(2008). At American U. of Afghanistan, Turmoil at the Top. Chronicle of Higher Education, v55 n14 pA23 Nov. Billed as the country's first independent university, the American University of Afghanistan was established in 2004 with financial support from the highest levels of the American and Afghan governments. But its development has been rockier than anticipated, even taking into account Afghanistan's growing instability. A number of current and former faculty members say that a good share of the blame goes to the university's recently departed president, Thomas M. Stauffer, a former head of two U.S. universities, who stepped down in September without offering any explanations about why he was leaving after less than two years. Critics describe Stauffer as an absent administrator, detached from the realities on the ground and uninterested in soliciting advice from the staff. Stauffer's controversial leadership and abrupt departure raise questions about how he was hired and what potential may have been squandered during a critical time in the university's growth…. [Direct]
(2011). When Military Parents Come Home: Building \Strong Families Strong Forces,\ a Home-Based Intervention for Military Families with Very Young Children. Zero to Three (J), v32 n2 p36-42 Nov. The long wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have presented unique challenges to military-connected families with very young children, yet few evidence-based services are available to support these families through deployment and reintegration. Although many military families have shown remarkable resilience throughout the intense demands of the wars, very young children (from birth through 5 years old) and service member parents' relationships with these children are particularly vulnerable in the face of deployment. Interventions targeted to the post-deployment period can assist families in managing the challenges of reintegration for parents and young children. The authors describe the process of developing and testing a culturally responsive home-based reintegration program for service members, their partners, and their very young children. Composite case examples are presented to illustrate the major concerns of military families and to highlight program elements aimed at enhancing… [Direct]
(2011). TBI-ROC Part One: Understanding Traumatic Brain Injury–An Introduction. Exceptional Parent, v41 n7 p33-37 Jul. This article is the first of a multi-part series on traumatic brain injury (TBI). Historically, TBI has received very limited national public policy attention and support. However since it has become the signature injury of the military conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, TBI has gained the attention of elected officials, military leaders, policymakers, and the public. This series is being published by the Traumatic Brain Injury-Resource Optimization Center (TBI-ROC) and its Advisory Group, which is facilitated by JBS International, Inc. The TBI-ROC aims to be a recognized source and leader for advancing national attention to the myriad of policy, research, practice, and service needs supporting both civilian and military individuals who incur TBI and their families. In this article, the authors identify the causes of TBI and describe its symptoms, which fall into three broad areas–(1) physical; (2) cognitive; and (3) psychosocial or behavioral challenges…. [Direct]
(2008). Paved with Good Intentions: Images of Textbook Development in Afghanistan. Asia Pacific Journal of Education, v28 n3 p291-304 Sep. In 2002, the Afghanistan Ministry of Education adopted a new National Curriculum Framework, created to promote child-centred teaching and learning strategies for the next generation of Afghan schools. As is often the case in post-conflict education development, a cadre of international curriculum consultants was hired to facilitate the production of syllabi and new textbooks. However, much of the available literature about Afghanistan's current wave of curriculum reform fails to present a critical view of the day-to-day contexts and interactions between international consultants and local textbook writers, which may provide a deep understanding of capacity development in this post-conflict setting. This paper uses Paulo Freire's pedagogical strategy of focusing critically on concrete images of life to understand the attendant ambiguities, dilemmas, and limitations of what occurs in international education development. This account is drawn from the authors' experiences as curriculum… [Direct]
(2010). From Kabul to the Academy: Narratives of Afghan Women's Journeys to and through U.S. Doctoral Programs. ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Denver. This study explored the experiences of seven Afghan women pursuing doctoral degrees in a variety of disciplines and programs across the United States. The guiding question for this study was: What factors influence Afghan women's journeys to and experiences in doctoral programs? In an attempt to understand Afghan women doctoral students, I provided a historical background of Afghanistan and education in Afghanistan followed by a literature review on South Asian women, the broader category for Afghan women. Within this literature review I explored the following components: culture, gender, immigration, experiences in postsecondary education; all factors that may be influential in the journey of South Asian women in U.S. postsecondary education. Finally, a critical race feminism theoretical framework was utilized to fuse the factors affecting South Asian women in higher education and provide a theoretical guide for further research specifically investigating Afghan women in doctoral… [Direct]
