Mentor teachers are currently seen as a solution to education's dilemma of how to orient beginners into the profession and provide educational advancement for its most capable, experienced teachers. One goal of Oregon's mentor program is to have mentors provide their proteges with instructional assistance through an observation process. The purpose of this study was to explore the quantity and types of observations being conducted by mentors and discover what factors most affect their ability to complete observations for instructional assistance. In order to determine the possible need for differentiation in training, comparisons were made between elementary and secondary level mentors for the quantity and types of observations conducted and for needs related to attitude, skills, and context. A literature survey provided an initial list of needs and attitudes previous researchers have found to be critical to mentors' success. This list was refined through the work of a Delphi Panel. The resulting survey gathered observation-related information from a random sample of two hundred and twenty-five Oregon mentors distributed throughout the state. Data was analyzed using Analysis of variance and Chi square tests at the .05 level to determine if there were significant differences between elementary and secondary level mentors and between twenty-four observation-related factors. A significant difference was found between observation-related factors, the most important being trust between the mentor and protege, availability of release time, the mentor's teaching in the same building as his/her protege, and the protege's willingness to be observed. No significant differences were found between elementary and secondary level mentors in either the quantity and types of observations conducted or in the perceived importance of various observation-related factors. / Graduation date: 1991

<p>In nursing education the clinical component comprises an important part of the students&rsquo / training. Clinical teaching and learning happens in simulated as well as real world settings. First&ndash / year students spend the first quarter of their first year developing clinical skills in the skills laboratory. In the second-term they are placed in real service settings. This study was aimed at exploring the experiences of first year nursing students of the University of the Western Cape (UWC) during their first clinical placement in the hospital. A qualitative phenomenological exploratory study design was used and a purposive sample of twelve nursing students was selected to participate in the study. The research question was &ldquo / Describe your experiences during your first placement in hospital?&rdquo / Written informed consent was given by every participant and ethical approval was obtained from the relevant UWC structures. In-depth, face-to-face interviews were conducted, audio taped and transcribed verbatim. Transcripts were coded and sub-categories, categories, and themes were extracted during the data analysis process. Trustworthiness of the data collection and data analysis processes were ensured. Many of the first year nursing students described theirexperience in hospital as being stressful. However, the first placement in hospital allowed them to work with real patients and provided them an opportunity to develop a variety of clinical skills. Even though the hospital environment was unfamiliar and the ward staff unwelcoming, the patients&rsquo / acknowledged and valued their contribution to patient care. Students tend to seek support from family members and lecturers. It is recommended that first year nursing students be prepared adequately for their first placement in hospital as well as to&nbsp / provide practical and emotional support to students during their hospital placement</p>

As provision of social services is increasingly handled by the non-profit sector, specifically through faith-based organizations (FBO's), current scholarship has suggests that FBOs have the possibility to either reinforce neoliberal ideology or progress social justice. This study provides an examination of the shift in conceptions of justice for participants in the Mission Year program, an FBO program naming justice as a goal. For the participants, this experience creates a new understanding of the causes of poverty, injustice and American culture which I name 'justice as knowing.' This understanding culminated within participants a desire to “live out justice” as ‘intentional neighbors’ by relocating to a high-poverty neighborhood, reconciling racial relations by building relationships, and contributing to a redistribution of wealth by investing resources in a high-poverty neighborhood. I call this action ‘justice as doing.’ Participants shift from liberal-based notions justice, rooted in liberalism, toward more equity-based conceptions of justice as fairness.

