Sample records for align high school
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Finnegan, Robert J.
2010-01-01
Despite recent policy initiatives to ensure high school accountability through state-mandated testing, New Jersey high school graduates may not be prepared for the challenges of college-level writing because the state's high school assessment is not aligned with college-level expectations (Brown & Conley, 2007; Conley, 2003). An ever-growing…
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Align High School with College for Greater Student Success
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Conley, David T.
2005-01-01
High school and college educators alike have to face the fact the high school and college are not nearly as well aligned as they need to be. Just taking college-prep courses in high school and achieving the grade point average required for admission are not sufficient to ensure student success in college. In this article, the author discusses what…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Pearce, Kathryn; And Others
The New Designs for the Comprehensive High School project should provide for an organization of the school that is aligned with learner outcomes and learning process. Components of the organization must be aligned among themselves. High school models for organizing learners that meet student needs for connectedness and improved interpersonal…
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Biodiesel and Integrated STEM: Vertical Alignment of High School Biology/Biochemistry and Chemistry
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Burrows, Andrea C.; Breiner, Jonathan M.; Keiner, Jennifer; Behm, Chris
2014-01-01
This article explores the vertical alignment of two high school classes, biology and chemistry, around the core concept of biodiesel fuel production. High school teachers and university faculty members investigated biodiesel as it relates to societal impact through a National Science Foundation Research Experience for Teachers. Using an action…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Nebe, Mary Bayly
2010-01-01
This study examines the alignment between Arizona public high school administrators' expectations of professional school counselors, the "ASCA National Model" (2005), and the instruments used in Arizona to evaluate professional school counselors. Participants included ten principals and assistant principals, and 103 of the 111 public…
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A Sense of Balance: District Aligns Personalized Learning with School and System Goals
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Donsky, Debbie; Witherow, Kathy
2015-01-01
This article addresses the challenge of personalizing learning while also ensuring alignment with system and school improvement plans. Leaders of the York Region District School Board in Ontario knew that what took their high-performing school district from good to great would not take it from great to excellent. The district's early model of…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Mokher, Christine
2011-01-01
This study examines the availability of career and technical education program areas in Tennessee high schools, concentrations (a three-or-more credit sequence in a program area) completed by 2007/08 high school graduates, and how these concentrations align with jobs in the labor market. It looks at how these outcomes differ, statewide and by…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Mokher, Christine
2011-01-01
This study examines the availability of career and technical education program areas in Tennessee high schools, concentrations (a three-or-more credit sequence in a program area) completed by 2007/08 high school graduates, and how these concentrations align with jobs in the labor market. It looks at how these outcomes differ, statewide and by…
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NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Yuliardi, R.; Nurjanah
2017-09-01
The purpose of this study to analyze mathematical communication skill’s student to resolve geometry transformation problems through computer Assisted Geogebra using Technologically Aligned Classroom (TAC). The population in this study were students from one of Vocasional High School Student in West Java. Selection of sample by purposed random sampling, the experimental class is taught Technologically Aligned Classroom (TAC) with GeoGebra, while the control class is taught by conventional learning. This study was quasi-experimental with pretest and posttest control group design. Based on the results; (1) The enhancement of student mathematical communication skills through TAC was higher than the conventional learning; (2) based on gender, there were no differences of mathematical communication skilss student who exposed with TAC and conventional learning; (3) based on KAM test, there was significant enhancement of students’ communication skills among ability of high, middle, and low KAM. The differences occur between high KAM and middle KAM, and also between high KAM and low KAM. Based on this result, mathematics learning Assisted Geogebra using Technologically Aligned Classroom (TAC) can be applied in the process of Mathematics Learning in Vocasional High School.
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Eight Elements of High School Improvement: An Annotated Bibliography
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Jones, Wehmah
2009-01-01
This paper provides a table that contains a summary of resources available that support the National High School Center's "Eight Elements of High School Improvement: A Mapping Framework". This framework is based on eight common elements of systemic school reform and provides a structure for understanding, aligning, and prioritizing…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Sutton, April; Muller, Chandra; Langenkamp, Amy G.
2013-01-01
The timing of a high school transfer may shape students' transitions to college through its (mis)alignment with the structure of the school year. A transfer that occurs during the summer interrupts the four-year high school career, whereas a transfer that occurs midyear disrupts both the four-year high school career and the structure of the school…
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A Blueprint for Aligning High School Algebra with State Standards: One School's Journey
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Neher, Mallory Jane; Plourde, Lee A.
2012-01-01
This project was a response to the changes in the Washington State math assessments for high school students. The creation of an exit exam for Washington State high school students and the expectation that they pass it to graduate has placed tremendous pressure on high schools that struggled with low passing rates on the Washington State math…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Christensen, Rhonda; Knezek, Gerald; Tyler-Wood, Tandra
2015-01-01
This study examines positive dispositions reported by middle school and high school students participating in programs that feature STEM-related activities. Middle school students participating in school-to-home hands-on energy monitoring activities are compared to middle school and high school students in a different project taking part in…
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Making the Grade: Texas Early College High Schools Prepare Students for College
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Nodine, Thad
2011-01-01
Early college schools are part of a national initiative to align high school and college through a rigorous, college-prep curriculum coupled with high expectations and comprehensive student supports. The schools provide all students with direct experience, preparation, and support in taking college classes through a proficiency-based curriculum…
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P-16 Partnership to Improve Students' Postsecondary Mathematics Achievement
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Hartman, Jenifer J.
2017-01-01
Increasing students' academic success in postsecondary endeavors is an important goal for both high school and college institutions today. However, the standards for high school graduation and college readiness are not well aligned, and successful transition from high school to college is problematic for many students, particularly in math. This…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Council of the Great City Schools, 2017
2017-01-01
In the ongoing effort to improve instructional standards in our nation's urban public schools, the Council of the Great City Schools has released resources to help districts determine the quality and alignment of instructional materials at each grade level; to ensure that materials for English language learners are rigorous and aligned to district…
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South Carolina Course Alignment Project: Best Practices Report
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Chadwick, Kristine; Ward, Terri; Hopper-Moore, Greg
2014-01-01
To facilitate a more seamless transition from high school to postsecondary education, high schools and colleges need to build new relationships and examine educational programming on both sides of the critical juncture between the senior year in high school and the first year in college. This South Carolina College and Career Readiness Toolkit was…
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Voices of Experience: The Image of a Wheel Just Clicked with Me
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Yarchi, Tracy
2007-01-01
The author had been a high school English teacher for 15 years when her district transformed two traditional high schools into 10 small schools of choice. In this article, the author shares how the staff of one small school, with the help of professional development and a true sense of empowerment, created a small school culture and aligned the…
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Reducing School Factors That Lead to Student Dropout at Sussex Central High School
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Jerns, Pamela Renee
2012-01-01
The focus of this Executive Position Paper (EPP) is to address the dropout rate at Sussex Central High School (SCHS) in the Indian River School District (IRSD). Studies conducted for this EPP align with current research--student dropout is a result of culminating school-based factors that include poor attendance and lack of exposure to rigorous…
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Perceptions vs Realities: How High School Principals View and Utilize Professional School Counselors
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Webb-Rea, Jennifer S.
2012-01-01
This mixed methods study used an explanatory sequential design to examine what principals of high schools with large low-income and racial minority student populations view as appropriate roles for the school counselors in their buildings in raising student academic achievement and how those role perceptions align with best practices and with the…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Jackson, Jacob; Kurlaender, Michal
2016-01-01
State K-12 assessments may soon include measures for college readiness, as California's already do. We seek to understand how California's Early Assessment Program (EAP, designed to assess high school juniors' college readiness in English and math) may have influenced overall school-level college readiness and state accountability outcomes. Using…
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Managing School Districts for High Performance: Cases in Public Education Leadership
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Childress, Stacey, Ed.; Elmore, Richard F., Ed.; Grossman, Allen, Ed.; Johnson, Susan Moore, Ed.
2007-01-01
"Managing School Districts for High Performance" brings together more than twenty case studies and other readings that offer a powerful and transformative approach to advancing and sustaining the work of school improvement. At the center of this work is the concept of organizational coherence: aligning organizational design, human…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Wade, Carol H.; Sonnert, Gerhard; Sadler, Philip M.; Hazari, Zahra
2017-01-01
Using data from the first National study on high school preparation for college calculus success, the Factors Influencing College Success in Mathematics (FICSMath) project, this article connects student high school instructional experiences to college calculus performance. The findings reported here reveal that students were better prepared for…
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The Work of High School Counselors' Leadership for Social Justice: An Analytic Autoethnography
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Griffin, Ramona H.
2009-01-01
With the American School Counselor Association's (ASCA) adoption of the National Model, school counselors are called to align their work with educational reform initiatives and provide leadership in public schools (Dollarhide, 2003). School counseling literature supporting leadership for social justice is frequently reiterated (Hatch & Bowers,…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Mohr, Cory
2008-01-01
With approximately 2,500 students dropping out of U.S. high schools every day, there exists a need to align classroom instruction with corresponding "real world" applications. In order to keep students' motivation high and help ensure high levels of validity in instruction, core curriculum instructors and career and technical education (CTE)…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Corkin, Danya M.; Ekmekci, Adem; Papakonstantinou, Anne
2015-01-01
This paper examines the antecedents of three types of educational beliefs about mathematics among 151 teachers predominantly working in high poverty schools. Studies across various countries have found that teachers in high poverty schools are less likely to enact instructional approaches that align with mathematics reform standards set by…
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Do We Have What It Takes to Put All Students on the Graduation Path?
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Legters, Nettie; Balfanz, Robert
2009-01-01
Getting and keeping "all" young people engaged in learning and on track to graduate from high school ready for college and the 21st century workplace is going to require wider, deeper, and more systemic change. Recent policy focus on raising standards for high school graduation and aligning high school curriculum to college entrance requirements…
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Virtual Schools: Improving Outcomes for Students with Disabilities
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Repetto, Jeanne; Cavanaugh, Cathy; Wayer, Nicola; Liu, Feng
2010-01-01
Individual and social benefits accrue when high school graduation rates increase. One approach to increasing graduation rates is to design learning environments that serve students with disabilities through the 5Cs known to increase school completion: connect, climate, control, curriculum, and caring community. Virtual school programs align with…
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Examining School Counselors' Commitments to Social Justice Advocacy
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Feldwisch, Rachel P.
2016-01-01
Many school counselors endorse using social justice advocacy to close achievement gaps. In this study, school counselors from a single state scored in the moderate to high range on the Social Issues Advocacy Scale. Results showed alignment between school counselors' self-endorsement of social justice advocacy and scores on the Advocacy…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Achieve, Inc., 2013
2013-01-01
This eighth annual report has taken a directional change from prior years where the primary aim was preparing students to graduate from high school. The new focus is on the K-12 alignment where, at the direction of 48 states, the National Governors Association, and the Council of Chief State School Officers, the Common Core State Standards were…
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High School Department Chairs: Role Ambiguity and Conflict during Change.
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Mayers, R. Stewart; Zepeda, Sally J.
2002-01-01
Examines challenges that high school department chairpersons faced while changing to a 4 x 4 block schedule. Finds that chairpersons experienced multiple learning curves and increased tensions between departmental and teaching responsibilities, problems exacerbated by reduced release time. Recommends aligning job descriptions with procedures,…
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School Counselor and Principal Perceptions Regarding the Roles of School Counselors
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Bailey, Tyra Terrell
2012-01-01
The roles of the school counselors have changed significantly over this century. Due to the pressures of high-stakes testing and budget cuts, counselors often are tasked with roles that are not aligned with state or national standards for school counseling programs (Brown, Galassi, & Akos, 2004; Gysbers & Henderson, 2001). This study…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Coalition for Community Schools, Washington, DC.
This handbook is designed to help state leaders form vital connections between schools and communities to improve student learning. It explains that community schools are beneficial because they meet students' basic needs, including safety; offer high quality curriculum and teaching aligned with academic standards; provide learning experiences…
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Brink, Yolandi; Crous, Lynette Christine; Louw, Quinette Abigail; Grimmer-Somers, Karen; Schreve, Kristiaan
2009-12-01
Prolonged sitting and psychosocial factors have been associated with musculoskeletal symptoms among adolescents. However, the impact of prolonged static sitting on musculoskeletal pain among South African high school students is uncertain. A prospective observational study was performed to determine whether sitting postural alignment and psychosocial factors contribute to the development of upper quadrant musculoskeletal pain (UQMP) in grade ten high school students working on desktop computers. The sitting postural alignment, depression, anxiety and computer use of 104 asymptomatic students were measured at baseline. At three and six months post baseline, the prevalence of UQMP was determined. Twenty-seven students developed UQMP due to seated or computer-related activities. An extreme cervical angle (<34.75 degrees or >43.95 degrees; OR 2.8; 95% CI: 1.1-7.3) and a combination of extreme cervical and thoracic angles (<63.1 degrees or >71.1 degrees; OR 2.2; 95% CI: 1.1-5.6) were significant postural risk factors for the development of UQMP. Boys with any extreme angle were more likely to suffer pain compared with boys with all middle range angles (OR 4.9; 95% CI: 1.0-24.5). No similar effect was found for girls. There was no strong relationship between depression, anxiety, computer exposure and UQMP among South African high school students.
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Prosody and Alignment: A Sequential Perspective
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Reed, Beatrice Szczepek
2010-01-01
In their analysis of a corpus of classroom interactions in an inner city high school, Roth and Tobin describe how teachers and students accomplish interactional alignment by prosodically matching each other's turns. Prosodic matching, and specific prosodic patterns are interpreted as signs of, and contributions to successful interactional outcomes…
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Rethinking the High School Diploma
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Finn, Chester E., Jr.; Kahlenberg, Richard D.; Kress, Sandy
2015-01-01
As states move to implement the Common Core State Standards, key challenges remain. One is how to make sure a high school diploma acknowledges what students have achieved. Should states adopt a two tiered diploma, in which students who pass internationally aligned Common Core exams at a career- and college-ready level receive an…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Murray, Shannon
2008-01-01
Flexible modular scheduling (flex mod)--a schedule philosophy and system that has been in place at Wausau West High School in Wausau, Wisconsin, for the last 35 years and aligns nicely with current research on student learning--is getting more and more attention from high school administrators across the country. Flexible modular scheduling was…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Akhavan, Nancy; Emery, Ryan; Shea, Ginger; Taha-Resnick, Adria
2017-01-01
The study is a mixed-methods investigation of how urban schools are succeeding. The study surveyed 28 former students from urban schools in Oxnard, California. The qualitative responses represent themes that align to a high level of school connectedness and social-emotional learning (SEL) as key indicators of a successful urban school district.…
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Aligning K-12 and Postsecondary Career Pathways with Workforce Needs
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Zinth, Jennifer
2015-01-01
Since 2013, states have witnessed significant legislative activity related to secondary- and postsecondary-level career/technical education (CTE). One key goal of much recent policymaking activity has been to improve alignment between high school and postsecondary CTE programs, including by developing state or regional structures to design career…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Alexander, Julie
2013-01-01
Across the United States, students are entering college with a need for improvement in basic mathematics and communication skills. In 2008, the Florida Legislature passed Senate Bill 1908 which changed the expectations for the senior year of high school for many students. Students who score within certain levels on the mandatory high school…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Early, Diane M.; Rogge, Ronald D.; Deci, Edward L.
2014-01-01
This paper investigates engagement (E), alignment (A), and rigor (R) as vital signs of high-quality teacher instruction as measured by the EAR Classroom Visit Protocol, designed by the Institute for Research and Reform in Education (IRRE). Findings indicated that both school leaders and outside raters could learn to score the protocol with…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Struhl, Ben; Vargas, Joel
2012-01-01
States and school districts are searching for strategies to raise the college and career readiness of high school graduates--imperative in an era when postsecondary credentials are the key to good jobs, better pay, and stronger economies. The creation and implementation of higher graduation standards aligned to college and career expectations is…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Cox, Teodora B.
2009-01-01
The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine rural high school mathematics teachers' responses to the initial implementation of Louisiana's "Comprehensive Curriculum" during their second year of involvement in a professional development program. The curriculum changes were the culmination of an alignment between standards,…
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Mixed Signals in California: A Mismatch between High Schools and Community Colleges. Policy Alert
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, 2008
2008-01-01
"Policy Alert" is a publication series that summarizes important policy findings affecting the future of higher education. This issue is based on an earlier study, "Investigating the Alignment of High School and Community College Assessments in California". The "Policy Alert" summarizes the findings of the study, and…
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State College- and Career-Ready High School Graduation Requirements. Updated
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Achieve, Inc., 2013
2013-01-01
Research by Achieve, ACT, and others suggests that for high school graduates to be prepared for success in a wide range of postsecondary settings, they need to take four years of challenging mathematics--covering Advanced Algebra; Geometry; and data, probability, and statistics content--and four years of rigorous English aligned with college- and…
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High School Girls' Perceptions of Selected Fitness Activities
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Wilkinson, Carol; Bretzing, Robyn
2011-01-01
High school students, and particularly girls, are not very active (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2006). To help girls develop the abilities to enjoy lifetime, healthy physical activity, physical educators need to provide curricula that will achieve this goal. In the process, they need to make sure they are aligned with the current…
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Summary Brief: International Baccalaureate Standards Development and Alignment Project
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Conley, David T.; Ward, Terri
2009-01-01
Although the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme is offered by many high schools in the United States and considered to be challenging and rich in content, the curriculum has not been analyzed to determine its alignment with college readiness standards or state educational standards in the U.S. The research methodology employed by…
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DCPS Effective Schools Framework
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
District of Columbia Public Schools, 2009
2009-01-01
DCPS is committed to providing "all" students with the caliber of education they deserve. The goal of the DCPS Effective Schools Framework is to ensure that every child, in every classroom, has access to a high-quality and engaging standards-based instructional program, and that all school supports are aligned to support teaching and learning. The…
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All Hands on Deck: A Comprehensive, Results-Driven Counseling Model
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Salina, Charles; Girtz, Suzann; Eppinga, Joanie; Martinez, David; Kilian, Diana Blumer; Lozano, Elizabeth; Martinez, Adrian P.; Crowe, Dustin; De La Barrera, Maria; Mendez, Maribel Madrigal; Shines, Terry
2014-01-01
A graduation rate of 49% alarmed Sunnyside High School in 2009. With graduation rates in the bottom 5% statewide, Sunnyside was awarded a federally funded School Improvement Grant. The "turnaround" principal and the school counselors aligned goals with the ASCA National Model through the program All Hands On Deck (AHOD), based on…
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Academic and Social Support Critical to Success in Academically Rigorous Environment
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Campbell, Melissa
2010-01-01
To ensure that more American students attend college and are prepared to participate in a global economy, secondary schools have increased academic rigor and raised standards. By emphasizing vertical alignment of courses from preschool through college, secondary schools can help close the expectation gap that exists between high school and college…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Kurlaender, Michal; Jackson, Jacob; Howell, Jessica S.
2012-01-01
This brief studies California's introduction of the Early Assessment Program to bridge the gap between K-12 educational standards and postsecondary education requirements, similar to the Common Core State Standards movement.
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The Common Core Mathematics Companion: The Standards Decoded, High School
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, 2017
2017-01-01
When it comes to mathematics, standards aligned is achievement aligned… In the short time since "The Common Core Mathematics Companions" for grades K-2, 3-5 and 6-8 burst on the scene, they have been lauded as the best resources for making critical mathematics ideas easy to teach. With this brand-new volume, high school mathematics…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Phillippo, Katherine L.
2009-01-01
Recent research literature suggests that students benefit from positive relationships with their teachers. Small high schools attempt to formalize expectations for such relationships through a variety of organizational structures, including the advisor role. As advisors, teachers work with a group of students in order to guide and support them.…
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Getting Serious About Student Success: High School-College Alignment
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Reindl, Travis
2006-01-01
The efficiency and effectiveness of the nation's human capital pipeline has become a prime area of focus in the policy arena, spurred on by international data that show the U.S. lagging in high school and college completion. For policymakers, education leaders, and even students and parents, it is becoming increasingly clear that the transition…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Carter, Erik W.; Lane, Kathleen L.; Pierson, Melinda R.; Stang, Kristin K.
2008-01-01
Recent developments in policy and practice have emphasized the importance of promoting self-determination and supporting access to the general curriculum for youth with disabilities. To understand how these trends align, we examined the efforts of 340 general and special educators to promote student self-determination in high school classrooms.…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Young, R. Brent; Hodge, Angie; Edwards, M. Craig; Leising, James G.
2012-01-01
The purpose of this study was to empirically test the posit that students who participated in a contextualized, mathematics-enhanced high school agricultural power and technology (APT) curriculum and aligned instructional approach would develop a deeper and more sustained understanding of selected mathematics concepts than those students who…
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A Measure of Toxicity: The Challenge of Employee Fit in Organizational Change
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Mize, Nicolas G.
2016-01-01
Principal Vanessa Sanchez assumed leadership of a high-need, high-poverty urban school with a mandate from the district superintendent to change the school culture and to build an instructional team aligned to the principal's theory of change. The central dilemma of the case is how to lead organizational change while managing interpersonal…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Polikoff, Morgan S.; Struthers, Kathryn
2013-01-01
Background/Context: A central aim of standards-based reform is to close achievement gaps by raising academic standards for all students. Rigorous standards coupled with aligned assessments will purportedly improve student opportunity to learn through high-quality, aligned instruction. After 10 years of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), the impact of…
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Uncommonly Engaging? A Review of the EngageNY English Language Arts Common Core Curriculum
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Haydel, Elizabeth; Carmichael, Sheila Byrd
2015-01-01
The need for standards-aligned curricula is the most cited Common Core challenge for states, districts, and schools. Yet five years into that implementation, teachers still report scrambling to find high-quality instructional materials. Despite publishers' claims, there is a dearth of programs that are truly aligned to the demands of the Common…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Mercer, Stephen D.
2016-01-01
This work is an analysis of the alignment between schools associated with an Indiana Assistant Principal of the Year, as selected by the Indiana Association of School Principals, and increases in academic performance of those schools on state mandated "high stakes" academic tests. The focus was on school improvement using annual school…
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Alignment of Standards and Assessment: A Theoretical and Empirical Study of Methods for Alignment
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Nasstrom, Gunilla; Henriksson, Widar
2008-01-01
Introduction: In a standards-based school-system alignment of policy documents with standards and assessment is important. To be able to evaluate whether schools and students have reached the standards, the assessment should focus on the standards. Different models and methods can be used for measuring alignment, i.e. the correspondence between…
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2013-01-01
Psychology is one of the most popular elective high school courses. The high school psychology course provides the foundation for students to benefit from psychological perspectives on personal and contemporary issues and learn the rules of evidence and theoretical frameworks of the discipline. The guidelines presented here constitute the second of two reports in this issue of the American Psychologist (January 2013) representing recent American Psychological Association (APA) policies that support high-quality instruction in the teaching of high school psychology. These guidelines, aligned to the standards presented in the preceding report, describe models for the preparation of preservice psychology teachers. The two reports together demonstrate the rigor and competency that should be expected in psychology instruction at the high school level.
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What It Takes to Complete High School: The Shifting Terrain of Course and Diploma Requirements
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Hoffman, Nancy
2013-01-01
In recent months, several states have altered their high school course requirements in various ways, from creating endorsements within a single diploma to creating new diplomas. These states appear to be making changes for a variety of reasons: to elevate career and technical education; to emphasize STEM fields; to improve the alignment with…
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Launching Kindergarten Math Clubs: The Implementation of High 5s in New York City
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Jacob, Robin; Erickison, Anna; Mattera, Shira K.
2018-01-01
Early math has been shown to predict not only longer-term math achievement, but also future reading achievement, high school completion, and college attendance. Yet effects from early math programs often fade out as children move into more varied instructional contexts in elementary school. This fade-out suggests the need for an alignment of math…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Roberts, Kelly D.; Hitchcock, Caryl H.
2018-01-01
The contemporary education system in the United States is inadequate in the provision of services to assure that all students exit high school with the knowledge and skills necessary to enter postsecondary education or the workforce. This is particularly true for indigenous youth (Tanabe & Mobley, 2011). According to scholars, dual enrollment…
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Entangled time in flocking: Multi-time-scale interaction reveals emergence of inherent noise
Murakami, Hisashi
2018-01-01
Collective behaviors that seem highly ordered and result in collective alignment, such as schooling by fish and flocking by birds, arise from seamless shuffling (such as super-diffusion) and bustling inside groups (such as Lévy walks). However, such noisy behavior inside groups appears to preclude the collective behavior: intuitively, we expect that noisy behavior would lead to the group being destabilized and broken into small sub groups, and high alignment seems to preclude shuffling of neighbors. Although statistical modeling approaches with extrinsic noise, such as the maximum entropy approach, have provided some reasonable descriptions, they ignore the cognitive perspective of the individuals. In this paper, we try to explain how the group tendency, that is, high alignment, and highly noisy individual behavior can coexist in a single framework. The key aspect of our approach is multi-time-scale interaction emerging from the existence of an interaction radius that reflects short-term and long-term predictions. This multi-time-scale interaction is a natural extension of the attraction and alignment concept in many flocking models. When we apply this method in a two-dimensional model, various flocking behaviors, such as swarming, milling, and schooling, emerge. The approach also explains the appearance of super-diffusion, the Lévy walk in groups, and local equilibria. At the end of this paper, we discuss future developments, including extending our model to three dimensions. PMID:29689074
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Shelton, Brett E.; Scoresby, Jon
2011-01-01
We discuss the design, creation and implementation of an instructional game for use in a high school poetry class following a commitment to an educational game design principle of "alignment". We studied groups of instructional designers and an interactive fiction computer game they built. The game was implemented in a 9th grade English classroom…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Sandlin, Benjamin; Harshman, Jordan; Yezierski, Ellen
2015-01-01
A 2011 report by the Department of Education states that understanding how teachers use results from formative assessments to guide their practice is necessary to improve instruction. Chemistry teachers have goals for items in their formative assessments, but the degree of alignment between what is assessed by these items and the teachers' goals…
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Teachers' Perceptions of the Use of an External Change Agent in School Curriculum Change
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Smeed, Judy; Bourke, Terri
2012-01-01
An external change agent (ECA) was recently employed in three Queensland schools to align the school curriculum with the requirements of the state's high stakes test known as the Queensland Core Skills test (QCS). This paper reports on the teachers' perceptions of a change process led by an ECA. With the ever-increasing implementation of high…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Moore, Danette Irvine
2017-01-01
The focus of this study was to measure elementary, middle, and high school administrators' beliefs regarding the appropriateness of the Mississippi Statewide Teacher Appraisal Rubric domains, as well as their perceptions regarding the Mississippi Statewide Teacher Appraisal Rubric's overall alignment with the Interstate School Leaders Licensure…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Pennacchia, Donna
2010-01-01
State testing or end-of-course exams are recommended to determine if high school graduates are ready to enter college or the workforce because these assessments are aligned to content area expectations and standards that are measurable within each state as well as from state to state (Achieve, 2006). However, such assessments do not measure all…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Carriere, Peter M.; Smith, Melissa
A collaborative project between Georgia College and State University (GC&SU) and Baldwin High School (BHS) in Milledgeville, Georgia, had as its initial goals: to provide an opportunity for two-way mentoring between the GC&SU's Arts and Sciences faculty and BHS's English faculty; to improve curriculum alignment; to establish realistic…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Lu, Qun; Liu, Enshan
2012-01-01
With the development and implementation of new curriculum standards, the field tests of education reform in senior high schools began in 2004 in four pilot provinces in mainland China. After five years of the reform, it is necessary to know how and to what extent the curriculum standard guides test classroom instruction. The present study was…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Castellano, Marisa E.; Richardson, George B.; Sundell, Kirsten; Stone, James R., III
2017-01-01
In the United States, education policy calls for every student to graduate from high school prepared for college and a career. National legislation has mandated programs of study (POS), which offer aligned course sequences spanning secondary and postsecondary education, blending standards-based academic and career and technical education (CTE)…
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Dilemmas of Prescriptive Practices and Perceived Alignment in Program Implementation
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Rubin, Mollie; Patrick, Susan Kemper; Goldring, Ellen B.
2017-01-01
This paper studies the early implementation of a school improvement effort in two high schools. We examine what explains variation in the teacher adoption of program practices. Our findings highlight the tension between encouraging immediate adoption of program practices and the longer term goals of schoolwide culture change. We find that highly…
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"Program of Studies" and College Readiness Standards Alignment
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Kentucky Department of Education (NJ1), 2008
2008-01-01
In July 2006, Senate Bill 130 was passed by the Kentucky legislature. The bill amended KRS 158.6453 to include the provision that "no later than the 2007-2008 school year, and each year thereafter" the Commonwealth's assessment program shall include a high school readiness examination in grade 8, a college readiness examination in grade…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Windschitl, Mark; Dvornich, Karen; Ryken, Amy E.; Tudor, Margaret; Koehler, Gary
2007-01-01
Field investigations are not characterized by randomized and manipulated control group experiments; however, most school science and high-stakes tests recognize only this paradigm of investigation. Scientists in astronomy, genetics, field biology, oceanography, geology, and meteorology routinely select naturally occurring events and conditions and…
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Board and Senior Management Alignment on School Strategy
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Sarros, James C.; Sarros, Anne M.; Cooper, Brian K.; Santora, Joseph C.; Baker, Robin
2016-01-01
This study examines the degree to which senior executive members of a school's decision-making team (senior management team and board of directors) are aligned on fundamental principles of school strategy. Our study is based on a conceptual framework of strategic leadership as it applies in an Australian independent school context. We also examine…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Maas, Tricia; Lake, Robin
2015-01-01
This literature review compares the current knowledge about the characteristics of effective charter schools to findings from the broader body of effective school research. We find that lists of effectiveness characteristics from the charter and traditional literatures are well aligned: good schools seem to look the same, regardless of governance…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Hannafin, Robert D.; Foshay, Wellesley R.
2008-01-01
Patriot High School (PHS) adopted a remediation strategy to help its 10th-grade students at risk of failing the Math portion of MCAS, the state's end of year competency exam. The centerpiece of that strategy was a computer-based instructional (CBI) course. PHS used a commercially available CBI product to align the course content with the…
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Orava, Taryn; Manske, Steve; Hanning, Rhona
2017-09-01
Provincial, national and international public health agencies recognize the importance of school nutrition policies that help create healthful environments aligned with healthy eating recommendations for youth. School-wide support for healthy living within the pillars of the comprehensive school health (CSH) framework (social and physical environments; teaching and learning; healthy school policy; and partnerships and services) has been positively associated with fostering improvements to student health behaviours. This study used the CSH framework to classify, compare and describe school support for healthy eating during the implementation of the Ontario School Food and Beverage Policy (P/PM 150). We collected data from consenting elementary and secondary schools in a populous region of Ontario in Time I (2012/13) and Time II (2014). Representatives from the schools completed the Healthy School Planner survey and a food environmental scan (FES), which underwent scoring and content analyses. Each school's support for healthy eating was classified as either "initiation," "action" or "maintenance" along the Healthy School Continuum in both time periods, and as "high/increased," "moderate" or "low/decreased" within individual CSH pillars from Time I to Time II. Twenty-five school representatives (8 elementary, 17 secondary) participated. Most schools remained in the "action" category (n = 20) across both time periods, with varying levels of support in the CSH pillars. The physical environment was best supported (100% high/increased support) and the social environment was the least (68% low/decreased support). Only two schools achieved the highest rating (maintenance) in Time II. Supports aligned with P/PM 150 were reportedly influenced by administration buy-in, stakeholder support and relevancy to local context. Further assistance is required to sustain comprehensive support for healthy eating in Ontario school food environments.