(2008). Home-Based School Teachers in Afghanistan: Teaching for Tarbia and Student Well-Being. Teaching and Teacher Education: An International Journal of Research and Studies, v24 n4 p876-888 May. Teachers in community-based or home-based schools in Afghanistan play a critical role in extending access to education to children who are unable to access the government schools, especially girls. These teachers–men and women–are nominated by the community to teach, without necessarily having teaching experience or even completing their own education. Whilst they may feel under-confident about their teaching skills and need ongoing professional development and support, these teachers nonetheless have a strong sense of their roles in the community, especially with respect to guiding children in their faith and promoting children's "tarbia" (moral and ethical character) and well-being. This paper draws on qualitative data collected though the Healing Classrooms Initiative of the International Rescue Committee (IRC). Using interview and questionnaire responses it presents home-based school teachers' experiences and beliefs about education and the role of the teacher, and… [Direct]
(2011). Systemic Vulnerabilities to Suicide among Veterans from the Iraq and Afghanistan Conflicts: Review of Case Reports from a National Veterans Affairs Database. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, v41 n1 p21-32 Feb. While suicide among recently returned veterans is of great concern, it is a relatively rare occurrence within individual hospitals and clinics. Root cause analysis (RCA) generates a detailed case report that can be used to identify system-based vulnerabilities following an adverse event. Review of a national database of RCA reports may identify common vulnerabilities and assist in the development of more robust prevention strategies. Our objective was to identify and compare common themes among reports of suicide among veterans of Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom (OIF/OEF) in the Veterans Affairs system. Common themes among root causes of suicide as identified in RCA reports were collected and compared as the primary outcome–systematic vulnerabilities. Actions recommended within the reports were coded as the secondary outcome–prevention strategies. Fifty-one RCA reports of OIF/OEF suicides were identified by our search. Coding generated 16 common categories among 132… [Direct]
(2010). Military Deployments and Children's Academic Achievement: Evidence from Department of Defense Education Activity Schools. Economics of Education Review, v29 n1 p73-82 Feb. Household disruptions–such as divorce, relocation, and parental absence–have long concerned researchers interested in the educational attainment of children. Here, we consider a plausible source of exogenous variation in work-related parental absences–military deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan in the 2002-2005 period. Combining the standardized test scores of children enrolled in Defense Department schools with their military parent's personnel data, we evaluate the effect of a soldier's deployment on the academic achievement of his or her children. We find that deployments have modest adverse effects in most academic subjects, with lengthy deployments and deployments during the month of testing associated with the largest detrimental effects. Evidence also suggests that these adverse effects may persist for several years. (Contains 5 tables.)… [Direct]
(2009). Literature from the Modern Middle East: Making a Living Connection. English Journal, v98 n3 p80-88 Jan. While the United States is deeply involved in the Middle East, most Americans, including students, lack knowledge about the region. Yet from Afghanistan to Palestine, from Morocco to Iraq, there is a vibrant and exciting literature by living authors that can bring the diverse experiences and perspectives of this vital part of the world to classes. In this article, the author offers resources, ideas, and strategies that other English teachers can use to integrate Middle Eastern literature into their classes. (Contains 2 notes.)… [Direct]
(2011). Notes on Teaching 9/11. Footnotes. Volume 16, Number 09. Foreign Policy Research Institute As today's high school students ranged in age from four to eight that fateful Tuesday morning, for many of them 9/11 is ancient history even though they live with the consequences of 9/11–namely, two wars (Afghanistan, Iraq), at least two low-level wars using special forces or drones (Yemen, Somalia), smaller-scale terrorist incidents (Fort Hood), thwarted or failed plots (the Times Square Bomber, the Underwear Bomber), and very intrusive procedures at the airport. So the first thing educators have to do is explain what exactly happened that day, then turn to why it happened, what their response was, and finally what are the consequences for today–for them. The author finds the best way to get started on this is to ask them what they already know; whether it is knowledge based on their own vague recollections or stories they've been told by families and friends, or something they've been taught in school. This paper offers some notes about \Teaching 9/11\ based on the author's own… [PDF]
