This volume contains advocacy briefing papers presented at the 15th Annual National Indian Education Association (NIEA) Legislative Summit held February 15-15, 2012 in Washington, DC. The following papers are included: (1) Become a Powerful Advocate; (2) NIEA Legislative Priority for 2012: Reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education…

This paper investigates the sociolinguistic effects and issues of identity in Metsovo, Greece, that have been the result of the presence of about 100 Albanian families who arrived there as economic migrants in the 1990s. The village of Metsovo is largely bilingual in Greek and Vlach (Aromanian). The migrants from Albania are either Muslims,…

The purpose of this study was to investigate school playground safety practices. The study used a purposeful sample of school nurses who attended a playground safety workshop at the 2006 National Association of School Nurses annual conference. Seventy-five questionnaires were distributed, and 64 useable questionnaires were returned. The responses…

The Maori language is the language of the indigenous people of New Zealand. Today, not all Maori speak the Maori language, and many Maori as well as non-Maori speak Maori English, the fastest growing of the main varieties of New Zealand English. This paper provides a background to the linguistic situation of the Maori populace in New Zealand,…

The importance of athletic fields has increased in today's society because of the popularity of sporting events. As a result, education administrators face challenges when dealing with their athletic facilities. Decisionmakers constantly are being second-guessed in regard to outdated, overused facilities and lack of budget. In this article, the…

In 2004, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) released a grim report on the state of literary reading in America. "Reading at Risk" (www.nea.gov/pub/ReadingAtRisk.pdf) detailed a dramatic decline in recreational reading across all segments of the American population--young and old, black, brown, and white. It also included the projected…

A random sample of Canadian foster parents were asked about the importance of culture in fostering. In response to the question "What values, beliefs and traditions were you raised with and feel are important?," a total of 74 different responses were received. These responses were grouped together by foster parents and the groupings…

This exploratory cross-sectional study examined fluid cognitive skills and standardized verbal IQ scores in relation to cultural engagement amongst Tohono O'odham children (N = 99; ages 7 to 12 years). Guardians with higher socioeconomic status engaged their children in more cultural activities, and participation in more cultural activities…

This paper examined the modes of funding Nigerian universities with a view to assessing their adequacy and effectiveness. The implications of the mechanisms of funding on university performance were investigated. The history of university funding in Nigeria was explored in order to determine the causes of shift in financing the system since 1948…

Many students identified as having moderate and severe disabilities (MSD) benefit from a curriculum that includes instruction on the functional skills that they will need to successfully transition to adulthood. In particular, this includes students with cognitive disabilities who are most likely to qualify in the 1% who are eligible for the…

The rationale of this article is that schools and their leaders need to establish and formalize a system which focuses on integrating staff effectively into the organization's community and instituting esteem and competency. Competent educators in a professional community constitute two of the three dimensions that build the capacity to create…

This paper provides an analysis of language shift from African languages to English (and Afrikaans) in South Africa, using home language data from the South African population census (1996 and 2001). Although census data have been criticised for its "essentialist" construction of language, they nevertheless provide sociolinguists with a…

Fluency has been identified as an important outcome of effective reading instruction, and intervention packages utilizing the method of repeated readings have been shown to improve oral reading fluency. In order to improve the efficiency of these intervention packages, more research is needed on the effectiveness of small group reading…

Intended to promote the preservation of the Hopi language, two illustrated children's books present traditional Hopi tales in bilingual format. Based on a story told by Herschel Talashoema, "Coyote & Little Turtle" tells how Little Turtle tricked Coyote into carrying him from the hot sand that burned his feet to Little Turtle's home in a spring.…

This preliminary report presents the results of a 1995 Linguistic Society of America survey on endangered languages. The Endangered Languages Survey was prepared in consultation with other linguistic organizations such as the German Linguistic Group, Endangered Languages Clearing House, and the Society for the Study of the Indigenous Languages of…