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Credentials for All: An Imperative for SREB States
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Southern Regional Education Board (SREB), 2015
2015-01-01
Southern Regional Education Board's (SREB's) Commission on Career and Technical Education challenges states to build bridges from high school to postsecondary attainment and career advancement by developing rigorous, relevant career pathways that align secondary, postsecondary, and workplace learning and lead to high-skill, high-wage jobs in…
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Strategic Alignment in Business Education: The Second Magic Bullet
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Alcoba, Jesu
2014-01-01
There is a need for strategic thinking in higher education. Loyalty to a business school's values and need to differentiate lead one to reflect on the actions undertaken within the institution and how they align with the business school's aims. This article contributes to this issue through what is called strategic alignment, which is the…
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Grade-Aligned Math Instruction for Secondary Students with Moderate Intellectual Disability
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Browder, Diane M.; Jimenez, Bree A.; Trela, Katherine
2012-01-01
The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of grade-aligned math instruction on math skill acquisition of four middle schools with moderate intellectual disability. Teachers were trained to follow a task analysis to teach grade-aligned math to middle school students using adapted math problem stories and graphic organizers. The teacher…
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The Case against Exit Exams. Policy Brief
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Hyslop, Anne
2014-01-01
In the 2013-14 school year, twenty-four states required students to be proficient on standardized tests in order to graduate from high school. But starting next year, and in the years to come, states will launch more rigorous, college- and career-ready assessments aligned to the Common Core. As they do so, they should revisit the stakes on these…
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Does an Early College Readiness Signal Discourage College Application and Enrollment?
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Jackson, Jacob S.
2015-01-01
States are currently seeking ways to improve alignment between K-12 and postsecondary education and better prepare students for postsecondary schooling. Some states have begun implementing policies that inform high school students that they are not ready for college-level courses well before they graduate, in order to give both notice and time to…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
DeBay, Dennis J.
2013-01-01
To explore student mathematical self-efficacy and understanding of graphical data, this dissertation examines students solving real-world problems in their neighborhood, mediated by professional urban planning technologies. As states and schools are working on the alignment of the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSSM), traditional…
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Getting College-Ready during State Transition toward the Common Core State Standards
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Xu, Zeyu; Cepa, Kennan
2018-01-01
Background: As of 2016, 42 states and the District of Columbia have adopted the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Tens of millions of students across the country completed high school before their schools were able to fully implement the CCSS. As with previous standards-based reforms, the transition to the CCSS-aligned state education standards…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
McNae, Rachel
2015-01-01
Traditional approaches to leadership development frequently draw on Eurocentric, patriarchal discourses located in frameworks aligned to adult learning that may not be culturally or contextually relevant, or fail to pay attention to the needs of young women leading within and beyond their school communities. This research engaged an alternative…
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Middle School Science and Items of High School Entrance Examination: Examining the Gap in Turkey
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Cepni, Salih; Kara, Yilmaz; Cil, Emine
2012-01-01
This study presents findings from an analysis of the Turkish Science and Technology Curriculum Guidelines and their alignment to the university entrance examination. The analysis of the Science and Technology Curriculum focused on various related aspects: content areas and learning outcomes in terms of scientific process skills, science technology…
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Alignment: A Local High School/College Model to Eliminate Remediation
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Rochford, Joseph A.
2006-01-01
A team of faculty from both Stark State College of Technology (SSCT) and the Canton City Schools (CCS) reviewed their respective curricula opposite the Ohio Academic Content Standards, assisted by a crosswalk indicating which of those standards were measured by COMPASS/ESL a widely used college placement test. This study found that the skills…
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Aim Higher: Lofty Goals and an Aligned System Keep a High Performer on Top
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
McCommons, David P.
2014-01-01
Every school district is feeling the pressure to ensure higher academic achievement for all students. A focus on professional learning for an administrative team not only improves student learning and achievement, but also assists in developing a systemic approach for continued success. This is how the Fox Chapel Area School District in…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Baker, Sheila F.; Alexander, Bonnie
2018-01-01
Learning in makerspaces involves doing, playing, thinking, experimenting, creating, collaborating, mentoring, inquiring, problem-solving, producing, inventing, designing, building, and sharing (Loertscher, Preddy, and Derry 2013). Whatever the character of a makerspace, all makerspaces have the same goal: to actively engage students in open-ended…
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Mississippi Choices and the Influence of Career and Technical Education
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Pierce, Charish Rene
2017-01-01
Mississippi counselors serve in a variety of roles in order to meet the needs of all students. The role of the school counselor is to execute efforts to address each student's academic, personal/social, and career development needs (ASCA, 2005). Middle and high school counselors are often tasked with activities that do not align with national and…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Polacsek, Michele; O'Brien, Liam M.; Pratt, Elizabeth; Whatley-Blum, Janet; Adler, Sabrina
2017-01-01
Background: Limiting food and beverage marketing to children is a promising approach to influence children's nutrition behavior. School-based marketing influences nutrition behavior and studies have consistently found marketing for nonnutritious foods and beverages in schools. No studies have examined the resources necessary to align school…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Penuel, William R.; Riel, Margaret; Joshi, Aasha; Pearlman, Leslie; Kim, Chong Min; Frank, Kenneth A.
2010-01-01
Previous qualitative studies show that when the formal organization of a school and patterns of informal interaction are aligned, faculty and leaders in a school are better able to coordinate instructional change. This article combines social network analysis with interview data to analyze how well the formal and informal aspects of a school's…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Lowe, Karen
2003-01-01
Discusses the process of weeding, updating, and building a school library media collection that supports the state curriculum. Explains resource alignment, a process for using the shelf list as a tool to analyze and align media center resources to state curricula, and describes a five-year plan and its usefulness for additional funding. (LRW)
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Roth, Wolff-Michael; Tobin, Kenneth
2010-01-01
This ethnographic study of teaching and learning in urban high school science classes investigates the ways in which teachers and students talk, gesture, and use space and time in interaction rituals. In situations where teachers coteach as a means of learning to teach in inner-city schools, successful teacher-teacher collaborations are…
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Implementing the Every Student Succeeds Act: Toward a Coherent, Aligned Assessment System
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Brown, Catherine; Boser, Ulrich; Sargrad, Scott; Marchitello, Max
2016-01-01
In December 2015, President Barack Obama signed the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which replaced No Child Left Behind (NCLB), as the nation's major law governing public schools. ESSA retains the requirement that states test all students in reading and math in grades three through eight and once in high school, as well as the requirement that…
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NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Yamashita, Mika Yoder
2011-12-01
This study examined how a total of eight math and science elementary school teachers changed their classroom instruction in response to high stakes and low stakes testing in one school district. The district introduced new assessment in the school year of 2005--06 to meet the requirement set forth by the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB)---that the assessment should be aligned with the state academic standards. I conducted interviews with teachers and school administrators at two elementary schools, district officials, and a representative of a non-profit organization during the school year 2007--08 to examine how the new assessment introduced in 2005--06 had shaped classroom instruction. Concepts from New Institutional Theory and cognitive approaches to policy implementation guided the design of this study. This study focused on how materials and activities associated with high stakes testing promoted ideas about good instruction, and how these ideas were carried to teachers. The study examined how teachers received messages about instruction and how they responded to the messages. The study found that high stakes testing influenced teachers' classroom instruction more than low stakes testing; however, the instructional changes teachers made in response to state testing was at the content level. The teachers' instructional strategies did not change. The teachers' instructional changes varied with the degree of implementation of existing math curriculum and with the degree of support they received in understanding the meaning of assessment results. The study concluded that, among the six teachers I studied, high stakes testing was not a sufficient intervention for changing teachers' instructional strategies. The study also addressed the challenges of aligning instructional messages across assessment, standards, and curriculum.
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Weade, Ginger; Kennedy, Marcy Keifer; Armstrong, Jennifer; Douglas, Maria; Hoisington, Liz; More, Stephanie; Mullins, Heidi; West, Lindsey; Helfrich, Sara; Kennedy, Chris; Miles, Tracy; Payne, Sue; Camara, Kristin; Lemanski, Laura; Henning, John; Martin, Carl
2014-01-01
Outreach and engagement that connects the Patton College at Ohio University with P-12 schools has been a strong tradition in the Southeastern Ohio/Appalachian region. In the mid-1980s, a partnership aligned with the Coalition of Essential Schools and 9 "Common Principles"' was one of the first. Alignment with 19 "Postulates" of…
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Chiang, Rachelle Johnsson; Meagher, Whitney; Slade, Sean
2015-01-01
BACKGROUND The Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child (WSCC) model calls for greater collaboration across the community, school, and health sectors to meet the needs and support the full potential of each child. This article reports on how 3 states and 2 local school districts have implemented aspects of the WSCC model through collaboration, leadership and policy creation, alignment, and implementation. METHODS We searched state health and education department websites, local school district websites, state legislative databases, and sources of peer-reviewed and gray literature to identify materials demonstrating adoption and implementation of coordinated school health, the WSCC model, and associated policies and practices in identified states and districts. We conducted informal interviews in each state and district to reinforce the document review. RESULTS States and local school districts have been able to strategically increase collaboration, integration, and alignment of health and education through the adoption and implementation of policy and practice supporting the WSCC model. Successful utilization of the WSCC model has led to substantial positive changes in school health environments, policies, and practices. CONCLUSIONS Collaboration among health and education sectors to integrate and align services may lead to improved efficiencies and better health and education outcomes for students. PMID:26440819
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Why Interventions to Influence Adolescent Behavior Often Fail but Could Succeed.
Yeager, David S; Dahl, Ronald E; Dweck, Carol S
2018-01-01
We provide a developmental perspective on two related issues: (a) why traditional preventative school-based interventions work reasonably well for children but less so for middle adolescents and (b) why some alternative approaches to interventions show promise for middle adolescents. We propose the hypothesis that traditional interventions fail when they do not align with adolescents' enhanced desire to feel respected and be accorded status; however, interventions that do align with this desire can motivate internalized, positive behavior change. We review examples of promising interventions that (a) directly harness the desire for status and respect, (b) provide adolescents with more respectful treatment from adults, or (c) lessen the negative influence of threats to status and respect. These examples are in the domains of unhealthy snacking, middle school discipline, and high school aggression. Discussion centers on implications for basic developmental science and for improvements to youth policy and practice.
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A Seven-Step Process To Align Curriculum with Oregon State Content Standards.
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Golden, Nancy; Lane, Marilyn
1998-01-01
The University of Oregon (UO) and Captain Robert Gray Elementary School formed a partnership where UO students used the elementary school as a case study for curriculum research. This document gives an overview of the 7-step process the students used to align the school's curriculum with Oregon's content and performance standards. The text opens…
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Achieving Success: Perceptions of Students from Migrant Farmwork Families
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
McHatton, Patricia Alvarez; Zalaquett, Carlos P.; Cranson-Gingras, Ann
2006-01-01
In their pursuit of an education, students from migrant farmworker families experience multiple challenges such as high mobility rates and a lack of curriculum alignment and credit transfer across local, state, and national boundaries. Despite these challenges, many of these students graduate from high school and successfully transition into…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Strunk, Katharine O.; Zeehandelaar, Dara B.
2015-01-01
In this paper, we explore the use and efficacy of fiscal incentive policies in California school districts. We ask whether districts with high need for teachers with English as a second language (ESL) or special education credentials are more likely to implement incentives targeting these teachers. We find mixed evidence that districts align their…
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Sutton, April; Muller, Chandra; Langenkamp, Amy G.
2013-01-01
The timing of a high school transfer may shape students’ transitions to college through its (mis)alignment with the structure of the school year. A transfer that occurs during the summer interrupts the four-year high school career, whereas a transfer that occurs midyear disrupts both the four-year high school career and the structure of the school year. Using the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS), the investigators find that the penalty suffered after the transfer depends on the degree to which students’ high school pathways synchronize with the curricular and extracurricular structure of the school year. Midyear transfer students appear to suffer the greatest postsecondary matriculation penalty. Students who transfer midyear are less likely to attend a four-year college compared with nontransfer and summer transfer students, whereas summer transfer students are less likely to attend a highly selective four-year college compared with their nontransfer counterparts. Curricular and extracurricular disruptions that transfer students experience after their school move explain some, but not all, of the negative associations observed between transferring and the transition to college. Directions for future research and the theoretical and policy implications of the results are discussed. PMID:24683277
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Polacsek, Michele; O'Brien, Liam M; Pratt, Elizabeth; Whatley-Blum, Janet; Adler, Sabrina
2017-03-01
Limiting food and beverage marketing to children is a promising approach to influence children's nutrition behavior. School-based marketing influences nutrition behavior and studies have consistently found marketing for nonnutritious foods and beverages in schools. No studies have examined the resources necessary to align school marketing environments with federal school nutrition standards. The purpose of this study was to determine how to improve school marketing environments so that they align with new federal competitive food nutrition standards. We assessed food marketing environments in 3 Portland, Maine schools using the Food and Beverage Marketing Survey (FBMS) and provided technical assistance to bring their marketing environments into conformity with the federal competitive food regulations, tracking resources and strategies for marketing removal. Noncompliant marketing was significantly reduced pre- to postintervention. Intervention strategies were facilitated by the School Health Coordinator and school-based wellness teams. Low monetary resources were required to remove marketing not compliant with federal nutrition standards for foods sold in schools. Several key challenges remain to sustain efforts. This study provides timely information for policymakers to support crafting policies that address the realities of school nutrition environments and universal enforcement challenges. © 2017, American School Health Association.
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Taryn, Orava; Steve, Manske; Rhona, Hanning
2017-01-01
Abstract Introduction: Provincial, national and international public health agencies recognize the importance of school nutrition policies that help create healthful environments aligned with healthy eating recommendations for youth. School-wide support for healthy living within the pillars of the comprehensive school health (CSH) framework (social and physical environments; teaching and learning; healthy school policy; and partnerships and services) has been positively associated with fostering improvements to student health behaviours. This study used the CSH framework to classify, compare and describe school support for healthy eating during the implementation of the Ontario School Food and Beverage Policy (P/PM 150). Methods: We collected data from consenting elementary and secondary schools in a populous region of Ontario in Time I (2012/13) and Time II (2014). Representatives from the schools completed the Healthy School Planner survey and a food environmental scan (FES), which underwent scoring and content analyses. Each school’s support for healthy eating was classified as either “initiation,” “action” or “maintenance” along the Healthy School Continuum in both time periods, and as “high/increased,” “moderate” or “low/decreased” within individual CSH pillars from Time I to Time II. Results: Twenty-five school representatives (8 elementary, 17 secondary) participated. Most schools remained in the “action” category (n = 20) across both time periods, with varying levels of support in the CSH pillars. The physical environment was best supported (100% high/increased support) and the social environment was the least (68% low/decreased support). Only two schools achieved the highest rating (maintenance) in Time II. Supports aligned with P/PM 150 were reportedly influenced by administration buy-in, stakeholder support and relevancy to local context. Conclusion: Further assistance is required to sustain comprehensive support for healthy eating in Ontario school food environments. PMID:28902479
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ACS-Hach Programs: Supporting Excellence in High School Chemistry Teaching
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Taylor, Terri
2009-05-01
In January 2009, the ACS received a gift of approximately $33 million from the Hach Scientific Foundation, the largest gift in the society's 133-year history. The foundation's programs will be continued by the ACS and will complement pre-existing ACS resources that support high school chemistry teaching. Three activities serve as the pillars of the ACS-Hach programs—the High School Chemistry Grant Program, the Second Career Teacher Scholarship Program, and the Land Grant University Scholars Program. Collectively, the ACS-Hach programs support high school chemistry teaching and learning by responding to the needs of both in-service and pre-service secondary teachers. The goals of each of the ACS-Hach programs align well with the ACS Mission—to advance the broader chemistry enterprise and its practitioners for the benefit of Earth and its people.
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Merlo, Caitlin L; Olsen, Emily O'Malley; Galic, Mara; Brener, Nancy D
2014-04-24
Most students in grades kindergarten through 12 have access to foods and beverages during the school day outside the federal school meal programs, which are called competitive foods. At the time of this study, competitive foods were subject to minimal federal nutrition standards, but states could implement additional standards. Our analysis examined the association between school nutrition practices and alignment of state policies with Institute of Medicine recommendations (IOM Standards). For this analysis we used data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC's) report, Competitive Foods and Beverages in US Schools: A State Policy Analysis and CDC's 2010 School Health Profiles (Profiles) survey to examine descriptive associations between state policies for competitive foods and school nutrition practices. Access to chocolate candy, soda pop, sports drinks, and caffeinated foods or beverages was lower in schools in states with policies more closely aligned with IOM Standards. No association was found for access to fruits or nonfried vegetables. Schools in states with policies more closely aligned with the IOM Standards reported reduced access to less healthful competitive foods. Encouraging more schools to follow these standards will help create healthier school environments and may help promote healthy eating among US children.
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DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Linder-Scholer, B.
1994-12-31
An overview of SCI/MATH/MN - Minnesota`s standards-based, systemic approach to the reform and improvement of the K-12 science and mathematics education delivery system - is offered as an illustration of the challenges of aligning state educational practices with the national curriculum standards, and as a model for business involvement in state educational policy issues that will enable fundamental, across-the-system reform. SCI/MATH/MN illustrates the major challenges involved in developing a statewide vision for math and science education reform, articulating frameworks aligned with the national standards, building capacity for system-oriented change at the local level, and involving business in systemic reform.
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Conservation Education in Schools: Aligning Teachers' Perceptions with Students' Attitudes
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Sutherland, Melany R.
2017-01-01
As global environmental problems intensify, the importance of providing effective conservation education to young people is increasingly apparent. To accomplish this, teachers' perceptions and students' attitudes about conservation education in schools must align. This article explores students' attitudes via a survey distributed to students from…
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NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Spillane, Nancy Kay
Within successful Inclusive Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM)-focused High Schools (ISHSs), it is not only the students who are learning. Teachers, with diverse backgrounds, training, and experience, share and develop their knowledge through rich, embedded professional development to continuously shape their craft, improve their teaching, and support student success. This study of four exemplars of ISHSs (identified by experts in STEM education as highly successful in preparing students underrepresented in STEM for STEM majors in college and future STEM careers) provides a rich description of the relationships among the characteristics of STEM teachers, their professional development, and the school cultures that allow teachers to develop professionally and serve the needs of students. By providing a framework for the development of teaching staffs in ISHSs and contributing to the better understanding of STEM teaching in any school, this study offers valuable insight, implications, and information for states and school districts as they begin planning improvements to STEM education programs. A thorough examination of an existing data set that included site visits to four ISHSs along with pre- and post-visit data, provided the resource for this multiple case study with cross-case analysis of the teachers and their teacher professional development experiences. Administrators in these ISHSs had the autonomy to hire teachers with strong content backgrounds, philosophical alignment with the school missions, and a willingness to work collaboratively toward achieving the schools' goals. Ongoing teacher professional development began before school started and continued throughout the school day and year through intense and sustained, formal and informal, active learning experiences. Flexible professional development systems varied, but aligned with targeted school reforms and teacher and student needs. Importantly, collaborative teacher learning occurred within a school-wide culture of collaboration. Teachers were guided in establishing open lines of communication that supported regular engagement with others and the free flow of ideas, practices, and concerns. As a result of this collaboration, in conjunction with intentional pathways to teacher leadership, teacher professionalization was deliberately and successfully fostered creating an environment of shared mission and mutual trust, and a shared sense of responsibility for school-wide decision-making and school outcomes.
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Dearing, Eric; Walsh, Mary E; Sibley, Erin; Lee-St John, Terry; Foley, Claire; Raczek, Anastacia E
2016-05-01
Using a quasi-experimental design, the effects of a student support intervention were estimated for the math and reading achievement of first-generation immigrant children (n = 667, M = 11.05 years of age) attending high-poverty, urban elementary schools. The intervention was designed to help schools identify developmental strengths and barriers to learning and, in turn, connect children to community and school supports aligned with their strengths and needs. By exploiting within-school changes in the implementation of the intervention, the present study revealed statistically and practically significant treatment effects indicating improvements in math and reading achievement at the end of elementary school. In addition, the intervention appears to considerably narrow achievement gaps between English language learners and immigrant children proficient in English. © 2016 The Authors. Child Development © 2016 Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Alwardt, Randi Kay
2011-01-01
This investigation examined the transition from a spiral science curriculum to a field-focus science curriculum in middle school. A spiral science curriculum focuses on a small part of each field of science during each middle school year, more of a general science concept. In contrast to that, the base of a field-focus curriculum is that each…
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NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Janson, David C.
This descriptive study is addressed to policy-makers, textbook publisher, teachers, principals, and curriculum directors. It compares the assessment practices of ten elementary teachers over a period of 11 weeks with Ohio's fourth and sixth grade science Proficiency Tests. Results show that the teachers' assessment practices were not aligned with Ohio's Proficiency Test. The tests used in the participants' classroom contained a disproportionate number of items characterized as low-level in terms of their cognitive function. Classroom test items generally fell into three categories---true/false, completion, and matching. The remaining items were predominantly low-level multiple-choice items requiring simple recall of information. The teachers in this study showed a heavy reliance on the packaged assessments that accompanied their adopted textbook series with little use of teacher-designed instruments. This differs from the findings of previous researchers who reported that most teacher assessments were done with teacher-made tests. The lack of alignment between classroom tests and Ohio's Proficiency Test is a concern because previous researchers and the teachers in this study believe that aligning classroom tests with high-stakes assessment improves student performance. Other research shows teachers teach what they test suggesting that the curriculum would be better aligned with State expectations if classroom tests were more in line with the proficiency tests. This study found that textbooks and their assessment packages are not aligned to most state standards and that teachers need help developing better assessments. The results of this study suggest directions school administrators might take to facilitate inservice training for current teachers and could be helpful to textbook publishers as well as educators serving on adoption committees. Since high-stakes testing of students in the nation's public schools and school accountability seem destined to remain a part of the American educational system, educators at all levels---teachers and administrators at the local level, consultants and administrators at the state level, and policymakers at the state and national levels---may want to consider the implications of these findings.
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United We Learn: Team Effort Builds a Path to Equity and Alignment
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Kind, Jill
2014-01-01
This article presents a plan to create a united approach to improve high quality instruction in Robbinsdale Cooper High School in New Hope, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis. Professional learning communities were in their infancy, conversations around data were about autopsies of annual standardized tests, and there was no description of what…
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Olsen, Emily O’Malley; Galic, Mara; Brener, Nancy D.
2014-01-01
Introduction Most students in grades kindergarten through 12 have access to foods and beverages during the school day outside the federal school meal programs, which are called competitive foods. At the time of this study, competitive foods were subject to minimal federal nutrition standards, but states could implement additional standards. Our analysis examined the association between school nutrition practices and alignment of state policies with Institute of Medicine recommendations (IOM Standards). Methods For this analysis we used data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) report, Competitive Foods and Beverages in US Schools: A State Policy Analysis and CDC’s 2010 School Health Profiles (Profiles) survey to examine descriptive associations between state policies for competitive foods and school nutrition practices. Results Access to chocolate candy, soda pop, sports drinks, and caffeinated foods or beverages was lower in schools in states with policies more closely aligned with IOM Standards. No association was found for access to fruits or nonfried vegetables. Conclusion Schools in states with policies more closely aligned with the IOM Standards reported reduced access to less healthful competitive foods. Encouraging more schools to follow these standards will help create healthier school environments and may help promote healthy eating among US children. PMID:24762530
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Williams, David L.; Dollisso, Awoke D.
1998-01-01
Sustainable agriculture is a multidisciplinary approach to food and fiber problems. Its inclusion in the secondary curriculum would enrich and align it with social concerns. Research is needed in the scholarship functions of discovery, integrative approaches, and teaching. (SK)
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Fulmer, Gavin W.; Polikoff, Morgan S.
2014-01-01
An essential component in school accountability efforts is for assessments to be well-aligned with the standards or curriculum they are intended to measure. However, relatively little prior research has explored methods to determine statistical significance of alignment or misalignment. This study explores analyses of alignment as a special case…
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Estimating Critical Values for Strength of Alignment among Curriculum, Assessments, and Instruction
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Fulmer, Gavin W.
2010-01-01
School accountability decisions based on standardized tests hinge on the degree of alignment of the test with a state's standards. Yet no established criteria were available for judging strength of alignment. Previous studies of alignment among tests, standards, and teachers' instruction have yielded mixed results that are difficult to interpret…
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Estimating Critical Values for Strength of Alignment among Curriculum, Assessments, and Instruction
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Fulmer, Gavin W.
2011-01-01
School accountability decisions based on standardized tests hinge on the degree of alignment of the test with the state's standards documents. Yet, there exist no established criteria for judging strength of alignment. Previous measures of alignment among tests, standards, and teachers' instruction have yielded mixed results that are difficult to…
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Prosody and alignment: a sequential perspective
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Szczepek Reed, Beatrice
2010-12-01
In their analysis of a corpus of classroom interactions in an inner city high school, Roth and Tobin describe how teachers and students accomplish interactional alignment by prosodically matching each other's turns. Prosodic matching, and specific prosodic patterns are interpreted as signs of, and contributions to successful interactional outcomes and positive emotions. Lack of prosodic matching, and other specific prosodic patterns are interpreted as features of unsuccessful interactions, and negative emotions. This forum focuses on the article's analysis of the relation between interpersonal alignment, emotion and prosody. It argues that prosodic matching, and other prosodic linking practices, play a primarily sequential role, i.e. one that displays the way in which participants place and design their turns in relation to other participants' turns. Prosodic matching, rather than being a conversational action in itself, is argued to be an interactional practice (Schegloff 1997), which is not always employed for the accomplishment of `positive', or aligning actions.
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Phillips, Meredith; Yamashiro, Kyo; Farrukh, Adina; Lim, Cynthia; Hayes, Katherine; Wagner, Nicole; White, Jeffrey; Chen, Hansheng
2015-01-01
The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) serves a large majority of socioeconomically disadvantaged students who are struggling academically and are underprepared for high school graduation and college. This article describes the partnership between LAUSD and the Los Angeles Education Research Institute, and how this collaboration endeavors to produce accessible and high-quality research to inform pressing problems of practice. The article also presents findings from an ongoing partnership research project analyzing a district policy focused on improving college readiness by aligning high school graduation and college-eligibility requirements. In a cohort that went through high school before the policy became mandatory for all students, less than 1/5 of all students (and 30% of graduates) met the college eligibility criteria. Our findings indicate that academic and behavioral indicators from 8th and 9th grade can help identify for possible intervention students who are not on track to meet these new graduation requirements. PMID:26709340
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NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Christensen, Rhonda; Knezek, Gerald; Tyler-Wood, Tandra
2015-12-01
This study examines positive dispositions reported by middle school and high school students participating in programs that feature STEM-related activities. Middle school students participating in school-to-home hands-on energy monitoring activities are compared to middle school and high school students in a different project taking part in activities such as an after-school robotics program. Both groups are compared and contrasted with a third group of high school students admitted at the eleventh grade to an academy of mathematics and science. All students were assessed using the same science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) dispositions instrument. Findings indicate that the after-school group whose participants self-selected STEM engagement activities, and the self-selected academy of mathematics and science group, each had highly positive STEM dispositions comparable to those of STEM professionals, while a subset of the middle school whole-classroom energy monitoring group that reported high interest in STEM as a career, also possessed highly positive STEM dispositions comparable to the STEM Professionals group. The authors conclude that several different kinds of hands-on STEM engagement activities are likely to foster or maintain positive STEM dispositions at the middle school and high school levels, and that these highly positive levels of dispositions can be viewed as a target toward which projects seeking to interest mainstream secondary students in STEM majors in college and STEM careers, can hope to aspire. Gender findings regarding STEM dispositions are also reported for these groups.
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Lyon, Aaron R; Whitaker, Kelly; Locke, Jill; Cook, Clayton R; King, Kevin M; Duong, Mylien; Davis, Chayna; Weist, Mark D; Ehrhart, Mark G; Aarons, Gregory A
2018-02-07
Integrated healthcare delivered by work groups in nontraditional service settings is increasingly common, yet contemporary implementation frameworks typically assume a single organization-or organizational unit-within which system-level processes influence service quality and implementation success. Recent implementation frameworks predict that inter-organizational alignment (i.e., similarity in values, characteristics, activities related to implementation across organizations) may facilitate the implementation of evidence-based practices (EBP), but few studies have evaluated this premise. This study's aims examine the impact of overlapping organizational contexts by evaluating the implementation contexts of externally employed mental health clinicians working in schools-the most common integrated service delivery setting for children and adolescents. Aim 1 is to estimate the effects of unique intra-organizational implementation contexts and combined inter-organizational alignment on implementation outcomes. Aim 2 is to examine the underlying mechanisms through which inter-organizational alignment facilitates or hinders EBP implementation. This study will conduct sequential, exploratory mixed-methods research to evaluate the intra- and inter-organizational implementation contexts of schools and the external community-based organizations that most often employ school-based mental health clinicians, as they relate to mental health EBP implementation. Aim 1 will involve quantitative surveys with school-based, externally-employed mental health clinicians, their supervisors, and proximal school-employed staff (total n = 120 participants) to estimate the effects of each organization's general and implementation-specific organizational factors (e.g., climate, leadership) on implementation outcomes (fidelity, acceptability, appropriateness) and assess the moderating role of the degree of clinician embeddedness in the school setting. Aim 2 will explore the mechanisms through which inter-organizational alignment influences implementation outcomes by presenting the results of Aim 1 surveys to school-based clinicians (n = 30) and conducting semi-structured qualitative interviews. Qualitative data will be evaluated using an integrative inductive and deductive approach. The study aims are expected to identify intra- and inter-organizational constructs that are most instrumental to EBP implementation success in school-based integrated care settings and illuminate mechanisms that may account for the influence of inter-organizational alignment. In addition to improving school-based mental health, these findings will spur future implementation science that considers the relationships across organizations and optimize the capacity of implementation science to guide practice in increasingly complex systems of care.
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Blended Instruction: Integrating the Curriculum through Projects and Curriculum Alignment.
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Maryland State Dept. of Education, Baltimore. Div. of Career Technology and Adult Learning.
"Blended instruction" is an approach to integrating high school curriculum around broad career clusters or areas of student interest and study. Blended instruction is intended to engage students in more challenging assignments, increase attendance, and increase student academic and technical achievement. This Maryland guide contains…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Achieve, Inc., 2010
2010-01-01
"Perspective" is a monthly e-newsletter presenting news and views from Achieve. This month's issue commences with a report stating how over the past five years, since the National Governors Association (NGA) and Achieve co-sponsored the National Education Summit on High Schools, states have made impressive progress in aligning their high…
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Instructional Alignment of Workplace Readiness Skills in Marketing Education
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Martin, Sarah J.; Reed, Philip A.
2015-01-01
This study examined high school marketing education teachers' knowledge of workplace readiness skills and whether that knowledge had an impact on student workplace readiness skill achievement. Further, this study examined the usage of Virginia's 13 Workplace Readiness Skills curriculum and identified the teaching methods and instructional…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Fryer, Roland, Jr.
2012-01-01
This paper describes an experiment designed to investigate the impact of aligning student, parent, and teacher incentives on student achievement. On outcomes for which incentives were provided, there were large treatment effects. Students in treatment schools mastered more than one standard deviation more math objectives than control students, and…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Shaha, Steven H.; Glassett, Kelly F.; Copas, Aimee
2015-01-01
The impact of teacher observations in alignment with professional development (PD) on teacher efficacy was quantified for 292 schools in 110 districts within 27 U.S. States. Teacher observations conducted by school leaders or designated internal coaches were coordinated with PD offerings aligned with intended teacher improvements. The PD involved…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Colby-Rooney, Danielle M.
2013-01-01
The purpose of this study was to determine the perceptions of building principals toward superintendent leadership responsibilities and practices of goal setting, nonnegotiable goals for achievement and instruction, board alignment with support of district goals, monitoring goals for achievement and instruction, use of resources to support the…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Gilbert, Amy; Wade, Katherine
2014-01-01
For an introductory engineering class at an all-girls urban high school in the Southeast, the authors planned an experience that would align with the engineering aspects of the "Next Generation Science Standards" (NGSS Lead States 2013). The goal was to better relate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) to everyday…
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Paracelsus Outside the Classroom (Beyond the SOT)
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Atkins, Marc S; Cappella, Elise; Shernoff, Elisa S; Mehta, Tara G; Gustafson, Erika L
2017-05-08
Schools have long been the primary setting for children's mental health services but have neither the resources nor the expertise to manage these services independently. The critical importance of school success for children's adjustment provides a strong rationale for schooling as an essential component of children's mental health services. In this article, we review evidence for how schooling and mental health coalesce, suggesting an alignment of school and community mental health resources that prioritizes successful schooling as a key mental health outcome. We describe collaborative principles and ecological practices that advance a public health focus on children's mental health while also reducing the burden on schools to maintain mental health services. We close with a model of mental health services illustrating these principles and practices in high-poverty urban schools and propose future directions for research and practice to promote positive mental health for all children and youth.
