family care or an approriate form of alternative care. In 2005 in South Africa over 3.4 million orphans did not have access to this right. This was as a result of a shortage of alternative care options. The motivation for this study emerged because foster care is the first placement option for family-based care in South Africa. However there is still a gap in South African literature on the recruitment of foster parents, especially the recruitment of non-relative foster parents and foster parents for cluster foster care homes. Without the knowledge of how to recruit and train foster parents effectively, many children in need of care would stay void of their constitutional rights in this regard. To explore the methods of recruitment, selection and training of foster parents, a combination of quantitative and qualitative research approaches were utilised. Together with that approach an exploratory design, was used. This was done to explore the research topic in literature and examine the views of social workers on the recruitment, selection and training of foster parents. In the literature study the nature and structure of foster care was examined in the context of the South African legislation, followed by an outline of the criteria of children in need of care according to the Children's Act (38/2005). The different phases of the foster care process were discussed according to the tasks and responsibilities of the social worker during this process. Then the different methods of recruitment, selection and training of foster parents were discussed individually on the basis of national and international literature. The exploratory research design was used for the purpose of the empirical study to investigate and analyse the views of social workers regarding the recruitment, selection and training of foster parents. Finally conclusions and recommendations were made based on the findings of the empirical study in order to recommend ways for social workers to be more effective in recruitment, selection and training of foster parents for the large number of children in need of alternative care. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Elke kind in Suid-Afrika het die reg volgens die Grondwet (1996:1255) tot ouerlike sorg, familiesorg, of andersins tot gepaste alternatiewe sorg. In 2005 het 3.4 miljoen weeskinders in Suid-Afrika nie toegang gehad tot hierdie reg nie, as gevolg van `n tekort aan alternatiewe sorg opsies. Die motivering vir hierdie studie is omdat pleegsorg die eerste plasingsopsie as gesinsgebaseerde-sorg in Suid-Afrika is terwyl daar ʼn leemte in Suid-Afrikaanse literatuur bestaan oor die werwing van pleegouers, spesifiek die werwing van nie-familie lede as pleegouers en pleegouers vir groep pleegsorg skemas. Indien nie genoeg pleegouers gewerf en opgelei word as versorgers van sorgbehoewende kinders nie, word die reg van ouerlike sorg steeds van vele sorgebehoewende kinders weerhou. Om metodes van werwing, keuring en opleiding van pleegouers te ondersoek is ʼn kombinasie van kwantitatiewe en kwalitatiewe navorsingsbenaderings gebruik, tesame met `n verkennende ontwerp om eers die navorsingskwessie in die literatuur te verken en dan te ondersoek wat die sienings van maatskaplike werkers is oor die werwing, keuring en opleiding van pleegouers. Eerstens word die aard en struktuur van pleegsorg in die konteks van die Suid-Afrikaanse wetgewing ondersoek, gepaardgaande met `n definieering van die kriteria van sorgbehoewendendheid van kinders volgens die Kinderwet (38/2005). Die verskillende fases van die pleegsorg proses is volgens die take en verantwoordelikhede van die maatskaplike werker bespreek. Tweedens is die verskillende metodes van werwing, keuring en opleiding van pleegouers afsonderlik bespreek aan die hand van nasionale en internasionale literatuur. Die verkennende navorsingsontwerp is vir die doel van die empiriese studie gebruik om die sienings van maatskaplike werkers oor die werwing, keuring en opleiding van pleegouers te ondersoek en te ontleed. Laastens word daar gevolgtrekkings en aanbevelings geformuleer wat gebaseer is op die bevindinge van die studie ten einde maatskaplike werkers te lei om meer effektief pleegouers te werf, keur en op te lei vir die groot aantal sorgbehoewende kinders wat volgens die Grondwet(1996:1255) die reg het op ouerlike sorg.

