In the united states today, an alarming amount of high school students drop out of school every year. Each student has their own individual reasons for dropping out, but what are the contributing factors to these reasons? What pushes them over the edge? The Bill and Melinda gates foundation collected survey data through focus groups in a project in 2006 that aimed to discover some of the factors, which push students out of schools. The objective of their project was to, “paint a more in-depth picture of whom these young people are, why they dropped out of high school, and what might have helped them complete their high school education. We wanted to give their stories and insights a voice, and to offer our own views on next steps, in the hope that this report could be a further wake-up call to educators, policymakers, other leaders, and the public to summon the national will to address the high school dropout epidemic.”

Rather than producing a spreadsheet of data, through this method they compiled their data into a series of different answer categories. They provide percentages within the different responses but other than that, the data is not number based. Interestingly enough, 47% of students said that they dropped out of school because they simply were uninterested in the classes being taught. Another factor of interest was parent involvement. There were a section of questions devoted to the parent’s involvement in the student’s academic lives both while they were thriving in school and when they were struggling. They discovered that only 59% of students said that their parents were involved in their education. 68% of Students whose parents weren’t involved in their education said that only when their parents discovered that their child was on the verge of leaving school did they become involved. They addressed other factors in this study as well from the students from attendance records, to teacher effectives and collective motivation. Overall 74% of students said that if they could go back and change it that would have graduated high school. Most importantly, this study shows us the personal side to the struggle of making through high school which many students face each year. It shows us that even though the majority of them do have large life and carrier aspirations, circumstances in their lives and inadequate responses to those circumstances has led to them dropping out.

This is a very well put together study, which addresses the topic of dropping out from an individual perspective. Rather than collecting the numbers, they instead make this study more about the students and their feelings about what caused them personally to leave school before graduation. Though this study does a good job of hearing the students perspective, it leaves a large hole in the demographic and environmental factors that also most likely played a roll in their failure to complete school.

http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED513444.pdf

The article titled “Sexuality and School Shootings” by Jessie Klein is found in the Journal of Homosexuality. Klein (2006) argues that conventional explanations of lenient gun control laws, media violence, and single parents do not adequately explain school shootings. Klein (2006) suggests that a certain type of bullying called gay harassment is the common pattern in those that perpetrate school shootings. The perpetrators were relentlessly and repeatedly accused by “preps and jocks” of being gay. When boys believe they warrant privilege, and are instead harassed, they may feel driven to avenge the perceived wrong to reclaim a more dominant, powerful, and aggressive masculinity. The topic of this research is bullying, in the specific form of gay harassment, and its relation to school shootings. The proposed research questions by Klein (2006) are, “Is there textual evidence in press reports that characterize the ways in which perpetrators experienced bullying in the form of gay harassment?” and “What interventions can be implemented to end the ongoing vicious cycle of bullying and retaliation rooted in masculine expectations?” The type of data needed for this research is hidden social patterns. The data collection method is content analysis because the researcher analyzes press reports, televised news reports, radio reports, newspapers, and online news sources. Klein (2006) examines these texts to identify patterns in the way the gay harassment phenomenon is portrayed. The data analysis method employed is thematic analysis because the researcher focuses on common patterns between the perpetrators to trace relationships and tie the findings to a wider social trend of hyper-masculinity. This research successfully describes gay harassment in the wider social context of gender expectations placed on young boys. Normalized masculinity places high expectations for boys to display violence, aggression, and dominance. An interesting aspect of this research is the inclusion of the perpetrators’ claims that the adults in the community were aware of the constant ostracizing and harassment by the more powerful students. Therefore, the perpetrators believed the adults contributed to their marginalization. I appreciate that the researcher suggested solutions to gay harassment, such as anti-bullying programs, sexual orientation workshops, school-based support, classroom panel discussions, mediation, and violence intervention.

Klein, J. (2006). Sexuality and School Shootings: What role does teasing play in school      massacres?. Journal of Homosexuality, 51(4), 39-62.

This piece titled “Gender and God’s Word: Another Look at Religious Fundamentalism and Sexism” is written by Charles W. Peek, George D. Lowe, and L. Susan Williams. According to these authors, there has not been enough research done to address whether or not individual measures of fundamentalism more applicable to women have different connections to sexism than the typical group measure. They come out immediately and claim, “Research on religion and sexism increasingly points to fundamentalism- an insistence that the Bible is literally true- as an important religious source of prejudice toward women.” These such sources of prejudice increase as groups become more and more fundamentalist. However, before this study came out, there was not much attention paid to this subject because of an insensitivity to gender. This piece in particular was published in 1991, but it is a good indicator of perhaps the progress gender has made in the last 3 decades.