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Instructional Alignment of Workplace Readiness Skills in Career and Technical Education
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Martin, Sarah Jane
2009-01-01
The United States faces a skills shortage that goes beyond academic and technical skills. Employers report entry-level workers lack the necessary "soft" skills, also referred to as workplace readiness skills, needed for success in the workforce; thus, calling on educational institutions to make improvements in high school curriculum in…
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Leadership Practices Accelerate into High Speed
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Novak, Dori; Reilly, Marceta; Williams, Diana
2010-01-01
In fall 2006, the deputy superintendent of Howard County Schools in Maryland asked a small leadership team to rethink leadership support for central office leaders and to come up with an aligned three-point plan that would meet their unique needs. The leadership support system needed to take into account: (1) Leadership standards and indicators of…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Jennings, Chris
The TCC/FIPSE Writing Coalition, the joint project between Tidewater Community College (TCC) (Virginia) and the Fund for Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE), was developed in an effort to eliminate remedial instruction in writing for recent high school graduates. The project is an outgrowth of student-centered approaches to instruction…
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Climate Change: Providing Equitable Access to a Rigorous and Engaging Curriculum
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Cardichon, Jessica; Roc, Martens
2013-01-01
This report examines how implementing rigorous and engaging curriculum aligned with college- and career-ready standards fosters positive school climates in which students are motivated to succeed, achievement gaps narrow, and learning and outcomes improve. It includes federal, state, and local recommendations for increasing access to high-quality,…
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Staying True?: Progressive Leadership in Tough Times
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Pignatelli, Frank
2012-01-01
A system of accountability in public schools predicated upon standardized testing accompanied by high-stakes consequences for leaders, as well as teachers and students, has posed a daunting challenge to educational leaders who align themselves with core tenets of progressive education. This essay explores what it might mean--and take--to stay true…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Gong, Brian; Marion, Scott
2006-01-01
Dealing with flexibility--or its converse, the extent of standardization--is fundamental to alignment, assessment design, and interpretation of results in fully inclusive assessment systems. Highly standardized tests make it easier to compare (performances, students, and schools) across time and to common standards because certain conditions are…
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Aligning University-Based Teacher Preparation and New STEM Teacher Support
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Schuster, Dwight; Buckwalter, John; Marrs, Kathy; Pritchett, Sheila; Sebens, Jeremy; Hiatt, Bill
2012-01-01
This article is intended to help teacher educators, administrators, and mentor teachers envision how to support beginning STEM teachers as they transition from university-based preservice preparation into their first year of classroom teaching in high-need schools. Based on our experiences, and grounded in the associated research and literature,…
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Rigorous Tests of Student Outcomes in CTE Programs of Study: Final Report
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Castellano, Marisa; Sundell, Kirsten E.; Overman, Laura T.; Richardson, George B.; Stone, James R., III
2014-01-01
This study was designed to investigate the relationship between participation in federally mandated college and career-preparatory programs--known as programs of study (POS)--and high school achievement outcomes. POS are an organized approach to college and career readiness that offer an aligned sequence of courses spanning secondary and…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Wilson, Camille M.
2016-01-01
Critical notions of care and transformative educational leadership are much aligned, yet they are rarely simultaneously addressed in research. This article highlights the benefits of transformative educational leadership that enacts critical care. Critical care involves embracing and exhibiting values, dispositions and behaviours related to…
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Development of Research-Based Protocol Aligned to Predict High Levels of Teaching Quality
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Schumacher, Gary; Grigsby, Bettye; Vesey, Winona
2011-01-01
This study proposes a research-based teacher selection protocol. The protocol is intended to offer school district hiring authorities a tool to identify teacher candidates with the behaviors expected to predict effective teaching. It is hypothesized that a particular series of research-based interview questions focusing on teaching behaviors in…
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Activity Structures and the Unfolding of Problem-Solving Actions in High-School Chemistry Classrooms
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Criswell, Brett A.; Rushton, Greg T.
2014-02-01
In this paper, we argue for a more systematic approach for studying the relationship between classroom practices and scientific practices—an approach that will likely better support the systemic reforms being promoted in the Next Generation Science Standards in the USA and similar efforts in other countries. One component of that approach is looking at how the nature of the activity structure may influence the relative alignment between classroom and scientific practices. To that end, we build on previously published research related to the practices utilized by five high-school chemistry teachers as they enacted problem-solving activities in which students were likely to generate proposals that were not aligned with normative scientific understandings. In that prior work, our analysis had emphasized micro-level features of the talk interactions and how they related to the way students' ideas were explored; in the current paper, the analysis zooms out to consider the macro-level nature of the enactments associated with the activity structure of each lesson examined. Our data show that there were two general patterns to the activity structure across the 14 lessons scrutinized, and that each pattern had associated with it a constellation of features that impinged on the way the problem space was navigated. A key finding is that both activity structures (the expansive and the open) had features that aligned with scientific practices espoused in the Next Generation Science Standards—and both had features that were not aligned with those practices. We discuss the nature of these two structures, evidence of the relationship of each structure to key features of how the lessons unfolded, and the implications of these findings for both future research and the training of teachers.
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Teacher-Generated Final Exams in High School Science: Content, Rigor, and Assessment Literacy
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Lach, Michael
This study investigates a large collection of teacher-generated end-of-semester final exams from Chicago Public School high school science classrooms in order to explore the depth and breadth of content that students learn in science classrooms. Teachers focus on a specific set of scientific content that is driven by district guidelines and popular textbooks but not particularly aligned to standards. To most teachers, rigor means coverage instead of intellectual press. The assessments, while unsophisticated, seem to be delivering what is expected of them---a way to mimic the most basic format of the ACT exam quickly. There was little variation among high poverty and low poverty schools, matching national data and indicating issues that are more due to a particular culture of science teaching and learning than driven by particular contexts. The study identifies implications for the observed homogeneity of final exam rigor and content, identifies gaps between how the routine of final exams are design and implemented in schools, and discusses similar methodological efforts that could enhance the ability of schools and districts to access useful information about the technical core of instruction.
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Choi, Daniel
2011-01-01
Educational leaders have faced the challenges of trying to align schoolwide reforms priorities with accountability demands under the No Child Left Behind law. This article examines the barriers that complicate meaningful alignment among federal, state and local levels. This article also offers the following recommendations: Schools and districts…
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NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Taylor, J.
2013-12-01
Numerous science organizations, such as NASA, offer educational outreach activities geared towards after school. For some programs, the primary goal is to grow students' love of science. For others, the programs are also intended to increase academic achievement. For those programs looking to support student learning in out-of-school time environments, aligning the program with learning during the classroom day can be a challenge. The Institute for Education Sciences, What Works Clearinghouse, put together a 'Practice Guide' for maximizing learning time beyond the regular school day. These practice guides provide concrete recommendations for educators supported by research. While this guide is not specific to any content or subject-area, the recommendations provided align very well with science education. After school science is often viewed as a fun, dynamic environment for students. Indeed, one of the recommendations to ensure time is structured according to students' needs is to provide relevant and interesting experiences. Given that our after school programs provide such creative environments for students, what other components are needed to promote increased academic achievement? The recommendations provided to academic achievement, include: 1. Align Instruction, 2. Maximize Attendance and Participation, 3. Adapt Instruction, 4. Provide Engaging Experiences, and 5. Evaluate Program. In this session we will examine these five recommendations presented in the Practice Guide, discuss how these strategies align with science programs, and examine what questions each program should address in order to provide experiences that lend themselves to maximizing instruction. Roadblocks and solutions for overcoming challenges in each of the five areas will be presented. Jessica Taylor will present this research based on her role as an author on the Practice Guide, 'Improving Academic Achievement in Out-of-School Time' and her experience working in various informal science programs for NASA.
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A First Look at Community Schools in Baltimore
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Olson, Linda S.
2014-01-01
In partnership with the Mayor of Baltimore City and Baltimore City Public Schools (City Schools), Family League of Baltimore (Family League) launched the Community & School Engagement Strategy in school year 2012-13. As part of that process, it intentionally aligned its existing Out of School Time (OST) activities with community schools…
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College Ready: A 7M NSF MSP project to prepare pre- and in-service teachers
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Stewart, Gay; Stewart, John
2009-05-01
The College Ready in Mathematics and Physics Partnership is comprised of 38 school districts, UA Fort Smith, and UA, Fayetteville, which will serve as the lead among these core partners, with supporting partners AAPT, APS, College Board, Mathematical Association of America, Maplesoft, and Northwest Arkansas Community College. College Ready will build vertical and horizontal learning communities among school and college faculty in order to improve major articulation issues that impact the successful transition of students from high school to college, targeting physics. College Ready will achieve these ends through a series of interconnected activities including vertical alignment of high school and college expectations, intensive content driven workshops, articulation conferences, university course revisions, the creation of professional learning communities, and the opportunity for teachers to earn advanced degrees and endorsements. It builds on and looks to establish synergy between established efforts of PhysTEC and PMET.
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The Urban School Reform Opera: The Obstructions to Transforming School Counseling Practices
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Militello, Matthew; Janson, Christopher
2014-01-01
Over the past 20 years, there have been numerous calls to reform the practices of school counselors. Some have situated these calls for school counseling reform within the context of urban schooling. This study examined the practices of school counselors in one urban school district, and how those practices aligned with the school district's…
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Does Instructional Alignment Matter?: Effects on Struggling Second Graders' Reading Achievement
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Wonder-McDowell, Carla; Reutzel, D. Ray; Smith, John A.
2011-01-01
The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of aligning classroom core reading instruction with the supplementary reading instruction provided to 133 struggling grade 2 readers. A 2-group, pre-posttest true experimental design was employed in this study. In 11 elementary schools, 12 teachers taught both the aligned and unaligned core and…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Achieve, Inc., 2014
2014-01-01
In joint partnership, Achieve, The Council of Chief State School Officers, and Student Achievement Partners have developed a Toolkit for Evaluating the Alignment of Instructional and Assessment Materials to the Common Core State Standards. The Toolkit is a set of interrelated, freely available instruments for evaluating alignment to the CCSS; each…
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The Role of Educational Systems in Improving College Readiness Skills in College Freshmen
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Gallo, Charles B.
2017-01-01
This qualitative study investigated second semester undergraduate college students' perceptions of their levels of college readiness instilled and developed in them as graduates of a New York City High School. This study sought to determine the level of alignment of the criteria and definitions of college readiness between the New York City…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Chia, Magda Y.
2014-01-01
The Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (Smarter Balanced) serves over 19 million primary, middle, and high school students from across 26 states and affiliates (Smarter Balanced, n.d). As one of the two Race to the Top (RTT)-funded assessment consortia, Smarter Balanced is responsible for developing formative, interim, and summative…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Manship, Karen; Farber, Jonathan; Smith, Claire; Drummond, Katie
2016-01-01
Participation in high-quality preschool can improve academic, behavioral, social-emotional, and cognitive outcomes for students of varying backgrounds, including students from disadvantaged backgrounds (e.g., Andrews, Jargowsky, and Kuhne 2012; Barnett 2008; Camilli et al. 2010; Karoly and Bigelow 2005; Reynolds et al. 2007). However, some studies…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Leary, Heather; Severance, Samuel; Penuel, William R.; Quigley, David; Sumner, Tamara; Devaul, Holly
2016-01-01
This paper examines the impacts of technology (e.g., Chromebooks, Google Drive) on teacher learning and student activity in the development and implementation of a deeply digital high school biology unit. Using design-based implementation research, teachers co-designed with researchers and curriculum specialists a student-centered unit aligned to…
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A Case Study of Technology Choices by High School Students
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Owens-Hartman, Amy R.
2015-01-01
The purpose of this case study was to examine student technology choices when given the freedom to choose technology devices to complete a project-based learning activity in a content area of study. The study also analyzed factors affecting technology choice as well as how technology proficiency scores aligned to technology choices. Patterns and…
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PLCs in Action: Innovative Teaching for Struggling Grade 3-5 Readers
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
D'Ardenne, Charna; Barnes, Debra G.; Hightower, Elaine S.; Lamason, Pamela R.; Mason, Mary; Patterson, Paula C.; Stephens, Nancy; Wilson, Carolyn E.; Smith, Vickie H.; Erickson, Karen A.
2013-01-01
A group of elementary school reading teachers used their time in a Professional Learning Community to develop a systematic intervention to address the needs of struggling readers in grades 3 to 5. Working as a team, they identified a collection of books that was culturally diverse, high interest, appealing to boys and girls, aligned with…
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Learning Outcomes Associated with Classroom Implementation of a Biotechnology-Themed Video Game
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Barko, Tim; Sadler, Troy D.
2013-01-01
The educational video game Mission Biotech provides a virtual experience for students in learning biotechnology materials and tools. This study explores the use of Mission Biotech and the associated curriculum by three high school teachers and their students. All three classes demonstrated gains on a curriculum-aligned test of science content.…
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The Nature and Use of Individualized Learning Plans as a Promising Career Intervention Strategy
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Solberg, V. Scott; Phelps, L. Allen; Haakenson, Kristin A.; Durham, Julie F.; Timmons, Joe
2012-01-01
Individualized learning plans (ILPs) are being implemented in high schools throughout the United States as strategic planning tools that help students align course plans with career aspirations and often include the development of postsecondary plans. Initial indications are that ILPs may be an important method for helping students achieve both…
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Effects of a Metacognitive Social Skill Intervention in a Rural Setting with At-Risk Adolescents
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Whetstone, Patti J.; Gillmor, Susan C.; Schuster, Jonathan G.
2015-01-01
Ten at-risk students in a rural high school completed a social skills program based on metacognitive strategies and aligned with social and emotional learning principles. The intervention's primary goal was to stimulate the development of metacognitive strategies for internal locus of control in the students, rather than attempting to change their…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Goodman-Scott, Emily; Betters-Bubon, Jennifer; Donohue, Peg
2015-01-01
School counselors are tasked with contributing to a safe and preventative school climate serving students' academic, career, and social/emotional needs through comprehensive school counseling program implementation. Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) prioritizes a positive school climate, is widely implemented in the United…
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Georgia science curriculum alignment and accountability: A blueprint for student success
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Reining-Gray, Kimberly M.
Current trends and legislation in education indicate an increased dependency on standardized test results as a measure for learner success. This study analyzed test data in an effort to assess the impact of curriculum alignment on learner success as well as teacher perceptions of the changes in classroom instruction due to curriculum alignment. Qualitative and quantitative design methods were used to determine the impact of science curriculum alignment in grades 9-12. To determine the impact of science curriculum alignment from the Quality Core Curriculum (QCC) to the Georgia Performance Standards (GPS) test data and teacher opinion surveys from one Georgia School system were examined. Standardized test scores before and after curriculum alignment were analyzed as well as teacher perception survey data regarding the impact of curriculum change. A quantitative teacher perception survey was administered to science teachers in the school system to identify significant changes in teacher perceptions or teaching strategies following curriculum realignment. Responses to the survey were assigned Likert scale values for analysis purposes. Selected teachers were also interviewed using panel-approved questions to further determine teacher opinions of curriculum realignment and the impact on student success and teaching strategies. Results of this study indicate significant changes related to curriculum alignment. Teachers reported a positive change in teaching strategies and instructional delivery as a result of curriculum alignment and implementation. Student scores also showed improvement, but more research is recommended in this area.
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Listen to the Voices: School Counselors and Comprehensive School Counseling Programs
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Dahir, Carol A.; Burnham, Joy J.; Stone, Carolyn
2009-01-01
Presently, many state departments of education and school counselor associations have published second-generation documents aligned with the ASCA National Model[R] (American School Counselor Association, 2005). This research study analyzed some school counselors' readiness to deliver comprehensive programs by assessing their attitudes, beliefs,…
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Evolving with Evidence: Leveraging New Tools for EBP
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Valenza, Joyce Kasman
2015-01-01
Focusing on evidence-based practice (EBP) aligns with the school librarian's leadership role acknowledged by the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) in "Empowering Learners: Guidelines for School Library Programs" (2009) and in AASL's newly adopted mission statement. "The American Association of School Librarians…
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Preschool is School: Early Childhood Educators Need Relevant, Collaborative, and Aligned Learning
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Alejandro, Zeke; Garland, Sarah; Kennedy, Suzanne; Van Soelen, Thomas
2017-01-01
Early childhood centers and classrooms perpetually dance between being a "center" or a "school." To many educators, the word "school" usually presumes K-12 students. It often means the school is part of a larger entity, like a district or a school board. To parents, school might connote importance or deference to a…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Furtak, Erin Marie; Circi, Ruhan; Heredia, Sara C.
2018-01-01
This article describes a 4-year study of experienced high school biology teachers' participation in a five-step professional development experience in which they iteratively studied student ideas with the support of a set of learning progressions, designed formative assessment activities, practiced using those activities with their students,…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Parr, Brian A.; Edwards, M. Craig; Leising, James G.
2008-01-01
The purpose of this study was to empirically test the hypothesis that students who participated in a contextualized, mathematics-enhanced high school agricultural power and technology curriculum and aligned instructional approach would not experience significant diminishment in acquisition of technical skills related to agricultural power and…
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The Role of Content Knowledge in Ill-Structured Problem Solving for High School Physics Students
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Milbourne, Jeff; Wiebe, Eric
2018-01-01
While Physics Education Research has a rich tradition of problem-solving scholarship, most of the work has focused on more traditional, well-defined problems. Less work has been done with ill-structured problems, problems that are better aligned with the engineering and design-based scenarios promoted by the Next Generation Science Standards. This…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Konrad, Moira; Trela, Katherine; Test, David W.
2006-01-01
Current research and legislation show a need for special education instruction to be more closely aligned with general education curriculum and develop strategies that support the development of self determination skills in students with disabilities. The present study embeds self-determination skills of writing annual goals and objectives in the…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
McLean, Hilary
2012-01-01
The Early Assessment Program (EAP) has emerged as a national model for states seeking to design policies that increase the number of students who leave high school ready for college and careers. In addition, the two national consortia designing new assessments aligned to the Common Core State Standards have recognized the EAP as a model for the…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Sabella, Mel S.; Van Duzor, Andrea G.; Passehl, Jennie; Weisenburger, Kara
2012-01-01
Because of the diverse character of colleges and universities throughout the United States, it is naive to believe that a one-size-fits-all model of teacher preparation aligns with specific resources and student population needs. Exploring innovative models that challenge traditional programs is now being encouraged by organizations such as the…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Miller, Vickie
2013-01-01
The purpose of the study was to determine whether or not the implementation of special education graduates' secondary transition plans by a team of supporters such as teachers, parents, administrators, and postsecondary mentors were well-constructed and in alignment with the graduates' high school curriculum and intended postsecondary goals, as…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Bardeen, Karen
This project studied the effects of an inquiry-based, integrated science course on student science literacy. The course was aligned to state and national science standards. The target population consisted of sophomore, junior, and senior high-school students in an upper-middle class suburb of a major Midwestern city. Questionnaires, tests, and…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Stump, Erika; Johnson, Amy; Jacobs, Cathy
2017-01-01
Document review and interviews were conducted with college admissions' personnel to gather data regarding alignment of proficiency-based diploma systems and college eligibility and entry requirements. In addition, leaders and representative personnel from and Maine businesses and the U.S. military were interviewed to identify postsecondary career…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Killion, Joellen
2016-01-01
Key findings from a new study highlight how Learning Forward's long-standing position on professional learning correlates with practices in high-performing systems in Singapore, Shanghai, Hong Kong, and British Columbia. The purpose of this article is to share key findings from the study so that educators might apply them to strengthening…
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NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Shapiro, Lesley Jacqueline
The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), are the biggest change to American science education since the National Science Education Standards (NSES) were published. While inquiry was central to the NSES, science assessment largely addressed factual knowledge acquisition. The NGSS represent a significant practical change for teachers as they mark a return to the ideals specified in the National Science Education Standards (NSES) and Benchmarks for Science Literacy. The purpose of this explanatory sequential, mixed-methods study was to identify and compare the factors that influenced high school science teachers' receptivity to the curricular shifts necessitated by the adoption of the NGSS. The survey data identified three factors as significant predictors of teacher receptivity: teachers' non-monetary cost-benefit analysis, alignment between the NGSS and their current teaching style, and concerns about student readiness. To understand how these factors operate in the classroom, both receptive and non-receptive teachers were interviewed. In terms of cost-benefit analysis, all teachers agree that time is a significant cost. This includes the time it takes to adapt lessons to the NGSS, and the time it takes to teach in a way that integrates the three parts of the NGSS which are the practices of science and engineering, the crosscutting concepts, and the disciplinary core ideas. In terms of alignment between their teaching style and the NGSS, teachers talked about the lack of examples of what NGSS-aligned instruction looks like and the dearth of accessible high quality professional development. Finally, concerns about students' readiness focused on both inadequate preparation for college-level science coursework and deficits in science instruction in the lower grades.
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Bast, Lotus S; Due, Pernille; Ersbøll, Annette K; Damsgaard, Mogens T; Andersen, Anette
2017-05-01
Assessment of implementation is essential for the evaluation of school-based preventive activities. Interventions are more easily implemented in schools if detailed instructional manuals, lesson plans, and materials are provided; however, implementation may also be affected by other factors than the intervention itself-for example, school-level characteristics, such as principal support and organizational capacity. We examined school-level characteristics of schools in groups of high, medium, and low implementation of a smoking prevention intervention. The X:IT study is a school-randomized trial testing a multicomponent intervention to prevent smoking among adolescents. Our data came from electronic questionnaires completed by school coordinators at 96.1% of participating intervention schools (N = 49) at first follow -up. Schools that implemented the X:IT intervention to a medium or high degree had higher levels of administrative leadership (77.3% and 83.3% vs 42.9%), school climate/organizational health (95.5% and 91.7% vs 66.7%), mission-policy alignment (90.9% and 100.0% vs 71.4%), personnel expertise (81.8% and 75.0% vs 46.7%), school culture (77.3% and 91.7% vs 53.3%), positive classroom climate (91.4% and 96.2% vs 82.9%) compared with low implementation schools. Our findings highlight the importance of considering the school context in future health prevention initiatives. © 2017, American School Health Association.
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Watt, Michael
2016-01-01
The purpose of this study was to inform the deliberations of a policymakers' working group by investigating what key actors in the materials' marketplace are doing to align digital and print-based materials with the Australian Curriculum and what steps need to be taken to deliver aligned materials to schools. Content analysis method was used to…
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Schmitt, Mary Beth; Justice, Laura M; Logan, Jessica A R; Schatschneider, Christopher; Bartlett, Christopher W
2014-01-01
Individual Education Plans (IEPs) are legal documents that guide the treatment of students with language disorder (LD). This exploratory study investigated the extent to which students' symptoms of LD align with goals on their IEPs. A total of 99 kindergarten and first-grade students receiving treatment for LD in the public schools participated. IEPs were collected and coded for each student and norm-referenced measures were used to assess students' grammar, vocabulary, listening comprehension, and literacy skills in the fall of the academic year. Results showed there to be alignment between students' symptoms and IEP goals only in the area of vocabulary, such that students who had an IEP goal for vocabulary had lower scores on a vocabulary assessment than those without a goal. In general, there is limited alignment between observed symptoms of LD and treated symptoms as identified on students' IEPs. The limited alignment found in this study suggests more investigation is needed to understand the extent to which IEP goals, as potential indicators of treatment foci, should map on to students' symptoms. Readers will be able to: (1) explain the theoretical and practical relevance of treatment goals aligning to symptoms for children with language impairment; (2) identify three analytic methods used to investigate alignment between treatment goals and symptoms; and (3) describe the extent to which IEP goals align to children's symptoms in a sample of children receiving services in the public schools. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Kaye, Cathryn Berger
2012-01-01
The green concept has tremendous value in schools, especially when it reflects the central purpose and mission of schools: educating young people to participate and civically engage in society. School communities that keep greening the school on the periphery of their awareness will reap advantages, but those that align this idea with the…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Goodwin, Kenneth L., Jr.
2012-01-01
During the 2010-2011 school year, schools throughout the Red Clay Consolidated School District were expected to implement Professional Learning Communities (PLCs); however, little to no guidance was provided to school-level administrators and teacher teams. Not surprisingly, many schools implemented team meetings that were not aligned with…
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Performance-Driven Budgeting: The Example of New York City's Schools. ERIC Digest.
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Siegel, Dorothy
This digest examines a completed pilot program in performance-driven budgeting (PDB) in the New York City public-school system. PDB links school-level budgeting and school planning; that is, decisions about resources must be aligned with school-developed instructional-improvement plans. The digest highlights how PDB came about; its primary goal;…
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School Uniforms: Guidelines for Principals.
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Essex, Nathan L.
2001-01-01
Principals desiring to develop a school-uniform policy should involve parents, teachers, community leaders, and student representatives; beware restrictions on religious and political expression; provide flexibility and assistance for low-income families; implement a pilot program; align the policy with school-safety issues; and consider legal…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Starr, Joshua P.; Spellings, Margaret
2014-01-01
More than 40 states plan to assess student performance with new tests tied to the Common Core State Standards. In summer 2013, results from Common Core-aligned tests in New York showed a steep decline in outcomes. Common Core advocates hailed the scores as an honest accounting of school and student performance, while others worried that they…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Parr, Brian; Edwards, M. Craig; Leising, James G.
2009-01-01
The purpose of this study was to empirically test the posit that students who participated in a contextualized, mathematics-enhanced high school agricultural power and technology (APT) curriculum and aligned instructional approach would develop a deeper and more sustained understanding of selected mathematics concepts than those students who…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Young, R. Brent; Edwards, M. Craig; Leising, James G.
2009-01-01
The purpose of this study was to empirically test the posit that students who participated in a contextualized, mathematics-enhanced high school agricultural power and technology (APT) curriculum and aligned instructional approach would not differ significantly (p less than 0.05) in their technical competence from students who participated in the…
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Impact of Nutrition Standards on Competitive Food Quality in Massachusetts Middle and High Schools.
Gorski, Mary T; Cohen, Juliana F W; Hoffman, Jessica A; Rosenfeld, Lindsay; Chaffee, Ruth; Smith, Lauren; Rimm, Eric B
2016-06-01
To examine changes in competitive foods (items sold in à la carte lines, vending machines, and school stores that "compete" with school meals) in Massachusetts middle and high schools before and after implementation of a statewide nutrition law in 2012. We photographed n = 10 782 competitive foods and beverages in 36 Massachusetts school districts and 7 control state districts to determine availability and compliance with the law at baseline (2012), 1 year (2013), and 2 years (2014) after the policy (overall enrollment: 71 202 students). We examined availability and compliance trends over time. By 2014, 60% of competitive foods and 79% of competitive beverages were compliant. Multilevel models showed an absolute 46.2% increase for foods (95% confidence interval = 36.2, 56.3) and 46.8% increase for beverages (95% confidence interval = 39.2, 54.4) in schools' alignment with updated standards from 2012 to 2014. The law's implementation resulted in major improvements in the availability and nutritional quality of competitive foods and beverages, but schools did not reach 100% compliance. This law closely mirrors US Department of Agriculture Smart Snacks in School standards, suggesting that complying with strict nutrition standards is feasible, and schools may experience challenges and improvements over time.
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Promising Strategies for Attracting and Retaining Successful Urban Teachers
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Stotko, Elaine M.; Ingram, Rochelle; Beaty-O'Ferrall, Mary Ellen
2007-01-01
In the debate about urban school effectiveness and teacher quality, one proposition has emerged as indisputable: The success of urban schools depends heavily on the quality of the teachers who serve the schools and the administrators who support the teachers. Unfortunately, urban school district recruitment policies are often not aligned with…
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School Librarian as Inquisitor of Practice: Reimagine, Reflect, and React with the New Standards
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Burns, Elizabeth
2018-01-01
The modern school library is a complex social setting "grounded in standards and best practice" (AASL 2018). The new "National School Library Standards" have refreshed the student learning standards and aligned new Shared Foundations to the school library. Additionally, the competencies for learners are now complemented by…
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STEM Education: An Incongruous Approach A Proposed Reform Model for a Large Suburban High School
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Hughes, Patricia A.
It is unknown how the school can best influence the variables that determine pursuance of science study and career choice to bring about greater opportunity to learn challenging science curriculum for all students and promote Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education. Student decisions regarding the type of science class to elect in early secondary school years can impact their progression and academic success in subsequent rigorous and challenging offerings. Parents, counselors, peers, gender, socio-economic status and individual experience in previous coursework are variables of consideration. The purpose of this study is to examine these variables in a large suburban New Jersey School District aligned to STEM and Advanced Placement level course choice by students. Information regarding the influence of the variables can lead to a reform of the approach toward STEM education currently in place. The study will include a historical reflection of the approach to curriculum revision in the district. Increasing student enrollment in science courses beyond the required number stipulated for high school completion will open opportunities for entrance into STEM related careers or continued post secondary science study.
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Investigating Constituent Values and School Policy
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Allen, Ann; Glassman, Michael; Riegel, Lisa; Dawson, Heather
2013-01-01
Using a sociopolitical perspective to understand the alignment of community values and school policies, we conducted focus groups in three geographically close but economically varied neighborhood in one Midwest urban area. The article presents findings related to constituent values, social capital, and school policies, including charter school…
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Fusion 2.0: The Next Generation of Fusion in California: Aligning State and Regional Fusion Centers
2010-03-01
bible ” for fusion center management, as evidenced by the theme of the 2009 National Fusion Center Conference; appropriately called “Achieving Baseline...NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA THESIS FUSION 2.0: THE NEXT GENERATION OF FUSION IN CALIFORNIA: ALIGNING STATE AND...Master’s Thesis 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE Fusion 2.0: The Next Generation of Fusion in California: Aligning State and Regional Fusion
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NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Pringle, Rose M.; Martin, Sarah Carrier
2005-09-01
In 1983, the National Commission on Excellence in Education in the United States issued a report called A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform. This report and other policy initiatives such as the No Child Left Behind Legislation recommended that the individual states institute assessments to hold schools accountable. This research explored the potential impact of impending standardised testing on teaching science in elementary schools in one school district in Florida. We explored the teachers' concerns about the upcoming high-stakes tests in science, possible impact on their curriculum and what changes, if any, will be made in the approach to science teaching and learning in their classrooms. As the teachers look toward the implementation of high-stakes testing in science, they have recognised the need to teach science. This recognition is not borne out of the importance of science learning for elementary school children, but rather out of fear of failure and the effects of tangible rewards or punishments that accompany high-stakes testing. In anticipation, the teachers are preparing to align their teaching to the science standards while aggressively searching for test preparatory materials. Schools are also involved in professional development and structural changes to facilitate teaching of science.
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Pearlman, Bob
2006-01-01
The most pertinent question concerning teaching and learning in the twenty-first century is not what knowledge and skills students need--that laundry list was identified over a decade ago--but rather how to foster twenty-first century learning. What curricula, experiences, assessments, environments, and technology best support twenty-first century learning? New Technology High School (NTHS) in Napa, California, is one example of a successful twenty-first century school. In this chapter, the author describes the components of this exemplary high school, illustrating an environment that will cultivate twenty-first century student learning. New Technology High School began by defining eight learning outcomes, aligned with the standards of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills; to graduate, students demonstrate mastery of these outcomes through an online portfolio. To help students achieve the outcomes, NTHS employs project- and problem-based learning. Whereas in traditional classrooms students work alone on short-term assignments that do not lend themselves to deep understanding, the project-based learning approach has students working in teams on long-term, in-depth, rigorous projects. Students' work is supported by the school's workplace-like environment and effectiv use of technology. Meaningful assessment is essential to project-based learning; students receive continuous feedback, helping them become self-directed learners. In fact, NTHS uses outcome-based grading through which students constantly know how they are performing on the twenty-first century outcomes. Research has shown that NTHS graduates are better prepared for postsecondary education, careers, and citizenship than their peers from other schools. To facilitate twenty-first century learning, all schools need to rethink their approach to teaching and learning. New Technology High School is one way to do so.