Thesis (MEd)--University of Stellenbosch, 2002. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Since the introduction of the SA Schools Act in 1996 and institution of school governing bodies (SGBs), the Education Department began to experience serious problems regarding school governance. The incidents that happened in schools brought into question the legal role and authority of SGBs in the administrative actions they perform. This study aimed specifically at investigating the problems that arise in relation the appointment of teachers. Since SGBs play an important facilitating role in the process of staff appointments, their way of handling this duty was at the heart of the study. The research made use of literature studies, policy documents from the education department, viz. the SA Schools Act, Educators Employment Act, Education Labour Relations Council documents, and questionnaires and interviews with members of school governing bodies at a selection of local schools in the Western Cape Province. The findings led to the conclusion that most SGBs in the disadvantaged communities find it difficult to appoint new educators. Clearly SGBs are regarded as legitimate structures that should govern learning institutions and it is evident that one of their duties is to employ new educators, in line with the legal procedures stipulated in the various provincial education departments' policies. Perhaps the most important finding is that parents in the disadvantaged communities are illiterate. This is a significant problem because most of their duties require them to read documents from the education department so that they may know exactly how to perform their functions and responsibilities. Some of the problems encountered, however, are also caused by the ignorance and reluctance of parents to offer their services without being remunerated. These conclusions resulted in the formulation of specific recommendations for improving the role and implementation of SGBs. The recommendations are made for improving the role of SGBs as a whole as well as for specific capacity building relating to the needs of each stakeholder group. The overall emphasis of the study is thus on the recommendation for more effective training of SGBs. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Sedert die instelling van die SA Skolewet in 1996 en totstandkoming van skoolbeheerliggame, het die Onderwysdepartement ernstige probleme ten opsigte van skoolbeheer begin ervaar. Die insidente wat in skole plaasgevind het, het vrae laat ontstaan rakende die wettige rol en gesag van die beheerliggaam in die administratiewe handelinge wat hulle uitvoer. Die doel van die studie was om probleme rondom die aanstelling van opvoeders te ondersoek. Die sentrale fokus van die studie was op beheerliggame as fasiliterende liggame. Vir die doeleinde van die studie is daar gebruik gemaak van: literatuurstudie, beleidsdokumente van die Onderwysdepartement (die S A Skolewet, die Opvoedersdienswet en dokumentasie van die Raad vir Arbeidsverhoudinge in die Onderwys [RAVO]), sowel as vraeslyste en onderhoude met lede van die beheerliggame byenkele plaaslike skole in die Wes-Kaap. In die bevindinge is daar tot die gevolgtrekking gekom dat die meeste beheerliggame in die benadeelde gemeenskappe dit moeilik vind om nuwe opvoeders aan te stel. Beheerliggame is die wettige strukture wat opvoedkundige instansies moet beheer en een van hul pligte is om nuwe opvoeders aan te stel in ooreenstemming met die wetlike voorskrifte, soos vervat m die verskillende beleidsdokumente van die Onderwysdepartement. Die belangrikste bevinding is dalk dat ouers in die benadeelde gemeenskappe meestalongeletterd is. Dit skep probleme, aangesien daar van hulle verwag word om die dokumentasie van die Onderwysdepartement te lees, te verstaan en daarvolgens op te tree. Verdere probleme word veroorsaak deur 'n mate van onkunde asook deur die onwilligheid van ouers om sonder vergoeding hul dienste aan te bied. In die lig van hierdie gevolgtrekkings, is spesifieke aanbevelings gemaak ten einde die rol van beheerliggame te versterk, sowel as om die suksesvolle implementering van hierdie strukture, in terme van kapasiteitsbou en aandeelhouerbemagtiging meer doeltreffend te laat funksioneer. Die besondere klem van die aanbevelings is 'n indringende versoek vir die ontwikkeling van sinvolle, doeltreffende opleiding van persone wat in skoolbeheerliggame dien.

published_or_final_version / Social Work and Social Administration / Master / Master of Social Sciences