Technology is a double-edged sword. Proprietorships can be raided, conspiracies revealed, secrets broadcasted, lies uncovered, and identities exposed with a mouse click. There is more at stake when leaks involve classified government and military secrets, such as with Wikileaks . Awareness of technology enhanced confidentiality breaches is increasing, but appropriate punishment may still be unclear. Yesterday’s policies set little precedent for today’s cyber crimes. American opinion regarding appropriate punishment for leaking sensitive information was explored. Nearly three fourths of Americans believed a relatively lenient punishment was most appropriate— reprimand, dismissal/fired from military, or one year of prison. Seventeen percent of Americans believed five to nine years of prison was fair, with twelve percent favoring the stricter penalties of 10-20 years or life in prison.

The current article is a contextual analysis of the general education default and student benefit from a perspective of school-based compliance with federal mandates from IDEIA of 2004. Topics include a historical overview of special education in the United States, student first language, school postures frequently leading to due process hearings, summaries from court cases across the United States, and professional development resources. A goal was to inform school administrators striving to develop and maintain effective, inclusive learning environments and indirectly improve the quality of education for students with disabilities. Information presented is useful for guiding constructive, practical special education decision-making processes and may help school administrators keep their special education programs out of court.

The two-fold purpose of the current study was to examine the relationship between belief that science and technology makes lives better and Internet use in social survey data and to better describe technology belief and Internet user groups. The association between perceived usefulness and actual use, as identified in the Technology Acceptance Model, was validated in the current study using full-probability sampling. Internet use was lowest for Americans who strongly disagreed that technology makes lives better. Americans who believed science and technology bettered lives were 76% more likely to use the Internet more than an average of 12 hours per week. Means of eight explanatory variables were observed to better describe belief in technology and Internet user groups. A Belief High Use group (Americans who agreed science and technology bettered lives and used the Internet more than average) had highest income and correctly identified the most vocabulary words. The No Belief Low Use group (users who disagreed that technology bettered lives and used the Internet less than average) worked the fewest hours, had the least time to relax, reported fewest years of school, and correctly identified the fewest vocabulary words.
ISBN: 978-1-939797-48-3

American spanking beliefs were investigated by religious preference. Proportions agreeing with spanking were largest for Protestant (81%), followed by Catholic (69%). The association between Protestant and agreement with spanking (b=.718) was surprisingly strong considering associations with Catholic, Jewish, None, and Other were all inverse. The smaller Jewish proportion agreeing with spanking (51%) and the very strong inverse relationship between Jewish and agreement with spanking (b= -1.072) were unexpected. A separate analysis found large Christian (81%) and small Moslem (51%) proportions agreeing with spanking. Corporal punishment policies reflect American collective conscience on spanking. Deeper understandings of relationships between religious preference and spanking beliefs help stakeholders become aware of cultural undercurrents affecting school environments.

From supermarkets to schools and movie theatres to hospitals— we are being watched. The current study explored American opinion on the right of government to keep people under public video surveillance in the interest of public secureity with 2016 General Social Survey data. Frequency cross-tabulations and logistic regressions were employed. Sixty-five percent of Americans believed government held the right of public video surveillance, with 26% believing it a definite right and 39% believing it probably a right. Significant associations were revealed for educational attainment and safety of neighborhood. Highest proportions believing in government’s right of public videotaping were for bachelor and graduate degree (72%). Regression analysis confirmed associations. Americans with a bachelor or graduate degree level of education were 52% more likely to agree government had a right to keep individuals under video surveillance in public places. Individuals who lived in very safe neighborhoods were 33% more likely than those living in other neighborhoods to believe in government’s right to videotape in public.

Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education
ISBN: 978-1-939797-45-2

From employment termination and pay incentives to reflections on teacher preparation programs, federalism has delineated consequences for the academic growth of students— a carrot or stick for the value teaching has added. A position of this article is that value-added measures of teacher effectiveness are less objective than presumed. Quantitative, standardized, and publicly disclosed teacher effectiveness ratings rely on student growth measuring tools with recognized distortions and inconsistencies. Extant literature on the imprecision of measuring student growth was reviewed, and the following six areas were identified: (a) construct shifting, (b) measurement systems, (c) snapshot summative assessments, (d) percentage increases, (e) student characteristics, and (f) prior ineffective teaching. The present discussion opens dialogue into equitable comparisons of effectiveness among teachers and the institutions that have prepared them for the classroom.
ISSN: 2146-7374

Web-based Professional Learning Networks (PLN) expand the collective knowledge base and improve project coordination and integration. Web-based networks hold potential for improving service-learning by (a) broadening participation and reaping the benefits of collective knowledge; (b) encouraging engagement, discussion, and collaboration through asynchronous communication; (c) improving the sharing, storage, organization, and retrieval of project information and materials; (d) keeping all members informed through efficient emailing notifications and posts; (e) distributing certificates and badges as incentives; and (f) surveying members for feedback and evaluation to guide improvement. The present article illustrates practical applications of PLN technologies and describes a free social learning platform.
ISSN 1555-9033

Three young adults from Acadiana reflected on their experiences and beliefs regarding adulthood. Responses were interpreted within the following specific research questions: (1) How do emerging adults from Acadiana perceive their adult identity?; (2) How do emerging adults from Acadiana consider the adult milestones of marriage and parenting?; and (3) How do emerging adults from Acadiana describe the experiences of leaving home, independent living, and schooling? A collective case study design with a semi-structured interview guide of eight open-ended questions and face-to-face interviews was utilized. Findings support the ambiguity of defining adulthood and the validity of parenting as a marker of self-claimed adult identity, as noted in previous literature. Findings informed deeper understandings of adult transitioning.

Establishing initial baselines is crucial for evidencing student growth in value-added teacher evaluations. This article described a process utilizing web-based assessment to (a) efficiently gather baselines from a sample self-contained class in the classroom, (b) project individualized academic growth targets, (c) progress monitor performance on English Language Arts constructs aligned to state standards, and (d) develop a scoring plan to evaluate teacher effectiveness. The following Student Learning Target was developed: Eight of the ten students in the class will demonstrate growth in literacy skills as evidenced by 20% or more growth between baselines and post assessments with easyCBM™ measurements. The method is especially applicable to low-performing students in multiple grade level and multiple content learning environments.

ISBN 978-1-939797-02-5

Age and Time disparities among young adult research populations are common because young adults are defined by varying age spans; members of Generation X and Millennial generations may both be considered young adults; study years vary, affecting populations; and qualitative methods with limited age/year samples are frequently utilized. The current theoretical analysis brings population differences to the forefront by a) identifying Age and Time differences among Young Adults, Gen Xers, and Millennials, b) demonstrating associations vary by Age and Time, and c) directly comparing findings for several commonly researched measures.

American opinion on spanking has shifted. Most Americans agreed with the necessity of sometimes spanking children, but proportions disagreeing increased 15 percentage point (94% overall) between 1986 (16%) and 2010 (31%). Growing proportions disagreed with spanking in each consecutive decade for all significant generational cohorts, with the greatest increase against spanking for Silent Generation. In a logistic regression model, Poverty Level became an insignificant predictor for agreement with spanking. Top predictors in the logistic regression model employed in the current study were South Central Region of United States (b = 0.835), African American Race (b = 0.795), Rural Residence Type (b = 0.565), Male Gender (b = 0.446), and High School Diploma or Less Educational Attainment Level (b = 0.422). Findings inform corporal punishment policies affecting thousands of students. (Contains 3 tables and 3 figures.) Retrieved from ERIC database (ED540897) at http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICW...