Introduction: Contemporary circumstances have increased the occurrence and risk of homelessness for millions of Americans. The Macon Coalition to End Homelessness (a group of homeless service providers in the Macon-Bibb County) has noted the need for a comprehensive, evidenced-based plan which would more efficiently coordinate and dispense services for homeless people; with the eventual goal of preventing/mitigating the influence of factors which initiate, perpetuate, and prevent the pathways that would lead one to establish an independent life. Aim: The explicit purpose of this capstone project is to analyze the processes inherent in the development and implementation of a community-based intervention aimed at homeless populations: the 10-Year Plan to End Chronic Homelessness in Macon, Georgia. The development of preventive policy initiatives and the intended target of the community-based initiatives are direct public health measures. Methods: This evaluative study tracks the initial development, planning, writing of a community-based intervention. The study tracks the progress of the various phases of the development of the plan. It should be noted that the author of this study was also a member of the 10-Year Plan Steering Committee and the primary author of the 10-Year Plan to End Chronic Homelessness in Macon, Georgia. These dual roles allowed the author to have unrestricted access and support regarding information pertinent to these processes. Results: The study analyzes the steps needed in completing a successful implementation of a 10-year Plan. Additionally, this project delivers a draft of the 10-Year Plan to End Chronic Homelessness in Macon, Georgia. Discussion: Finally, suggestions for further steps to be taken by the MCEH for successful buy-in and establishment of a 10-Year Plan are made. This includes strict adherence to the tenets of other succesful10-Year Plans; increased community support (both financial and in terms of volunteerism/direct service) including but not limited to governmental sponsorship, community-wide awareness, and strong private-sector support; and, the development and reliance upon systems which utilize measurable objectives – of note, this would include a more accurate census mechanism. Further examination of factors such as these should result in a tailored, highly-effective preventative community-based intervention

The object of this thesis was to deepen the understanding of the contemporary political discourse regarding migrant women exposed to domestic violence. This was conducted by analysing propositions, motions and interpellation debates raising the issue during the years 2000-2012. The method used was inspired by Foucault’s discourse analysis and the traditional hermeneutic approach. The result showed how several different mechanisms work to both include and exclude these women from the Swedish welfare system. By being women they are included in the political debate regarding men’s violence against women, but their migrant status excludes them from it at the same time. When migrant women are exposed to domestic violence it is often seen as an individual problem even though men’s violence against women generally is seen as a structural problem. Several conflicts of interests were also found. One of them being whether migrant women are to be warned if their partners have abused women before. The man’s right to integrity stands against the woman’s right to protection. Another conflict is the fear of the migration right being abused, which is pitted against the migrant women’s rights. To summarize the analysis this thesis has shown how the portraying of migrant women as different in the political discourse plays an important role in creating conflicts of interest and to some extent exclude them from the welfare system. Women’s right seem to apply only to certain women under certain circumstances. An intersectional perspective was necessary for understanding the complexity of the situation, taking into account how different power relations interact and construct the contemporary discourse.

This dissertation presents the algorithm, methodology, modeling, and system development of a GIS-enabled multi-year pavement rehabilitation needs analysis system which can perform multi-year network-level pavement rehabilitation needs analysis subject to funding availability, minimum performance requirements, and balancing constraints. The system links network-level analysis results directly with project-level maintenance plans and, therefore, can generate not only network-level results but also detailed project-level rehabilitation plans, such as when to treat, where to treat and what treatment method to use. The system first utilizes the current and historical project level pavement condition evaluation information stored in the central Oracle database to forecast future project performance ratings and distresses, to determine appropriate treatment methods and costs, and to calculate life-cycle cost effectiveness ratios for all the projects in the pavement network. Based on this information, a methodology was developed to perform various network-level analyses to determine multi-year funding requirements to meet various prescribed pavement performance requirements and to determine optimum pavement rehabilitation plans subject to funding availability and other requirements, such as balancing funding distribution or future pavement performance among Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) Engineering Districts or State Congressional Districts. The system integrates graphical information on GIS maps with information in the central Oracle database and the needs analysis results seamlessly so that engineers can perform interactive map-based multi-year what-if needs analysis directly on the maps using the framework and methodology presented in this dissertation. Several case studies using the actual historical pavement condition evaluation data from the GDOT are presented to illustrate the capabilities of the system. The dissertation concludes with a summary of major conclusions and recommendations for future research. Besides linking network-level analysis results directly with project-level maintenance plans, the following major advantages of the system are also recognized: GIS technology is fully utilized in the system. The system is one of the first pavement needs analysis systems that allows an engineer to perform interactive map-based what-if scenario analyses on multi-year pavement needs analysis. The system allows the rehabilitation plans to balance pavement rehabilitation costs and performances among different political jurisdictions. The system can perform various types of analyses to develop multi-year rehabilitation plans subject to various budget and performance constraints together with the balancing constraints. Although the system was developed for GDOT, with slight modifications, the system can be used by engineers in other transportation agencies to perform the same analyses.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the current conditions of the recognition and satisfaction of the open admission program of twelve-year basic education. In addition, to analyze the differences between the recognition and satisfaction of the open admission program in school environmental variables and performance of personal variables. The methodology adopted by this study, is quantitative by using questionnaire. The samples consisted of 620 teachers selected from 97 public and private junior high schools in Kaohsiung city. 620 questionnaires were released, 498 were retrieved, and after discarding 8 invalid questionnaires, there were 490 valid questionnaires, reaching 98.3% of valid questionnaires. The researcher analyzed the survey data by various statistical methods, including: t-test, one-way ANOVA, Scheffe method. The findings of this study follow: I. The current conditions of recognition of the open admission program of twelve-year basic education are general, especially on the dimension of adaptive guidance. II. The current conditions of satisfaction of the open admission program of twelve-year basic education are a little unsatisfied, especially on the dimension of adaptive guidance are satisfied. III. Teacher who are male and whose seniority are over 26 years have the most significantly greater effect in the different conditions between teachers¡¦ performance and the recognition of the open admission program of twelve-year basic education IV. Teacher who are male and whose position in subject teacher have the most significantly greater effect in the different conditions between teachers¡¦ performance and the recognition of the open admission program of twelve-year basic education. Some suggestions will be proposed to the governmental administration, the education authorities, junior high school principals and teachers, and the extended research as well, based on the findings. Key words: twelve-year basic education, open admission program and policy satisfaction

