Search results

Although special education was built upon the foundation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the discrimination that many racialized students receiving special education services experience cannot be denied. Many culturally, ethnically, and linguistically diverse students receiving special education services encounter labels that perpetuate racism and ableism and lead to inequitable access to services and resources necessary for more positive postsecondary outcomes. By honoring intersectionality and dismantling the singular identity, educators can become change agents and shift the historic oppressive narrative to create a system of empowerment as these individuals transition from transitional kindergarten to age 21 special education programs (TK-21) schools into adulthood.

This chapter will provide an analysis of current educational conditions of Black males within our K-12 school system and the ongoing instructional implications for school leaders working to address literacy leadership and practice. It will provide insight and motivation for school leaders as they navigate political, social, and policy systems that surround the current educational climate and instructional expectations. Readers will engage in a reflective, collaborative, and constructive learning process related to how successful school leaders enhance teaching and learning on their school campuses for Black males and what behaviors are critical to supporting teachers and students through the process. Specifically at the elementary level where foundational decoding, fluency, and comprehension skills are developed and cultivated for early learners we must be intentional with all aspects of the learning process and our instructional pedagogy. This chapter will work to expand the body of knowledge surrounding Black males as we commit to deconstructing existing and reconstructing inclusive, equitable, and just learning environments. Implications for research, policy and practice, including recommendations to support ongoing formal and informal professional learning opportunities for educators to openly discuss their understanding of Black males, challenges they face, and strategies that they have found to be successful will be disclosed.

The authors propose to estimate a varying coefficient panel data model with different smoothing variables and fixed effects using a two-step approach. The pilot step estimates the varying coefficients by a series method. We then use the pilot estimates to perform a one-step backfitting through local linear kernel smoothing, which is shown to be oracle efficient in the sense of being asymptotically equivalent to the estimate knowing the other components of the varying coefficients. In both steps, the authors remove the fixed effects through properly constructed weights. The authors obtain the asymptotic properties of both the pilot and efficient estimators. The Monte Carlo simulations show that the proposed estimator performs well. The authors illustrate their applicability by estimating a varying coefficient production frontier using a panel data, without assuming distributions of the efficiency and error terms.

The chapter identifies the COVID-19 pandemic as not just a public health crisis but also an information crisis. The authors argue that a deeper understanding of the role of culture in information practices is critical for the future of research and theoretical development around humanity’s relationship to information (i.e., why information is or is not created, represented, avoided, sought, retrieved, used, shared, or hidden). This chapter highlights the Black Feminist Information Community (BFIC) framework, especially the voice and information aspect of the model in the context of community justice.

The purpose of this study is to scrutinize the influence of individual learning styles on the effectiveness of augmented reality (AR)-based learning in structural engineering. There has been a lack of research examining the correlation between learning efficiency and learning style, particularly in the context of quantitatively assessing the efficacy of AR in structural engineering education.

Using Kolb’s experiential learning theory (ELT), a model that emphasizes learning through experience, students from the construction management department are assigned four learning styles (converging, assimilating, diverging and accommodating). Performance data were gathered, appraised, and compared through the three dimensions from the Knowledge, Attitude and Practices (KAP) survey model across four categories of Kolb’s learning styles in both text-graph (TG)-based and AR-based learning settings.

The findings indicate that AR-based materials positively impact structural engineering education by enhancing overall learning performance more than TG-based materials. It is also found that the learning style has a profound influence on learning effectiveness, with AR technology markedly improving the information retrieval processes, particularly for converging and assimilating learners, then diverging learners, with a less significant impact on accommodating learners.

These results corroborate prior research analyzing learners' outcomes with hypermedia and informational learning systems. It was found that learners with an “abstract” approach (convergers and assimilators) outperform those with a “concrete” approach (divergers and accommodators). This research emphasizes the importance of considering learning styles before integrating technologies into civil engineering education, thereby assisting software developers and educational institutions in creating more effective teaching materials tailored to specific learning styles.

This chapter on anti-racism struggles applies an anti-racist activist framing, both critically examining and recognising the milestones achieved through centuries of pro-justice and anti-racism struggles. It delves into the arduous journey that the global fight for racial equity has undergone and highlights the significant progress as well as setbacks experienced during this lengthy struggle. The earliest history of the fight against racial oppression and domination goes back to anti-slavery and anti-colonial movements. Scholars have analysed the emergence, development and state of global anti-racism struggles in a variety of ways. I approach this subject from a sociological perspective, highlighting the role of social structures, groups and institutions that have contributed to shaping the outcomes of anti-racist initiatives. While recognising the role of individuals and leading political activists, this chapter emphasises anti-racism as a collective social justice struggle. To do this, I explore various local and global anti-racism endeavours and examine how they may influence discussions on race, racism and racial equity and their evolving trajectories across different societies.

