This study analyzes the congruence between the objectives of secondary-level English methods courses in Texas universities and the objectives of the state-mandated high school curriculum (the essential elements) in language arts. A questionnaire was used to obtain information from 26 English methods instructors at 22 universities in Texas. The data obtained from these questionnaires reveal that these instructors strongly emphasize preparing prospective English teachers to teach the essential elements of composition. Other significant findings include: (1) the lack of emphasis in the English methods course on strategies for teaching the essential elements of language, when those elements are unrelated to composition, and (2) the lack of uniformity which characterizes the organization of the English methods course at major Texas universities.

Child maltreatment is a worldwide concern. In the Commonwealth of Virginia, social workers are mandated reporters. When there is reasonable suspicion, they are required by law to report suspected child maltreatment to the appropriate Child Protective Services office. In this study, the research problem was the underreporting of child maltreatment, even when reasonable suspicion existed. The purpose of this study, as reflected in the research questions, was to understand social workers' perceptions of their role as mandated reporters, to explore how their perceptions impacted reporting, and to develop recommendations that could be implemented to help ensure appropriate reporting. An action research study was conducted with master's level social workers in southern Virginia. Symbolic interaction theory was used in researching the social workers' role and their perceptions as mandated reporters interacting with clients. Qualitative data were collected from a focus group of 6 social workers and analyzed using specific coding protocols. Six themes emerged: (a) importance of the role of social worker as a mandated reporter, (b) role conflict, (c) negative consequences, (d) feelings, (e) increased knowledge of child abuse laws, and (f) education of clients. The findings of this study may be used by regulators and agency personnel to design education, training, and supervision to help ensure social workers are prepared to appropriately respond to mandated reporting requirements.

Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka förskolepersonals upplevelse av socialtjänst, utifrån förskolepersonalens professionsperspektiv, kopplat till upplevd oro för barn i förskolan. En kvalitativ metod har använts där sex respondenter har deltagit i semistrukturerade intervjuer, där inkluderingskriterierna var att intervjupersonen arbetar i en kommun i Mellansverige med mindre än 20 000 invånare och minst tre års erfarenhet av arbetet som förskolepersonal. Resultatet visar att förskolepersonals möjligheter att göra en orosanmälan begränsas av riktlinjerna på förskolan och att det är rektorn som avgör om en orosanmälan ska göras, men även av svårigheter att definiera oro, kunskaper gällande lagtext och föräldrakontakt. Gällande upplevelsen av kommunikationen upplever förskolepersonal socialtjänsten som frånvarande. Återkoppling gällande orosanmälningar samt ett ökat engagemang från socialtjänsten att verka för att informera och göra sig synliga för förskolorna önskas. För att nyansera kommunikationen professionerna emellan och vad som påverkar förskolepersonal gällande oro om att ett barn far illa, har systemteori samt anknytningsteori använts. Föreliggande studies slutsats är att kommunikationen mellan förskola och socialtjänst bör förbättras och ansvaret till förbättring placeras på båda professionerna. / The aim of this study is to research preschool teacher’s experience of the social services, from the preschool teachers’ professional perspective, linked to perceived concerns for children in the preschool. A qualitative method is used. Six respondents participated in semi-structured interviews. All interviewees work in a municipality in Central Sweden with less than 20 000 inhabitants and have at least three years' experience as a preschool teacher. The results show that preschool teachers’ opportunities to report a concern are limited by guidelines and that the principal decides whether a report is made, but also by difficulties in defining concerns, parent contact and knowledge regarding legislations. Furthermore, the preschool teachers experience the social services as absent. Feedback regarding reports of abuse and increased commitment from the social services to inform and make themselves visible for the preschools is requested. Systems theory and attachment theory is used in order to nuance the communication between the professionals and what affects the preschool teachers regarding concerns that a child is at risk of being abused. This study concludes that communication between the two professions need improvement and that the responsibility for this is placed on both professions.

No description available.

No description available.