The purpose of the study is to investigate factors of 7th graders learning attitude in mathematics. According to the result of this study, the research provides some suggestions for the education authorities, the schools and future study. The approaches used in this research are Questionnaire on Mathematics Learning Attitude. 168 7th graders were randomly sampled at a Junior High School in Kaohsiung City. The feedback undergoes a descriptive statistics, two-sample independent Student t test, Pearson Correlation among other statistical methods. The following are conclusions of the research: 1. Factors of influencing 7th graders Attitude in Mathematics are the following eight elements. They are confidence of learning, influence of teachers, concept about value of mathematics, influence of the art of teaching, efficacy of self-learning, effect of learning, pressure of learning, and fearlessness. 2. Confidence of learning, influence of teachers, concept about value of mathematics, efficacy of self-learning, effect of learning, fearlessness, and grades in mathematics have moderate related. 3. Concept about value of mathematics, effect of learning, influence of teachers, efficacy of self-learning, fearlessness, confidence of learning demonstrate significantly different degrees of respect on students whose grades between above 70 and under 70. 4. Confidence of learning, influence of teachers, concept about value of mathematics, efficacy of self-learning, effect of learning, fearlessness can forecast learning grades in mathematics. Ultimately, based up on the above findings, the researcher of this study proposed 3 suggestions for the authorities concerned and official staffs.

The Evaluation of the Whole Curriculum Projects of the Schools in the Nine-Year Compulsory Curriculum--Examples of the Elementary Schools at Kaohsiung City. Meng-Ho Shih Abstract This study aims at evaluating the whole curriculum projects of the elementary schools which put Nine-Year Compulsory Curriculum into practice at Kaohsiung City. The subjects of this study contain the whole curriculum projects of eighty-six elementary schools at Kaohsiung City in 90 academic years. The collective data are analyzed by qualitative and quantitative methods. And the methods of this study are the analysis of documents, the analysis of subjects and interviews. The results of this study include the following and here also propose some concrete suggestions according to the results. 1.Investigating the process that Bureau of Education of Kaohsiung City examinates and executes the whole curriculum projects of the elementary schools. 2.Establishing the criterions of evaluating the whole curriculum projects of the elementary schools which put Nine-Year Compulsory Curriculum into practice. 3.Evaluating the whole curriculum projects based on Nine-Year Compulsory Curriculum Guideline. 4.Investigating the problems of learning objectives and competence indicators within the curriculum projects for the elementary schools. 5.Investigating the problems of the integrated curriculum within the curriculum projects for the elementary schools. 6.Investigating the version of textbooks which each learning area use and the implementation of the curriculum projects for the elementary schools. 7.Proposing suggestions for improving the whole curriculum projects and Nine-Year Compulsory Curriculum to the authorities of education and schools according the findings of this study. Keywords¡GCurriculum Evaluation Nine-Year Compulsory Curriculum Curriculum Project

Thesis (M. Ed.)--Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, 2002. / Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 45-06, page: 2733. Typescript. Abstract precedes thesis as, preliminary leaves i-ii. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 43-47).