Voices from the Field: Exploring Partnerships with the African American Library at Gregory School in Houston, Texas

Dr. Bernardo Pohl conducted an interview with Ms. Valerie Wade, the library’s historian and oral archivist, to discuss the library’s history, partnerships, and vital role in the community

A Moral Debate at the Invisible Rainbow: Thoughts about Best Practices in Servicing LGBTQ Students in Special Education

Instead of occupying a marginal space within teacher preparation programs, special education courses and training should promote diversity in servicing marginalized groups such as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) students. Within these programs, issues related to LGBTQ students should occupy a meaningful and formative space in the training of future teachers in special education. Often, special education teachers are at a loss about how to educate LGBTQ students with disabilities. Rethinking the role of special education and LGBTQ students with special needs within teacher education programs enables pre-service teachers to cultivate new values and attitudes that can enrich the student/teacher relationship within public schools. As such, this article proposes to explore best practices for servicing LGTBQ students in special education by promoting better ways to train future teachers

Time-dependent or state-dependent pricing? Evidence from a large devaluation episode

The real effects of monetary policy depend on the reasons behind price stickiness. In models with time-dependent pricing, firms readjust prices at previously (and possibly endogenously) determined times. In constrast, with state-dependent price setting, prices are readjusted whenever they are far enough from their desired levels, so a monetary shock leads firms to adjust their prices, which dampens the real effects of monetary policy. This paper explores the distinct predictions of price-setting models on how the frequency and magnitude of price adjustment react to shocks in order to distinguish between models. Consider a positive shock to the desired prices of goods (the prices that would be charged in the absence of frictions). In the simplest state-dependent models (e.g., Caplin and Spulber (1987)), a firm raises the price of its good whenever the difference between the desired and current price hits a constant threshold. Hence a positive shock to desired prices raises the frequency of price changes but leaves the magnitude of price changes unaffected. In recent models of state-dependent price setting, shocks might have some effect on the magnitude of price changes, but the response of the frequency of price adjustment to shocks is a key feature of all these models

Critical Literacy in the Social Studies Classroom: A Case for the 21st Century

This article considers the potential of integrating critical literacy into approaches to teaching and learning social studies as an indispensable tool for building better communities (Agbaria, 2011). It begins with an overview of the authors’ experiences and perspectives related to social studies and critical literacy. It then proceeds to consider current perceptions and practices regarding literacy in U.S. classrooms and the trend towards teaching and learning literacy and a distinct set of technical and functional knowledge and skills that are often taught in isolation. The article then examines conceptions of critical literacy and considers connections to social studies education. Finally, it considers how critical approaches to teaching and learning literacy and social studies might be united to promote and support the development of critical thinking skills necessary for today’s students to successfully address issues in an increasingly complex and interconnected global society

A DYNAMIC ANALYSIS OF THE IMPACT OF WATER QUALITY POLICIES ON IRRIGATION INVESTMENT AND CROP CHOICE DECISIONS

A dynamic model is developed to analyze farmers' irrigation investment and crop choice decisions under alternative water quality protection policies. The model is applied to an empirical example in the Oklahoma High Plains. The choices of crops and irrigation systems and the resulting levels of irrigation, income, and nitrogen runoff and percolation are simulated over a ten-year period. An effluent tax on nitrogen runoff and percolation is shown to be effective in reducing nitrate pollution. The efficacy of cost sharing in adopting modern irrigation technologies and restrictions on irrigation water use depends on soil type. A tax on nitrogen use is shown to be the least effective policy.Crop selection, Dynamic optimization, Irrigation investment, Water quality, Crop Production/Industries,

PLANEJAMENTO ESTRATÉGICO NAS INSTITUIÇÕES DE ENSINO SUPERIOR: TÉCNICA OU ARTE?

O planejamento estratégico se tornou bastante freqüente em todos os tipos de organização. Nas últimas décadas, esta abordagem disseminou-se também na gestão das instituições de ensino superior. Contudo, seus resultados muitas vezes não são facilmente identificados nas nas organizações onde são utilizados. Vários são os problemas que podem estar afetando a prática do planejamento estratégico, que por sua vez caracteriza-se por ser um processo que combina aspectos racionais e subjetivos. Este artigo visa examinar a dimensão técnica e os fatores intuitivos, ilógicos e subjetivos como elementos importantes no referido processo. As análises racionais nem sempre conseguem captar certos fenômenos no ambiente externo e gerar a criatividade necessária que somente são percebidos através do uso de análises subjetivas e que vão além das análises racionais. O artigo analisa o uso do planejamento estratégico como uma ferramenta na gestão de instituições de ensino superior

Critical Issues: Defining and Debunking Misconceptions in Health, Education, Criminal Justice, and Social Work/Social Services

The University of Houston Downtown Committee for the Journal of Family Strengths introduces Volume 18, Issue 1: Critical Issues: Defining and Debunking Misconceptions in Health, Education, Criminal Justice, and Social Work/Social Services

Latino Civic and Social Engagement

Special issue editors Bernardo Pohl, Viola Garcia and Traqina Emeka introduce the special edition of the Journal of Family Strengths