Classroom teachers determine how reading is taught and their decisions are influenced both by the policies instituted by local, state and national agencies and the beliefs teachers hold. Teacher decision making strongly influences the teaching of reading in classrooms. Marzano (2003) stated, â â ¦ all researchers agree that the impact of decisions made by individual teachers is far greater than the impact of decisions made at the school level (p. 71). Snow, Burns and Griffin (1998) state "quality classroom instruction in kindergarten and the primary grades is the single best weapon against reading failure" (p. 343). Research on teacher decision making developed in the early 1980's, yet little current research focuses on decision making concerning reading instruction. Often studies examine primary level reading instruction and if grades beyond primary are investigated, comprehension is the center of the examination (Durkin, 1978). The purpose of this dissertation was to examine the decisions 2nd, 3rd and 4th grade experienced teachers make in their reading instructional practices. A case study approach was used with an analysis of data from field based observations and semi- structured interviews of 7 public school classroom teachers in one school. Artifact analysis from teacher samples and an analysis of reading instructional policies within the school and schools system were used to expand the analysis of data. Three major themes were identified: (1) grouping; (2) instructional focus; and (3) strategies. Major differences were found between second grade, where students did not take the state mandated testing (SMT), and third and fourth grades where students were required to take the state mandated testing (SMT). Second grade teachers focused their reading instruction on the aesthetic components of reading with the purpose of developing readers who found enjoyment in reading. Third and fourth grade teachers focused their reading instruction on preparing students for test taking. This dissonance in reading instruction created a gap, or chasm in the decisions made about reading instruction in these grades. The chasm appeared to be based on the dissonance of purpose for grade levels. The emphasis on passing the SMT greatly affected the purpose of teacher decisions on the third and fourth grade levels, and this purpose is influenced by local, state and federal policy of accountability by high-stakes testing. / Ph. D.

Project finance has become a vital financing vehicle for undertaking capital-intensive and infrastructure investments. In 2017 alone, the value of deals signed using project finance was estimated at approximately $229 billion. Despite its increasing importance, little is known regarding the impact of project-level, and country characteristics on the loan terms. This thesis proceeds in examining these determinants along three empirical essays. The first essay (Chapter 3) focuses on how domestic lead arrangers certification (in emerging markets) impact the pricing of project finance loans. Using a sample 1270 project finance loan tranches signed between 1998 and 2011, and worth over $300 billion, the chapter posits that domestic lead arrangers certification reduce search and information cost, which in turn, reduces the financing cost. The results, after controlling for endogeneity of certification decision, indicate a reduction of 47 basis points in the spread offered on PF loans. The magnitude of this reduction differs across industries, geographic region, and income classification of the project countries. The second essay (Chapter 4) examines the relationship between PF contractual structures and loan outcomes, using a sample of 5872 project finance loan tranches signed between 1998 and 2013, and worth approximately $1.2 trillion. The chapter hypothesises that (i) non financial contracts (NFCs) (that is, contracts used to manage the various project functions), reduces overall project risk, (ii) the involvement of project sponsors as key counterparties to the non-financial contracts is an additional signal of project s potential worth, and (iii) the effects observed in (i and ii) are stronger, if sponsor counterparties have verifiable credit ratings. After matching loan tranches with NFCs to those without, the results indicate that the use of NFCs reduce both the loan spreads and leverage ratios. This impact is higher if the sponsor counterparties are credit-rated. The results are also stronger for developing countries. The third essay examines the impact of country-level institutions on project finance loan spread and leverage ratio, using a sample of 3,362 loan tranches signed between the year 1998 - 2012. The chapter investigates whether political and legal institutions are substitutes (or complements), that is, if improvement in one absorbs the weakness of the other, and vice versa. Further, the essay examines if project finance network of contracts substitutes for these institutions. The results indicate that political and legal institutions are substitutes. Specifically, improvements in political institutions lead to a reduction in both the loan spread and leverage ratio for countries with weak legal and governance institutions. The chapter also finds that where NFCs are included in PF, the impact of political institutions on loan spread reduces. On the other hand, the impact of political institutions on leverage ratio is higher when NFCs are used. The findings from the three research chapters provide interesting insights on how lenders and sponsors create value through contract design.