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Impact of Nutrition Standards on Competitive Food Quality in Massachusetts Middle and High Schools
Cohen, Juliana F. W.; Hoffman, Jessica A.; Rosenfeld, Lindsay; Chaffee, Ruth; Smith, Lauren; Rimm, Eric B.
2016-01-01
Objectives. To examine changes in competitive foods (items sold in à la carte lines, vending machines, and school stores that “compete” with school meals) in Massachusetts middle and high schools before and after implementation of a statewide nutrition law in 2012. Methods. We photographed n = 10 782 competitive foods and beverages in 36 Massachusetts school districts and 7 control state districts to determine availability and compliance with the law at baseline (2012), 1 year (2013), and 2 years (2014) after the policy (overall enrollment: 71 202 students). We examined availability and compliance trends over time. Results. By 2014, 60% of competitive foods and 79% of competitive beverages were compliant. Multilevel models showed an absolute 46.2% increase for foods (95% confidence interval = 36.2, 56.3) and 46.8% increase for beverages (95% confidence interval = 39.2, 54.4) in schools’ alignment with updated standards from 2012 to 2014. Conclusions. The law’s implementation resulted in major improvements in the availability and nutritional quality of competitive foods and beverages, but schools did not reach 100% compliance. This law closely mirrors US Department of Agriculture Smart Snacks in School standards, suggesting that complying with strict nutrition standards is feasible, and schools may experience challenges and improvements over time. PMID:27077344
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Honig, Meredith I.; Rainey, Lydia R.
2015-01-01
School district leaders nationwide aspire to help their schools become vibrant places for learning--where students have meaningful academic opportunities and develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Historically, though, school district central offices have been ill-equipped to support such ambitious goals. A new wave of research…
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NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Jones, Carol L.
The number of computer-assisted education programs on the market is overwhelming science teachers all over the Michigan. Though the need is great, many teachers are reluctant to procure computer-assisted science education programs because they are unsure of the effectiveness of such programs. The Curriculum Alignment Toolbox (CAT) is a computer-based program, aligned to the Michigan Curriculum Framework's Benchmarks for Science Education and designed to supplement science instruction in Michigan middle schools. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of CAT in raising the standardized test scores of Michigan students. This study involved 419 students from one urban, one suburban and one rural middle school. Data on these students was collected from 4 sources: (1) the 8th grade Michigan Education Assessment Program (MEAP) test, (2) a 9 question, 5-point Likert-type scale student survey, (3) 4 open-response student survey questions and (4) classroom observations. Results of this study showed that the experimental group of 226 students who utilized the CAT program in addition to traditional instruction did significantly better on the Science MEAP test than the control group of 193 students who received only traditional instruction. The study also showed that the urban students from a "high needs" school seemed to benefit most from the program. Additionally, though both genders and all identified ethnic groups benefited from the program, males benefited more than females and whites, blacks and Asian/Pacific Islander students benefited more than Hispanic and multi-racial students. The CAT program's success helping raise the middle school MEAP scores may well be due to some of its components. CAT provided students with game-like experiences all based on the benchmarks required for science education and upon which the MEAP test is based. The program also provided visual and auditory stimulation as well as numerous references which students indicated they enjoyed. Additionally, as best-practice, the questioning in all the gaming within CAT did not allow a student to continue until he/she had given the correct answer, thus reinforcing the correct response.
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Kaufman, Julia Heath; Stein, Mary Kay; Junker, Brian
2016-01-01
We investigated the alignment between a teacher survey self-report measure and classroom observation measure of ambitious mathematics instructional practice among teachers in two urban school districts using two different standards-based mathematics curricula. Survey reports suggested mild differences in teachers' instructional practices between…
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Aligning Pedagogy with Physical Learning Spaces
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
van Merriënboer, Jeroen J. G.; McKenney, Susan; Cullinan, Dominic; Heuer, Jos
2017-01-01
The quality of education suffers when pedagogies are not aligned with physical learning spaces. For example, the architecture of the triple-decker Victorian schools across England fits the information transmission model that was dominant in the industrial age, but makes it more difficult to implement student-centred pedagogies that better fit a…
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Does Test Item Performance Increase with Test-to-Standards Alignment?
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Traynor, Anne
2017-01-01
Variation in test performance among examinees from different regions or national jurisdictions is often partially attributed to differences in the degree of content correspondence between local school or training program curricula, and the test of interest. This posited relationship between test-curriculum correspondence, or "alignment,"…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Venezia, Andrea; Voloch, Daniel
2012-01-01
A promising strategy for promoting successful college transition and increasing college completion rates is to help students avoid developmental coursework by preparing them for placement exams before they enroll in college. A lack of content alignment between high school exit exams and college entrance exams is one of many troubling disconnects…
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Naval Postgraduate School Research. Volume 14, Number 1, February 2004
2004-02-01
PROGRAM ELEMENT NUMBER 6. AUTHOR(S) 5d. PROJECT NUMBER 5e . TASK NUMBER 5f. WORK UNIT NUMBER 7. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES...this review were to ensure officers continue to receive high quality, relevant, and responsive graduate education aligned to defense needs...Initiative (COSSI), Earned Value Management System (EVMS), Activity-Based Costing (ABC), Value Engineering, and lessons from R-TOC Pilots. Sponsored
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Hoffman, Jessica A.; Rosenfeld, Lindsay; Schmidt, Nicole; Cohen, Juliana F. W.; Gorski, Mary; Chaffee, Ruth; Smith, Lauren; Rimm, Eric B.
2015-01-01
Background During 2012, Massachusetts adopted comprehensive school competitive food and beverage standards that closely align with Institute of Medicine recommendations and Smart Snacks in School national standards. Objective We examined the extent to which a sample of Massachusetts middle schools and high schools sold foods and beverages that were compliant with the state competitive food and beverage standards after the first year of implementation, and complied with four additional aspects of the regulations. Design Observational cohort study with data collected before implementation (Spring 2012) and 1 year after implementation (Spring 2013). Participants/setting School districts (N=37) with at least one middle school and one high school participated. Main outcome measures Percent of competitive foods and beverages that were compliant with Massachusetts standards and compliance with four additional aspects of the regulations. Data were collected via school site visits and a foodservice director questionnaire. Statistical analyses performed Multilevel models were used to examine change in food and beverage compliance over time. Results More products were available in high schools than middle schools at both time points. The number of competitive beverages and several categories of competitive food products sold in the sample of Massachusetts schools decreased following the implementation of the standards. Multilevel models demonstrated a 47-percentage-point increase in food and 46-percentage-point increase in beverage compliance in Massachusetts schools from 2012 to 2013. Overall, total compliance was higher for beverages than foods. Conclusions This study of a group of Massachusetts schools demonstrated the feasibility of schools making substantial changes in response to requirements for healthier competitive foods, even in the first year of implementation. PMID:26210085
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Hoffman, Jessica A; Rosenfeld, Lindsay; Schmidt, Nicole; Cohen, Juliana F W; Gorski, Mary; Chaffee, Ruth; Smith, Lauren; Rimm, Eric B
2015-08-01
During 2012, Massachusetts adopted comprehensive school competitive food and beverage standards that closely align with Institute of Medicine recommendations and Smart Snacks in School national standards. We examined the extent to which a sample of Massachusetts middle schools and high schools sold foods and beverages that were compliant with the state competitive food and beverage standards after the first year of implementation, and complied with four additional aspects of the regulations. Observational cohort study with data collected before implementation (Spring 2012) and 1 year after implementation (Spring 2013). School districts (N=37) with at least one middle school and one high school participated. Percent of competitive foods and beverages that were compliant with Massachusetts standards and compliance with four additional aspects of the regulations. Data were collected via school site visits and a foodservice director questionnaire. Multilevel models were used to examine change in food and beverage compliance over time. More products were available in high schools than middle schools at both time points. The number of competitive beverages and several categories of competitive food products sold in the sample of Massachusetts schools decreased following the implementation of the standards. Multilevel models demonstrated a 47-percentage-point increase in food and 46-percentage-point increase in beverage compliance in Massachusetts schools from 2012 to 2013. Overall, total compliance was higher for beverages than foods. This study of a group of Massachusetts schools demonstrated the feasibility of schools making substantial changes in response to requirements for healthier competitive foods, even in the first year of implementation. Copyright © 2015 Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Sound Assessment through Proper Policy
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Chappuis, Stephen J.
2007-01-01
Aligning a school board policy manual with the faculty handbook would be an excellent application of systems thinking in support of school district mission and goals. This article talks about changing sound assessment practice in accordance with the school's proper policy. One obstacle to changing assessment practice is the prevailing belief that…
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This Is Us: Islamic Feminist School Leadership
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Khalil, Deena; DeCuir, Amaarah
2018-01-01
In this empirical study, we describe how Muslim female school leaders prioritise equity, community, and resistance when leading American Islamic schools. Similar to prior critical feminist studies, this research centres female leaders' agency as an emancipatory praxis of resistance to injustice and oppression, aligned with our core assumptions of…
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In-School Youth Manpower: A Guide to Local Strategies and Methods. Final Report.
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Systems Research Inc., Lansing, MI.
Intended for use by individuals responsible for establishing and directing youth school/work programs, this manual presents the following ten functions important in any youth school/work program: enrollee entry, enrollee orientation; employer entry; employer orientation; matching and alignment; program monitoring; counseling; supportive services;…
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Connecting Ed & Tech: Partnering to Drive Student Outcomes
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Arnett, Thomas
2016-01-01
All too often, the connection between teachers and technology falls flat. Pioneering schools and educators search for technology to support new instructional models, only to find that existing options do not align with their evolving classroom practices. This case study describes how Leadership Public Schools (LPS), a charter school management…
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How Engineering Standards Are Interpreted and Translated for Middle School
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Judson, Eugene; Ernzen, John; Krause, Stephen; Middleton, James A.; Culbertson, Robert J.
2016-01-01
In this exploratory study we examined the alignment of Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) middle school engineering design standards with lesson ideas from middle school teachers, science education faculty, and engineering faculty (4-6 members per group). Respondents were prompted to provide plain language interpretations of two middle…
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Do School Bully Laws Align with Prevention Best Practices?
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Edmondson, Lynne; Zeman, Laura Dreuth
2011-01-01
This article examines state-level school laws that emerged over the last decade with regard to bully prevention. The purpose is to determine, among states that legally mandate public schools to address bullying, how extensively they have incorporated language representing the primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention levels. State bully laws…
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Cafeteria staff perceptions of the new USDA school meal standards
USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database
The new nutrition standards for the school meal programs implemented in 2012 align the school meal patterns with the US Dietary Guidelines for Americans, including more fruit, vegetable and whole grain offerings and minimum and maximum amount of calories per meal averaged over a week. The purpose of...
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Sustainable Schools: Making Energy Efficiency a Lifestyle Priority
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Purnell, Ken; Sinclair, Mark; Gralton, Anna
2004-01-01
Promoting efficient energy use in schools that consequently reduces greenhouse gas emissions is the purpose of a residential Energy Efficiency in Schools (EEIS) program reported on in this paper. Research on this program aligns with one of the "key "overarching" sustainability issues", set out in the "Learning for…
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Evaluation of Implementation of School/Community-Based Management. Final Report.
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Hawaii Business Roundtable, Honolulu.
A formative evaluation was conducted of two elementary schools that have been engaged in the School/Community-Based Management (SCBM) process in Hawaii. The evaluation process was aligned with the SCBM philosophy, which promotes shared decision making, shared responsibility, and collaboration. Stakeholders contributed to the evaluation, which…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Marks, Nicholas W.
2016-01-01
The purpose of this study was to determine whether there is alignment between post-secondary institutions' technology training preparation of teachers and the use of technology in K-6 schools in the State of New Hampshire. For the purpose of the study, alignment is defined as the correlation of specific technology preparation for teachers to…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Roche, Olivier P.; Downie, Yvonne; Diriker, Memo
2013-01-01
At a time when business schools of second-tieruniversities face budget constraints, the MBA consulting program has become avehicle to build a school's reputation and to engage the business community inorder to raise financial resources. Business schools also face competition fromon-line programs, and consulting assignments help to define a…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Klatt, Malgorzata; Clarke, Kira; Dulfer, Nicky
2017-01-01
This paper highlights troubling patterns within the Australian School-based Apprenticeships and Traineeships (SBATs) by analysing statistical data of 21,000 of 15-19 year old apprenticeship/traineeship learners engaged in Vocational Education and Training in School (VETiS). It confirms the alignment of social groups to certain qualification fields…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Alford, Betty; Rudolph, Amanda; Beal, Heather Olson; Hill, Brenda
2014-01-01
Increasing rigor in secondary school classrooms for college and career readiness is a priority throughout the nation with the adoption of more challenging standards for student performance and is an important role for school leaders in creating conditions in schools to meet this challenge (Young, 2012). P-16 partnerships can assist by aligning the…
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Snacks, sweetened beverages, added sugars, and schools.
2015-03-01
Concern over childhood obesity has generated a decade-long reformation of school nutrition policies. Food is available in school in 3 venues: federally sponsored school meal programs; items sold in competition to school meals, such as a la carte, vending machines, and school stores; and foods available in myriad informal settings, including packed meals and snacks, bake sales, fundraisers, sports booster sales, in-class parties, or other school celebrations. High-energy, low-nutrient beverages, in particular, contribute substantial calories, but little nutrient content, to a student's diet. In 2004, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended that sweetened drinks be replaced in school by water, white and flavored milks, or 100% fruit and vegetable beverages. Since then, school nutrition has undergone a significant transformation. Federal, state, and local regulations and policies, along with alternative products developed by industry, have helped decrease the availability of nutrient-poor foods and beverages in school. However, regular access to foods of high energy and low quality remains a school issue, much of it attributable to students, parents, and staff. Pediatricians, aligning with experts on child nutrition, are in a position to offer a perspective promoting nutrient-rich foods within calorie guidelines to improve those foods brought into or sold in schools. A positive emphasis on nutritional value, variety, appropriate portion, and encouragement for a steady improvement in quality will be a more effective approach for improving nutrition and health than simply advocating for the elimination of added sugars. Copyright © 2015 by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
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The Caterpillar Game: A SW-PBIS Aligned Classroom Management System
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Floress, Margaret T.; Jacoby, Amber L.
2017-01-01
The Caterpillar Game is a classroom management system that is aligned with School-wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports standards. A single-case, multiple-baseline design was used to evaluate the effects of the Caterpillar Game on disruptive student behavior and teacher praise. Three classrooms were included in the study (preschool,…
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Examining Alignment between State Performance Assessment and Mathematics Classroom Activities
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Parke, Carol S.; Lane, Suzanne
2008-01-01
The authors describe research on the extent to which mathematics classroom activities in Maryland were aligned with Maryland learning outcomes and the Maryland School Performance Assessment Program (MSPAP; Maryland State Department of Education, 1995, 2000). The study was part of a larger research project (S. Lane, C. S. Parke, & C. A. Stone,…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Roseman, Jo Ellen; Koppal, Mary
2015-01-01
When state leaders and national partners in the development of the Next Generation Science Standards met to consider implementation strategies, states and school districts wanted to know which materials were aligned to the new standards. The answer from the developers was short but not sweet: You won't find much now, and it's going to…
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A Cost Estimation Tool for Charter Schools
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Hayes, Cheryl D.; Keller, Eric
2009-01-01
To align their financing strategies and fundraising efforts with their fiscal needs, charter school leaders need to know how much funding they need and what that funding will support. This cost estimation tool offers a simple set of worksheets to help start-up charter school operators identify and estimate the range of costs and timing of…
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A School-Wide Approach to Student-Led Conferences: A Practitioner's Guide.
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Kinney, Patti; Munroe, Mary Beth; Sessions, Pam
Noting that the benefits of student-led conferences align well with practices recognized as developmentally appropriate for the middle school years, this book provides a step-by-step guide to implementing student-led conferences at the middle school level. The chapters are: (1) "Setting the Stage," presenting the rationale for student-led…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Frey, Nancy; Fisher, Douglas
2009-01-01
By implementing a system of common formative assessments, the teachers at an American urban elementary school improved student achievement and facilitated their own professional development. By aligning content standards with assessments and purposeful instruction, the teachers at this school developed a depth of knowledge about their content…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Yerrick, Randy; Johnson, Joseph
2009-01-01
This mixed methods study examined the effects of inserting laptops and science technology tools in middle school environments. Working together with a local university, middle school science teaching faculty members wrote and aligned curricula, explored relevant science education literature, tested lessons with summer school students, and prepared…
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Building Trust, Elevating Voices, and Sharing Power in Family Partnership
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Davidson, Kristen; Case, Madeleine
2018-01-01
Research has shown that traditional ways of promoting family involvement in school are often ineffective, especially among families whose approach does not align with the middle-class child-rearing practices embraced in many U.S. schools. To encourage greater family involvement, a Colorado school district is piloting a program in which educators…
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Strange Bedfellows: The New Neoliberalism of Catholic Schooling in the United States
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Burke, Kevin J.
2012-01-01
The article utilizes critical social theory and critical religious theory to examine the emergent and historically aberrant alignment between Catholic schools and neoliberal market-based reforms in the United States. The author traces the historical split between Catholic and public schooling, attending to the role of the litigious in shaping…
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Reform in School Mathematics and Authentic Assessment.
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Romberg, Thomas A., Ed.
This volume is concerned with the alignment between the way the mathematical performance of students is assessed and the reform agenda in school mathematics. The chapters in this book have been prepared to raise a set of issues that scholars are addressing during this period of transition from traditional schooling practices toward the reform…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Bogard, Kimber; Takanishi, Ruby
2005-01-01
The United States is as known for its high-quality universities as for its poor-quality public schools. Many states are taking steps to improve the likelihood that their children will succeed in grades K-12 by providing funding for pre-kindergarten (PK). More than $2.4 billion dollars is spent on these programs, and the number of children…
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Food safety knowledge, attitudes and self-reported practices among Ontario high school students.
Majowicz, Shannon E; Diplock, Kenneth J; Leatherdale, Scott T; Bredin, Chad T; Rebellato, Steven; Hammond, David; Jones-Bitton, Andria; Dubin, Joel A
2016-03-16
To measure the food safety knowledge, attitudes and self-reported practices of high school students in Ontario. We administered a school-wide paper survey to the student body (n = 2,860) of four Ontario high schools. We developed the survey by selecting questions from existing, validated questionnaires, prioritizing questions that aligned with the Canadian Partnership for Consumer Food Safety Education's educational messages and the food safety objectives from the 2013 Ontario High School Curriculum. One in five students reported currently handling food in commercial or public-serving venues; of these, 45.1% had ever taken a course that taught them how to prepare food (e.g., food and nutrition classes, food handler certification). Food safety knowledge among respondents was low. For example, 17.3% knew that the best way to determine whether hamburgers were cooked enough to eat was to measure the temperature with a food thermometer. Despite low knowledge, most respondents (72.7%) reported being confident that they could cook safe, healthy meals for themselves and their families. Safe food handling practices were frequently self-reported. Most students (86.5%) agreed that being able to cook safe, healthy meals was an important life skill, although their interest in learning about safe food handling and concern about foodborne disease were less pronounced. Our findings suggest that food safety knowledge is low, yet confidence in preparing safe, healthy meals is high, among high school students. Because work and volunteer opportunities put students in contact with both the public and food, this group is important to target for increased education about safe food handling.
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Windsor, Sarah; Bailey, Jack
2016-01-01
Year 11 chemistry students from three schools in the Sunshine Coast Region of Education Queensland carried out a choice of five experiments aligned with their school curriculum on campus at the University of the Sunshine Coast and in their own school classrooms. Significant improvements in science learning were observed in student post-test quiz…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Holcomb, Betty; Sudol, Teija
2014-01-01
The expansion of Pre-K in early childhood programs, both in the community and in schools, has the potential to build significant new alignment between the traditional K-12 education system and the preschool year. Most communities, however, have only scratched the surface of collaboration between public schools and community programs as…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Ford, Beatrice R.
2013-01-01
The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between school counselor participants' perceived levels of job burnout, as measured by Lee's 2007 Counselor Burnout Inventory (CBI) with the assignment of non-counseling duties, as measured by Scarborough's 2005 School Counselors Activity Rating Scale (SCARS) and the alignment of their…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Chiang, Rachelle Johnsson; Meagher, Whitney; Slade, Sean
2015-01-01
Background: The Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child (WSCC) model calls for greater collaboration across the community, school, and health sectors to meet the needs and support the full potential of each child. This article reports on how 3 states and 2 local school districts have implemented aspects of the WSCC model through collaboration,…
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Fostering Curriculum Integration through Performance Assessment.
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Aseltine, James M.
1994-01-01
Several barriers may prevent teachers from using an integrated curriculum, including insufficient preparation and an individualistic or accountability-driven school culture. A Farmington, Connecticut, middle school encourages its teachers to develop an interdisciplinary curriculum aligned with performance assessment. Teachers receive training in a…
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Solving Power Tool Problems in the School Shop
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Irvin, Daniel W.
1976-01-01
The school shop instructor is largely responsible for the preventive maintenance of power tools. These preventive measures primarily involve proper alignment, good lubrication, a reasonable maintenance program, and good operating procedures. Suggestions for maintenance of specific equipment is provided. (Author/BP)
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, 2011
2011-01-01
Wisconsin's adoption of the Common Core State Standards provides an excellent opportunity for Wisconsin school districts and communities to define expectations from birth through preparation for college and work. By aligning the existing Wisconsin Model Early Learning Standards with the Wisconsin Common Core State Standards, expectations can be…
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The Restroom and Locker Room Wars: Where to Pee or Not to Pee
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Eckes, Suzanne E.
2017-01-01
As society's views of sexual orientation and gender identity have significantly evolved in recent years, school districts across the country are addressing how to create policies that align with the law in this area. One recent issue involves laws and policies focused on transgender students and their right to access restrooms that align with…
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Innovation in creating a strategic plan for research within an academic community.
Best, Kaitlin M; Jarrín, Olga; Buttenheim, Alison M; Bowles, Kathryn H; Curley, Martha A Q
2015-01-01
Strategic planning for research priorities in schools of nursing requires consensus building and engagement of key stakeholders. However, traditional approaches to strategic planning using work groups and committees sometimes result in low rates of faculty participation and fail to engage other important stakeholders. The purpose of this article is to describe the unique low-cost, high-yield processes that contributed to the rapid development of our school's strategic research plan over the course of 1 month. Using the name recognition of the National Collegiate Athletic Association's annual basketball tournament, we were able to encourage high levels of participation by faculty, doctoral students, and postdoctoral fellows in not only developing a consensus around eight broad lines of inquiry but also offering tangible recommendations for accomplishing those goals within the next 5 years. Other schools of nursing seeking to evaluate their research enterprise and align their science with national priorities could easily replicate this approach. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Teaching the "What" As Well As the "How": Content-Rich OST Professional Development
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Cooper, Benjamin
2013-01-01
This article examined the literature on best practices in content-specific professional development and then aligns this work with the practices of a citywide afterschool chess program run by After School Activities Partnerships (ASAP) in Philadelphia. School teachers, out-of-school time (OST) staff, and youth workers readied themselves to think…
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The Internal Coherence Framework: Creating the Conditions for Continuous Improvement in Schools
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Forman, Michelle L.; Stosich, Elizabeth Leisy; Bocala, Candice
2017-01-01
"The Internal Coherence Framework" presents a system of research-based practices for assessing and developing the conditions that support adult and student learning in schools. Internal coherence is defined as the ability of educators in a school or system to connect and align resources to carry out an improvement strategy, engage in…
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How Schools Can Effectively Plan to Meet the Goal of Improving Student Learning
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Grumdahl, Constance Rae
2010-01-01
Purpose. The purpose of the study was to identify the impact on achievement when schools implement a continuous improvement model using Total Quality Management (TQM) principles aligned to strategic planning and the culture of the school. Data collection and analysis. The study combined qualitative and quantitative methods and was conducted in two…
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The Ideas and Rationale behind the Extended Schools Agenda in England
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Mortlock, Fiona
2007-01-01
In June 2005 the British government launched the Extended Schools Agenda to complement and add value to the Every Child Matters Framework. Every Child Matters is the British approach to collect and align multiple efforts by organizations such as hospitals, schools, volunteer groups, and afterschool programs for youth up to the age of nineteen to…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Torenbeek, Marjolein; Jansen, Ellen; Hofman, Adriaan
2011-01-01
Central in this study is the degree to which the pedagogical-didactical approach in undergraduate programmes aligns with the pedagogical-didactical approach in secondary schools, and how this is related to first-year achievement. Approaches to teaching at secondary schools and in first-year university programmes were examined by interviewing…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Della Sala, Matthew Robert
2014-01-01
School finance scholars have called for the alignment of accountability policies with state finance formulae to allocate resources toward student learning goals (Adams, 2008; Ryan, 2008; Superfine, 2009; Verstegen, 2002). With the presence of accountability policies that focus on improving students' academic achievement, state finance systems must…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Izadpanahi, Parisa; Elkadi, Hisham; Tucker, Richard
2017-01-01
This study aims to determine if primary school children's environmental attitudes can be predicted by whether their school had been designed or adapted for sustainability. A New Ecological Paradigm ("NEP") scale for children was adopted to measure attitudes, with supplementary questions added to align this scale to the Australian context…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Paeplow, Colleen Graham
2011-01-01
Wake County Public School System's (WCPSS) 102 elementary schools have implemented standards-based grading. This grading practice is aligned with North Carolina's Student Accountability Standards and the WCPSS Promotion/Intervention policy. Standards-based report cards were designed to reflect student mastery of state standards and provide an…
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Cafeteria Staff Perceptions of the New USDA School Meal Standards
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Alcaraz, Brenda; Cullen, Karen Weber
2014-01-01
Purpose/Objectives: The new nutrition standards for the school meal programs implemented in 2012 align the school meal patterns with the US Dietary Guidelines for Americans, including more fruit, vegetable and whole grain offerings and minimum and maximum amount of calories per meal averaged over a week. The purpose of this study was to assess…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Anderson, Daniel; Irvin, P. Shawn; Patarapichayatham, Chalie; Alonzo, Julie; Tindal, Gerald
2012-01-01
In the following technical report, we describe the development and scaling of the easyCBM CCSS middle school mathematics measures, designed for use within a response to intervention framework. All items were developed in collaboration with experienced middle school mathematics teachers and were written to align with the Common Core State…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Abu-Tineh, Abdullah; Sadiq, Hissa; Al-Mutawah, Fatma; Chaaban, Youmen
2017-01-01
The issue of developing a comprehensive licensure system aligned with professional standards for teachers and school leaders has received considerable attention in recent years. As part of the Qatari educational reform in recent years, teachers and school leaders are held accountable to offer quality education for all students. The current study…
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Schooling and Local Environmental Knowledge: Do They Complement or Substitute Each Other?
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Reyes-Garcia, Victoria; Kightley, Eric; Ruiz-Mallen, Isabel; Fuentes-Pelaez, Nuria; Demps, Katie; Huanca, Tomas; Martinez-Rodriguez, Maria Ruth
2010-01-01
Schooling and the knowledge acquired at school have been considered both a cause of loss of indigenous knowledge (because it opens pathways to the non-indigenous world and worldviews) and a potential remedy to its demise (if educational curricula is aligned with indigenous realities by giving instruction in local languages and incorporating local…
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Align the Design: A Blueprint for School Improvement
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Mooney, Nancy J.; Mausbach, Ann T.
2008-01-01
Regardless of where you are in your school improvement process, here's a book that helps you make sure you have all the right elements working for you in the right way. The authors take you through the core processes that are essential for all school improvement efforts--from establishing your mission to differentiating your supervision based on…
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Many Teachers Not Ready for the Common Core
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Sawchuk, Stephen
2012-01-01
A national survey of school districts last fall by the Center on Education Policy found that fewer than half of the districts had planned professional development aligned to the Common Core State Standards this school year. The challenge of getting the nation's 3.2 million K-12 public school teachers ready to teach to the standards is enormous.…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Honig, Meredith I.; Rainey, Lydia R.
2015-01-01
School district leaders nationwide aspire to help their schools become vibrant places for learning--where students have meaningful academic opportunities "and" develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills, the ability to communicate effectively, and other deeper learning capacities that are essential to success in later life.…
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Koopmans, Matthijs
2015-01-01
While school attendance is a critical mediator to academic achievement, its time dependent characteristics are rarely investigated. To remedy situation, this paper reports on the analysis of daily attendance rates in five urban high schools over a seven-year period. Traditional time series analyses were conducted to estimate short-range and cyclical dependencies in the data. An Autoregressive Fractional Integrated Moving Average (ARFIMA) approach was used to address long-range correlational patterns, and detect signs of self-organized criticality. The analysis reveals a strong cyclical pattern (weekly) in all five schools, and evidence for self-organized criticality in one of the five. These findings illustrate the insufficiency of traditional statistical summary measures to characterize the distribution of daily attendance, and they suggest that daily attendance is not necessarily the stable and predictable feature of school effectiveness it is conventionally assumed to be. While educational practitioners can probably attest to the many of the irregularities in attendance patterns as well as some of their sources, a systematic description of these temporal aspects needs to be included in our assessment of daily attendance behavior to inform policy decisions, if only to better align formal research in this area with existing local knowledge about those patterns.
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Brain Friendly School Libraries
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Sykes, Judith Anne
2006-01-01
This title gives concrete practical examples of how to align school library programs and instructional practice with the six key concepts of brain-compatible learning: increasing input to the brain; increasing experiential data; multiple source feedback; reducing threat; involving students in learning decision making; and interdisciplinary unit…
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Monrouxe, Lynn V; Bullock, Alison; Tseng, Hsu-Min; Wells, Stephanie E
2017-12-27
To examine how burnout across medical student to junior doctor transition relates to: measures of professional identity, team understanding, anxiety, gender, age and workplace learning (assistantship) alignment to first post. A longitudinal 1-year cohort design. Two groups of final-year medical students: (1) those undertaking end-of-year assistantships aligned in location and specialty with their first post and (2) those undertaking assistantships non-aligned. An online questionnaire included: Professional Identity Scale, Team Understanding Scale, modified Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale and modified Copenhagen Burnout Inventory. Data were collected on four occasions: (T1) prior to graduation; (T2) 1 month post-transition; (T3) 6 months post-transition and (T4) 10 months post-transition. Questionnaires were analysed individually and using linear mixed-effect models. Medical schools and postgraduate training in one UK country. All aligned assistantship (n=182) and non-aligned assistantship students (n=319) were contacted; n=281 (56%) responded: 68% (n=183) females, 73% (n=206) 22-30 years, 46% aligned (n=129). Completion rates: aligned 72% (93/129) and non-aligned 64% (98/152). Analyses of individual scales revealed that self-reported anxiety, professional identity and patient-related burnout were stable, while team understanding, personal and work-related burnout increased, all irrespective of alignment. Three linear mixed-effect models (personal, patient-related and work-related burnout as outcome measures; age and gender as confounding variables) found that males self-reported significantly lower personal, but higher patient-related burnout, than females. Age and team understanding had no effect. Anxiety was significantly positively related and professional identity was significantly negatively related to burnout. Participants experiencing non-aligned assistantships reported higher personal and work-related burnout over time. Implications for practice include medical schools' consideration of an end-of-year workplace alignment with first-post before graduation or an extended shadowing period immediately postgraduation. How best to support undergraduate students' early professional identity development should be examined. Support systems should be in place across the transition for individuals with a predisposition for anxiety. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2017. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.