The purpose of this paper is to clarify the influence of linguistic profiling on perceived employability. In doing so, we recognize multiple factors that can contribute to this relationship. Using the systems theory framework (STF) of career development, we categorize these factors based on whether they primarily reside within the societal system, the organizational system, or the individual system. Subsequently, we construct and present an open systems model that depicts the influence of linguistic profiling on perceived employability in context with other societal, organizational and individual factors.

The STF provides a theoretical perspective on how to contextualize linguistic profiling and perceived employability within the scope of career development. We employed an integrative literature review method to locate existing research studies that investigated the influences of linguistic profiling and perceived employability. The literature search process, coupled with inclusion and exclusion criteria, resulted in 46 publications retained for analysis.

Findings provided evidence of language ideologies that contribute to linguistic profiling globally. Linguistic profiling usually results in reduced perceived employability. There was variation in the research findings based on the context of the research studies. The context consisted of the societal, organizational and individual systems in which the research study was conducted. Findings supported our construction of an open systems model of the influence of linguistic profiling on perceived employability, which is rooted in the STF.

This study highlights the negative influence of linguistic profiling on perceived employability. It also demonstrates how the STF can be used to contextualize the linguistic profiling problem within societal and organizational systems.

Prior research (Harrast, Olsen, & Sun, 2023) analyzes the eight emerging topics to be included in future CPA exams and discusses their importance to career success and appropriate teaching locus in light of survey evidence. They find that the general topic of data analytics is the most important of the eight emerging topics. To further understand the topics most important to career success, this study analyzes subtopics underlying the eight emerging topics. The results show that advanced Excel analysis tools, data visualization, and data extraction, transformation, and loading (ETL) are the most important data analytics subskills for career success according to professionals and that these topics should be both introduced and emphasized in the accounting curriculum. The results provide useful information to educators to prioritize general emerging topics and specific subtopics in the accounting curriculum by taking into account the most pressing needs of the profession.

This study aims to focus on the supply chain (SC) cost drivers of healthcare industries in the USA, as SC costs have increased 40% over the last decade. The second-most significant expense, the SC, accounts for 38% of total expenses in a typical hospital, while most other industries can operate within 10% of their operating cost. This makes healthcare centers supply-chain-sensitive organizations with limited facilities for high-quality healthcare services. As the cost drivers of healthcare SC are almost unknown to managers, their jobs become more complex.

Guided by pragmatism and positivism paradigms, a cross-sectional study has been designed using quantitative and deductive approaches. Both primary and secondary data were used. Primary data were collected from health centers across the country, and secondary data were from healthcare-related databases. This study examined the attributes that explain the most significant variation in each contributing factor. With multiple regression analysis for predicting cost and Student's t-tests for the significance of contributing factors, the authors of this study examined different theories, including the market-based view and five-forces, network and transaction cost analysis.

This study revealed that supply, materials and services represent the most significant expenses in primary care. Supply-chain cost breakdown results in four critical factors: facility, inventory, information and transportation.

This study examined the data from primary and secondary care institutions. Tertiary and quaternary care systems were not included. Although tertiary and quaternary care systems represent a small portion of the healthcare system, future research should address the supply chain costs of highly specialized organizations.

This study suggests methods that can help to improve supply chain operations in healthcare organizations worldwide.

This study presents an empirically proven methodology for testing the statistical significance of the primary factors contributing to healthcare supply chain costs. The results of this study may lead to positive policy changes to improve healthcare organizations' efficiency and increase access to high-quality healthcare.

The author reflects on her journey to becoming a Black female full professor at a Historically Black College and University (HBCU). Additionally, she summarizes the research on the successes and challenges for women professors, Black professors more broadly, and Black female professors, more specifically, to contribute to a deeper understanding of the positionality and stance of Black women professors. Although HBCUs are higher education institutions where Black female professors achieve tenure in the greatest percentages, the author highlights the intersection of race and gender and the unfortunate gendered power dynamics in these spaces that frequently place Black female faculty at a disadvantage. The chapter concludes with strategies for Black women professors to survive and thrive in academia, in general, and at HBCUs, more specifically.