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This article is based on the authors' experiences as women academics who engage in informal peer mentoring to persist in the cultural milieus of their respective institutions. The authors draw on poststructural perspectives and the metaphor of the rhizome "running bamboo" to illustrate the connections they forged in a mentoring network that folds across multiethnic, multilingual, and multi-geographic spaces. The analysis of personal narratives surfaced the significance of context for understanding each other's persistence in the academy. By rhizomatically constructing personal and professional narratives, the authors identified how shared experiences in academia, the contextual variations among them, and a process of becoming peers in a mentoring network supports their negotiation of the academy.

This article examines the use of concept mapping for formative and summative assessment of northeast Florida middle school students' knowledge of human geography. The students were participants in an afterschool, academic, college reach-out program that provided opportunities to test concept mapping strategies that support spatial thinking and stimulate interest in human geography. The study documents the use of concept mapping for assessment of seventh graders' achievement of a specific lesson and for students' human geography achievement across all implementation grades. Concept mapping results provided insight into aspects of the curriculum and instruction where appropriate modifications could better facilitate meaningful learning. (Contains 2 figures, 2 tables and 1 note.)

The National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) was founded in 1954 to serve as an independent body in promoting high quality teacher preparation programs. Its mission is to ensure accredited institutions produce high quality educators, administrators, and specialists able to meet the needs of all learners. Institutions seeking NCATE accreditation must address six standards NCATE identified as essential to producing quality educators: (1) Candidate knowledge, skills and professional dispositions; (2) Assessment system and unit evaluation; (3) Field experiences and clinical practice; (4) Diversity; (5) Faculty qualifications, performance, and development; and (6) Unit governance and resources. This article focuses on the fourth standard and chronicles the goals, efforts, and accomplishments of the University of South Florida (USF) College of Education in meeting it. These efforts demonstrate the value of multilevel activism in fostering a campus culture where teacher educators and students can develop competencies necessary for teaching and working with children and families from a broad range of backgrounds. The authors begin by providing a historical overview of the College's diversity initiatives and the subsequent inception of the Diversity Committee and its work. They end with a reflection on its accomplishments, challenges, and opportunities. This article also highlights how a college-wide committee can engage faculty and students across programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels in critical reflection and action on how systems of power and inequality shape knowledge and educational practice and the preparation of culturally competent education professionals. (Contains 8 endnotes.)

The history of public higher education for African Americans in Florida provides an excellent opportunity to examine American institutional and political dynamics. Following World War II, Florida public higher education expanded dramatically, while at the same time, state leaders maintained racial segregation well after "Brown v. Board of Education" (1954) declared it to be unconstitutional. "Hawkins v. Board of Control" (1954), the first attempt to apply "Brown" to higher education, became a notorious example of southern defiance. Florida's Board of Control, which oversaw the system of higher education, governors, the State Supreme Court, legislators, and other state and local officials engaged in a variety of strategies to continue segregation. In addition to ongoing litigation to block and delay desegregation, state officials expanded segregated public higher education through the creation of a racially separate junior college system. In the 1950s and early 1960s, Florida officials offered enlarged, but still not equal, educational opportunities for African Americans as an alternative to desegregation. Following the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, these officials responded to increased pressure to desegregate public higher education by intensifying threats to dismantle black institutions, implying that African Americans would lose existing institutions that were educating large numbers of black students if they continued to press for integration. Whites precipitously closed the black junior colleges and the only public law school blacks could attend. Civil rights leaders and African American educators, in turn, argued that redressing past discrimination and offering educational opportunity to African Americans required the states both to strengthen historically black institutions and to desegregate historically white ones. In this article, the authors argue that by creating a false choice between black institutions and integration, Florida officials effectively continued their historic resistance to equitable access and opportunities for African American students in the state's colleges and universities. (Contains 97 footnotes.)

Located in the Florida panhandle, Apalachee High School has a student population of 1,894 students, 13% of whom have identified disabilities. The school has a highly experienced teaching staff and a special education faculty that provides acknowledged leadership in the school. Apalachee includes students with disabilities in all aspects of school life and sustains a high level of community involvement in students' success. The graphic metaphor used to represent Apalachee's approach is a set of globes and pathways that represent the academic programs and the support structures that students use to progress within and between programs. Three student case studies help to illustrate how the "pathways" respond to students with disabilities at different points on a continuum of academic and social needs and abilities. Four-year transcripts for 39 students reflect the range of opportunities and supports (pathways) that characterize Apalachee and are illustrated by the three students we shadowed.

In the wake of both the end of court-ordered school desegregation and the growing popularity of accountability as a mechanism to maximize student achievement, the authors explore the association between racial segregation and the percentage of students passing high-stakes tests in Florida's schools. Results suggest that segregation matters in predicting school-level performance on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test after control for other known and purported predictors of standardized test performance. Also, these results suggest that neither recent efforts by the state of Florida to equalize the funding of education nor current efforts involving high-stakes testing will close the Black-White achievement gap without consideration of the racial distribution of students across schools.

Date Presented 03/22/24 Community mobility has been deemed to be essential for the overall well-being and quality of life of the older adult population. This qualitative study was conducted to explore the community mobility experiences and perceptions among older adults. Primary Author and Speaker: Megan Edwards Collins Additional Authors and Speakers: Davina Jones Contributing Authors: Connor Boyd, Keshira Cobb, Lazaria Goodman, Jasmine Pankey, Lundan Winchester [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present article reviews the growing literature on micro-level (daily or situation-specific) acculturation processes and provides new empirical evidence regarding the link between macro-level (general) and micro-level acculturation indices. The review covers the evolution of acculturation theory and research to focus on separate heritage and destination cultural dimensions and on specific domains (e.g., practices, values, identifications), to include longitudinal research designs, and to incorporate daily diary methodologies. The empirical study includes 824 Hispanic college students in Miami (76.1 % female) who participated in a 12-day diary study. General (macro-level) acculturation measures were administered on Days 1 and 12, and daily (micro-level) acculturation measures were administered on Days 2–11. Each of six acculturation components (dimension-domain pairings) – U.S. practices, Hispanic practices, individualist values, collectivist values, U.S. identity, and ethnic identity – was assessed using full scales on Days 1 and 12 and using single items on Days 2–11. Daily means and daily fluctuations, computed as the standard deviation of Day 2–11 scores, were included during the daily portion of the study. Analyses examined the extent to which earlier macro-level acculturation scores would predict daily means and fluctuations, as well as the extent to which these daily means and fluctuations would predict later macro-level acculturation scores. For each acculturation component, daily means were related to Day 1 and Day 12 scores, though the strengths of these associations varied across components. Daily fluctuations were negatively associated with Day 1 and 12 scores for U.S. and Hispanic practices, but these associations were less consistent for the values and identifications components. These results are discussed in terms of the overlap between micro and macro level acculturation processes, and in terms of the future of acculturation research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The aim of this study was to explore interdisciplinary team members' perceptions of the advanced registered nurse practitioner's (ARNP) delivery of care and collaboration in an acute care setting. A convenience sample of registered nurses and professional non-nursing personnel rated statements pertaining to the ARNP role. Both groups were satisfied with the ARNP role. Non-nurse licensed professionals tended to be more satisfied with the ARNPs than the staff nurses were, specifically in the areas of discharge planning and adding to the quality of care of patients. Nurses were more satisfied with the ARNP role regarding encouraging evidence-based practice and sharing resources. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]