Racial tension still motivates strife and violence in the metropolitan Detroit area. This study sought to determine the effectiveness of a collaborative partnership on the attitudes of a group of diverse learners regarding multicultural relations. The purpose of this research study was to investigate whether participation in the Cultural Awareness Consortium (CAC) improved the multicultural relations of diverse high school students. The 2 theoretical frameworks guiding this study were Allport's intergroup contact theory and intercultural competence theory originating from International Education and International Studies. The research questions addressed whether attending the CAC for 4 months, the treatment, changed students' attitudes on multicultural relations, and whether a student's gender or ethnicity was a predictor of changes in these attitudes. This study used a single group, pre-experimental design with data collection from 2 administrations of the Student Multicultural Relations Survey. Fifty-four students completed the survey, which yielded 4 multicultural relations scales (dependent variables), 8 single-item attitudinal variables on multicultural issues, and 2 demographic variables (independent variables). Inferential analysis included t tests and multiple regression. Key results indicated that students' attitudes on multicultural relations had changed significantly; in addition, students talked to and mixed with students from different cultural backgrounds with greater frequency after the treatment. Educational institutions providing experiences like the CAC can make a positive impact on students' attitudes on multicultural relations. This impact can lead to positive social change as students increase their acceptance of others and take those attitudes and values with them into the workforce after they graduate, serving as role models of acceptance for their peers.

No description available.

<p> Research has suggested the <i>No Child Left Behind Act</i> passed in 2001 has resulted in narrowed curriculum and a failed attempt at its primary objective to close the achievement gap. Understanding changes that have occurred in student achievement from 2011 to 2014 of the NCLB requirements is the focus of this quantitative ex-post facto study. Whether change occurred or not in student achievement during this time was analyzed by comparing aggregate average mathematics scaled scores for grades three, five and eight within a southwestern suburban county in the state of Arizona. Additionally, as part of NCLB requirements, Arizona has assigned performance based school labels to the general public called Arizona A-F Letter Grades. This study includes an examination of changes in the Arizona A-F Letter Grades assigned to schools by the Arizona Department of Education from 2011 to 2014. </p><p> The findings for the research can be summarized under six major themes. The first theme was that student average scaled scores for all students did not show significant change from 2011 to 2014 for third, fifth, or eighth grades. When compared relative to all groups, there were no overall statistically significant changes in average mathematics scaled scores from 2011 to 2014. </p><p> The second theme was that no statistically significant changes overall were found in mathematics average scaled scores among ethnic subgroups from 2011 to 2014 in 3rd, 5th, or 8th grade in the southwestern suburban county studied.</p><p> The third theme was that no statistically significant changes overall were found in mathematics average scaled scores among socioeconomic subgroups from 2011 to 2014 in 3rd, 5th, or 8th grade in the southwestern suburban county studied.</p><p> The fourth and fifth theme, identified through additional analysis, were that when achievement scores were compared together from 2011-2014, substantial achievement gaps remained between all ethnic groups as well as between high-SES and low-SES groups.</p><p> The sixth theme was that Arizona A-F Letter Grades assigned to schools showed statistically significant growth from 2011 to 2014. Although the results showed small movement, they showed that schools in this southwestern suburban county are making some improvement in overall student achievement during this time.</p><p> Future research suggestions and implications for current practice are included as a result of this research study.</p>

<p>Based on Berry&rsquo;s model of acculturation, when immigrants move to a new country, they choose to live according to any one of the following four acculturation modes: assimilation, integration, separation, or marginalization. The specific cultural and psychosocial characteristics of the acculturating individual or group determine what acculturation mode they will most likely follow. Generation, ethnic identity and modernity are few examples of those cultural and psychosocial referents. The present study examined the relationship of generation first and second, ethnic identity and modernity to acculturation among Lebanese American immigrant women living in the metro-Detroit area. Using the snowball technique, ninety women (first generation = 51, second generation = 39) took part in the study. The participants responded on Qualtrics (online survey platform) to the four measures used in this study: (1) a demographic survey, (2) the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure (MEIM), (3) Traditionalism-Modernism Inventory-Revised (TMI-R), and (4) the Acculturation Rating Scale for Arab Americans II (ARSAA-II). Multiple regression was used to analyze the data. Results indicated that generation and ethnic identity had a significant relationship to acculturation, as they were the best predictors of acculturation in Lebanese American women in the metro Detroit area. Unexpectedly, modernity did not contribute significantly to acculturation. The main implication of this research is that if immigrants&rsquo; generation (first, second, etc.) and ethnic identity are known, then professionals can make meaningful determinations of immigrants&rsquo; acculturation. Discussion of the relationships among the variables as stated in the hypothesis is provided. Implications for future research and practice are also provided. </p>