This thesis explored the introduction of a new physics curriculum in New Zealand secondary schools. It was part of a nationwide overhaul of the whole school curriculum from primary to secondary schools, initiated in the early 1990s. The study of curriculum change is inextricably woven with teacher change, as the teacher is seen as central to any real change in curricula in the classroom. Some theories of teacher change are reviewed here and synthesised into a list of criteria relevant to bringing about effective change in teachers and their practices. A sociocultural perspective emerged as being a useful theoretical approach in analysing and explaining these processes of curriculum change and teacher change because it takes a holistic approach that deals with 'people, places and things' and the discourses involved therein. In particular, Wenger's sociocultural theory was used to study the introduction of a new senior physics curriculum. His terms 'reification' and 'participation' were seen to apply to this research: the curriculum document was taken to be a reified communication artifact, and 'participation' is involved in every stage of its development and implementation. In the context of this theorising, data was procured from in-depth interviews with the three curriculum writers and ten physics teachers in and around a provincial city in New Zealand. The teachers were interviewed three times over a period of three years: before, during and after the first year of implementation; namely 1996 to 1998. The interviews showed that most of these ten physics teachers did not undergo any significant change in their teaching because of the introduction of 'Physics in the New Zealand Curriculum'. The reasons or barriers identified, such as lack of guidelines and clarity, and contentment with their own existing practice, were aligned with factors that have been identified by other researchers as important influences on teachers undergoing change, such as clarity of change and need for change. Three key elements were identified from these issues emerging from the data as necessary conditions or resources for teacher change: knowledge, support and time. In the present study, there was very limited knowledge held by the teachers about 'what', 'how' and 'why' changes were being implemented. Secondly, there was little social and system support for the curriculum change. Finally, teachers had little time to focus on and reflect on the change. A model of curriculum change, incorporating Wenger's notions of 'reification' and 'participation', but extended to include 'dereification' emerged from the data. 'Dereification' highlighted an important stage whereby the curriculum document as an artifact, needed to be incorporated into the plane of lived experiences of teachers. The introduction of the term 'dereification' supported the development of this model of curriculum change incorporating teacher change whereby the model outlined processes of reification and dereification involved in a mandated curriculum change. The model of curriculum change developed here also contained a screen that symbolises the lack of intersubjective linkage between teachers and the designers of the new curriculum. There was no follow-up teachers' guide, not enough explanation of the curriculum document, no direct communication between the writers and the teachers, and insufficient professional development for the teachers using it. The research findings led to three propositions: the curriculum document as a key artifact was not sufficient to effect a curriculum change; the lack of transparency of the curriculum document development was a constraint on teachers' commitment to the curriculum change; and the lack of support for teachers in their dereification of the curriculum document impacted negatively on curriculum change. The key elements of knowledge, support and time identified as crucial for teachers to effect any real change in their practice are critical at different points in the model of curriculum change. It is suggested that using such an interplay between the factors underlying teacher change and the sociocultural analysis of curriculum change, might enable more pro-active intervention at the various stages of the process of a curriculum change to effect a real change.

abstract: This action research dissertation study was undertaken to establish the foundation of a comprehensive evaluation component for the Turn-It-Around (TIA) workshop intervention program at Arizona State University (ASU), and was delivered in the form of a program development consultation. The study's intent was to enhance the ASU Counseling Service's departmental capacity to evaluate one of its important clinical services. The outcomes of this study included multiple assessments of TIA's evaluability and the fidelity of its implementation to its program design. The study products include a well-articulated program theory comprised of program goals, learning objectives, a detailed description of program activities, a logic model, and theoretical construct checklist documents articulating the behavioral science theory underlying the TIA intervention. In addition, instruments tailored to the Turn-It-Around intervention that are suitable for assessing program outcomes were developed and are implementation ready. TIA's clinical stakeholders were interviewed following the generation and delivery of the products and instruments mentioned above to determine whether they found the study's processes and products to be worthwhile and useful. In general, the clinicians reported that they were very satisfied with the benefits and outcomes of the program development consultation. As an action research dissertation, this study generated useful and usable collateral materials in the form of reports, documents, and models. These products are now at the disposal of TIA's institutional stakeholders for use in day-to-day business activities such as training new facilitators and liaisons, and giving presentations that describe the usefulness of TIA as an intervention. Beyond the documents generated to form a program evaluation infrastructure for Turn-It-Around, the processes involved in crafting the documents served to engage relevant stakeholders in a cycle of action research that enriched and solidified their understandings of TIA and furnished them with insight into their counterparts' thinking about the intervention and its potential to benefit the college students they are responsible for helping. Consistent with the intent of action research, the processes involved in accomplishing the objectives of this study surfaced new topics and questions that will be useful in subsequent cycles of program improvement.   / Dissertation/Thesis / Ed.D. Educational Leadership and Policy Studies 2012

The power distribution infrastructure in the United States is deteriorating at a rapid rate exposing infrastructure wiring and creating potential shock hazards. Periodic road and sidewalk maintenance projects can also expose wiring and create energized objects. In urban settings inadvertently energized objects include: lamp posts, bus shelters, metal street curbs, sign posts, transformer vaults, and manhole covers as well as concrete and asphalt pavement. Every year electric shocks occur when people and domestic animals (such as dogs and cats) make incidental contact with these energized objects. In very rare cases the shocks from these contacts are lethal. Through current personal research, a new handheld detector was developed. It uses the emissions of an energized object to pinpoint the location and further analyzes the emissions to determine the likely cause of the shock hazard. This thesis focuses on advancing detection technology and creating a more capable, production-ready unit.