(2011). Answer This Simple Question. Writing Instructor, Dec. In this essay, the author discusses her journey from her first year of the PhD program at USC, and the work she is doing now for a company that builds infrastructure in Afghanistan. She explores the ways in which studies for her 1985 PhD in Rhetoric, Linguistics and Literature did and did not prepare her for the work she does now. Her memoir shares her educational and pedagogical journey by connecting the dots between important places along her way, from a whites-only first-grade classroom in the rural south to a Southern women's college; from her first experience teaching composition as an MA English graduate teaching assistant to her Ph.D. in Rhetoric Linguistics and Literature at the University of Southern California, where she was among the five founding editors of "The Writing Instructor"; from her grant-funded post-doctoral literacy work in Southern schools to her work as a teacher of ESL to national women in newly opened public universities in the Middle East…. [PDF]
(2012). Journalism Education in the Pakistani Borderlands. Chronicle of Higher Education, Jan. Students brave roadside bombs and Taliban threats while on class assignments. Professors are kidnapped and killed. Campus radio stations get regular visits from military intelligence. Welcome to journalism education in Pakistan's tribal areas. The region is off-limits to most outsiders, so students find themselves reporting for Pakistani and Western news organizations even before they graduate. But some learn the hardest lessons of journalism early. Two died when their vehicle hit a land mine while on assignment for a regional radio station; another was killed in a Peshawar bomb blast. The programs at Gomal University, Hazara University, Kohat University of Science & Technology, and the University of Peshawar are receiving assistance from international donors. The goal is to bolster journalism education and, through campus radio stations at the universities, help bridge the sectarian divide in the region and provide an alternative to the so-called Mullah Radio stations… [Direct]
(2007). Primary and Secondary Curriculum Development in Afghanistan. Prospects: Quarterly Review of Comparative Education, v37 n4 p427-448 Dec. The article analyzes curriculum processes and products pertaining to the overall reconstruction of Afghanistan's education system after 2002. With the support of several international agencies, including UNESCO's International Bureau of Education (IBE), as well as non-governmental organizations (NGOs), Afghanistan's Ministry of Education succeeded in making important progress with regard to quality education, curriculum planning and design. Based on a careful analysis of needs, new curriculum frameworks for primary and secondary education were developed over the period 2002-2006, and syllabuses and textbooks for primary and secondary education will be developed and disseminated in schools across the country. However, many challenges remain to be tackled, especially with regard to the dissemination of a new curriculum culture and the writing, printing and distribution of quality syllabuses and textbooks at all education levels. The article highlights both the achievements and the… [Direct]
(2009). The Aftermath of Combat-Related PTSD: Toward an Understanding of Transgenerational Trauma. Communication Disorders Quarterly, v30 n2 p77-82. The number of military personnel who are involved in combat situations continues to increase. As a result, researchers have identified risk factors associated with the development of combat-related posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The authors of this article review some of the characteristics of military personnel involved in these conflicts, factors unique to the current military actions, and symptom presentation and prevalence rates of PTSD among those serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. They discuss mechanisms for the transgenerational transmission of trauma symptoms and identify strategies for interventions…. [Direct]
(2013). Military Children from Birth to Five Years. Future of Children, v23 n2 p61-77 Fall. Because most research on military families has focused on children who are old enough to go to school, we know the least about the youngest and perhaps most vulnerable children in these families. Some of what we do know, however, is worrisome–for example, multiple deployments, which many families have experienced during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, may increase the risk that young children will be maltreated. Where the research on young military children is thin, Joy Osofsky and Lieutenant Colonel Molinda Chartrand extrapolate from theories and research in other contexts–especially attachment theory and research on families who have experienced disasters. They describe the circumstances that are most likely to put young children in military families at risk, and they point to ways that families, communities, the military, and policymakers can help these children overcome such risks and thrive. They also review a number of promising programs to build resilience in young… [PDF]