<p>Pastoralists (nomadic herders) live throughout the arid and semi-arid areas of Kenya, where they have historically been marginalized, with little development and security. Continuing traditions of cattle rustling and ethnic violence present significant barriers to development, and external peacebuilding efforts achieve limited results in such conflicts. A uniquely pastoralist grassroots peacebuilding process emerged to address pastoralist conflict, which generated sustainable peace in Laikipia yet was never studied. A review of extant literature conducted for this dissertation led to the conclusion that the peacebuilding field does not sufficiently study such grassroots volunteer peacebuilding, and support for such efforts is hampered by Western teleological approaches that have limited capacity to deal with emergence and complexity. This dissertation addresses these deficiencies by enhancing understanding and utilization of emergent peacebuilding in Kenya?s pastoralist cultures. In this study, Kenya Pastoralist Network and Mediators Beyond Borders?Kenya Initiative co-researchers collaboratively developed a participatory action research (PAR) project focused on a 2009 peacebuilding effort known as the Laikipia Peace Caravan (LPC). The dissertation explored how effective and sustainable grassroots peacebuilding emerges in pastoralist cultures. The PAR approach was utilized to support pastoralists in empowering themselves regarding the ways in which their neotraditional peacebuilding works, and how it can become more sustainable. Multi-ethnic co-researchers engaged in study design, data collection, inquiry and qualitative analysis, conducting semistructured multilingual interviews with 49 diverse Laikipia community members, officials and LPC professionals. Archival research was collected from a range of sources. This study found that effective and sustainable pastoralist peacebuilding emerged from expansive utilization of diverse pastoralist social networks, cycles of learning and adaptation, integration of practical wisdom and cultural sensitivities, and systemic transformation of transactional, attitudinal and structural societal domains through dialogue processes, modeling and grassroots self-organization. The dissertation outlines and provides evidence for a novel conceptual framework, emergent peacebuilding design, which involves a multidimensional systemic approach to peacebuilding that emerges from social networks, embraces diversity and complexity, is inclusive of traditional methods, and adapts as necessary to meet changes in context and process.

<p> The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between general health condition, living arrangements, socioeconomic status, and depression among elderly adults. The California Health Interview Survey (CHIS) 2011-2012 dataset was utilized in order to conduct the secondary analysis of variables for this study. This study found that there is a significant relationship between general health condition, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, gender, and depression among the sample of elderly adult participants. The results from this study found that elderly participants who reported a poor general health condition (self-rated health) had higher levels of depression, and elderly adults who reported an excellent general health condition had lower levels of depression. A low socioeconomic status was correlated to higher levels of depression among elderly adults. This study also found that elderly minorities have higher levels of depression when compared to their counterparts. Female elderly adults were found to have higher levels of depression than males in this study. The results of this study serve to raise awareness and contribute knowledge of significant contributing factors correlated to depression among the elderly population.</p>

<p> This dissertation is a collection of stories and experiences from the Tibetan nomads sur-rounding the DzaChu (Mekong River) of Kham, in Qinghai Province. The DzaChu is a sacred area that is threatened by climate change. The author uses mindful inquiry as the basis of this ethnographic study. Long term participatory observation and over thirty fo-cus groups within the DzaChu Watershed point to the thesis: Climate Change is one of the greatest threats to the Tibetan nomadic culture and to Asia&rsquo;s magnificent Mekong River. It is the aim of this dissertation to demonstrate the impact of climate change on the Tibetan nomads and the critical need for respectful global relations with this precious wa-ter source that provides life to millions of humans throughout Asia. Readers are encour-aged to click on the hyperlinks to the photo narrative on Instagram @thepurelandproject and follow the accompanying website www.purelandperspectives.org. The Pureland Pro-ject organization is a part of the action research component of this work, which will move forward from this research to try to implement some of the ideas expressed by the partic-ipants, such as protecting the region as a UNESCO cultural or ecological heritage site.</p>

