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A Catholic Approach to Literacy for Struggling Students
Connecting Philosophy and Practice
Margaret G. Walsh
Catholic University of America Press, 2025
Discover effective literacy methods that align with a Christian anthropological view of the human person, as described by Aquinas and Aristotle and joined to research-based strategies. Through this work you will learn the most important pieces to building the skills needed for literacy acquisition. The aim of this book is to provide parents and educators with the foundational understanding of how a person learns to read in order to equip them with the tools needed to effectively implement a full reading curriculum. Included are intervention methods that can be used in conjunction with reading curriculum to improve reading outcomes for students who struggle. The principles used in this book are research-based intervention methods that are blended with models of human development set out by Aristotle and St Thomas Aquinas. In the Summa Theologiae, St Thomas Aquinas writes about the faculties of the soul, relying on the foundational work of Aristotle in the De Anima. In Aquinas’ description of the powers of the soul, he outlines the way in which man comes to know, through the systematic use of his senses, imagination, memory, cogitative powers and finally his intellect and will. Effective intervention methods, as outlined in this work, align with the process Aquinas outlines. Understanding effective intervention strategies in light of the bigger picture of who man is and what he is made for, elevates learning and puts the development of literacy in a holistic perspective.
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front cover of Defending Diversity
Defending Diversity
Affirmative Action at the University of Michigan
Patricia Gurin, Jeffrey S. Lehman, and Earl Lewis, with Eric L. Dey, Gerald Gurin, and Sylvia Hurtado
University of Michigan Press, 2004

Even as lawsuits challenging its admissions policies made their way through the courts, the University of Michigan carried the torch for affirmative action in higher education.
In June 2003, the Supreme Court vindicated UM's position on affirmative action when it ruled that race may be used as a factor for universities in their admissions programs, thus confirming what the UM had argued all along: diversity in the classroom translates to a beneficial and wide-ranging social value. With the green light given to the law school's admissions policies, Defending Diversity validates the positive benefits gained by students in a diverse educational setting.
Written by prominent University of Michigan faculty, Defending Diversity is a timely response to the court's ruling. Providing factual background, historical setting, and the psychosocial implications of affirmative action, the book illuminates the many benefits of a diverse higher educational setting -- including preparing students to be full participants in a pluralistic democracy -- and demonstrates why affirmative action is necessary to achieve that diversity.
Defending Diversity is a significant contribution to the ongoing discussion on affirmative action in higher education. Perhaps more important, it is a valuable record of the history, events, arguments, and issues surrounding the original lawsuits and the Supreme Court's subsequent ruling, and helps reclaim the debate from those forces opposed to affirmative action.
Patricia Gurin is Professor Emerita, Department of Psychology, University of Michigan. Jeffrey S. Lehman, former Dean of the University of Michigan Law School, is President of Cornell University. Earl Lewis is Dean of Rackham Graduate School, University of Michigan.
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