I was not able to identify a specific research question in this study, but there is an overarching research topic of the connection between sexism and religious fundamentalism as it pertains to individual or group identification. This study identifies that they will be using data from the 1985 and 1988 General Social Surveys in their analysis. In this survey there are measures of attitudes towards women, measures of fundamentalism, and other control variables. Unfortunately (and this is noted as a limitation), this study only presents information from white respondents  because this is what fundamentalism research focused on during this time. The variables in this case are sexism, fundamentalism, and other, which included education, occupational prestige, marital status, and female work experience. After statistically analyzing the data, it is found that it is group affiliation with fundamentalism that makes males linked to greater sexism. These groups, however, are not found to influence women, most likely because of their tendency to stay away from them. For women, it is their individual convictions, rather than group,  that affect their gender attitudes. Women who are less religious tend to be less sexist. All of these findings confirm the authors’ idea that gender needs to be addressed with great importance when talking about religious fundamentalism, and it should no longer be pushed to the side. Their final push is for gender sensitivity to be thrust into the religion and sociological fields.

I thought this article was really interesting, especially because it is so relevant to the topic I am looking into myself. My only concern with it is its publication date. It is important to have this information, but having it be published almost 30 years ago makes me wonder what has changed since then. My assumption is that a ton has changed, and gender has begun to look different within fundamentalist groups.

Peek, C., Lowe, G., & Williams, L. (1991). Gender and God’s Word: Another Look at Religious Fundamentalism and Sexism. Social Forces,69(4), 1205-1221. doi:10.2307/2579309

“What’s missing? Anti-racist sex education!”, found in Volume 14 of Sex Education published in 2014, was one of the limited articles and research projects I could find on anti-racist education in combination with sex education curriculum. The paper focuses on sex education in Canada, however, I found the topics discussed relevant to U.S sex education policies. The United States curriculum for sex education is approximately 10 years behind Canadian policies that continue to grow stronger, more inclusive, and comprehensive.

The article begins by defining racism and arguing for including anti-racist theory education into sex ed curricula. Excluding race in topics of sex education, thus exluding minority communities from the discussion,  can be seen as an act of racism.  Anti-racist theory in sex education works to “challenge the education institution to see students as more than neutral, context-free youth and to expose the ways edcuation shaped and continues to shape race, class and gender on all students” (Whitten and Sethna, 415.) Although sex education curriculum in Canada, and the new California sex education act, have both worked to be more inclusive of LGBTQIAA topics, anti-racist perspectives are rarely included.

The article goes over the history of sex ed in Canada, which is very similar to the history of sex education in the United States. Sex ed began as a priority of the home and focuses specifically on controlling young peoples sexual behavior by teaching preventative sex practices and portraying sex in a negative light. When schools began teach sex education the curriculum was incorporated into health and physical education. The curriculum has become increasingly more inclusive, but, although working to include different sexualities and genders identities into the mix, have yet to come up with a specific anti-racist program. Most programs in Canada, including the new program in the U.S, tout ‘culturally sensitive’ sex education programs. These, however, are problematic as they “often rely on ethnic and racial stereotypes of groups, portraying racialised peoples as monolithic and static and decontextualising their experiences from a history of colonization, racialisation, and persistent inequity” (Whitten and Sethna, 416.) These programs often promote the idea of the difference in sexual practices in minority  communities as stemming from the absence of factual health information rather than social inequity and issues of access.

The article continues to define race, ethnicity, and multi-culturalism. Multi-culturalism being another factor that sex education programs must overcome in order to be truly inclusive. “Multi-culturalism falls short both by refusing to recognize the existence of social stratification based on the intersection of gender, class, race ethnicity, (dis)ability and other social oppressions (Whitten and Sethna, 419.) While celebrating differences can be a good thing, not acknowledging the history of racism, colonialism, and imperialism is not.

The article ends by presenting a through argument for inclusion of race in sex ed, and provides research analysis involving the coding of sex education curriculum in order to see the real amounts of inclusion involved in the sex ed programs children are given when in Canada.

This article was especially helpful to me as a lot of the problems Canada faced in 2014, California is facing in 2017.

Amanda Whitten, Christabelle Sethna. 2014. “What’s missing? Anti-racist sex education!” Sex Education, 14 (4).

