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Feminism, Femininity, and Arkansas First Ladies: Hillary Rodham Clinton and Janet McCain Huckabee
Get PDFThrough the 1970s and into the 2000s, Hillary Clinton and Janet Huckabee served as first ladies. Their husbands were elected and ran campaigns for Arkansas Governor and President of the United States. While the two men were the elected officials that constituents cast their votes for on election day, Hillary and Janet were beside the men playing a tremendous role in securing or discouraging votes. Third wave feminism ran rampant throughout these two decades and resulted in higher numbers of women in the workforce, later years of marriage, less children, and greater awareness of sexual harassment and sex discrimination. Hillary Clinton and Janet Huckabee served alongside their husbands on opposing ends of the political spectrum— Clinton, a registered Democrat and Huckabee, a registered Republican. The Clinton’s and Huckabee’s served as state leaders not only during a contested political party struggle, but during the height of what is referred to as “third-wave” feminism. Hillary Clinton and Janet Huckabee’s presentation of feminism and femininity affected their husbands’ public approval and dissent among Arkansan and later Americans at large. Each woman’s response to the public scrutiny they received while serving as first ladies was also consequential. This thesis examines how the feminism and femininity of Hillary Clinton and Janet Huckabee influenced their husbands’ political campaigns, shaped their own political ambitions and responded to public scrutiny
An Overview of Local Floodplain Administrators and Training Needs in FEMA Region 6
No full textThe management of flood risk poses significant challenges for communities across the United States. At the forefront of managing flood risk in the U.S. are local floodplain administrators (FPAs). Despite the importance of their role in addressing flood hazards at the local level, little is known about those who serve in this capacity. Using survey data gathered from local floodplain administrators in Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas, this study provides an overview of floodplain administrators in Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Region 6. Specifically, this research examines perceived strengths and challenges of floodplain administrators in their ability to carry out their roles and responsibilities, and explores how perceived strengths and challenges in ability vary based on location, experience, and previous floodplain management training. This study provides new insights into the strengths and challenges individuals experience in this role and analyses suggest that significant differences exist in the perceived abilities of floodplain managers based on whether they work in an urban and rural setting, their years of experience, and previous training. Based on the findings, this study offers recommendations about training needs and strategies that would benefit current floodplain administrators as they enhance resilience to floods in their communities
Teacher Preference in Professional Development
Get PDFTeacher Preference in Professional Development
Teacher professional development (PD) is seen as best ways to ensure teacher quality and guarantee positive student achievement outcomes; however, there is a lack of appropriate and effective PD. This quantitative study examined teachers’ preferences in PD content and delivery. Teachers from a K-12 public school district in Northwest Arkansas were invited to participate in a cross-sectional survey, and 292 teachers responded. The measured variables were the professional development preferences of the teachers, the teachers\u27 years of experience, the grade level at which teachers teach, gender, the content of preferred PD, and the delivery or format of preferred PD. The researcher adapted questions from the 2018 Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) after receiving permission to do so, and, utilizing the information in the literature review created additional questions for the survey. Survey data were disaggregated using IBM’s SPSS software to conduct t-tests and One-way ANOVAs. The data indicates that there are differences in teacher preferences based upon their years of experience and the level at which they teach. Understanding teacher preferences based on their career stages and their professional needs as adult learners can facilitate more appropriate and effective teacher PD
The Relationship Between the Implementation of Freshman Academies and Student Achievement in Math, English, and Science for Schools in Arkansas
Get PDFThe purpose of the study was to explore the relationship between the implementation of freshman academies and student achievement in math, English, and science in schools in Arkansas. The study presents a review of the literature that discusses the ninth-grade year and the use of freshman academies to improve student achievement. The study consisted of five schools with a freshman academy and 27 schools without a freshman academy. The researcher examined achievement data to determine whether there was a significant difference between the percentage of students passing the ACT Aspire exams taught in a freshman academy versus the students not taught in a freshman academy. The researcher further analyzed data for subgroups to determine whether there was a significant difference between students taught in a freshman academy versus the students not taught in a freshman academy. The subgroups examined in the study were ethnicity and socioeconomic status. No significant difference existed between all student’s achievement scores for students taught in a freshman academy versus not being taught in a freshman academy. In addition, there was no significant difference by ethnicity or socioeconomic status in achievement scores for students taught in a freshman academy versus not being taught in a freshman academy