In many European countries, despite decades of learning about the risks of discrimination and the conflicts associated with it, discrimination against minorities persists. Many have criticized European governments for not doing enough to challenge the negative stereotypes and prejudices against minority groups, especially in education and employment. In this thesis, Muslim minority groups in Bulgaria, France, and the Netherlands will be used as case studies to explore the varying dynamics underlying this discrimination and strategies that can be implemented to overcome discrimination. This thesis will recommend a series of policy approaches in areas such as civic integration, education reform, anti-discrimination law, and monitoring and evaluation to help reduce minority discrimination European countries.

<p> School choice is a fast growing alternative to traditional public school education across the nation. According to the Florida Department of Education, school choice policies and laws are rapidly moving Florida away from more traditional forms of schooling toward an increasingly evolving school choice state landscape. The purpose of this study was to examine school choice in Florida by investigating the school choice policies enacted by the Florida legislature leading to the school choice environment in Florida today. Specifically, this investigation was limited to legislation in Florida between 1997 and 2014 and further limited to charter schools, home schooling, virtual education, and two choice options specific to Florida in which public dollars follow students to private schools, the Tax Credit and McKay Scholarship programs. These particular school choice options were chosen as the focus of this study because they change the where of education outside of traditional public schools. Other choice options such as magnet schools, inter-district choice, and intra-district choice simply move students among traditional public schools but keep them enrolled in traditional public schools. Ultimately the study hoped to provide a possible road map for the future of school choice policies in Florida. This study utilized a qualitative methodology utilizing document reviews and interviews. This study found that school choice policies in Florida have continued to expand and evolve over the years to increase the liberty available to families to choose the education of their children. </p><p> This study also found that the Florida legislature has laid the groundwork for Florida school districts, through a focus on equality, to take advantage of a portfolio management model to increase student achievement. Although a focus on equality led to the enactment of various school choice options, some of these options have moved away from their original intent to financially benefit specific organizations and groups. Finally, as reported by Holme, Frankenberg, Diem, and Welton (2013), Florida&rsquo;s charter school, virtual education, and home education policies have been enacted as race-neutral policies that have no regard for diversity, which could lead to resegregation.</p>

<p> This dissertation explores the experiences of self-identified Latin@ youth in NAIS and POCIS Schools in the San Francisco Bay Area. Although all students involved in this study initially felt equipped to participate in the independent school environment, they experienced both common and unique challenges calling on the need to negotiate their ethnic identities. This research study assumed that all people and institutions, such as independent schools, are embedded in complex social, cultural and political systems historically defined by race, power and privilege. Engaging student voice in on-going efforts to understand and improve the conditions for historically underrepresented students of color, particularly Latin@ youth, is imperative in acknowledging that students have deep wisdom and expertise. The partnership between students and adults can foster &ldquo;critical consciousness&rdquo; &ndash; an awareness of the historical and current conditions that perpetuate inequality in society and in their own life circumstances (Horton &amp; Freire, 1990). Freire (1982) asserted, &ldquo;the silenced are not just incidental to the curiosity of the researcher but are the masters of inquiry into the underlying causes of the events in their world. In this context research, becomes a means of moving them beyond silence into a quest to proclaim the world.&rdquo; Keywords: Latino, youth voice, underrepresented students, critical race theory, diversity &ldquo;Latin@&rdquo; is spelled using the &ldquo;at symbol&rdquo; to replace the letter &ldquo;a&rdquo; or &ldquo;o.&rdquo; Pizarro, Montoya, Na&ntilde;ez, Chavez, &amp; Bermudez (2002) are Latin@ educators who formed Maestr@s, a group contending that the Spanish language is a manifestation of male hegemony. Maestr@s coined the use of the term because it is a visual intervention and a re-coding of information to different linguistic, epistemological and ideological systems (Pizarro, et. al, 2002, p. 290).</p>