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NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Roth, Wolff-Michael; Tobin, Kenneth
2010-12-01
This ethnographic study of teaching and learning in urban high school science classes investigates the ways in which teachers and students talk, gesture, and use space and time in interaction rituals. In situations where teachers coteach as a means of learning to teach in inner-city schools, successful teacher-teacher collaborations are characterized by prosodic expressions that converge over time and adapt to match the prosodic parameters of students' talk. In these situations our ethnographic data provide evidence of solidarity and positive emotions among the teachers and also between students and teachers. Unsuccessful collaborations are associated with considerable differences in pitch between consecutive speakers participating in turns-at-talk, these being related to the production of negative emotions and conflicts at longer time scales. Situational conflicts are co-expressed by increases in pitch levels, speech intensities, and speech rates; and conflict resolution is accelerated by the coordination of pitch levels. Our study therefore suggests that prosodic alignment and misalignment are resources that are pragmatically deployed to manage face-to-face interactions that have solidarity and conflict as their longer-term outcomes.
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Curriculum Alignment Projects: Toward Developing a Need to Know
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Pinkerton, K. David
2001-02-01
This study investigated means of designing a high school chemistry curriculum. A Curriculum Alignment Project (CAP) was used to coordinate one semester (18 weeks) of activities. CAPs are long-term, multiple-approach design and construction projects that provide students a concrete task to accomplish, rather than an abstract theme to appreciate. Topics were selected for their potential contribution to students' success on the CAP, not because the topics were coming up next in a textbook. One particular CAP, Bicarbonate Squeeze Play, is described in detail. After one cycle of CAPs, student motivation began to change from extrinsic to intrinsic; achievement on objective measures was holding steady; students' abilities to craft and carry out long-term plans for complex projects were improving; and the teacher was learning how to design curriculum that fostered students' need to know.
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Curricula Alignment and Its Impact on End of Course Assessment Scores
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Burti, Neil, Jr.
2011-01-01
The purpose of this mixed methods study was to examine the alignment of the written, enacted, and tested Algebra I curricula in the Cherry Hill (NJ) Public School District. Furthermore, this QUAN-QUAL study sought to determine the impact of course selection (Algebra I, Enriched Algebra) on achievement as measured by the Algebra I End of Course…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Osta, Iman
2007-01-01
This research aimed at developing a methodological framework to investigate the alignment of the Lebanese national math exam tests with the curriculum at the middle school level, during the transitory period of a major curricular reform. The focus is on exploring the characteristics of an "assessment culture" set by the national exams…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Stickney, Jeff
2015-01-01
In this commentary 26-year Ontario district teacher, Jeff Stickney, begins by surveying balanced approaches to large- and small-scale education reforms: contrasting linear alignment with more complex ecological models, drawing on recent work by Andy Hargreaves (2008; Hargreaves & Shirley, 2012). Next, through a brief case study of School…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Haynes, Brenda J.
2010-01-01
The two-fold purpose of the study was to determine whether or not the Arkansas Leadership Academy's Master Principal Institute's (MPI) five curriculum content standards were aligned with the literature of effective educational leadership practices, and to ascertain if there were significant relationships among the principals' leadership practices…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Thomas, Jeff; White, Katie
2012-01-01
Science Night--everybody wants one, but how does a teacher make it happen? To promote connections between schools, families, and communities, the authors organized a unique learning opportunity by combining three community partners' efforts and strengths. The school's Parent Teacher Association (PTA) coordinated and sponsored a science night for…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Totaro, Susan; Wise, Mark
2018-01-01
An intensive orientation program gives new teachers in one district and valuable introduction to the instructional culture. The authors argue that by aligning your orientation and onboarding processes to the mission and vision of your school, you are creating stronger relationships among school leaders and teachers and also reducing teacher…
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Family Literacy: Sharing Classrooms with Parents.
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Covarrubia, Jose
2000-01-01
A Tucson, Arizona elementary school is one of 45 development sites for the Toyota Families in Schools Program, which brings in parents to learn alongside their children and in their own classrooms for 4 hours daily. Parents also receive vocational instruction aligned with local job opportunities. (MLH)
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NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Freeman, R.; Bathon, J.; Fryar, A. E.; Lyon, E.; McGlue, M. M.
2017-12-01
As national awareness of the importance of STEM education has grown, so too has the number of high schools that specifically emphasize STEM education. Students at these schools outperform their peers and these institutions send students into the college STEM pipeline at twice the rate of the average high school or more. Another trend in secondary education is the "early college high school" (ECHS) model, which encourages students to prepare for and attend college while in high school. These high schools, particularly ECHS's that focus on STEM, represent a natural pool for recruitment into the geosciences, yet most efforts at linking high school STEM education to future careers focus on health sciences or engineering. Through the NSF GEOPATHS-IMPACT program, the University of Kentucky (UK) Department of Earth and Environmental Science and the STEAM Academy, a STEM-focused ECHS located in Lexington, KY, have partnered to expose students to geoscience content. This public ECHS admits students using a lottery system to ensure that the demographics of the high school match those of the surrounding community. The perennial problem for recruiting students into geosciences is the lack of awareness of it as a potential career, due to lack of exposure to the subject in high school. Although the STEAM Academy does not offer an explicitly-named geoscience course, students begin their first semester in 9th grade Integrated Science. This course aligns to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), which include a variety of geoscience content. We are working with the teachers to build a project-based learning curriculum to include explicit mention and awareness of careers in geosciences. The second phase of our project involves taking advantage of the school's existing internship program, in which students develop professional skills and career awareness by spending either one day/week or one hour/day off campus. We hosted our second round of interns this year. Eventually we plan to enroll interested students in introductory earth science courses in our department or at a nearby community college. We hope to build a model for establishing a pipeline from an ECHS STEM high school to a geoscience department that can be implemented by other universities. Here we present the highlights and challenges of this first year of our program.
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Education Resource Strategies, 2015
2015-01-01
This executive summary describes a case study that implemented the framework School System 20/20 to examine how Lawrence Public Schools (Massachusetts) is transforming its policies and structures to better align resources with student and teacher needs. Education Resource Strategies' (ERS') School System 20/20 is a set of conditions and practices…
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Understanding the Home-School Interface in a Culturally Diverse Family
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Schulz, Melissa M.; Kantor, Rebecca
2005-01-01
We present the cases of two families from the same middle-class community and conclude that home and school are more connected for some students and families than for others, even in the middle class where seamlessness is assumed. Home and school are more closely aligned for middle-class European-American students who read at home, engage in…
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The Walking Classroom: Active Learning Is Just Steps Away!
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Becker, Kelly Mancini
2016-01-01
Walking is a viable and valuable form of exercise for young children that has both physical and mental health benefits. There is much evidence showing that school-age children are not getting the recommended 60 minutes of daily exercise. A school-wide walking program can be a great way to encourage walking in and out of school, can be aligned with…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Redding, Sam; Dunn, Lenay; McCauley, Carlas
2015-01-01
The purpose of this guide is to provide states, districts, and schools with information and support to prepare applications for 2015-2016 School Improvement Grants (SIGs). The guide includes tools, checklists, and questions for SEAs and LEAs aligned with the revised SIG requirements, primarily focused on how to leverage the "planning…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Cooper, Catherine R.; Chavira, Gabriela; Mena, Dolores D.
2005-01-01
This article maps recent progress on 5 key questions about "the academic pipeline problem" of different rates of persistence through school among ethnically diverse students across the nation. The article shows the complementary development of the Overlapping Spheres of Influence Theory and Sociocultural Theory and aligns concepts and measures…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Stringfellow, Sandie
2016-01-01
This study explored how three preservice school leaders (PSLs) in California spent their time during their fieldwork for their school-leader-preparation programs and if they were gaining experience in all of the California Professional Standards for Education Leaders (CPSEL). Specifically, my dissertation examined the use of a daily log (Project…
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NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Wysession, M. E.
2015-12-01
The Next Generation Science Standards present a great opportunity for the increased exposure of contemporary geosciences into the K-12 curricula of most of the countries school. However, the manner by which the NGSS are being adopted by different schools and districts poses several challenges. So far, 13 states and Washington, D.C., have adopted the NGSS in full, accounting for about 30% of the nation's students. In addition, four states (Massachusetts, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and West Virginia), accounting for another 5% of U.S. students, have adopted new state science standards that are adapted from the NGSS, each in different ways. For West Virginia, language concerning climate change has been tempered. For Oklahoma and South Dakota, language concerning climate change has been nearly entirely removed. In addition, there are a large number of independent school districts, accounting for at least and additional 35% of the nation's students, that are in the process of designing curriculum aligned to some degree with the NGSS. These are in states that have either not yet adopted the NGSS or likely will never adopt the NGSS (at a state-wide level). This presents a challenge to the geosciences, because the level of geoscience content will greatly vary, state-to-state and district-to-district. The NGSS present the geosciences with a heavy emphasis on Earth Systems Science, particular as it relates to climate systems and human impacts on systems, but most K-12 teachers have not had exposure to the geosciences in these contexts, and will require significant professional development. In addition, the inclusion of a full year of geoscience content in high school (in addition to a year for middle school), presents another curricular challenge, as most schools have never taught this amount of geoscience to all of its students (the NGSS are designed to have all of its standards taught to all students). The NGSS also emphasizes learning through a set of 8 different practices, many involving the direct analysis and interpretation, often in a quantitative way, with real data and evidence, and while there are great opportunities here, the implementation will be difficult. There are several different models for incorporating the geoscience content in high school, and different districts are likely to vary greatly in its implementation.
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Bagust, Jeff; Docherty, Sharon; Haynes, Wayne; Telford, Richard; Isableu, Brice
2013-01-01
The Rod and Frame Test has been used to assess the degree to which subjects rely on the visual frame of reference to perceive vertical (visual field dependence- independence perceptual style). Early investigations found children exhibited a wide range of alignment errors, which reduced as they matured. These studies used a mechanical Rod and Frame system, and presented only mean values of grouped data. The current study also considered changes in individual performance. Changes in rod alignment accuracy in 419 school children were measured using a computer-based Rod and Frame test. Each child was tested at school Grade 2 and retested in Grades 4 and 6. The results confirmed that children displayed a wide range of alignment errors, which decreased with age but did not reach the expected adult values. Although most children showed a decrease in frame dependency over the 4 years of the study, almost 20% had increased alignment errors suggesting that they were becoming more frame-dependent. Plots of individual variation (SD) against mean error allowed the sample to be divided into 4 groups; the majority with small errors and SDs; a group with small SDs, but alignments clustering around the frame angle of 18°; a group showing large errors in the opposite direction to the frame tilt; and a small number with large SDs whose alignment appeared to be random. The errors in the last 3 groups could largely be explained by alignment of the rod to different aspects of the frame. At corresponding ages females exhibited larger alignment errors than males although this did not reach statistical significance. This study confirms that children rely more heavily on the visual frame of reference for processing spatial orientation cues. Most become less frame-dependent as they mature, but there are considerable individual differences. PMID:23724139
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NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Olitsky, Stacy; Becker, Elizabeth A.; Jayo, Ignacio; Vinogradov, Philip; Montcalmo, Joseph
2018-02-01
This study explores the implications of a redesign of a college course that entailed a new partnership between a college neuroscience classroom and a high school. In this course, the college students engaged in original research projects which included conducting brain surgery and behavioural tests on rats. They used digital storytelling and social networking to communicate with high school students and were visited by the students during the semester. The aims of the redesign were to align the course with science conducted in the field and to provide opportunities to disseminate scientific knowledge through emerging technologies. This study investigates the impact of these innovations on the college and high school students' perceptions of authentic science, including their relationship with science-centred communities. We found that these collaborative tools increased college students' perceptions that authentic science entailed communication with the general public, in addition to supporting prior perceptions of the importance of conducting experiments and presenting results to experts. In addition, the view of science as high-status knowledge was attenuated as students integrated non-formal communication practices into presentations, showing the backstage process of learning, incorporating music and youth discourse styles, and displaying emotional engagement. An impact of these hybrid presentation approaches was an increase in the high school students' perceptions of the accessibility of laboratory science. We discuss how the use of technologies that are familiar to youth, such as iPads, social networking sites, and multimedia presentations, has the potential to prioritize students' voices and promote a more inclusive view of science.
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Supporting the Whole Child through Coordinated Policies, Processes, and Practices
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Murray, Sharon D.; Hurley, James; Ahmed, Shannon R.
2015-01-01
Background: The Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child (WSCC) model provides a framework for promoting greater alignment, integration, and collaboration between health and education across the school setting and improving students' cognitive, physical, social, and emotional development. By providing a learning environment that ensures each…
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Common Problems, Different Solutions
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Glenn, Charles L.
2007-01-01
The provision, in most industrialized democracies, of public funding for schools that differ from the state system in religion or pedagogy has the effect of encouraging philosophical diversity and school-level decision making alongside a substantial degree of curriculum alignment and with various forms of government protection for the interests of…
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Splash! Water Resource Education.
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Southwest Florida Water Management District, Brooksville.
This set of activities is designed to bring water resource education into the middle school classroom using an interdisciplinary approach. The packet contains timely, localized information about the water resources of west central Florida. Each activity is aligned to middle-school Sunshine State Standards. These hands-on, minds-on activities can…
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Beyond the Professional Development School Model: The Professional Development District.
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Markowitz, Nancy Lourie; Whittaker, Andrea
This paper examines the conditions of university/districtwide partnering that can aid systemic public education change. It introduces a university/school partnership known as the Triple "L" (Lifelong Learning and Leadership) Collaborative. The text details shared responsibility, shared accountability, alignment of teacher-performance standards,…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Stephens, Maria; Landeros, Katherine; Perkins, Robert; Tang, Judy H.
2016-01-01
The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2015 is the sixth administration of this international comparative study since 1995 when first administered. TIMSS is used to compare over time the mathematics and science knowledge and skills of fourth- and eighth-graders. TIMSS is designed to align broadly with mathematics and…
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Evaluation of an academic service partnership using a strategic alliance framework.
Murray, Teri A; James, Dorothy C
2012-01-01
Strategic alliances involve the sharing of resources to achieve mutually relevant benefits and they are flexible ways to access resources outside of one's own institution. The recent landmark report from the Institute of Medicine, The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health, called for academic and health care organizations to strategically align around the future registered nurse workforce to improve the quality and safety of patient care. The dedicated education unit (DEU) is one practical way for 2 entities to align so that students can learn to administer safe, quality care. Because DEUs have great potential, it is critical to evaluate the alignment between the academic and service partner for appropriate fit, mutual benefit, and long-term success. In this article, we analyze the effectiveness of the Saint Louis University School of Nursing (SLUSON) and Mercy Hospital, St. Louis (MHSL) DEU project, an alliance between a medical center and school of nursing, using the Single Alliance Key Success Model. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Reimbursement for school nursing health care services: position statement.
Lowe, Janet; Cagginello, Joan; Compton, Linda
2014-09-01
Children come to school with a variety of health conditions, varying from moderate health issues to multiple, severe chronic health illnesses that have a profound and direct impact on their ability to learn. The registered professional school nurse (hereinafter referred to as school nurse) provides medically necessary services in the school setting to improve health outcomes and promote academic achievement. The nursing services provided are reimbursable services in other health care settings, such as hospitals, clinics, and home care settings. The National Association of School Nurses (NASN) believes that school nursing services that are reimbursable nursing services in other health care systems should also be reimbursable services in the school setting, while maintaining the same high quality care delivery standards. Traditionally, local and state tax revenues targeted to fund education programs have paid for school nursing health services. School nurses are in a strategic position to advocate for improving clinical processes to better fit with community health care providers and to align reimbursements with proposed changes. Restructuring reimbursement programs will enable health care funding streams to assist in paying for school nursing services delivered to students in the school setting. Developing new innovative health financing opportunities will help to increase access, improve quality, and reduce costs. The goal is to promote a comprehensive and cost-effective health care delivery model that integrates schools, families, providers, and communities.
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Troia, Gary A.; Olinghouse, Natalie G.; Zhang, Mingcai; Wilson, Joshua; Stewart, Kelly A.; Mo, Ya; Hawkins, Lisa
2018-01-01
We examined the degree to which content of states' writing standards and assessments (using measures of content range, frequency, balance, and cognitive complexity) and their alignment were related to student writing achievement on the 2007 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), while controlling for student, school, and state…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Council of Chief State School Officers, 2009
2009-01-01
In Fall 2008, the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) conducted an alignment content analysis of the 2007 TIMSS Mathematics and Science education assessments for students at grades 4 and 8 and the 2006 PISA Mathematics and Science Literacy assessments for students at age 15 (i.e., TIMSS--Trends in Mathematics and Science Study,…
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Assessment of body posture in 12- and 13-year-olds attending primary schools in Pabianice.
Motylewski, Sławomir; Zientala, Aleksandra; Pawlicka-Lisowska, Agnieszka; Poziomska-Piątkowska, Elżbieta
2015-12-01
of study was to estimate the body posture in children finishing primary schools. This is the last moment to make any improvement in body posture needed, because after the end of the child's growth the correction of postural defects is practically impossible. The study was conducted on 236 pupils aged 12-13 years attending primary schools number 3, 5 and 17 in Pabianice. To evaluate body posture Kasperczyk's points method was used. It is a commonly applied method for screening purposes. Over 50% of studied children had poor body posture and just under 6% of pupils' posture was assessed as very good. In the study population of children finishing primary schools the occurrence of faulty posture was shown to be very high. The most common defect in body posture among pupils was an uneven alignment of shoulders and shoulder blades. The results obtained in this study indicate the need to undertake action reducing the occurrence of faulty posture among children in Pabianice. © 2015 MEDPRESS.
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NASA Airborne Astronomy Ambassadors (AAA)
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Backman, D. E.; Harman, P. K.; Clark, C.
2016-12-01
NASA's Airborne Astronomy Ambassadors (AAA) is a three-part professional development (PD) program for high school physics and astronomy teachers. The AAA experience consists of: (1) blended-learning professional development composed of webinars, asynchronous content learning, and a series of hands-on workshops (2) a STEM immersion experience at NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center's B703 science research aircraft facility in Palmdale, California, and (3) ongoing participation in the AAA community of practice (CoP) connecting participants with astrophysics and planetary science Subject Matter Experts (SMEs). The SETI Institute (SI) is partnering with school districts in Santa Clara and Los Angeles Counties during the AAA program's "incubation" period, calendar years 2016 through 2018. AAAs will be selected by the school districts based on criteria developed during spring 2016 focus group meetings led by the program's external evaluator, WestEd.. Teachers with 3+ years teaching experience who are assigned to teach at least 2 sections in any combination of the high school courses Physics (non-AP), Physics of the Universe (California integrated model), Astronomy, or Earth & Space Sciences are eligible. Partner districts will select at least 48 eligible applicants with SI oversight. WestEd will randomly assign selected AAAs to group A or group B. Group A will complete PD in January - June of 2017 and then participate in SOFIA science flights during fall 2017 (SOFIA Cycle 5). Group B will act as a control during the 2017-18 school year. Group B will then complete PD in January - June of 2018 and participate in SOFIA science flights in fall 2018 (Cycle 6). Under the current plan, opportunities for additional districts to seek AAA partnerships with SI will be offered in 2018 or 2019. A nominal two-week AAA curriculum component will be developed by SI for classroom delivery that will be aligned with selected California Draft Science Framework Disciplinary Core Ideas, Crosscutting Concepts, and Science and Engineering Practices. (The California Draft Framework in turn is aligned with NGSS). The AAA program will demonstrate student gains in standards-based student learning, measure changes in student attitudes towards STEM, and observe & record Ambassadors' implementation of curricular changes.
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The spinal posture of computing adolescents in a real-life setting
2014-01-01
Background It is assumed that good postural alignment is associated with the less likelihood of musculoskeletal pain symptoms. Encouraging good sitting postures have not reported consequent musculoskeletal pain reduction in school-based populations, possibly due to a lack of clear understanding of good posture. Therefore this paper describes the variability of postural angles in a cohort of asymptomatic high-school students whilst working on desk-top computers in a school computer classroom and to report on the relationship between the postural angles and age, gender, height, weight and computer use. Methods The baseline data from a 12 month longitudinal study is reported. The study was conducted in South African school computer classrooms. 194 Grade 10 high-school students, from randomly selected high-schools, aged 15–17 years, enrolled in Computer Application Technology for the first time, asymptomatic during the preceding month, and from whom written informed consent were obtained, participated in the study. The 3D Posture Analysis Tool captured five postural angles (head flexion, neck flexion, cranio-cervical angle, trunk flexion and head lateral bend) while the students were working on desk-top computers. Height, weight and computer use were also measured. Individual and combinations of postural angles were analysed. Results 944 Students were screened for eligibility of which the data of 194 students are reported. Trunk flexion was the most variable angle. Increased neck flexion and the combination of increased head flexion, neck flexion and trunk flexion were significantly associated with increased weight and BMI (p = 0.0001). Conclusions High-school students sit with greater ranges of trunk flexion (leaning forward or reclining) when using the classroom computer. Increased weight is significantly associated with increased sagittal plane postural angles. PMID:24950887
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Deliberate Integration of Student Leadership Development in Doctor of Pharmacy Programs.
Janke, Kristin K; Nelson, Michael H; Bzowyckyj, Andrew S; Fuentes, David G; Rosenberg, Ettie; DiCenzo, Robert
2016-02-25
The CAPE 2013 Outcomes answered the call for increased student leadership development (SLD) by identifying leadership as a desired curricular goal. To meet this outcome, colleges and schools of pharmacy are advised to first identify a set of SLD competencies aligned with their institution's mission and goals and then organize these competencies into a SLD framework/model. Student leadership development should be integrated vertically and horizontally within the curriculum in a deliberate and longitudinal manner. It should include all student pharmacists, begin at the point of admission, and extend beyond extracurricular activities. The school's assessment plan should be aligned with the identified SLD competencies so student learning related to leadership is assessed. To accomplish these recommendations, a positive environment for SLD should be cultivated within the school, including administrative backing and resources, as well as support among the broader faculty for integrating SLD into the curriculum.
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Gamble, Abigail; Chatfield, Sheryl L.; Cormack, Michael L.; Hallam, Jeffrey S.
2017-01-01
Background: In recent decades, the alignment of health and education has been at the forefront of school reform. Whereas the establishment of national in-school physical activity (ISPA) recommendations and state-level mandates demonstrates success, there has been less achievement in areas that address health disparities. The purpose of this…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Zakharia, Zeena
2017-01-01
This paper critically engages observations from a school that was aligned with a resistance movement in Lebanon during a post-war period of sustained political violence (2006-2007). Focusing on the pedagogical practices at one community-centered and community-led Shi'a Islamic urban school, the paper draws on extensive ethnographic data to…
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Reported Motivations for and Locations of Healthy Eating Among Georgia High School Students.
Kumar, Gayathri S; Bryan, Michael; Bayakly, Rana; Drenzek, Cherie; Merlo, Caitlin; Perry, Geraldine S
2017-05-01
Understanding how youth perceive eating healthy foods can inform programs and policies that aim to improve healthy eating. We assessed the reasons for and the most common locations of eating healthy foods among Georgia's (GA) high school (HS) students. Using the 2013 GA HS Youth Risk Behavior Survey, we examined motivations for and locations of eating healthy foods by sociodemographic characteristics and daily fruit and vegetable intake. Weighted chi-square tests were used to examine differences in responses for each perception. Nineteen percent of GA HS students consumed fruit ≥3 times/day and 11% consumed vegetables ≥3 times/day. The most frequently chosen response to motivations for eating healthy foods was the desire to be healthy (42%), followed by enjoying their taste (18%). The most likely location to eat healthy foods was at home (80%), followed by at school (13%). GA HS students are most motivated to eat healthy foods by the desire to be healthy and their enjoyment of the taste of healthy foods. Incorporating messages that align with students' motivations to eat healthy foods could be considered when developing promotional programs/policies targeting healthy eating. © 2017, American School Health Association.
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Schools Achieving Gender Equity.
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Revis, Emma
This guide is designed to assist teachers presenting the Schools Achieving Gender Equity (SAGE) curriculum for vocational education students, which was developed to align gender equity concepts with the Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA). Included in the guide are lesson plans for classes on the following topics: legal issues of gender equity,…
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From Curriculum to Workplace Requirements: Do They "Match"?
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Lomas, Gregor; Mills, Kelvin
2013-01-01
This paper examines correspondences and disjunctions within a national curriculum and between various aspects of its delivery, and how these align with the mathematical needs of the workplace. This is investigated in the context of the New Zealand school mathematics curriculum; the Numeracy Development Project; the senior school assessment regime,…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Webster, Collin A.; Nesbitt, Danielle; Lee, Heesu; Egan, Cate
2017-01-01
Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine preservice physical education teachers' (PPET) service learning experiences planning and implementing course assignments aligned with comprehensive school physical activity program (CSPAP) recommendations. Methods: Based on service learning principles, PPETs (N = 18) enrolled in a physical…
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The Impact of Codes of Conduct on Stakeholders
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Newman, Wayne R.
2015-01-01
The purpose of this study was to determine how an urban school district's code of conduct aligned with actual school/class behaviors, and how stakeholders perceived the ability of this document to achieve its number one goal: safe and productive learning environments. Twenty participants including students, teachers, parents, and administrators…
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Higher Education in the U.S.S.R.: Curriculums, Schools, and Statistics.
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Rosen, Seymour M.
This study is designed to provide more comprehensive information on Soviet higher learning emphasizing its increasingly close alignment with Soviet national planning and economy. Following introductory material, Soviet curriculums in higher education and schools and statistics are reviewed. Highlights include: (1) A major development in Soviet…
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Determinants of Successful Internationalisation Processes in Business Schools
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Bradford, Henry; Guzmán, Alexander; Trujillo, María-Andrea
2017-01-01
We analyse the internationalisation process in business schools as a response to the globalisation phenomena and argue that environmental pressures, isomorphic forces, the pool of internal resources and the alignment of the process with the institution's general strategic plan are the main determinants of a successful internationalisation process.…
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Update: New Skills for New Schools
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Caspe, Margaret; Lopez, M. Elena; Chu, Ashley; Weiss, Heather B.
2011-01-01
Since the 1997 publication of "New Skills for New Schools" by Harvard Family Research Project, the education reform landscape has changed dramatically, making it necessary to align teacher preparation and professional learning for family engagement with the goals of a twenty-first century education. Harvard Family Research Project is currently…
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2013-01-01
Background The school food environment is important to target as less healthful food and beverages are widely available at schools. This study examined whether the availability of specific food/beverage items was associated with a number of school environmental factors. Methods Principals from elementary (n = 369) and middle/high schools (n = 118) in British Columbia (BC), Canada completed a survey measuring characteristics of the school environment. Our measurement framework integrated constructs from the Theories of Organizational Change and elements from Stillman’s Tobacco Policy Framework adapted for obesity prevention. Our measurement framework included assessment of policy institutionalization of nutritional guidelines at the district and school levels, climate, nutritional capacity and resources (nutritional resources and participation in nutritional programs), nutritional practices, and school community support for enacting stricter nutritional guidelines. We used hierarchical mixed-effects logistic regression analyses to examine associations with the availability of fruit, vegetables, pizza/hamburgers/hot dogs, chocolate candy, sugar-sweetened beverages, and french fried potatoes. Results In elementary schools, fruit and vegetable availability was more likely among schools that have more nutritional resources (OR = 6.74 and 5.23, respectively). In addition, fruit availability in elementary schools was highest in schools that participated in the BC School Fruit and Vegetable Nutritional Program and the BC Milk program (OR = 4.54 and OR = 3.05, respectively). In middle/high schools, having more nutritional resources was associated with vegetable availability only (OR = 5.78). Finally, middle/high schools that have healthier nutritional practices (i.e., which align with upcoming provincial/state guidelines) were less likely to have the following food/beverage items available at school: chocolate candy (OR = .80) and sugar-sweetened beverages (OR = .76). Conclusions School nutritional capacity, resources, and practices were associated with the availability of specific food/beverage items in BC public schools. Policies targeting the school environment are increasingly being considered as one of the strategies used to address childhood obesity, as a result it is important to further understand the factors associated with the availability of specific food/beverage items at school. PMID:23421918
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Mâsse, Louise C; de Niet, Judith E
2013-02-19
The school food environment is important to target as less healthful food and beverages are widely available at schools. This study examined whether the availability of specific food/beverage items was associated with a number of school environmental factors. Principals from elementary (n=369) and middle/high schools (n=118) in British Columbia (BC), Canada completed a survey measuring characteristics of the school environment. Our measurement framework integrated constructs from the Theories of Organizational Change and elements from Stillman's Tobacco Policy Framework adapted for obesity prevention. Our measurement framework included assessment of policy institutionalization of nutritional guidelines at the district and school levels, climate, nutritional capacity and resources (nutritional resources and participation in nutritional programs), nutritional practices, and school community support for enacting stricter nutritional guidelines. We used hierarchical mixed-effects logistic regression analyses to examine associations with the availability of fruit, vegetables, pizza/hamburgers/hot dogs, chocolate candy, sugar-sweetened beverages, and french fried potatoes. In elementary schools, fruit and vegetable availability was more likely among schools that have more nutritional resources (OR=6.74 and 5.23, respectively). In addition, fruit availability in elementary schools was highest in schools that participated in the BC School Fruit and Vegetable Nutritional Program and the BC Milk program (OR=4.54 and OR=3.05, respectively). In middle/high schools, having more nutritional resources was associated with vegetable availability only (OR=5.78). Finally, middle/high schools that have healthier nutritional practices (i.e., which align with upcoming provincial/state guidelines) were less likely to have the following food/beverage items available at school: chocolate candy (OR= .80) and sugar-sweetened beverages (OR= .76). School nutritional capacity, resources, and practices were associated with the availability of specific food/beverage items in BC public schools. Policies targeting the school environment are increasingly being considered as one of the strategies used to address childhood obesity, as a result it is important to further understand the factors associated with the availability of specific food/beverage items at school.
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On-light: optical social network
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Dionísio, Rogério P.
2014-07-01
Social networks are a recent phenomenon of communication, with a high prevalence of young users. This concept serves as a motto for a multidisciplinary project, which aims to create a simple communication network, using light as the transmission medium. Mixed team, composed by students from secondary and higher education schools, are partners on the development of an optical transceiver. A LED lamp array and a small photodiode are the optical transmitter and receiver, respectively. Using several transceivers aligned with each other, this configuration creates a ring communication network, enabling the exchange of messages between users. Through this project, some concepts addressed in physics classes from secondary schools (e.g. photoelectric phenomena and the properties of light) are experimentally verified and used to communicate, in a classroom or a laboratory.
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NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Lewis, Elizabeth Blake
This study concerns the phenomenon of secondary science teacher learning and enacting instructional strategies learned at the Communication in Science Inquiry Project (CISIP) teacher professional development events, as well as teacher perception of, and relationship to, this year-long professional development program. The CISIP program teaches science teachers how to build scientific classroom discourse communities with their students. Some of the science teachers were previous participants in the professional development, and acted as mentor teachers. The research design employed an integrated conceptual framework of situated learning theory with an analytical lens of teachers' professional, institutional and affinity, identities. A multi-method approach was used to generate data. Throughout the 2007-2008 academic year, the teachers' fidelity to the professional development model was measured using a classroom observation instrument aligned with the professional development model. From these observation data a longitudinal model, using hierarchical linear modeling, was constructed. In addition, surveys and interview data were used to construct both whole group and case studies of two high school science teachers who taught biology at the same school. The results indicated that there was a significant difference between previous and new participants; specifically, the longer teachers had participated in the professional development, and adopted a mentorship role, the greater their fidelity of classroom instruction to the CISIP model. Additionally, the case study teacher who developed a CISIP model-aligned affinity identity implemented more of the instructional strategies than the teacher who maintained his school-based institutional identity.
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2016-05-26
currently valid OMB control number PLEASE DO NOT RETURN YOUR FORM TO THE ABOVE ORGANIZATION . 1. REPORT DATE (DD-MM-YYYY) 12. REPORT TYPE 3. DATES COVERED...Se. TASK NUMBER Sf. WORK UNIT NUMBER 7. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) 8. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION School of Advanced Military...Qaeda in the Maghreb COCOM Combatant Command CULP Cultural Understanding and Language Proficienc DOTMLPF Doctrine, Organization , Training, Materiel
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Lee, Juyoung; Krause, Amanda E.; Davidson, Jane W.