Changes in the Timing of Snowmelt and Streamflow in Colorado: A Response to Recent Warming

David W. Clow from the U.S Geological Survey out of Lakewood, Colorado investigated how SWE (snow water equivalent) and streamflow, are correlated to the rate and timing of snowmelt in Colorado. Monthly air temperatures, snowfall, latitude, and elevation were also used in multiple linear regression models to determine the controls on snowmelt. Interval/ratio data for SWE was collected from Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) snowpack telemetry sites (SNOTEL sites) and the streamflow data was collected from headwater streams. Data from 1978-2007 was collected from the SNOTEL sites with 97% of sites had ≥21 years of data and all sites <18 years being excluded. Daily streamflow data were obtained for 58 headwater streams in Colorado with long-term gauges operated by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) or the Colorado Division of Water Resources. The regional Kendall test (RKT) was used to determine changes in trends to air temperature and SWE over the 27 year period. Multiple linear regressions were used to determine how and to what degree the changes impacted the timing of snowmelt.

A benefit of using the RKT is that by grouping data into geographic regions trend detection is increased. The multiple linear regressions were beneficial in determining which variables impacted the timing and degree of melt the greatest. Increasing springtime air temperature and declining SWE explained most, 45%, of the interannual variability in snowmelt timing. Regression coefficients for air temperature were negative, indicating that warm temperatures promote early melt. Regression coefficients for SWE, latitude, and elevation were positive, indicating that abundant snowfall tends to delay snowmelt, and snowmelt tends to occur later at northern latitudes and high elevations (Clow, 2010). The use of these methods demonstrates the strength of more traditional data analysis techniques and how they can be applied to data sets.

The conclusions found in this article will influence my research proposal by demonstrating which variables are most influential in generating melt in a snowpack. Similarly, this research demonstrates how to use variables similar to the variables I will be using a multiple linear regression. The article also validates a portion of my research topic by stating, “It may be useful to include other possible controls on snowmelt timing, such as dust deposition, in regression models in the future.” (Clow, 2010) This article also makes predictions about how Nov-May air temperatures increased by a median of 0.9°C decade−1, while 1 April SWE declined by a median of 4.1 decade−1 and maximum SWE declined 3.6 cm decade−1. This could be utilized in my proposal by investigating if these trends have stayed consistent over the past decade since the research was conducted. Another aspect of this research that I am possibly going to include in my proposal is grouping data by region because certain areas might be influenced by variables in different ways. Using this technique I could determine, for example, if higher temperatures in southwest Colorado and more influential than SWE.  

Clow, D. W. (2010). Changes in the Timing of Snowmelt and Streamflow in Colorado: A Response to Recent Warming. Journal of Climate,23(9), 2293-2306. doi:10.1175/2009jcli2951.1

One of the main school counties in the Los Angeles county is the LAUSD. In this district alone, there are about 745,000 students enrolled to go to school in the district. The real disappointing statistic is that a third of these students will not graduate high school. This statistic is way too high and there needs to be a fix to lower the statistics. And given that the average graduation rate for the Los Angeles county is 79.3%, the LAUSD needs to improve the way they teach students. Along with the graduation rate, the California Department of Education estimated that 90.9% of students are apart of an ethnic group. In this study, Denise Huang and others from UCLA looked at the BEST program, an after school program, to see if drop out rates would decrease for students who participate in BEST. What the results showed was that students who were apart of the BEST program saw better academic achievement, positive attitudes, and better relationships towards one or both parental figures. They concluded that the BEST program and other programs like BEST are a good way for kids to be involved in extracurricular activities while also doing better in school. This article is important for my topic because it talks about ways to fix the dropout rate in Southern California schools. There have been many different methods,  but maybe there is a clear solution. While the BEST program showed that it can do positives for the community, it cannot help everyone, which is where we as a society want to reach: getting equal education for every student.

The article “Self-immolation and its adverse life-events risk factors: results from an Iranian population” by Ahmadi, Alireza; Schwebel, David C; Bazargan-Hejazi, Shahrzad; Taliee, Kobra; Karim, Hosein; Mohammadi, Reza, and Kermanshah at the University of Medical Sciences.http://0-search.proquest.com.books.redlands.edu/pqrl/docview/1645864331/abstract/A1D28186244447AAPQ/4?accountid=14729ic. The article search for factors that led to the substantial loss of life caused by deliberate self-immolation such as adverse life events. Immolation. This case-control study investigated adverse life-events as risk factors for self–immolation patients admitted to a burn center serving the western region of Iran. Variables investigated included the adverse life-events such as unplanned pregnancy, infertility, homelessness, financial hardship problems at work, personal history of suicide attempts, family history of suicide attempts, individual history of mental disorders, and malignant disease. The research question was what factors lead to self-immolation in Iran the topic being self-immolation’s surge. The researchers collected demographic data by using by using private and public records. Internal-coding was used to analyze the data. I believe that the research should have aimed to understand the factors that lead to self immolation as a symbolic form of suicide in Iran rather than evaluating it as a suicide based on internal conflicts. Given the nature of the environment it would have been wise to have the data also reflect the effects of social disorder on rates on self immolation. I found it to be very interesting that the study found the break-up of an intimate relationship was one of the largest contributing factors that led to self immolation. In addition, social dysfunction was found to not be among the largest contributing factors to self immolation.

