Search

This work presents a new teaching module for understanding the geographical dimensions of historical events in Africa. This case study focuses in particular on the Joola shipwreck in Senegal in order to illustrate geographic areas of study including the rural-urban divide, colonial geopolitics, cultural diversity, and West Africa's physical geography. The main objective is to use a key event in Africa's history in order to highlight the local challenges and complexities of this diverse world region. This project is based upon a 10-month research project in Senegal designed to understand what locals identify as the most important national event of modern times.

University students often cite field experiences as some of their most important and memorable. Yet research shows that field trips are on the decline in many colleges and universities; this shift may impact geography courses that are traditionally field based. Often cited is the problem of instructor time, increased enrollment, and concerns over liability. However, field experiences give students opportunities to develop competencies, forge community connections, and provide tangible experiences that encourage deep learning. This project employs survey data from a food geography course to understand how field experiences combined with classroom discussion help students internalize and reexamine course content.

This study uses survey and focus group methods to explore attitudes toward and experiences of nature among millennial-aged students in northern Colorado. First, results confirm that young people possess a strong interest in the outdoors yet time, transportation, and new technologies hamper their ability to visit public lands and outdoor spaces. Second, respondents experience nature in ways more mediated by new technologies such as cell phones and nature DVDs. Third, citizen science and active learning show promise as techniques for returning young people to the outdoors. The challenge lies in teaching young people to reimagine the outdoors not as elsewhere or "out there" but as a backyard geographic space. (Contains 3 tables.)

The No Child Left Behind act resulted in an increased reliance on large-scale standardized tests to assess the progress of individual students as well as schools. In addition, emphasis was placed on including all students in the testing programs as well as those with disabilities. As a result, the role of testing accommodations has become more central in discussions about test fairness and accessibility as well as evidence of validity. This study seeks to examine whether there exists differential item functioning for math and language items between special education examinees receiving accommodations and those not receiving accommodations. (Contains 8 tables.)

This study examined the effect of oral administration accommodations on test structure and student performance on the Reading test of the South Carolina High School Exit Examination (HSEE). The examination was given at Grade 10 and was untimed; hence, students were permitted as much time as they needed to answer all the questions. Three groups of students were studied. The 1st group consisted of students with disabilities (SWD) who were given the test under oral administration. Students in the 2nd group were SWD who were given the regular forms without oral accommodations. The last group comprised students without disabilities who took the regular forms, also without accommodations. It was found that the internal (factorial) structure of the HSEE test remained stable across these students groups. In addition, it was found that, after controlling for major background variables, HSEE performance of SWD under oral administration accommodations was equal to that of SWD (presumably with milder disabilities) under regular administration. It was concluded that oral administration accommodation served to level the playing field for students whose disabilities were presumably severe enough to require oral accommodations.

This article reports on the consistency of the achievement-level classifications (below basic, basic, proficient, and advanced) established in 1999 for the South Carolina Palmetto Achievement Challenge Tests (PACT; Huynh, Meyer, & Barton, 2000) of English language arts and mathematics. It also utilizes the PACT longitudinal data files of student records from 2000 to 2002 to assess the predictive nature of these classifications. It was found that the proportion of students who obtained a basic or higher level classification, which is considered passing, on the same subject at the next grade level was about 80% for students at the basic category and at 99% for the combined proficient and advanced category. For school accountability purposes, the original below basic category was split into a low category, below basic-1, and a high category, below basic-2. The passing proportion was 17% for below basic-1 students and about 43% for below basic-2 students. It was concluded that the PACT 1999 achievement categories fulfilled the function of identifying and characterizing students prepared for work at the next grade level as formulated in the policy definitions for these categories.

Historically, many students with disabilities were excluded from large-scale assessments. Recent federal and state policy initiatives, including the most recent reauthorization of the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act, require that the large majority of students with disabilities be included in the statewide assessments used in accountability systems. Although most observers agree that educational outcomes for students with disabilities were inadequate before the new policies were implemented, the research undergirding the new policies is limited. The reforms have spurred a rapid increase in relevant research, but more and improved research is needed. This article reviews the status of research on issues that are central to the new reforms and recommends directions for future research.

Studied differences in the types of errors made by students with disabilities on a multiple choice reading test administered under oral reading accommodations. Findings for 2,999 high school students suggest that it is safe to adhere the same meaning to test scores for disability groups even when the test is administered under different accommodations. (SLD)