2017-01-01
The aim of this study was to consider how we can invest in music-making to promote well-being in school contexts. Web-based data collection was conducted where researchers identified 17 case studies that describe successful music programs in schools in Australia. The researchers aligned content from these case studies into the five categories of…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Grigsby, Susan K. S.; Helfrich, Jennifer; Deissler, Christa Harrelson
2015-01-01
This article describes how school librarians in Gwinnett County Public Schools (GCPS) in Georgia addressed a concern regarding the performance evaluation tool that stemmed from the passing of House Bill (HB) 244, which was passed in response to the state's Race to the Top (RT3) application requirements. The bill became law on July 1, 2014, and the…
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NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Strachan, Samantha L.
The underachievement of African American students in science has been a persistent problem in science education. The achievement patterns of African American students indicate that researchers must take a closer look at the types of practices that are being used to meet these students' needs in science classrooms. Determining why science teachers decide to employ certain practices in their classrooms begins with a careful examination of teachers' beliefs as well as their instructional approaches. The purpose of this study was to explore four urban high school science teachers' beliefs about their African American students' learning needs and to investigate how these teachers go about addressing students' needs in science classrooms. This research study also explored the extent to which teachers' practices aligned with the nine dimensions of an established cultural instructional theory, namely the Black Cultural Ethos. Qualitative research methods were employed to gather data from the four teachers. Artifact data were collected from the teachers and they were interviewed and observed. Believing that their students had academic-related needs as well as needs tied to their learning preferences, the four science teachers employed a variety of instructional strategies to meet their students where they were in learning. Overall, the instructional strategies that the teachers employed to meet their students' needs aligned with five of the nine tenets of the Black Cultural Ethos theory.
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Hayes, Dayle; Dodson, Linette
2018-05-01
It is the position of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, School Nutrition Association (SNA), and Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior (SNEB) that comprehensive, integrated nutrition programs in preschool through high school are essential to improve the health, nutritional status, and academic performance of our nation's children. To maximize impact, the Academy, SNA, and SNEB recommend specific strategies in the following key areas: food and nutrition services available throughout the school campus, nutrition initiatives such as Farm to School and school gardens, wellness policies, nutrition education and promotion, and consideration of roles and responsibilities. This paper supports the joint position paper of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, SNA, and SNEB published in the May 2018 Journal of Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. In alignment with the joint position paper, this practice paper provides registered dietitian nutritionists and nutrition and dietetics technicians, registered with an overview of current school nutrition services and opportunities for professional careers in school settings. The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics has several position papers related to youth preschool through adolescence that cover specific nutrition needs in more detail at www.eatright.org. Copyright © 2018 Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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School-Based Assessment of ADHD: Purpose, Alignment with Best Practice Guidelines, and Training
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Ogg, Julia; Fefer, Sarah; Sundman-Wheat, Ashley; McMahan, Melanie; Stewart, Tiffany; Chappel, Ashley; Bateman, Lisa
2013-01-01
Youth exhibiting symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder are frequently referred to school psychologists because of academic, social, and behavioral difficulties that they face. To address these difficulties, evidence-based assessment methods have been outlined for multiple purposes of assessment. The goals of this study were to…
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Align Your District's Professional Learning under ESSA
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Learning Professional, 2017
2017-01-01
The single most important way to achieve equity and excellence is by ensuring a knowledgeable and skillful educator workforce. Ensuring the availability of excellent educators for all students requires a culture of learning and a system of support for every school and school district. This means that the goal is not just to improve professional…
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Emotional Labor and the Work of School Psychologists
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Weaver, Adam D.; Allen, Joseph A.
2017-01-01
As the field of school psychology faces critical shortages, investigations of work factors affecting job satisfaction and burnout are of increasing importance. One such factor is emotional labor, which is defined as the work of managing one's emotions and emotional expressions so as to align to the expectations of the job or profession. In this…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Will, Kelli England; Sabo, Cynthia Shier
2010-01-01
The Reinforcing Alcohol Prevention (RAP) Program is an alcohol prevention curriculum developed in partnership with secondary schools to serve their need for a brief, evidence-based, and straightforward program that aligned with state learning objectives. Program components included an educational lesson, video, and interactive activities delivered…
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The Co-Construction of Opposition in a Low-Track Mathematics Classroom
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Hand, Victoria M.
2010-01-01
Student opposition in school is traditionally cast in terms of individual dispositions, whereby particular students or groups of students are said to "resist" or "oppose" school structures and identities aligned with the dominant cultural group. The author examined instead how the teacher and students in a low-track mathematics…
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Self-Reported Frequency and Perceived Severity of Being Bullied among Elementary School Students
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Chen, Li-Ming
2015-01-01
Background: This study reports students' perspectives on the frequency and perceived severity of being bullied. Methods: A sample of 1816 elementary school students completed self-report surveys of perceived severity and frequency of being bullied. A Rasch technique aligned different victimized behaviors on interval logit scales. A 4-fold schema…
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Forming Collaborative Partnerships on a Statewide Level to Develop Quality School Leaders
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Goduto, Leonard R.; Doolittle, Gini; Leake, Donald
2008-01-01
In 2004, the New Jersey Department of Education mandated that all leadership preparation programs in the state align with the Interstate School Leadership Licensure Consortia standards. In response, 17 preparation programs established a chapter of the National Council of Professors of Educational Administration. In this article, we describe how…
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A Balancing Act: School Budgeting and Resource Allocation on a New Dual Language Campus
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Knight, David S.; Izquierdo, Elena; DeMatthews, David E.
2016-01-01
Dual language instructional models have great potential to create inclusive learning environments for traditional under-served students and boost student outcomes. However, principals face many barriers to implementation. One of the key challenges is aligning resources to ensure that the school has (a) an appropriate number of certificated…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Reveley, James
2013-01-01
Positive psychology is influencing educational policy and practice in Britain and North America. This article reveals how this psychological discourse and its offshoot school-based training programs, which stress happiness, self-improvement and well-being, align with an emergent socio-economic formation: cognitive capitalism. Three key points are…
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Designing an International Business Curriculum: A Market-Driven Approach.
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Javalgi, Rajshekhar G.; Vogelsang-Coombs, Vera; Lawson, Diana A.; White, D. Steven
1997-01-01
Describes a market-driven approach to international business curriculum development used in creation of a curriculum for a new school of international business. The school's leadership sought input from over 100 chief executives to determine how to align the curriculum with international business needs, and conducted structured focus groups and a…
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A Powerful Convergence: Community Schools and Early Childhood Education
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Jacobson, David
2018-01-01
Communities around the country are converging on a new approach to raising achievement for low-income children. This approach draws on two reform movements: (1) full-service community schools that provide wraparound health and social services to children and families, and (2) Prenatal through Grade 3 initiatives to improve quality, alignment, and…
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The Use of Science Kits in the Professional Development of Rural Elementary School Teachers
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Sherman, Ann; MacDonald, A. Leo
2008-01-01
This study reports on a science professional development initiative with elementary school teachers in Canada. Grades 4 and 5 teachers were involved in the implementation and modification of science kits, together with corresponding professional development activities. Each kit was aligned to specific outcomes in the curriculum and provided a…
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50 Million Strong for All: Universally Designing CSPAPs to Align with APE Best Practices
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Brian, Ali; Grenier, Michelle; Lieberman, Lauren J.; Egan, Cate; Taunton, Sally
2017-01-01
Many children in the United States fail to meet the national recommendations for daily moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA). However, children with disabilities are more sedentary than their typically developed peers. Comprehensive school physical activity programming (CSPAP) is a whole-of-school approach to provide children with…
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Science Shorts: "Sounds" Like Science
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Arnone, Kathryn; Morris, Bethany
2014-01-01
It seems each new school year brings its own opportunities to grow as an educator. As teachers in a STEM focused school that serves primarily at-risk students, the authors face a new challenge in rethinking their instruction to align with the "Next Generation Science Standards". This involves changing the focus of units previously taught…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Hill, Margaret; Benoit, Robert
1998-01-01
Reviews the resources available for social studies teachers from the Schools of California Online Resources for Education (SCORE): History Social Science World Wide Web site. Includes curriculum-aligned resources and lessons; standards and assessment information; interactive projects and field trips; teacher chat area; professional development…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Nyachae, Tiffany M.
2016-01-01
Millennial Black women teachers wrestle with two simultaneous burdens: disrupting the racist and sexist status quo of schooling through curriculum, and employing tactics to survive school politics among their majority White women colleagues. This article describes how the "Sisters of Promise" (SOP) curriculum aligned with Black feminism…
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The Best Laid Plans: Pay for Performance Incentive Programs for School Leaders
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Goff, Peter; Goldring, Ellen; Canney, Melissa
2016-01-01
In an era of heightened accountability and limited fiscal resources, school districts have sought novel ways to increase the effectiveness of their principals in an effort to increase student proficiency. To address these needs, some districts have turned to pay-for-performance programs, aligning leadership goals with financial incentives to…
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Validation of a school-based amblyopia screening protocol in a kindergarten population.
Casas-Llera, Pilar; Ortega, Paula; Rubio, Inmaculada; Santos, Verónica; Prieto, María J; Alio, Jorge L
2016-08-04
To validate a school-based amblyopia screening program model by comparing its outcomes to those of a state-of-the-art conventional ophthalmic clinic examination in a kindergarten population of children between the ages of 4 and 5 years. An amblyopia screening protocol, which consisted of visual acuity measurement using Lea charts, ocular alignment test, ocular motility assessment, and stereoacuity with TNO random-dot test, was performed at school in a pediatric 4- to 5-year-old population by qualified healthcare professionals. The outcomes were validated in a selected group by a conventional ophthalmologic examination performed in a fully equipped ophthalmologic center. The ophthalmologic evaluation was used to confirm whether or not children were correctly classified by the screening protocol. The sensitivity and specificity of the test model to detect amblyopia were established. A total of 18,587 4- to 5-year-old children were subjected to the amblyopia screening program during the 2010-2011 school year. A population of 100 children were selected for the ophthalmologic validation screening. A sensitivity of 89.3%, specificity of 93.1%, positive predictive value of 83.3%, negative predictive value of 95.7%, positive likelihood ratio of 12.86, and negative likelihood ratio of 0.12 was obtained for the amblyopia screening validation model. The amblyopia screening protocol model tested in this investigation shows high sensitivity and specificity in detecting high-risk cases of amblyopia compared to the standard ophthalmologic examination. This screening program may be highly relevant for amblyopia screening at schools.
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Exploring Astrobiology: Future and In-Service Teacher Research Experiences
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Cola, J.; Williams, L. D.; Snell, T.; Gaucher, E.; Harris, B.; Usselman, M. C.; Millman, R. S.
2009-12-01
The Georgia Tech Center for Ribosome Adaptation and Evolution, a center funded by the NASA Astrobiology Institute, developed an educational Astrobiology program titled, “Life on the Edge: Astrobiology.” The purpose of the program was to provide educators with the materials, exposure, and skills necessary to prepare our future workforce and to foster student interest in scientific discovery on Earth and throughout the universe. A one-week, non-residential summer enrichment program for high school students was conducted and tested by two high school educators, an undergraduate student, and faculty in the Schools of Biology, and Chemistry and Biochemistry at Georgia Tech. In an effort to promote and encourage entry into teaching careers, Georgia Tech paired in-service teachers in the Georgia Intern-Fellowship for Teachers (GIFT) program with an undergraduate student interested in becoming a teacher through the Tech to Teaching program. The GIFT and Tech to Teaching fellows investigated extremophiles which have adapted to life under extreme environmental conditions. As a result, extremophiles became the focus of a week-long, “Life on the Edge: Astrobiology” curriculum aligned with the Georgia Performance Standards in Biology. Twenty-five high school students explored the adaptation and survival rates for various types of extremophiles exposed to UV radiation and desiccation; students were also introduced to hands-on activities and techniques such as genomic DNA purification, gel electrophoresis, and Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR). The impact on everyone invested and involved in the Astrobiology program including the GIFT and Tech to Teaching fellows, high school students, and faculty are discussed.
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Hill, Tory C.
2013-01-01
The introduction of No Child Left Behind increased performance expectations for students across the United States and compelled teachers to focus on standardized assessments instead of frequent formative assessments to monitor instruction and promote student learning. Common formative assessments (CFAs) help teachers align curriculum, assessment,…
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PASTA: Ultra-Large Multiple Sequence Alignment for Nucleotide and Amino-Acid Sequences.
Mirarab, Siavash; Nguyen, Nam; Guo, Sheng; Wang, Li-San; Kim, Junhyong; Warnow, Tandy
2015-05-01
We introduce PASTA, a new multiple sequence alignment algorithm. PASTA uses a new technique to produce an alignment given a guide tree that enables it to be both highly scalable and very accurate. We present a study on biological and simulated data with up to 200,000 sequences, showing that PASTA produces highly accurate alignments, improving on the accuracy and scalability of the leading alignment methods (including SATé). We also show that trees estimated on PASTA alignments are highly accurate--slightly better than SATé trees, but with substantial improvements relative to other methods. Finally, PASTA is faster than SATé, highly parallelizable, and requires relatively little memory.
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NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Whittington, Kayla Lee
This study examined the impact of an inquiry based Next Generation Science Standard aligned science unit on elementary students' understanding and application of the eight Science and Engineering Practices and their relation in building student problem solving skills. The study involved 44 second grade students and three participating classroom teachers. The treatment consisted of a school district developed Second Grade Earth Science unit: What is happening to our playground? that was taught at the beginning of the school year. Quantitative results from a Likert type scale pre and post survey and from student content knowledge assessments showed growth in student belief of their own abilities in the science classroom. Qualitative data gathered from student observations and interviews performed at the conclusion of the Earth Science unit further show gains in student understanding and attitudes. This study adds to the existing literature on the importance of standard aligned, inquiry based science curriculum that provides time for students to engage in science practices.
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Klisch, Yvonne; Miller, Leslie M.; Beier, Margaret E.; Wang, Shu
2012-01-01
A multimedia game was designed to serve as a dual-purpose intervention that aligned with National Science Content Standards, while also conveying knowledge about the consequences of alcohol consumption for a secondary school audience. A tertiary goal was to positively impact adolescents' attitudes toward science through career role-play experiences within the game. In a pretest/delayed posttest design, middle and high school students, both male and female, demonstrated significant gains on measures of content knowledge and attitudes toward science. The best predictors of these outcomes were the players' ratings of the game's usability and satisfaction with the game. The outcomes suggest that game interventions can successfully teach standards-based science content, target age-appropriate health messages, and impact students' attitudes toward science. PMID:22383621
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Klisch, Yvonne; Miller, Leslie M; Beier, Margaret E; Wang, Shu
2012-01-01
A multimedia game was designed to serve as a dual-purpose intervention that aligned with National Science Content Standards, while also conveying knowledge about the consequences of alcohol consumption for a secondary school audience. A tertiary goal was to positively impact adolescents' attitudes toward science through career role-play experiences within the game. In a pretest/delayed posttest design, middle and high school students, both male and female, demonstrated significant gains on measures of content knowledge and attitudes toward science. The best predictors of these outcomes were the players' ratings of the game's usability and satisfaction with the game. The outcomes suggest that game interventions can successfully teach standards-based science content, target age-appropriate health messages, and impact students' attitudes toward science.
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Twenty-First Century Skills and School Programs: Implementation at a Suburban Elementary School
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Uduigwome, George Esele
2012-01-01
Under-utilization of human potential coupled with the need to maintain alignment with the demands imposed by globalization (e.g. sustainable development, citizenship, self-actualization, ability to respond to the emergence of cutting-edge technologies) have led to calls for policy and practice reorientations in the field of education. In response,…
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The Virtue Project: Promoting a Culture of Civic Virtue in Our Schools
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Macioci, Bob
2013-01-01
In this article, Bob Macioci, dean of student affairs at Cushing Academy in Massachusetts, describes the effort to elevate and align character education curriculum with the school's larger mission by the establishment of the Virtue Project, a program that challenges a select group of student leaders to promote and encourage both the intrinsic and…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Shorner-Johnson, Kevin
2017-01-01
When music education is formalized within schools and non-governmental organizations, it often becomes aligned with justice-oriented aims of providing universal access to music education. This qualitative case study examines the formation of a marching band within a Haitian school in northeastern Haiti. Data sources collected and analyzed included…
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A Theoretically and Ethically Grounded Approach to Mindfulness Practices in the Primary Grades
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Moreno, Amanda J.
2017-01-01
As mindfulness practices become more widely implemented in schools, they are attracting both keen interest and strong criticism. It is important that mindfulness-based programs adhere to sound child development principles, be aligned with the neuroscience of stress, be integrated in a holistic manner by teachers throughout the school day, and…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Friedman, Lawrence B.; Margolin, Jonathan; Swanlund, Andrew; Dhillon, Sonica; Liu, Feng
2017-01-01
Playground Physics is a technology-based application and accompanying curriculum designed by New York Hall of Science (NYSCI) to support middle school students' science engagement and learning of force, energy, and motion. The program includes professional development, the Playground Physics app, and a curriculum aligned with New York State…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Dary, Teri; Pickeral, Terry; Shumer, Rob; Williams, Anderson
2016-01-01
This position paper on student engagement is organized in response to major questions on how student engagement aligns with dropout prevention. Through a set of questions and responses, the "Weaving Student Engagement Into the Core Practices of Schools" position paper on student engagement : (1) defines the term "student…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Cramm, Heidi; Egan, Mary
2015-01-01
Poor handwriting is a common reason for referral to school-based occupational therapy. A survey was used to explore the extent to which current practice patterns in Ontario, Canada, align with evidence on effective intervention for handwriting. Knowledge-to-practice gaps were identified related to focus on performance components versus…
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Pieces of the Learning Puzzle: Aligned Goals Shape Learning for One and All
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Crow, Tracy
2015-01-01
Educators are demanding learning specific to their needs, and there are more options than ever for school systems to personalize learning. Sometimes these personalized learning options go hand-in-hand with teacher effectiveness systems that districts use to identify areas for educator growth. At the same time, schools and teams set collective…
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The Link between the Emotional Consequences of Child Sexual Abuse and School Experiences
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Phasha, Tlakale Nareadi
2008-01-01
The present paper presents findings drawn from a qualitative study that investigated the impact of childhood sexual abuse on school functioning among young adult survivors in South Africa. Data were obtained by means of in-depth individual interviews with 22 young adults. Analyzing the interviews following procedures aligned to a grounded theory…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Henderson, Susan; Petrosino, Anthony; Guckenburg, Sarah; Hamilton, Stephen
2008-01-01
This technical brief examines whether, after two years of implementation, schools in Massachusetts using quarterly benchmark exams aligned with state standards in middle school mathematics showed greater gains in student achievement than those not doing so. A quasi-experimental design, using covariate matching and comparative interrupted…
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Portraits of Innovative Vocational Schools in South Eastern Europe
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Oldroyd, David, Ed.; Nielsen, Soren, Ed.
2010-01-01
The reform of South Eastern European country vocational education and training (VET) systems has been underway for more than a decade. Initially major efforts focused on reforming the curricula of the vocational schools and training centres to align them better with the rapidly changing needs of the labour market and society. Later the focus moved…
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Shifting the Role: School-District Superintendents' Experiences as They Build a Learning Community
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Dickson, John; Mitchell, Coral
2014-01-01
This paper presents the findings of a qualitative action-research study that explored how one group of district-level school superintendents conceptualized their role as they built their own learning community. Data analysis yielded four elements that supported the participants' efforts: (a) using a process as an entry point, (b) aligning various…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Warren, Jeffrey M.; Hale, Robyn W.
2016-01-01
The non-cognitive factors (NCFs) endorsed by Sedlacek (2004) appear to align with the core values of rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT). This article explores theoretical and empirical evidence that suggests REBT fosters the development of NCFs. School counselors can promote non-cognitive development by embedding REBT throughout direct and…
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CTE Policy Past, Present, and Future: Driving Forces behind the Evolution of Federal Priorities
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Imperatore, Catherine; Hyslop, Alisha
2017-01-01
Federal legislation has driven and been receptive to the vision of a rigorous, relevant career and technical education (CTE) system integrated with academics and aligned across middle school, secondary school, and postsecondary education. This article uses a social policy analysis approach to trace the history of federal CTE policy throughout the…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Taylor, Gregory S.; Hord, Casey
2016-01-01
An exploratory study of a middle school curriculum directly aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards was conducted with a focus on how the curriculum addresses the instructional needs of students with learning disabilities. A descriptive analysis of a lesson on speed and velocity was conducted and implications discussed for students with…
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Berkeley Lab's Cool Your School Program
Brady, Susan; Gilbert, Haley; McCarthy, Robert
2018-02-02
Cool Your School is a series of 6th-grade, classroom-based, science activities rooted in Berkeley Lab's cool-surface and cool materials research and aligned with California science content standards. The activities are designed to build knowledge, stimulate curiosity, and carry the conversation about human-induced climate change, and what can be done about it, into the community.
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Pagnotta, Kelly D; Mazerolle, Stephanie M; Pitney, William A; Burton, Laura J; Casa, Douglas J
2016-04-01
Although consensus statements and recommendations from professional organizations aim to reduce the incidence of injury or sudden death in sport, nothing is mandated at the high school level. This allows states the freedom to create and implement individual policies. An example of a recommended policy is heat acclimatization. Despite its efficacy in reducing sudden death related to heat stroke, very few states follow the recommended guidelines. To retroactively examine why and how 3 states were able to facilitate the successful creation and adoption of heat-acclimatization guidelines. Qualitative study. High school athletic associations in Arkansas, Georgia, and New Jersey. Eight men and 3 women (n = 11; 6 athletic trainers; 2 members of high school athletic associations; 2 parents; 1 physician) participated. Participant recruitment ceased when data saturation was reached. All phone interviews were digitally recorded and transcribed verbatim. A grounded-theory approach guided analysis and multiple analysts and peer review were used to establish credibility. Each state had a different catalyst to change (student-athlete death, empirical data, proactivity). Recommendations from national governing bodies guided the policy creation. Once the decision to implement change was made, the states displayed 2 similarities: shared leadership and open communication between medical professionals and members of the high school athletic association helped overcome barriers. The initiating factor that spurred the change varied, yet shared leadership and communication fundamentally allowed for successful adoption of the policy. Our participants were influenced by the recommendations from national governing bodies, which align with the institutional change theory. As more states begin to examine and improve their health and safety policies, this information could serve as a valuable resource for athletic trainers in other states and for future health and safety initiatives.
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77 FR 4087 - Nutrition Standards in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs
Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014
2012-01-26
...This final rule updates the meal patterns and nutrition standards for the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs to align them with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. This rule requires most schools to increase the availability of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fat-free and low-fat fluid milk in school meals; reduce the levels of sodium, saturated fat and trans fat in meals; and meet the nutrition needs of school children within their calorie requirements. These improvements to the school meal programs, largely based on recommendations made by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, are expected to enhance the diet and health of school children, and help mitigate the childhood obesity trend.
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NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Kapetanis, Ana Cristina
The use of high stakes testing to improve educational outcomes falls short in many settings. Proposals for improvement include providing more opportunities for students to extend their thinking, gaining experience in the social nature of science, and learning how to interpret, explain, and justify results. This phenomenological qualitative project study took place in a small independent school in the southeastern United States that lacked a cohesive elementary science program and was looking to create a vertically aligned science curriculum based on constructivism. The research question asked what skills and concepts teachers believed should be included in an elementary science program in order for students to learn scientific inquiry to be better prepared for middle and upper school science subjects. Using focus groups, observations, and interviews of a small sample of 4 teachers, data were collected, transcribed, and categorized through open coding. Inductive analysis was employed to look for patterns and emerging themes that painted a picture of how teachers viewed the current science program and what attributes they felt were important in the creation of a new curriculum. The findings revealed that teachers felt there was lack of a vertically aligned science curriculum, availability of resources throughout the school, and consistent support to provide an effective science program. The recommendations called for developing an elementary science program that includes all strands proposed by the National Science Education Standards and would provide students with opportunities to engage in scientific inquiry, conduct detailed observations, and learn to support conclusions using data. The implications for positive social change include development of programs that result in integrated science learning.
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NO2 sensing at room temperature using vertically aligned MoS2 flakes network
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Kumar, Rahul; Goel, Neeraj; Kumar, Mahesh
2018-04-01
To exploit the role of alignment of MoS2 flake in chemical sensing, here, we have synthesized the horizontally and vertically aligned MoS2 flake network using conventional chemical vapor deposition technique. The morphology and number of layers were confirmed by SEM and Raman spectroscopy, respectively. The sensing performance of horizontally aligned and vertically aligned flake network was investigated to NO2 at room temperature. Vertically aligned MoS2 based sensor showed higher sensitivity 51.54 % and 63.2 % compared to horizontally aligned MoS2 sensor' sensitivity of 35.32 % and 45.2 % to 50 ppm and 100 ppm NO2, respectively. This high sensitivity attributed to the high aspect ratio and high adsorption energy on the edge site of vertically aligned MoS2.
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Ozer, Emily J; Newlan, Sami; Douglas, Laura; Hubbard, Elizabeth
2013-09-01
This multi-method study examines tensions in the practice of youth-led participatory research (YPAR) in urban high schools among 15 semester-cohorts. Student participants in the present study were 77 ethnically diverse youth from four high schools in a major metropolitan school district. Data were gathered using systematic classroom observations, interviews with teachers and students involved in the projects, and participant observation. The two most commonly-constrained phases of the YPAR project were issue selection and action steps. A central tension in the issue selection phase for projects enacted across multiple semester cohorts was the tension between original inquiry and "traction:" Sticking with the same topic enabled sustained building of strategic alliances and expertise for making change, but limited the incoming cohort's power to define the problem to be addressed. In further analyses, we identified processes that promoted student power despite continuity-related constraints-teachers' framing and buy-in strategies, "micro-power" compensation, and alignment of students' interests with the prior cohort-as well as constraints in other phases of the projects. This study's findings regarding the promotion of youth power in the face of constraints advance the integration of theory and practice in youth-led research and have implications for participatory research more broadly.
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Lyons, Gregory L; Huber, Heartley B; Carter, Erik W; Chen, Rui; Asmus, Jennifer M
2016-07-01
Although enhancing the social competence of students with severe disabilities has long remained a prominent focus of school-based intervention efforts, relatively little attention has focused on identifying the most critical social and behavioral needs of students during high school. We examined the social skills and problem behaviors of 137 adolescents with severe disabilities from the vantage point of both special educators and parents. We sought to identify areas of potential intervention need, explore factors associated with social skill and problem behavior ratings, and examine the extent to which teachers and parents converged in their assessments of these needs. Our findings indicate teachers and parents of high school students with severe disabilities rated social skills as considerably below average and problem behaviors as above average. In addition, lower social skills ratings were evident for students with greater support needs, lower levels of overall adaptive behavior, and a special education label of autism. We found moderate consistency in the degree to which teachers and parents aligned in their assessments of both social skills and problem behavior. We offer recommendations for assessment and intervention focused on strengthening the social competence of adolescents with severe disabilities within secondary school classrooms, as well as promising avenues for future research.
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PASTA: Ultra-Large Multiple Sequence Alignment for Nucleotide and Amino-Acid Sequences
Mirarab, Siavash; Nguyen, Nam; Guo, Sheng; Wang, Li-San; Kim, Junhyong
2015-01-01
Abstract We introduce PASTA, a new multiple sequence alignment algorithm. PASTA uses a new technique to produce an alignment given a guide tree that enables it to be both highly scalable and very accurate. We present a study on biological and simulated data with up to 200,000 sequences, showing that PASTA produces highly accurate alignments, improving on the accuracy and scalability of the leading alignment methods (including SATé). We also show that trees estimated on PASTA alignments are highly accurate—slightly better than SATé trees, but with substantial improvements relative to other methods. Finally, PASTA is faster than SATé, highly parallelizable, and requires relatively little memory. PMID:25549288
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DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Hoang, Thiem; Lazarian, A.
The radiative torque (RAT) alignment of interstellar grains with ordinary paramagnetic susceptibilities has been supported by earlier studies. The alignment of such grains depends on the so-called RAT parameter q {sup max}, which is determined by the grain shape. In this paper, we elaborate on our model of RAT alignment for grains with enhanced magnetic susceptibility due to iron inclusions, such that RAT alignment is magnetically enhanced, which we term the MRAT mechanism. Such grains can be aligned with high angular momentum at the so-called high- J attractor points, achieving a high degree of alignment. Using our analytical model ofmore » RATs, we derive the critical value of the magnetic relaxation parameter δ {sub m} to produce high- J attractor points as functions of q {sup max} and the anisotropic radiation angle relative to the magnetic field ψ . We find that if about 10% of the total iron abundance present in silicate grains is forming iron clusters, this is sufficient to produce high- J attractor points for all reasonable values of q {sup max}. To calculate the degree of grain alignment, we carry out numerical simulations of MRAT alignment by including stochastic excitations from gas collisions and magnetic fluctuations. We show that large grains can achieve perfect alignment when the high- J attractor point is present, regardless of the values of q {sup max}. Our obtained results pave the way for the physical modeling of polarized thermal dust emission as well as magnetic dipole emission. We also find that millimeter-sized grains in accretion disks may be aligned with the magnetic field if they are incorporated with iron nanoparticles.« less
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Budavari, Tamas; Langmead, Ben; Wheelan, Sarah J.; Salzberg, Steven L.; Szalay, Alexander S.
2015-01-01
When computing alignments of DNA sequences to a large genome, a key element in achieving high processing throughput is to prioritize locations in the genome where high-scoring mappings might be expected. We formulated this task as a series of list-processing operations that can be efficiently performed on graphics processing unit (GPU) hardware.We followed this approach in implementing a read aligner called Arioc that uses GPU-based parallel sort and reduction techniques to identify high-priority locations where potential alignments may be found. We then carried out a read-by-read comparison of Arioc’s reported alignments with the alignments found by several leading read aligners. With simulated reads, Arioc has comparable or better accuracy than the other read aligners we tested. With human sequencing reads, Arioc demonstrates significantly greater throughput than the other aligners we evaluated across a wide range of sensitivity settings. The Arioc software is available at https://github.com/RWilton/Arioc. It is released under a BSD open-source license. PMID:25780763
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X-ray verification of an optically aligned off-plane grating module
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Donovan, Benjamin D.; McEntaffer, Randall L.; Tutt, James H.; DeRoo, Casey T.; Allured, Ryan; Gaskin, Jessica A.; Kolodziejczak, Jeffery J.
2018-01-01
Off-plane x-ray reflection gratings are theoretically capable of achieving high resolution and high diffraction efficiencies over the soft x-ray bandpass, making them an ideal technology to implement on upcoming x-ray spectroscopy missions. To achieve high effective area, these gratings must be aligned into grating modules. X-ray testing was performed on an aligned grating module to assess the current optical alignment methods. Results indicate that the grating module achieved the desired alignment for an upcoming x-ray spectroscopy suborbital rocket payload with modest effective area and resolving power. These tests have also outlined a pathway towards achieving the stricter alignment tolerances of future x-ray spectrometer payloads, which require improvements in alignment metrology, grating fabrication, and testing techniques.
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Schmidt, Sara C.; Wandersman, Abraham; Hills, Kimberly J.