After researching doing more research on my topic I have found that there is a lot that we already know regarding crime and where it happens. However, what we don’t know is why those certain crimes are limited to those certain areas and other possible factors that contribute to crime and how, where, and when it occurs. Police relations and procedures are things that could have an effect on this. When trying to find more specific information on possible new areas of the topic to explore I found a good article that illustrates my point. The article, “Why the Police Have an Effect on Violent Crime After All: Evidence from the British Crime Survey,” written by Ben Vollaard of Tilburg University does a good job of presenting sometimes overlooked problems within the topic of crime, types of crime, and geography. This article goes into depth to try to figure out why property crime and violent crimes are reported differently by police and victims with the violent crimes being those without true numbers being reported. The article uses survey data for its analysis of the problem it is investigating. After analyzing the data the article goes on to conclude that police do have an effect on violent crime and its statistics. This is something not widely known or that would be thought about. That’s why its important to broaden your question to encompass concepts and questions out of the ordinary and that have not been investigated widely yet. They found that police have a bias when reporting thee crimes. The police themselves can have an effect on the information that is even available on the topic.

Ben Vollaard; Joseph Hamed. “Why the Police Have an Effect on Violent Crime After All: Evidence from the British Crime Survey.” The Journal of Law & Economics, Vol. 55, No. 4 (November 2012), pp. 901-924

Prescribed fire mortality of Sierra Nevada mixed conifer tree species: effects of crown damage and forest floor combustion

Scott L. Stephens and Mark A. Finney

A total of 1025 trees were analyzed in a study of white fir, sugar pine, ponderosa pine, black oak, incense-cedar, and giant sequoia. These trees were analyzed to find out how they would be affected by a prescribed fire. Indicators that were measured included the diameter of the tree (DBH), the percent of the crown that was scorched, along with the height it was scorched at, and the amount of the forest floor that was consumed by the fire. It was found that these indicators were not significant for predicting the death of black oak. The indicators did conclude however that death rates were lower for giant sequoia, incense-cedar, and ponderosa pine than the other species measured. It was also found that consumption of life on the forest floor is a good indicator of morality in most species.

Data needed for this study was behavioral because the forest ecologists were determining how oaks and other species responded in levels of morality to a disturbance in surroundings. This is simply observing the tree’s behavior, but can be confusing because you are not testing human subjects. Data was collected by measuring four indicators of the tree’s overall health. Data was analyzed by running regression models for four different species, although there was no pre-burn data for the forest floor of the giant sequoias measured.

Stephens, Scott L., and Mark A. Finney. “Prescribed fire mortality of Sierra Nevada mixed conifer tree species: effects of crown damage and forest floor combustion.” Forest Ecology and Management 162.2 (2002): 261-271.

Authors: David C. Pyrooz, Scott H. Decker, Vincent J. Webb

Title: The Ties That Bind Desistance From Gangs

This study focuses on Gang members and their desistance from the gang. This journal three processes during this research which are onset, persistence, and desistance. So, the research question for this journal is “How can we get members to desist from gang life to lower victimization and delinquency?”.  These authors believe that when people are in a gang they tend to commit more crimes so they wanted to figure out why gang members desisted from a gang. The type of data used in this article is Report of acts, behaviors, and events. They asked the people “currently in a gang” or “ever been a gang member”. So, these people had to report their actions whether they were in a gang. Out of all the people they asked which were 239 individuals. 153 of them said they were currently in a gang and 83 of them said they were former gang members. The data gathering method they used was Public records. They got their data from Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring (ADAM). ADAM got their data from a juvenile detention facility. The arrestees were interviewed within 48 hours of booking. This sample better reflected the streets because they were interviewed so early in the process so they had just come from the streets.  I think this research overall is great they start with a topic and turn it into a research question and they get data to see if they can answer their research question. It shows me a way that I can do my research project because my research question is like this one.  I want to do something similar but I’m sure I’ll get different results.