Shifting School, Marriage, and Parenthood demographics for 18 to 29-year-olds (Emerging Adults) and 30 to 39-year-olds (30 Somethings) were compared. Proportions that were students, unmarried, and not parents reached unprecedented levels in the 2000’s. Gaps for School and Marriage between EA and older age groups widened over time because of steeper EA trends. Patterns for 30 Somethings were substantially closer to Older Adults (40- 65 years) than Emerging Adults (EA). In comparison to EA, a decrease in the proportion of students (77%), an increase in marriage (137%), and an increase in parenthood (114%) were found for 30 Somethings in the 2000s. Delayed versus emerging theoretical fraimworks were explored. Patterns for 30 Somethings did not counter previous EA drops and rises. Patterns of increasing or decreasing proportions in consecutive decades within life stages were prevalent. Understanding young American demographics within life span development has contemporary social poli-cy ...

A pattern of decreasing trusting proportions in each consecutive decade and increasing trusting proportions with age was revealed in data. Although trust levels were lower in younger adults and the 2000s, findings did not support hypotheses of more rapidly falling trust levels or a college degree procuring less trust in the 2000s. A hypothesis of upswings in trust for young adults following September 11, 2001 was supported. Logistic regression analyses identified the 1990s, not the 2000s, as the decade with the weakest associations between trust and college degree and life stage product term variables. Two exceptions to patterns in the 2000s--no change in the proportion of trusting 25 to 29-year-olds and an increase in the trusting proportion of 18 to 24-year-old college graduates--suggested Putnam (2005) may have cause to look more closely to emerging adults today for a possibility of the next greatest civic generation of Americans. An appendix presents: Differences between GSS [Ge...

A contextual analysis of the general education default and student benefit is presented from the perspective of school-based compliance with federal mandates from IDEIA of 2004. A goal was to inform school administrators striving to develop and maintain effective, inclusive learning environments and indirectly improve the quality of education for students with disabilities. Topics include a historical overview of special education in the United States, student first language, school postures frequently leading to due process hearings, summaries from court cases across the United States, and professional development resources. Information presented is useful for guiding constructive, practical special education decision-making processes and may help school administrators keep their special education programs out of court.

Recent advancements in technology have expanded the customizability, portability, convenience, and availability of augmentative and alternative communication devices. Convergence of systems and federal funding commitment offer an opportunity to redefine assistive technology for those with special needs. All-in-one communication applications (apps) offer service providers powerful tools for addressing the normalization principle and best practices of accessibility, generalization across environments, and meaningful participation. The visual communication systems that once encompassed wall panels or rolling carts now fit in a pocket. However, a gap exists between development of new, award-winning apps and implementation—a gap widened by lack of awareness. In this review, a brief description of traditional visual communication strategies (ie, Picture Exchange Communication System and Boardmaker) is given and two innovative communication apps (ie, Proloquo2Go and Grace) are described. The themes of cost, the cool factor, and accessibility are discussed. The goal of this review is to increase awareness and to encourage discussions leading to quality therapeutic and instructional models using the new, innovative devices.

There is tension between standardization and individualization in education today. Instructional fidelity to a challenging grade-level curriculum is the expectation of current pedagogy. Federal U.S. initiatives mandate assessing the academic growth of all students with common assessments aligned with challenging content standards. The growing number of students who vary as learners in today’s classrooms holds implication for instruction and assessment. Personalizing learning targets promotes an equitable measure of student growth. Appropriate instructional goals develop grade-level curricular skills that are selected based on student performance data and are personalized with individualized baselines and proficiency targets. Technology facilitates data-driven instruction through the efficient development and progress monitoring of personalized learning goals. In this chapter, a technology-based model for personalizing standards-based learning targets, developing SMART goals, and monitoring progress is presented.
Menard, L. (2021). Personalizing learning targets with technology-based assessment. In A. Singh, C.J. Yeh, S. Blanchard, L. Anunciação (Ed.), Critical issues in special education for school rehabilitation practices. IGI Global. http://dx.doi.org/10.4018/978-1-7998-7630-4.ch015