2015-01-01
While many states mandate some type of sexuality education in schools, state legislation varies widely across the United States. Nevertheless, though much has been written about the behavioral outcomes of sexuality education programs shown to be effective at reducing one or more risky sexual behaviors in teenagers, less is known about the exact…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Ramful, Ajay; Lowrie, Thomas; Logan, Tracy
2017-01-01
This article describes the development and validation of a newly designed instrument for measuring the spatial ability of middle school students (11-13 years old). The design of the Spatial Reasoning Instrument (SRI) is based on three constructs (mental rotation, spatial orientation, and spatial visualization) and is aligned to the type of spatial…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Dorrington, Jamie
2018-01-01
This article reports some of the findings from research conducted by the author, who was also the principal of Saint Stephen's College, a coeducational independent school in South-east Queensland. The school was in the early stages of transitioning to a new organisational architecture (the way the physical, digital and human resources are aligned)…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Jones-McNeil, Anissa
2010-01-01
The Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975 established the basis for the mandate to provide all children with disabilities a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) in the Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) and aligned the state and school districts ability to receive federal funding. The most recent legislation, Individuals with…
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Army AL&T, October-December 2007
2007-12-01
school students and under- graduates, including cadets and midship- men, to study science and engineering. IAT is also the lead biannual Electromag- netic... learning . The ICT has developed active partner- ships with government laboratories, other universities, Army schools , PMs and industry to align its...information is estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instructions , searching existing data sources, gathering and
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Cycle-Based Budgeting and Continuous Improvement at Jefferson County Public Schools: Year 2 Report
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Yan, Bo
2017-01-01
This report documents the second year of implementing Cycle-based Budgeting at Jefferson County Public Schools (Louisville, KY). In addition to aligning another $24.3 million new spending with the district's strategic plan, $20.3 million of existing spending was rolled into the process. Next, the challenges faced by the district to review 105…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Mims, Pamela J.; Lee, Angel; Browder, Diane M.; Zakas, Tracie-Lynn; Flynn, Susan
2012-01-01
This pilot study sought to develop and evaluate the use of a treatment package that included systematic and direct instruction on acquisition of literacy skills aligned with middle school English/Language Arts standards for students with moderate to severe disabilities, including autism. Participants included five teachers and 15 middle school…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Serva, Mark A.; Fuller, Mark A.
2004-01-01
Current methods of evaluating learning and instruction have not kept pace with changes in learning theory, or with the transformed technological infrastructure of the modern business school classroom. Without reliable and valid instructional measurement systems, it is virtually impossible to benchmark new pedagogical techniques, assess the value…
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Implementation of a Text-Based Content Intervention in Secondary Social Studies Classes.
Wanzek, Jeanne; Vaughn, Sharon
2016-12-01
We describe teacher fidelity (adherence to the components of the treatment as specified by the research team) based on a series of studies of a multicomponent intervention, Promoting Acceleration of Comprehension and Content Through Text (PACT), with middle and high school social studies teachers and their students. Findings reveal that even with highly specified materials and implementing practices that are aligned with effective reading comprehension and content instruction, teachers' fidelity was consistently low for some components and high for others. Teachers demonstrated consistently high implementation fidelity and quality for the instructional components of building background knowledge (comprehension canopy) and teaching key content vocabulary (essential words), whereas we recorded consistently lower fidelity and quality of implementation for the instructional components of critical reading and knowledge application. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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Profiles of Social-Emotional Readiness for 4-Year-Old Kindergarten
Miller, Michele M.; Goldsmith, H. Hill
2017-01-01
Children who are viewed as ready for kindergarten and/or first grade typically exhibit high attention, approach, and adaptability coupled with low activity and reactivity. These characteristics tend to be especially valued by teachers and describe a child who is “teachable,” or school ready. Since many children enter formal schooling earlier by attending pre-K for 4-year olds, often called 4-year-old kindergarten, there is a need to examine school readiness earlier than kindergarten, which may look very different developmentally. If we expect children to enter formal schooling at age 4, then it should be clear what we expect of them in order to succeed. We explored which temperament, behavior, and cognitive items teachers of 4-year-old kindergarten (N = 29) rated as highly characteristic versus uncharacteristic of ready 4-year-olds. This teacher-generated data identified five clusters of children who were deemed ready for 4-year-old kindergarten. Teachers noted high cognitive skills and following directions as salient in many of the clusters, which aligns with the readiness expectations for kindergarten and first grade. However, items that distinguished the five clusters from one another referenced differences in activity level, sociability, shyness, enthusiasm, and patience that were not expected based on the previous literature with slightly older children. Given that some of the children teachers identified as especially ready for 4-year-old kindergarten did not fit this static model of a “teachable” child, a single profile of school readiness at an early age may be inappropriate. PMID:28197124
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Later school start time is associated with improved sleep and daytime functioning in adolescents.
Boergers, Julie; Gable, Christopher J; Owens, Judith A
2014-01-01
Chronic insufficient sleep is a growing concern among adolescents and is associated with a host of adverse health consequences. Early school start times may be an environmental contributor to this problem. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of a delay in school start time on sleep patterns, sleepiness, mood, and health-related outcomes. Boarding students (n = 197, mean age = 15.6 yr) attending an independent high school completed the School Sleep Habits Survey before and after the school start time was experimentally delayed from 8:00 a.m. to 8:25 a.m. The delay in school start time was associated with a significant (29 min) increase in sleep duration on school nights. The percentage of students receiving 8 or more hours of sleep on a school night increased to more than double, from 18% to 44%. Students in 9th and 10th grade and those with lower baseline sleep amounts were more likely to report improvements in sleep duration after the schedule change. Daytime sleepiness, depressed mood, and caffeine use were all significantly reduced after the delay in school start time. Sleep duration reverted to baseline levels when the original (earlier) school start time was reinstituted. A modest (25 min) delay in school start time was associated with significant improvements in sleep duration, daytime sleepiness, mood, and caffeine use. These findings have important implications for public policy and add to research suggesting the health benefits of modifying school schedules to more closely align with adolescents' circadian rhythms and sleep needs.
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DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Lee, Kyung Eun; Oh, Jung Jae; Yun, Taeyeong
Graphene is an emerging graphitic carbon materials, consisting of sp{sup 2} hybridized two dimensinal honeycomb structure. It has been widely studied to incorporate graphene with polymer to utilize unique property of graphene and reinforce electrical, mechanical and thermal property of polymer. In composite materials, orientation control of graphene significantly influences the property of composite. Until now, a few method has been developed for orientation control of graphene within polymer matrix. Here, we demonstrate facile fabrication of high aligned large graphene oxide (LGO) composites in polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) matrix exploiting liquid crystallinity. Liquid crystalline aqueous dispersion of LGO is parallel oriented withinmore » flat confinement geometry. Freeze-drying of the aligned LGO dispersion and subsequent infiltration with PDMS produce highly aligned LGO/PDMS composites. Owing to the large shape anisotropy of LGO, liquid crystalline alignment occurred at low concentration of 2 mg/ml in aqueous dispersion, which leads to the 0.2 wt% LGO loaded composites. - Graphical abstract: Liquid crystalline LGO aqueous dispersions are spontaneous parallel aligned between geometric confinement for highly aligned LGO/polymer composite fabrication. - Highlights: • A simple fabrication method for highly aligned LGO/PDMS composites is proposed. • LGO aqueous dispersion shows nematic liquid crystalline phase at 0.8 mg/ml. • In nematic phase, LGO flakes are highly aligned by geometric confinement. • Infiltration of PDMS into freeze-dried LGO allows highly aligned LGO/PDMS composites.« less
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An Alignment/Transfer Experiment with Low Socioeconomic Level Students.
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Elia, June Isaacs
1994-01-01
This study examined the amount of variance explained by alignment of testing to instruction among low socioeconomic level fourth graders, proposing two instructional alignment hypotheses. Results indicated that alignment had an unusually high effect. Low performing low socioeconomic level students achieved high success levels when conditions of…
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Dudovitz, Rebecca N; Perez-Aguilar, Giselle; Kim, Grace; Wong, Mitchell D; Chung, Paul J
2017-03-01
Studies suggest adolescent substance use aligns with academic and behavioral self-concept (whether teens think of themselves as good or bad students and as rule followers or rule breakers) as well as peer and adult social networks. Schools are an important context in which self-concept and social networks develop, but it remains unclear how school environments might be leveraged to promote healthy development and prevent substance use. We sought to describe how youth perceive the relationships among school environments, adolescent self-concept, social networks, and substance use. Semistructured interviews with 32 low-income minority youth (aged 17-22 years) who participated in a prior study, explored self-concept development, school environments, social networks, and substance use decisions. Recruitment was stratified by whether, during high school, they had healthy or unhealthy self-concept profiles and had engaged in or abstained from substance use. Youth described feeling labeled by peers and teachers and how these labels became incorporated into their self-concept. Teachers who made students feel noticed (eg, by learning students' names) and had high academic expectations reinforced healthy self-concepts. Academic tracking, extracurricular activities, and school norms determined potential friendship networks, grouping students either with well-behaving or misbehaving peers. Youth described peer groups, combined with their self-concept, shaping their substance use decisions. Affirming healthy aspects of their self-concept at key risk behavior decision points helped youth avoid substance use in the face of peer pressure. Youth narratives suggest school environments shape adolescent self-concept and adult and peer social networks, all of which impact substance use. Copyright © 2016 Academic Pediatric Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Dudovitz, Rebecca N.; Perez-Aguilar, Giselle; Kim, Grace; Wong, Mitchell D.; Chung, Paul J.
2016-01-01
Objective Studies suggest adolescent substance use aligns with academic and behavioral self-concept (whether teens think of themselves as good or bad students and as rule followers or rule breakers) as well as peer and adult social networks. Schools are an important context in which self-concept and social networks develop, but it remains unclear how school environments might be leveraged to promote healthy development and prevent substance use. We sought to describe how youth perceive the relationships among school environments, adolescent self-concept, social networks, and substance use. Methods Semi-structured interviews with 32 low-income minority youth (ages 17-22) who participated in a prior study, explored self-concept development, school environments, social networks, and substance use decisions. Recruitment was stratified by whether, during high school, they had healthy or unhealthy self-concept profiles and had engaged in or abstained from substance use. Results Youth described feeling labeled by peers and teachers and how these labels became incorporated into their self-concept. Teachers who made students feel noticed (e.g., by learning students' names) and had high academic expectations reinforced healthy self-concepts. Academic tracking, extra-curricular activities, and school norms determined potential friendship networks, grouping students either with well-behaving or misbehaving peers. Youth described peer groups, combined with their self-concept, shaping their substance use decisions. Affirming healthy aspects of their self-concept at key risk behavior decision points helped youth avoid substance use in the face of peer pressure. Conclusions Youth narratives suggest school environments shape adolescent self-concept and adult and peer social networks, all of which impact substance use. PMID:28259338
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Lunstead, Julie; Weitzman, Elissa R; Kaye, Dylan; Levy, Sharon
2017-01-01
Screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment (SBIRT) is recommended as a strategy to prevent or reduce adolescent substance use. Offering SBIRT in schools may provide an opportunity to reach adolescents not accessing primary care. The objective is to assess school nurses' attitudes and practices regarding adolescent SBIRT. The authors administered electronically and in person a questionnaire including 29 items on SBIRT attitudes and practices to school nurses registered for the Northeastern University's School Health Institute Summer Program in Massachusetts (N = 168). Survey questions were adapted from a questionnaire originally developed by the American Academy of Pediatrics. One hundred and forty-four nurses completed the survey for a response rate of 85.7%. More than three quarters of the respondents (77.0%) were in favor of universal alcohol screening in schools. None of the respondents reported screening their students on a regular basis. More than half (64.4%) of nurses reported screening students; however, they did so only when they suspected alcohol use. During these instances, only 17.9% used a validated screening tool and almost all (98.2%) used face-to-face clinical interviews. When addressing alcohol use by a student, the large majority of respondents reported including the following recommended clinical strategies: asking about problems related to alcohol use (56.3%), explaining the harms of alcohol use (70.1%), and advising abstinence (73.6%). On average, respondents spend 5 to 10 minutes discussing alcohol use with their students. Survey respondents were supportive of universal alcohol screening in school, although few were doing so at the time. When respondents identified students using alcohol, their interventions were closely aligned with clinical recommendations for brief intervention. Implementation of SBIRT that focuses on standardized, annual screening has the potential to deliver high-quality care in this setting.
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NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Geary, E. E.; Egger, A. E.; Julin, S.; Ronca, R.; Vokos, S.; Ebert, E.; Clark-Blickenstaff, J.; Nollmeyer, G.
2015-12-01
A consortium of two and four year Washington State Colleges and Universities in partnership with Washington's Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI), the Teachers of Teachers of Science, and Teachers of Teachers of Mathematics, and other key stakeholders, is currently working to improve science and mathematics learning for all Washington State students by creating a new vision for STEM teacher preparation in Washington State aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in Mathematics and Language Arts. Specific objectives include: (1) strengthening elementary and secondary STEM Teacher Preparation courses and curricula, (2) alignment of STEM teacher preparation programs across Washington State with the NGSS and CCSS, (3) development of action plans to support implementation of STEM Teacher Preparation program improvement at Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) across the state, (4) stronger collaborations between HEIs, K-12 schools, government agencies, Non-Governmental Organizations, and STEM businesses, involved in the preparation of preservice STEM teachers, (5) new teacher endorsements in Computer Science and Engineering, and (6) development of a proto-type model for rapid, adaptable, and continuous improvement of STEM teacher preparation programs. A 2015 NGSS gap analysis of teacher preparation programs across Washington State indicates relatively good alignment of courses and curricula with NGSS Disciplinary Core Ideas and Scientific practices, but minimal alignment with NGSS Engineering practices and Cross Cutting Concepts. Likewise, Computer Science and Sustainability ideas and practices are not well represented in current courses and curricula. During the coming year teams of STEM faculty, education faculty and administrators will work collaboratively to develop unique action plans for aligning and improving STEM teacher preparation courses and curricula at their institutions.
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Predicting reading outcomes with progress monitoring slopes among middle grade students
Tolar, Tammy D.; Barth, Amy E.; Fletcher, Jack M.; Francis, David J.; Vaughn, Sharon
2013-01-01
Effective implementation of response-to-intervention (RTI) frameworks depends on efficient tools for monitoring progress. Evaluations of growth (i.e., slope) may be less efficient than evaluations of status at a single time point, especially if slopes do not add to predictions of outcomes over status. We examined progress monitoring slope validity for predicting reading outcomes among middle school students by evaluating latent growth models for different progress monitoring measure-outcome combinations. We used multi-group modeling to evaluate the effects of reading ability, reading intervention, and progress monitoring administration condition on slope validity. Slope validity was greatest when progress monitoring was aligned with the outcome (i.e., word reading fluency slope was used to predict fluency outcomes in contrast to comprehension outcomes), but effects varied across administration conditions (viz., repeated reading of familiar vs. novel passages). Unless the progress monitoring measure is highly aligned with outcome, slope may be an inefficient method for evaluating progress in an RTI context. PMID:24659899
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Child and maternal attachment predict school-aged children's psychobiological convergence.
Sichko, Stassja; Borelli, Jessica L; Smiley, Patricia A; Goldstein, Alison; Rasmussen, Hannah F
2018-06-24
Psychobiological convergence-the alignment of task-related changes in children's self-reported and physiological indices of reactivity-has recently emerged as a powerful correlate of children's attachment representations, but has not been explored for its association with children's self-reported attachment, with parents' attachment, or with respect to cardiovascular reactivity. The present study found that, within a diverse community sample of mothers and school-aged children (N = 104, M age = 10.31), the positive link between cardiovascular (respiratory sinus arrhythmia [RSA]) and subjective reactivity to a stressor was only significant among children with high levels of security and children of mothers with low levels of attachment avoidance and anxiety. The convergence of children's subjective and physiological experience is discussed as a key developmental competence that may lay the groundwork for effective coping. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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Case studies of first-year critical science teachers
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Love, Kurt A.
Brent Davis and Dennis Sumara (1997) performed a study of themselves and another professor who took a sabbatical to work in an elementary school for a year. Their intentions, as professors focused on cognition, was to create a change in teaching practices throughout the school that aligned more closely with social cognitive research. However, their experiences did not go as planned. Each found that he could not just simply bring their philosophies into their classrooms independent of the sociocultural context of the school. They found very quickly that none of them could act as fully autonomous agents. They described their experiences as being part of the sociocultural fabric of the school because each of their teaching practices changed in ways that they did not anticipate and in ways that were not philosophically aligned. However, they also found that this was a two-way relationship. They were not describing completely deterministic experiences. Davis and Sumara described observing colleagues changing their practices in ways that did incorporate some of the philosophies that they espoused during their tenure at the elementary school. They explain their experience as one where they were pushed and pulled by the sociocultural context and they also pushed and pulled on the sociocultural context. This dissertation focuses on three first-year science teachers (a 4 th grade teacher and two high school science teachers) who identified as wanting to bring critical, feminist, and ecojustice perspectives into their teaching practices. Each enacts these practices much differently in the context of the sociocultural contexts of their own schools, and often changed their teaching practices in ways that seemed to more closely align with those contexts. Each of the three dealt with external and internal hegemonic pressures that caused them to align more closely with their contexts. The philosophical foundations of their sociocultural contexts were manifested externally through technical controls (i.e. district-wide curriculum, state testing, district-wide common assessments, and state standards) and bureaucratic controls (i.e. mandates from administration that reinforce compliance to the technical controls) (Edwards, 1979; Irwin, 1996), sociocultural cues from administrators, colleagues, and students, and were made seemingly impenetrable via intensification, or high workloads that prevent reflective and critical thinking (Apple, 1988; Irwin, 1996). The internalized hegemonic pressures included their own feelings of internalized domination, surplus powerlessness (driven by feelings of isolation and self-blame) (Irwin, 1996; Lerner, 1986), and internalized dispositional views of their students (driven by feelings that their students were not capable of critical social thinking). Each of their case studies focus on how the philosophical differences between the first-year teachers and the sociocultural contexts contrasted providing constant tension for each of the three teachers in terms of their decision-making and their teaching practices. The technical controls seemed to be at the root of most of the external hegemonic pressures and even their internal hegemonic pressures. This paper will focus on the philosophical underpinnings of the state standards in science, the statewide tests, the district curricula, and district-wide common assessments that drove the teachers' practices. The philosophical foundations of their sociocultural contexts were: (1) knowledge as static and objectified, (2) curricular knowledge as the preferred knowledge, (3) standardized testing as a preferred method of gaining data about students' understandings of content, (4) uniform, decontextualized information as "neutral" facts and preferred knowledge, and (5) the summative view of 1-4 as a schooling process that produces learning that is preferred. The first-year teachers' philosophies together contrasted the philosophies of their sociocultural contexts. The first-year teachers held that: (1) knowledge has a deep connection with power in that knowledge is a construction of those in the dominant groups' views of reality, (2) knowledge is not static, but is a co-creative, continuous process, (3) knowledge is a contested terrain, (4) students should be offered the opportunities to explore the knowledge-power relationships, as well as act in their communities to disrupt social and ecological injustices, and (5) the summative view of 1-4 is their preferred view of the schooling process. This study describes how the three teachers responded to the hegemonic pressures of their sociocultural contexts in the form of technical and bureaucratic controls as well as the amplified messages from their colleagues, administrators, and students. This study also describes their own internalized feelings of fear, isolation, and a sense of not being able to make change in their schools. This study focuses on the complex experience of each of the three teachers as they struggle to exert their agency in a context where the ideology is clearly opposed to their own. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)
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Alignment of Content and Pedagogy in an Earth Systems Course for Pre-Service Middle School Teachers
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Cole, T.; Teed, R.; Slattery, W.
2006-12-01
In 2003 the Ohio Department of Education developed the Ohio K-12 Science Content Standards. These new science standards substantially tracked the goals and objectives of The National Research Council's National Science Education Standards. The Ohio K-12 Science Content Standards followed the National Standards in the content areas of Physical Science, Life Science and Earth and Space Science. At the same time, the state's K-12 schools were gearing up for a new high school graduation requirement, the successful passing of a high-stakes Ohio Graduation Test, given during a student's tenth grade year. Earth and Space science questions make up approximately one third of the science test items. To make it more likely that teachers have the requisite science content knowledge Ohio has recently changed from certification of K-12 teachers to a more content rich licensure standard. This new licensure requirement splits the older certification designation of K-8 into the elementary and middle school licensure areas. Under the new licensure requirements middle school licensure candidates wishing to earn a science concentration now have to take 15 semester hours of content class work in Science. The Ohio Department of Education has strongly suggested that teacher preparation institutions develop new courses for middle school educators in all four areas of concentration, including science. In response to this call for new courses science education faculty in all science areas worked together to develop a comprehensive suite of courses that would target the science content standards guidelines in the state and national standards. The newly developed Earth and Space science course is titled Earth Systems. The course carries 4.5quarter hours of credit and is intended expressly for pre-service middle school (grades 4- 9) science teachers. The content is structured around three modules of study that are designed to develop interdisciplinary science content within the context of past, present and future Earth Systems science. Because the course is created for pre-service teachers, the class models the jigsaw teaching technique, an effective and age-appropriate method of science instruction. This enables pre-service teachers to experience a technique they can use in their own classroom. Course content is aligned with all state and national 4-10 Earth/Space Science standards, which supports pre- service Middle School Science teachers by covering the content areas tested in the Praxis Middle School Science test, a requirement for graduation with licensure from Wright State University. It also helps the pre- service teachers gain experience with the content that they will need to teach to their K-12 students, so they will be able to pass the high-stakes Ohio Graduation Test. Assessment of the Earth Systems course suggests that the course leads to increased science content knowledge that leads to success in passing the Praxis Middle Childhood Science Test, and that the pedagogy modeled in the course is used by the pre- service teachers in their own K-12 teaching upon graduation.
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Morningstar, Mary E.; Bassett, Diane S.; Cashman, Joanne; Kochhar-Bryant, Carol; Wehmeyer, Michael L.
2014-01-01
Society has witnessed significant improvements in the lives of students receiving transition services over the past 30 years. The field of transition has developed an array of evidence-based interventions and promising practices, however, secondary school reform efforts have often overlooked these approaches for youth without disabilities. If we are to see improvements in postsecondary outcomes for all youth, reform efforts must begin with active participation of both general and special educators and critical home, school, and community stakeholders. In the Division on Career Development for Exceptional Individuals’ position paper, we discuss the evolution of transition in light of reform efforts in secondary education. We review and identify secondary educational initiatives that embrace transition principles. Finally, recommendations are provided for advancing alignment of transition services with secondary education reforms. PMID:25221733
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Cosgrove, Heather E.; Nickerson, Amanda B.
2017-01-01
In this cross-sectional study, we examined a matched sample of 924 educators' perceptions of severity of bullying and harassment and school climate prior to (Wave 1 n = 435) and following (Wave 2 n = 489) the implementation of New York's anti-bullying and harassment legislation, the Dignity for All Students Act (DASA). Alignment with DASA mandates…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Gray, DeLeon L.; Wichman, Aaron L.
2012-01-01
We conducted an investigation into a determinant of academic motivation that has implications for how we respond to school violence and tragedy. We conducted two studies to examine whether exposure to messages related to the salience of one's own mortality cause people to align their own academic beliefs more closely with stereotypical beliefs…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Ko, Stephen; Chan, Simon C. H.
2017-01-01
The authors draw on the taxonomy of managerial competencies to assess the alignment of perceptions between industry practitioners and business academics when profiling managerial competencies required for effective performance in workplaces. Findings show that the set of managerial competency profiles, as viewed by practitioners, generally fit…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Lewicki, Roy J.
2012-01-01
As a way to achieve better alignment of the ongoing teaching-research activity gap in business schools, David Balkin and Jeff Mello suggest that schools need to hire academic administrators with significantly developed management skills. The author responds to this recommendation with two concerns. First, many of the causes of the…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Senger, Karen
2012-01-01
Purpose: The purposes of this study were to investigate and describe how elementary teachers in exited Program Improvement-Safe Harbor schools acquire student achievement data through assessments, the strategies and reflections utilized to make sense of the data to improve student achievement, ensure curriculum and instructional goals are aligned,…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Holley, Marc Jacob
2009-01-01
Improving principal quality in Arkansas may be a partial solution to the public policy problem of low performing public schools. Just as policymakers in other states are beginning to explore incentive-based compensation policies to improve principal quality, education policymakers in Arkansas should look to these policies as a way to align goals…
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Influence of repulsion zone in the directional alignment of self-propelled particles
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Cambui, Dorilson
2014-04-01
Collective behavior in animal groups such as schools of fish, swarms of insects or flocks of birds, although a phenomenon widely studied in biological systems, is subject of great interdisciplinary interest. An important tool to describe the dynamics of collective motion and ordered live organisms is the concept of self-propelled particles. Proposed by Vicsek and collaborators, it was considered in this model only as an (single) interaction rule, set as alignment, where particles align to motion the nearest neighbors. In this paper, we have considered a variant of this model by adding a second rule called repulsion zone, where particles repel each other at short distances, in order to investigate the influence of this zone on directional order of the particles.
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Iterative non-sequential protein structural alignment.
Salem, Saeed; Zaki, Mohammed J; Bystroff, Christopher
2009-06-01
Structural similarity between proteins gives us insights into their evolutionary relationships when there is low sequence similarity. In this paper, we present a novel approach called SNAP for non-sequential pair-wise structural alignment. Starting from an initial alignment, our approach iterates over a two-step process consisting of a superposition step and an alignment step, until convergence. We propose a novel greedy algorithm to construct both sequential and non-sequential alignments. The quality of SNAP alignments were assessed by comparing against the manually curated reference alignments in the challenging SISY and RIPC datasets. Moreover, when applied to a dataset of 4410 protein pairs selected from the CATH database, SNAP produced longer alignments with lower rmsd than several state-of-the-art alignment methods. Classification of folds using SNAP alignments was both highly sensitive and highly selective. The SNAP software along with the datasets are available online at http://www.cs.rpi.edu/~zaki/software/SNAP.
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Image Alignment for Multiple Camera High Dynamic Range Microscopy.
Eastwood, Brian S; Childs, Elisabeth C
2012-01-09
This paper investigates the problem of image alignment for multiple camera high dynamic range (HDR) imaging. HDR imaging combines information from images taken with different exposure settings. Combining information from multiple cameras requires an alignment process that is robust to the intensity differences in the images. HDR applications that use a limited number of component images require an alignment technique that is robust to large exposure differences. We evaluate the suitability for HDR alignment of three exposure-robust techniques. We conclude that image alignment based on matching feature descriptors extracted from radiant power images from calibrated cameras yields the most accurate and robust solution. We demonstrate the use of this alignment technique in a high dynamic range video microscope that enables live specimen imaging with a greater level of detail than can be captured with a single camera.
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Image Alignment for Multiple Camera High Dynamic Range Microscopy
Eastwood, Brian S.; Childs, Elisabeth C.
2012-01-01
This paper investigates the problem of image alignment for multiple camera high dynamic range (HDR) imaging. HDR imaging combines information from images taken with different exposure settings. Combining information from multiple cameras requires an alignment process that is robust to the intensity differences in the images. HDR applications that use a limited number of component images require an alignment technique that is robust to large exposure differences. We evaluate the suitability for HDR alignment of three exposure-robust techniques. We conclude that image alignment based on matching feature descriptors extracted from radiant power images from calibrated cameras yields the most accurate and robust solution. We demonstrate the use of this alignment technique in a high dynamic range video microscope that enables live specimen imaging with a greater level of detail than can be captured with a single camera. PMID:22545028
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Aligning the Cultures of Teaching and Learning Science in Urban High Schools
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Tobin, Kenneth
2006-09-01
This paper analyzes teaching and learning in urban science classrooms in which most of the students are African American and from low-income homes. Their teachers are also racial minorities and yet they struggle to teach successfully across cultural boundaries. The first set of case studies involves a male teacher who taught in a high-energy way that produced structures for students to get involved in the doing of science. His verbal fluency and expressive individualism, involving emphatic gestures, rhythmic use of his body, and voice intonation maintained student participation. A second case study examines successful interactions among the students, involving an argument over competing models for chemical valence. Whereas the students interacted successfully, the teacher was frequently out of synchrony in terms of amplitude, pitch, and non-verbal actions. The key implication is the necessity for teachers and students to learn how to interact successfully in ways that produce positive emotional energy, a sense of belonging to the class, and a commitment to shared responsibility for one another's participation. Aligning the cultures of teaching and learning offers a possibility that fluent interactions will occur, afford success, and facilitate the learning of science.
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Erickson, Ariane E.; Edmondson, Dennis; Chang, Fei-Chien; Wood, Dave; Gong, Alex; Levengood, Sheeny Lan; Zhang, Miqin
2016-01-01
The inability to produce large quantities of nanofibers has been a primary obstacle in advancement and commercialization of electrospinning technologies, especially when aligned nanofibers are desired. Here, we present a high-throughput centrifugal electrospinning (HTP-CES) system capable of producing a large number of highly-aligned nanofiber samples with high-yield and tunable diameters. The versatility of the design was revealed when bead-less nanofibers were produced from copolymer chitosan/polycaprolactone (C-PCL) solutions despite variations in polymer blend composition or spinneret needle gauge. Compared to conventional electrospinning techniques, fibers spun with the HTP-CES not only exhibited superior alignment, but also better diameter uniformity. Nanofiber alignment was quantified using Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) analysis. In addition, a concave correlation between the needle diameter and resultant fiber diameter was identified. This system can be easily scaled up for industrial production of highly-aligned nanofibers with tunable diameters that can potentially meet the requirements for various engineering and biomedical applications. PMID:26428148
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Ovseiko, Pavel V; Heitmueller, Axel; Allen, Pauline; Davies, Stephen M; Wells, Glenn; Ford, Gary A; Darzi, Ara; Buchan, Alastair M
2014-01-20
As in many countries around the world, there are high expectations on academic health science centres and networks in England to provide high-quality care, innovative research, and world-class education, while also supporting wealth creation and economic growth. Meeting these expectations increasingly depends on partnership working between university medical schools and teaching hospitals, as well as other healthcare providers. However, academic-clinical relationships in England are still characterised by the "unlinked partners" model, whereby universities and their partner teaching hospitals are neither fiscally nor structurally linked, creating bifurcating accountabilities to various government and public agencies. This article focuses on accountability relationships in universities and teaching hospitals, as well as other healthcare providers that form core constituent parts of academic health science centres and networks. The authors analyse accountability for the tripartite mission of patient care, research, and education, using a four-fold typology of accountability relationships, which distinguishes between hierarchical (bureaucratic) accountability, legal accountability, professional accountability, and political accountability. Examples from North West London suggest that a number of mechanisms can be used to improve accountability for the tripartite mission through alignment, but that the simple creation of academic health science centres and networks is probably not sufficient. At the heart of the challenge for academic health science centres and networks is the separation of accountabilities for patient care, research, and education in different government departments. Given that a fundamental top-down system redesign is now extremely unlikely, local academic and clinical leaders face the challenge of aligning their institutions as a matter of priority in order to improve accountability for the tripartite mission from the bottom up. It remains to be seen which alignment mechanisms are most effective, and whether they are strong enough to counter the separation of accountabilities for the tripartite mission at the national level, the on-going structural fragmentation of the health system in England, and the unprecedented financial challenges that it faces. Future research should focus on determining the comparative effectiveness of different alignment mechanisms, developing standardised metrics and key performance indicators, evaluating and assessing academic health science centres and networks, and empirically addressing leadership issues.