Fusing Machine Learning with Place-Based Survey Methods: Revisiting Questions Surrounding Perceptual Regions
No full textThis article explores questions on perceptions of the location of the ‘Midwest’, a contested vernacular region of the United States. We created a custom online survey with R’s web framework Shiny, in which participants were presented with a blank web map and asked to ‘draw’ their definition of the Midwest. Instead of simply describing the aggregated results, we employ machine learning algorithms – Naive Bayes, Random Forest and Categorical Boosting – in an attempt to classify users into groups, with a focus on the features that most effectively separate responses. We also demonstrate a way to engineer features from a single spatial response question and provide an implementation through a small R package. Furthermore, we discuss misclassified observations and suggest some driving factors in the construction of regional perception. This research is important not only for its contribution to perceptual regions but also for the approach, which could be applied to place-based survey analysis more broadly
The Rise in Extreme Mental Distress Among LGBT People During Trump\u27s Rise and Presidency
No full textLesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) advocates argue that President Donald Trump\u27s 2016 election victory and his administration\u27s agenda raised concerns about changes to legal rights and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Using data on more than one million randomly sampled people during 2014–2020, this study estimates event study and difference-in-differences models to examine whether the prevalence of extreme mental distress (the percentage who reported major mental and emotional problems in all 30 of the last 30 days) increased among LGBT people relative to non-LGBT people after Trump became the Republican presidential frontrunner in early 2016. The difference-in-differences estimate indicates that the extreme mental distress gap between LGBT people and non-LGBT people increased from 1.8 percentage points during 2014–2015 to 3.8 percentage points after Trump\u27s presidency became a real possibility in early 2016
The Effects of “Capturing Kids’ Hearts” and Teacher Job Satisfaction in an Arkansas Elementary School Setting
Get PDFSocial-emotional learning programs and character education models are currently being adopted across the United States as schools understand the importance of supporting the social-emotional development of children and its impact on their overall achievement. This qualitative study centered upon the experiences of elementary teachers who implemented Capturing Kids’ Hearts in their classrooms for the last two to three years. The teachers who volunteered to participate in this research study were from two Arkansas school districts. The interviews were conducted virtually due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and participants answered nineteen questions and brought an artifact to discuss during the online interview. The teachers’ responses were collected, analyzed, and then sorted into emerging themes. These findings resulted in implications for practice and future research regarding implementation of a SEL program or character education model for teachers and students in Arkansas public schools. The results of this research study implied that the daily time committed to implementing CKH is dependent on the teacher; a shared limitation identified by teachers is a need for additional support and consequences for individual student misbehavior that is repeated; teacher job-related stress was decreased due to improved student relationships with their peers and teacher; CKH EXCEL training is an essential factor to successful implementation; CKH components and strategies improved teachers’ classroom management skills; and teachers saw positive student behavior between peers after implementation of CKH
Using Self-Regulated Learning Strategies to Enhance the Effectiveness of an Online Course in Emergency Remote Teaching
No full textInformation Avoidance Behavior: Does Ignorance Keep us Uninformed About Antimicrobial Resistance?
No full textWe examine the role of subjective and objective knowledge of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and antibiotic use in livestock production on information avoidance behavior. The study also assesses the effects of AMR information on perceptions of AMR. Survey data were collected from 1,030 individuals in the U.S. to evaluate knowledge and perceptions of AMR. Participants also made a choice to access or avoid AMR information in the form of an animated video produced for a lay audience. Results show that 39 percent of participants avoided AMR information and those with little or no subjective or objective knowledge of AMR were more likely to avoid information than more knowledgeable individuals. Among participants who chose to access AMR information, the perceived importance of AMR increased the most for those with little or no subjective knowledge of AMR, raising important questions about how to encourage willfully uninformed individuals to access information about critical issues