Bell, an NCST investigator, reported the design of the structure failed to meet the codes and standards applicable at the time of original construction. “We found out almost immediately in the conversation that these deficiencies had been found and have been addressed and are continuing to be addressed,” Danzinger said. The investigators with the National Institute of Standards and Technology found that a Champlain Towers South pool deck had a “severe strength” deficiency. On June 24, 2021, the Champlain Towers South pool deck collapsed first and the building followed about seven minutes later - killing 98 people - and raising a cloud of fear about the condition of old oceanfront buildings. Related story: Designs for luxury condominiums submitted for approval “If I saw anything that I thought was a danger to them and the building structurally, I would say something,” Kilsheimer said.ĭanzinger said it’s important to note that Champlain Towers South “didn’t do the maintenance that was required.” “No one else is doing this,” LaForett said.Īccording to Franco, the mixture of instructional models and grade-levels has made data analysis more time-consuming, but the researchers expect to share preliminary findings with the school in late 2015.Champlain Towers North is undergoing its 40-year re-certification through a four-phase plan that Allyn Kilsheimer, an engineer, is spearheading. In the end, the researchers hope to answer questions about home language, the language of instruction, peer networks, and classroom participation-and how these pieces of the puzzle fit together. “We’re even asking the students to tell us who they consider to be good students.” “We’re looking at which students hang out with whom and which students actually are participating in class,” said LaForett, who has been involved in several research projects and initiatives focused on young dual-language learners and their families. In addition to conducting their own classroom observations, LaForett and Franco gathered data from teachers and children. “The school employs a variety of models across classrooms, from a 50-50 English-Spanish mix to 90-10 mostly Spanish instruction, depending on the grade level, track, and subject.” “We followed 340 pre-K to 5 th-grade students,” explained Franco, who also has served as project director for a multi-site study on the relationship between language exposure and language development of bilingual children. As a result, LaForett and Franco launched a partnership with the elementary school on the “Social Networks and Academic Engagement in a Bilingual Education” project. “She said it seemed to her that students whose home language was Spanish weren’t participating in classes-even when teachers primarily taught in Spanish.”Īccording to LaForett, if in fact this were the case, it could contradict theory and expectations about Spanish-speaking learners in immersion classrooms. “The principal had noticed something that immediately got our attention,” LaForett explained. LaForett and Ximena Franco have been examining how the school’s language immersion program affects different students’ academic engagement and social networks. When the principal of a Spanish-immersion elementary school approached the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute with a mystery, a groundbreaking new project was born.
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