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2014-01-01
Background As in many countries around the world, there are high expectations on academic health science centres and networks in England to provide high-quality care, innovative research, and world-class education, while also supporting wealth creation and economic growth. Meeting these expectations increasingly depends on partnership working between university medical schools and teaching hospitals, as well as other healthcare providers. However, academic-clinical relationships in England are still characterised by the “unlinked partners” model, whereby universities and their partner teaching hospitals are neither fiscally nor structurally linked, creating bifurcating accountabilities to various government and public agencies. Discussion This article focuses on accountability relationships in universities and teaching hospitals, as well as other healthcare providers that form core constituent parts of academic health science centres and networks. The authors analyse accountability for the tripartite mission of patient care, research, and education, using a four-fold typology of accountability relationships, which distinguishes between hierarchical (bureaucratic) accountability, legal accountability, professional accountability, and political accountability. Examples from North West London suggest that a number of mechanisms can be used to improve accountability for the tripartite mission through alignment, but that the simple creation of academic health science centres and networks is probably not sufficient. Summary At the heart of the challenge for academic health science centres and networks is the separation of accountabilities for patient care, research, and education in different government departments. Given that a fundamental top-down system redesign is now extremely unlikely, local academic and clinical leaders face the challenge of aligning their institutions as a matter of priority in order to improve accountability for the tripartite mission from the bottom up. It remains to be seen which alignment mechanisms are most effective, and whether they are strong enough to counter the separation of accountabilities for the tripartite mission at the national level, the on-going structural fragmentation of the health system in England, and the unprecedented financial challenges that it faces. Future research should focus on determining the comparative effectiveness of different alignment mechanisms, developing standardised metrics and key performance indicators, evaluating and assessing academic health science centres and networks, and empirically addressing leadership issues. PMID:24438592
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High-throughput sequence alignment using Graphics Processing Units
Schatz, Michael C; Trapnell, Cole; Delcher, Arthur L; Varshney, Amitabh
2007-01-01
Background The recent availability of new, less expensive high-throughput DNA sequencing technologies has yielded a dramatic increase in the volume of sequence data that must be analyzed. These data are being generated for several purposes, including genotyping, genome resequencing, metagenomics, and de novo genome assembly projects. Sequence alignment programs such as MUMmer have proven essential for analysis of these data, but researchers will need ever faster, high-throughput alignment tools running on inexpensive hardware to keep up with new sequence technologies. Results This paper describes MUMmerGPU, an open-source high-throughput parallel pairwise local sequence alignment program that runs on commodity Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) in common workstations. MUMmerGPU uses the new Compute Unified Device Architecture (CUDA) from nVidia to align multiple query sequences against a single reference sequence stored as a suffix tree. By processing the queries in parallel on the highly parallel graphics card, MUMmerGPU achieves more than a 10-fold speedup over a serial CPU version of the sequence alignment kernel, and outperforms the exact alignment component of MUMmer on a high end CPU by 3.5-fold in total application time when aligning reads from recent sequencing projects using Solexa/Illumina, 454, and Sanger sequencing technologies. Conclusion MUMmerGPU is a low cost, ultra-fast sequence alignment program designed to handle the increasing volume of data produced by new, high-throughput sequencing technologies. MUMmerGPU demonstrates that even memory-intensive applications can run significantly faster on the relatively low-cost GPU than on the CPU. PMID:18070356
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Hawboldt, John; Nash, Rose; FitzPatrick, Beverly
2017-03-06
International standards of pharmacy curricula are necessary to ensure student readiness for international placements. This paper explores whether curricula from two pharmacy programs, in Australia and Canada, are congruent with international standards and if students feel prepared for international placements. Nationally prescribed educational standards for the two schools were compared to each other and then against the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) Global Competency Framework. Written student reflections complemented this analysis. Mapping results suggested substantial agreement between the FIP framework and Australia and Canada, with two gaps being identified. Moreover, the students felt their programs prepared them for their international placements. Despite differences in countries, pharmacy programs, and health-systems all students acclimatized to their new practice sites. Implications are that if pharmacy programs align well with FIP, pharmacists should be able to integrate and practise in other jurisdictions that also align with the FIP. This has implications for the mobility of pharmacy practitioners to countries not of their origin of training.
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The Alignment Test System for AXAF-I's High Resolution Mirror Assembly
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Waldman, Mark
1995-01-01
The AXAF-1 High Resolution Mirror Assembly (HRMA) consists of four nested mirror pairs of Wolter Type-1 grazing incidence optics. The HRMA assembly and alignment will take place in a vibration-isolated, cleanliness class 100, 18 meter high tower at an Eastman Kodak Company facility in Rochester, NY. Each mirror pair must be aligned such that its image is coma-free, and the four pairs must be aligned such that their images are coincident. In addition, both the HRMA optical axis and focal point must be precisely known with respect to physical references on the HRMA. The alignment of the HRMA mirrors is measured by the HRMA Alignment Test System (HATS), which is an integral part of the tower facility. The HATS is configured as a double-pass, autocollimating Hartmann test where each mirror aperture is scanned to determine the state of alignment. This paper will describe the design and operation of the HATS.
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van Niekerk, Sjan-Mari; Louw, Quinette Abigail; Grimmer-Somers, Karen; Harvey, Justin; Hendry, Kevan John
2013-05-01
Descriptive study. The objective of this study was to present anthropometric data from high school students in Cape Metropole area, Western Cape, South Africa that are relevant for chair design and whether the dimensions of computer laboratory chairs currently used in high schools match linear anthropometrics of high-school students. Summary of Background Data. Learner-chair mismatch is proposed as a cause of poor postural alignment and spinal pain in adolescents. A learner-chair mismatch is defined as the incompatibility between the dimensions of a chair and the anthropometric dimensions of the learner. Currently, there is no published research to ascertain whether the furniture dimensions in school computer laboratories match the anthropometrics of the students. This may contribute to the high prevalence of adolescent spinal pain. The sample consisted of 689 learners, 13-18 years old. The following body dimensions were measured: stature, popliteal height, buttock-to-popliteal length and hip width. These measurements were matched with the corresponding chair seat dimensions: height, depth and width. Popliteal and seat height mismatch was defined when the seat height is either >95% or <88% of the popliteal height. Buttock-popliteal length and seat depth mismatch was defined when the seat depth is either >95% or <80% of the buttock-popliteal length. Seat width mismatch is defined where the seat width should be at least 10% and at the most 30% larger than hip width. An 89% of learners did not match the seat. Five percent of learners matched the chair depth, the majority was found to be too big. In contrast, 65% of the learners matched the chair width dimension. A substantial mismatch was found. The school chairs failed standard ergonomics recommendations for the design of furniture to fit the user. This study supports the conclusion that there is no one-size-fits-all solution. There is an urgent need for chairs that are of different sizes or that are adjustable. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd and The Ergonomics Society. All rights reserved.
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Accelerating large-scale protein structure alignments with graphics processing units
2012-01-01
Background Large-scale protein structure alignment, an indispensable tool to structural bioinformatics, poses a tremendous challenge on computational resources. To ensure structure alignment accuracy and efficiency, efforts have been made to parallelize traditional alignment algorithms in grid environments. However, these solutions are costly and of limited accessibility. Others trade alignment quality for speedup by using high-level characteristics of structure fragments for structure comparisons. Findings We present ppsAlign, a parallel protein structure Alignment framework designed and optimized to exploit the parallelism of Graphics Processing Units (GPUs). As a general-purpose GPU platform, ppsAlign could take many concurrent methods, such as TM-align and Fr-TM-align, into the parallelized algorithm design. We evaluated ppsAlign on an NVIDIA Tesla C2050 GPU card, and compared it with existing software solutions running on an AMD dual-core CPU. We observed a 36-fold speedup over TM-align, a 65-fold speedup over Fr-TM-align, and a 40-fold speedup over MAMMOTH. Conclusions ppsAlign is a high-performance protein structure alignment tool designed to tackle the computational complexity issues from protein structural data. The solution presented in this paper allows large-scale structure comparisons to be performed using massive parallel computing power of GPU. PMID:22357132
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Changing Medical School IT to Support Medical Education Transformation.
Spickard, Anderson; Ahmed, Toufeeq; Lomis, Kimberly; Johnson, Kevin; Miller, Bonnie
2016-01-01
Many medical schools are modifying curricula to reflect the rapidly evolving health care environment, but schools struggle to provide the educational informatics technology (IT) support to make the necessary changes. Often a medical school's IT support for the education mission derives from isolated work units employing separate technologies that are not interoperable. We launched a redesigned, tightly integrated, and novel IT infrastructure to support a completely revamped curriculum at the Vanderbilt School of Medicine. This system uses coordinated and interoperable technologies to support new instructional methods, capture students' effort, and manage feedback, allowing the monitoring of students' progress toward specific competency goals across settings and programs. The new undergraduate medical education program at Vanderbilt, entitled Curriculum 2.0, is a competency-based curriculum in which the ultimate goal is medical student advancement based on performance outcomes and personal goals rather than a time-based sequence of courses. IT support was essential in the creation of Curriculum 2.0. In addition to typical learning and curriculum management functions, IT was needed to capture data in the learning workflow for analysis, as well as for informing individual and programmatic success. We aligned people, processes, and technology to provide the IT infrastructure for the organizational transformation. Educational IT personnel were successfully realigned to create the new IT system. The IT infrastructure enabled monitoring of student performance within each competency domain across settings and time via personal student electronic portfolios. Students use aggregated performance data, derived in real time from the portfolio, for mentor-guided performance assessment, and for creation of individual learning goals and plans. Poorly performing students were identified earlier through online communication systems that alert the appropriate instructor or coach of low quiz grades or missed learning goals. Graphical and narrative displays of a student's competency performance across courses and clinical experiences informed high-stake decisions made about student progress by the promotions committee. Similarly, graphical display of aggregate student outcomes provided education leaders with information needed to adjust and improve the curriculum. With the alignment of people, processes, and technology, educational IT can facilitate transformational steps in the training of medical students.
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Nam, Eunryel; Lee, Won Chul; Takeuchi, Shoji
2016-07-01
A collagen sheet with highly aligned collagen fibers is fabricated by continuous cyclic stretch. The rearrangement of the collagen fibers depends on the different process parameters of the cyclic stretch, including magnitude, frequency, and period of stretch. The collagen fibers are aligned perpendicularly to the direction of the stretch. Corneal stromal cells and smooth muscle cells cultivated on the highly aligned collagen sheet show alignment along the collagen fibers without the stretch during culture. Thus, the sheet can be a suitable scaffold for use in regenerative medicine. © 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Partnership for 21st Century Skills, 2011
2011-01-01
Standards drive critical elements of the American educational system--the curricula that schools follow, the textbooks students read, and the tests they take. Similarly, standards establish the levels of performance that students, teachers and schools are expected to meet. To succeed in the 21st century, all students will need to perform to high…
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76 FR 2493 - Nutrition Standards in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs
Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014
2011-01-13
...This rule proposes to revise the meal patterns and nutrition requirements for the National School Lunch Program and the School Breakfast Program to align them with the 2005 ``Dietary Guidelines for Americans,'' as required by the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act. The proposed changes are based on recommendations from the National Academies' Institute of Medicine set forth in the report ``School Meals: Building Blocks for Healthy Children.'' This proposed rule would increase the availability of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fat-free and low-fat fluid milk in school meals; reduce the levels of sodium and saturated fat in meals; and help meet the nutrition needs of school children within their calorie requirements. Implementation of this proposed rule would result in more nutritious school meals that improve the dietary habits of school children and protect their health.
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The Log Handwriting Program improved children's writing legibility: a pretest-posttest study.
Mackay, Nadine; McCluskey, Annie; Mayes, Rachel
2010-01-01
We determined the feasibility and outcomes of the Log Handwriting Program (Raynal, 1990), an 8-week training program based on task-specific practice of handwriting. We used a pretest-posttest design involving 16 first- and second-grade Australian students. Handwriting training sessions occurred in schools for 45 min per week over 8 weeks, in groups of 2 or 3. Weekly homework was provided. The primary outcome measure was the Minnesota Handwriting Assessment (range = 0 to 34; Reisman, 1999). Legibility, form, alignment, size, spacing, and speed were measured. All six assessment subscales showed statistically significant differences. Legibility improved by a mean of 4.1 points (95% confidence interval = 2.5 to 5.7); form, 5.3 points; alignment, 7.8 points; size, 7.9 points; and space, 5.3 points. Speed decreased by 3.9 points. Preliminary evidence indicates that an 8-week Log Handwriting Program is feasible and improved handwriting in primary school children.
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Deliberate Integration of Student Leadership Development in Doctor of Pharmacy Programs
Nelson, Michael H.; Bzowyckyj, Andrew S.; Fuentes, David G.; Rosenberg, Ettie; DiCenzo, Robert
2016-01-01
The CAPE 2013 Outcomes answered the call for increased student leadership development (SLD) by identifying leadership as a desired curricular goal. To meet this outcome, colleges and schools of pharmacy are advised to first identify a set of SLD competencies aligned with their institution’s mission and goals and then organize these competencies into a SLD framework/model. Student leadership development should be integrated vertically and horizontally within the curriculum in a deliberate and longitudinal manner. It should include all student pharmacists, begin at the point of admission, and extend beyond extracurricular activities. The school’s assessment plan should be aligned with the identified SLD competencies so student learning related to leadership is assessed. To accomplish these recommendations, a positive environment for SLD should be cultivated within the school, including administrative backing and resources, as well as support among the broader faculty for integrating SLD into the curriculum. PMID:26941428
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NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Lee, Yew-Jin; Chue, Shien
2013-10-01
School-based curriculum innovations, including those in science education, are usually not adequately evaluated, if at all. Furthermore, current procedures and instruments for programme evaluations are often unable to support evidence-based decision-making. We suggest that adopting fidelity of implementation (FOI) criteria from healthcare research can both characterize and narrow the separation between programme intent and actual implementation, which is a mandatory stage of evaluation before determining overall programme value. We demonstrate how such a process could be applied by science educators using data from a secondary school in Singapore that had devised a new curriculum to promote interest, investigative processes, and knowledge in science. Results showed that there were ambivalent student responses to this programme, while there were high levels of science process skill instruction and close alignment with the intended lesson design. The implementation of this programme appeared to have a satisfactory overall level of FOI, but we also detected tensions between programme intent and everyday classroom teaching. If we want to advance science education, then our argument is that applying FOI criteria is necessary when evaluating all curricular innovations, not just those that originate from schools.
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People with Disability in Vocational High Schools: between School and Work
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Haryanti, R. H.
2018-02-01
Vocational education is positioned within the framework of Vocational Education for All. Therefore, the alignment between the world of education and the world of work is an issue that is always actual within the framework of vocational education, including being an actual issue for people with disabilities. This article aims to map how the state frames disability and vocational education issues within the framework of public policy. The research was conducted using qualitative research method in which the data obtained from the study of documentation. Analysis of the data using content analysis. The results of the study show that the State Policy has not fully framed the issue of vocational education for the disabled into special policies. The vocational education policy for the disabled is still integrated in the major policies in certain institutions. No policy innovations have yet significantly provided a special place for the disabled.
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Bass, Kristin M.; Drits-Esser, Dina; Stark, Louisa A.
2016-01-01
The credibility of conclusions made about the effectiveness of educational interventions depends greatly on the quality of the assessments used to measure learning gains. This essay, intended for faculty involved in small-scale projects, courses, or educational research, provides a step-by-step guide to the process of developing, scoring, and validating high-quality content knowledge assessments. We illustrate our discussion with examples from our assessments of high school students’ understanding of concepts in cell biology and epigenetics. Throughout, we emphasize the iterative nature of the development process, the importance of creating instruments aligned to the learning goals of an intervention or curricula, and the importance of collaborating with other content and measurement specialists along the way. PMID:27055776
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Wright, Imogen A.; Travers, Simon A.
2014-01-01
The challenge presented by high-throughput sequencing necessitates the development of novel tools for accurate alignment of reads to reference sequences. Current approaches focus on using heuristics to map reads quickly to large genomes, rather than generating highly accurate alignments in coding regions. Such approaches are, thus, unsuited for applications such as amplicon-based analysis and the realignment phase of exome sequencing and RNA-seq, where accurate and biologically relevant alignment of coding regions is critical. To facilitate such analyses, we have developed a novel tool, RAMICS, that is tailored to mapping large numbers of sequence reads to short lengths (<10 000 bp) of coding DNA. RAMICS utilizes profile hidden Markov models to discover the open reading frame of each sequence and aligns to the reference sequence in a biologically relevant manner, distinguishing between genuine codon-sized indels and frameshift mutations. This approach facilitates the generation of highly accurate alignments, accounting for the error biases of the sequencing machine used to generate reads, particularly at homopolymer regions. Performance improvements are gained through the use of graphics processing units, which increase the speed of mapping through parallelization. RAMICS substantially outperforms all other mapping approaches tested in terms of alignment quality while maintaining highly competitive speed performance. PMID:24861618
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Graphene electron cannon: High-current edge emission from aligned graphene sheets
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Liu, Jianlong; Li, Nannan; Guo, Jing
2014-01-13
High-current field emitters are made by graphene paper consist of aligned graphene sheets. Field emission luminance pattern shows that their electron beams can be controlled by rolling the graphene paper from sheet to cylinder. These specific electron beams would be useful to vacuum devices and electron beam lithograph. To get high-current emission, the graphene paper is rolled to array and form graphene cannon. Due to aligned emission array, graphene cannon have high emission current. Besides high emission current, the graphene cannon is also tolerable with excellent emission stability. With good field emission properties, these aligned graphene emitters bring application insight.
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Zhu, Ma-Guang; Si, Jia; Zhang, Zhiyong; Peng, Lian-Mao
2018-06-01
The main challenge for application of solution-derived carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in high performance field-effect transistor (FET) is how to align CNTs into an array with high density and full surface coverage. A directional shrinking transfer method is developed to realize high density aligned array based on randomly orientated CNT network film. Through transferring a solution-derived CNT network film onto a stretched retractable film followed by a shrinking process, alignment degree and density of CNT film increase with the shrinking multiple. The quadruply shrunk CNT films present well alignment, which is identified by the polarized Raman spectroscopy and electrical transport measurements. Based on the high quality and high density aligned CNT array, the fabricated FETs with channel length of 300 nm present ultrahigh performance including on-state current I on of 290 µA µm -1 (V ds = -1.5 V and V gs = -2 V) and peak transconductance g m of 150 µS µm -1 , which are, respectively, among the highest corresponding values in the reported CNT array FETs. High quality and high semiconducting purity CNT arrays with high density and full coverage obtained through this method promote the development of high performance CNT-based electronics. © 2018 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.
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Collaboration Among Educators: An Essential Step in Unifying STEM Teaching Resources.
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
McIver, H.; Ellins, K. K.; Bohls-Graham, C. E.; O'dell, D.; Sergent, C.; Jacobs, B. E.; Stocks, E.; Serpa, L. F.; Riggs, E. M.
2015-12-01
Increased requirement for Science, Engineering, Technology, and Math (STEM) literacy among US secondary school students has enhanced the need for high-quality teaching resources in the modern STEM classroom. Many relevant resources exist online that could be used to address this issue, but too often these resources are spread throughout the Internet, and have not necessarily been audited for content, alignment with state and national science standards, or current functionality. Because STEM subjects are increasingly difficult to teach, we set out to design a localized platform of year-long teaching 'blueprints' comprising units that cover a range of Earth science topics, researched and compiled by education professionals. The Diversity and Innovation for Geosciences (DIG) Texas Instructional Blueprint project has united teachers from diverse science backgrounds who act as Education Interns and work alongside geoscientists and curriculum experts at the University of Texas Jackson School of Geosciences, Texas A&M University and the University of Texas El Paso. Our DIG collective has employed a cross-disciplinary approach to vetting resources while compiling them in useful, logical sequences for classroom instruction. The DIG team has aligned each blueprint with the Texas Essential Skills and Knowledge (TEKS) standards for Earth and Space Science, the Earth Science Literacy Principles, and the Next Generation Science Standards. Emphasis for the summer 2015 project group was placed upon (1) alignment of the units with these three sets of science standards to allow for use within disparate classroom settings, (2) creating teacher aides including scaffolding notes for practical unit application, and potential real and virtual field trips for unit illustration, and (3) final vetting ensuring units follow a narrative that carries learners from basic principles to a full concept understanding. Here, we present our progress and the essential workflow that has contributed to significant advancement in our goal of providing a unified STEM teaching resource.
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Implementing Health and Safety Policy Changes at the High School Level From a Leadership Perspective
Pagnotta, Kelly D.; Mazerolle, Stephanie M.; Pitney, William A.; Burton, Laura J.; Casa, Douglas J.
2016-01-01
Context: Although consensus statements and recommendations from professional organizations aim to reduce the incidence of injury or sudden death in sport, nothing is mandated at the high school level. This allows states the freedom to create and implement individual policies. An example of a recommended policy is heat acclimatization. Despite its efficacy in reducing sudden death related to heat stroke, very few states follow the recommended guidelines. Objective: To retroactively examine why and how 3 states were able to facilitate the successful creation and adoption of heat-acclimatization guidelines. Design: Qualitative study. Setting: High school athletic associations in Arkansas, Georgia, and New Jersey. Patients or Other Participants: Eight men and 3 women (n = 11; 6 athletic trainers; 2 members of high school athletic associations; 2 parents; 1 physician) participated. Participant recruitment ceased when data saturation was reached. Data Collection and Analysis: All phone interviews were digitally recorded and transcribed verbatim. A grounded-theory approach guided analysis and multiple analysts and peer review were used to establish credibility. Results: Each state had a different catalyst to change (student-athlete death, empirical data, proactivity). Recommendations from national governing bodies guided the policy creation. Once the decision to implement change was made, the states displayed 2 similarities: shared leadership and open communication between medical professionals and members of the high school athletic association helped overcome barriers. Conclusions: The initiating factor that spurred the change varied, yet shared leadership and communication fundamentally allowed for successful adoption of the policy. Our participants were influenced by the recommendations from national governing bodies, which align with the institutional change theory. As more states begin to examine and improve their health and safety policies, this information could serve as a valuable resource for athletic trainers in other states and for future health and safety initiatives. PMID:27002250
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Highly Enhanced Gas Adsorption Properties in Vertically Aligned MoS2 Layers.
Cho, Soo-Yeon; Kim, Seon Joon; Lee, Youhan; Kim, Jong-Seon; Jung, Woo-Bin; Yoo, Hae-Wook; Kim, Jihan; Jung, Hee-Tae
2015-09-22
In this work, we demonstrate that gas adsorption is significantly higher in edge sites of vertically aligned MoS2 compared to that of the conventional basal plane exposed MoS2 films. To compare the effect of the alignment of MoS2 on the gas adsorption properties, we synthesized three distinct MoS2 films with different alignment directions ((1) horizontally aligned MoS2 (basal plane exposed), (2) mixture of horizontally aligned MoS2 and vertically aligned layers (basal and edge exposed), and (3) vertically aligned MoS2 (edge exposed)) by using rapid sulfurization method of CVD process. Vertically aligned MoS2 film shows about 5-fold enhanced sensitivity to NO2 gas molecules compared to horizontally aligned MoS2 film. Vertically aligned MoS2 has superior resistance variation compared to horizontally aligned MoS2 even with same surface area exposed to identical concentration of gas molecules. We found that electrical response to target gas molecules correlates directly with the density of the exposed edge sites of MoS2 due to high adsorption of gas molecules onto edge sites of vertically aligned MoS2. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations corroborate the experimental results as stronger NO2 binding energies are computed for multiple configurations near the edge sites of MoS2, which verifies that electrical response to target gas molecules (NO2) correlates directly with the density of the exposed edge sites of MoS2 due to high adsorption of gas molecules onto edge sites of vertically aligned MoS2. We believe that this observation extends to other 2D TMD materials as well as MoS2 and can be applied to significantly enhance the gas sensor performance in these materials.
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SVM-dependent pairwise HMM: an application to protein pairwise alignments.
Orlando, Gabriele; Raimondi, Daniele; Khan, Taushif; Lenaerts, Tom; Vranken, Wim F
2017-12-15
Methods able to provide reliable protein alignments are crucial for many bioinformatics applications. In the last years many different algorithms have been developed and various kinds of information, from sequence conservation to secondary structure, have been used to improve the alignment performances. This is especially relevant for proteins with highly divergent sequences. However, recent works suggest that different features may have different importance in diverse protein classes and it would be an advantage to have more customizable approaches, capable to deal with different alignment definitions. Here we present Rigapollo, a highly flexible pairwise alignment method based on a pairwise HMM-SVM that can use any type of information to build alignments. Rigapollo lets the user decide the optimal features to align their protein class of interest. It outperforms current state of the art methods on two well-known benchmark datasets when aligning highly divergent sequences. A Python implementation of the algorithm is available at http://ibsquare.be/rigapollo. wim.vranken@vub.be. Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. © The Author (2017). Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com
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Xia, Xiaodong; Hao, Jia; Wang, Yang; Zhong, Zheng; Weng, George J
2017-05-24
Highly aligned graphene-based nanocomposites are of great interest due to their excellent electrical properties along the aligned direction. Graphene fillers in these composites are not necessarily perfectly aligned, but their orientations are highly confined to a certain angle, [Formula: see text] with 90° giving rise to the randomly oriented state and 0° to the perfectly aligned one. Recent experiments have shown that electrical conductivity and dielectric permittivity of highly aligned graphene-polymer nanocomposites are strongly dependent on this distribution angle, but at present no theory seems to exist to address this issue. In this work we present a new effective-medium theory that is derived from the underlying physical process including the effects of graphene orientation, filler loading, aspect ratio, percolation threshold, interfacial tunneling, and Maxwell-Wagner-Sillars polarization, to determine these two properties. The theory is formulated in the context of preferred orientational average. We highlight this new theory with an application to rGO/epoxy nanocomposites, and demonstrate that the calculated in-plane and out-of-plane conductivity and permittivity are in agreement with the experimental data as the range of graphene orientations changes from the randomly oriented to the highly aligned state. We also show that the percolation thresholds of highly aligned graphene nanocomposites are in general different along the planar and the normal directions, but they converge into a single one when the statistical distribution of graphene fillers is spherically symmetric.
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Aligned Single Wall Carbon Nanotube Polymer Composites Using an Electric Field
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Park, Cheol; Wiklinson, John; Banda, Sumanth; Ounaies, Zoubeida; Wise, Kristopher E.; Sauti, Godfrey; Lillehei, Peter T.; Harrison, Joycelyn S.
2005-01-01
While high shear alignment has been shown to improve the mechanical properties of single wall carbon nanotubes (SWNT)-polymer composites, it is difficult to control and often results in degradation of the electrical and dielectric properties of the composite. Here, we report a novel method to actively align SWNTs in a polymer matrix, which allows for control over the degree of alignment of SWNTs without the side effects of shear alignment. In this process, SWNTs are aligned via field-induced dipolar interactions among the nanotubes under an AC electric field in a liquid matrix followed by immobilization by photopolymerization while maintaining the electric field. Alignment of SWNTs was controlled as a function of magnitude, frequency, and application time of the applied electric field. The degree of SWNT alignment was assessed using optical microscopy and polarized Raman spectroscopy and the morphology of the aligned nanocomposites was investigated by high resolution scanning electron microscopy. The structure of the field induced aligned SWNTs is intrinsically different from that of shear aligned SWNTs. In the present work, SWNTs are not only aligned along the field, but also migrate laterally to form thick, aligned SWNT percolative columns between the electrodes. The actively aligned SWNTs amplify the electrical and dielectric properties in addition to improving the mechanical properties of the composite. All of these properties of the aligned nanocomposites exhibited anisotropic characteristics, which were controllable by tuning the applied field conditions.
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The Budget Can Be a Management Tool.
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Van Keuren, James
2002-01-01
Describes how the budget can be used as a management tool (continuous-improvement plan) to help align district financial resources with school-reform efforts. Cites example of a continuous-improvement plan developed by the Ohio Department of Education. (PKP)
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NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Treagust, David F.; Qureshi, Sheila S.; Vishnumolakala, Venkat Rao; Ojeil, Joseph; Mocerino, Mauro; Southam, Daniel C.
2018-04-01
Educational reforms in Qatar have seen the implementation of inquiry-based learning and other student-centred pedagogies. However, there have been few efforts to investigate how these adopted western pedagogies are aligned with the high context culture of Qatar. The study presented in this article highlights the implementation of a student-centred intervention called Process-Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL) in selected independent Arabic government schools in Qatar. The study followed a theoretical framework composed of culturally relevant pedagogical practice and social constructivism in teaching and learning. A mixed method research design involving experimental and comparison groups was utilised. Carefully structured learning materials when implemented systematically in a POGIL intervention helped Grade 10 science students improve their perceptions of chemistry learning measured from pre- and post-tests as measured by the What Is Happening In this Class (WIHIC) questionnaire and school-administered achievement test. The study further provided school-based mentoring and professional development opportunities for teachers in the region. Significantly, POGIL was found to be adaptable in the Arabic context.
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Mason, Mary L.; Arsen, David
2014-01-01
As the City of Detroit emerges from municipal bankruptcy, the imperative for school improvement takes on an urgency rarely witnessed in a U.S. city. If the city is to experience the redevelopment boom that many now anticipate, its public schools must improve. While a variety of different reform strategies are possible, the establishment of a…
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Paid to Perform: Aligning Total Military Compensation With Talent Management. Volume 8
2015-06-01
matriculates roughly 50 percent of all officers selected for promotion to O-4 (the remainder taking the course via satellite school /distance learning mod...industrial-era personnel as- sembly line: an 0-4 promotion board and a resident 11 30+ 12 Command and General Staff School (CGSS) board. Both are...analytical ability , mathematical intelligence, etc.). 23 Figure 6. Separating Equilibrium (with Army Officer SAT Scores as Talent Proxy). As Figure 6
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Tsubokura, Masaharu; Kitamura, Yuto; Yoshida, Megumi
2018-04-01
In post-Fukushima Japan, radiation education is very important, and the subject is being actively discussed. However, little information is available about the amount of knowledge students initially had about radiation or about how well radiation education improves their understanding. Using the questionnaire results of 717 students completed before and after radiation lectures held in three high schools in Fukushima, we examined the number of answers to the questionnaire aligned with the evidence base, and classified the students into clusters based on radiation-related behavior and attitudes to assess the effectiveness of the lecture. The contents of the lectures consisted of (i) scientific knowledge relating to radiation, (ii) results of radiation examinations conducted locally following the disaster and (iii) measures and precautions for daily radiation protection. Associations between the type of knowledge and radiation-related behavior and attitude were also examined to determine which type of knowledge was more important for deepening students' understanding of radiation. This study revealed that radiation education in high schools was effective for students with respect to acquiring relevant basic and practical knowledge; however, the effects of the radiation lecture differed greatly between schools, presumably due to differences in the delivery and atmosphere of the lecture. The present study also suggested that radiation education may positively transform student attitudes and behaviors related to radiation. To enable such a change in awareness, the acquisition of scientific knowledge is essential, for it enables individuals to make better decisions about important matters in their daily lives.
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Tsubokura, Masaharu; Kitamura, Yuto; Yoshida, Megumi
2018-01-01
Abstract In post-Fukushima Japan, radiation education is very important, and the subject is being actively discussed. However, little information is available about the amount of knowledge students initially had about radiation or about how well radiation education improves their understanding. Using the questionnaire results of 717 students completed before and after radiation lectures held in three high schools in Fukushima, we examined the number of answers to the questionnaire aligned with the evidence base, and classified the students into clusters based on radiation-related behavior and attitudes to assess the effectiveness of the lecture. The contents of the lectures consisted of (i) scientific knowledge relating to radiation, (ii) results of radiation examinations conducted locally following the disaster and (iii) measures and precautions for daily radiation protection. Associations between the type of knowledge and radiation-related behavior and attitude were also examined to determine which type of knowledge was more important for deepening students’ understanding of radiation. This study revealed that radiation education in high schools was effective for students with respect to acquiring relevant basic and practical knowledge; however, the effects of the radiation lecture differed greatly between schools, presumably due to differences in the delivery and atmosphere of the lecture. The present study also suggested that radiation education may positively transform student attitudes and behaviors related to radiation. To enable such a change in awareness, the acquisition of scientific knowledge is essential, for it enables individuals to make better decisions about important matters in their daily lives. PMID:29746688
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Yan, Rui; Edwards, Thomas J; Pankratz, Logan M; Kuhn, Richard J; Lanman, Jason K; Liu, Jun; Jiang, Wen
2015-11-01
In electron tomography, accurate alignment of tilt series is an essential step in attaining high-resolution 3D reconstructions. Nevertheless, quantitative assessment of alignment quality has remained a challenging issue, even though many alignment methods have been reported. Here, we report a fast and accurate method, tomoAlignEval, based on the Beer-Lambert law, for the evaluation of alignment quality. Our method is able to globally estimate the alignment accuracy by measuring the goodness of log-linear relationship of the beam intensity attenuations at different tilt angles. Extensive tests with experimental data demonstrated its robust performance with stained and cryo samples. Our method is not only significantly faster but also more sensitive than measurements of tomogram resolution using Fourier shell correlation method (FSCe/o). From these tests, we also conclude that while current alignment methods are sufficiently accurate for stained samples, inaccurate alignments remain a major limitation for high resolution cryo-electron tomography. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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A fast cross-validation method for alignment of electron tomography images based on Beer-Lambert law
Yan, Rui; Edwards, Thomas J.; Pankratz, Logan M.; Kuhn, Richard J.; Lanman, Jason K.; Liu, Jun; Jiang, Wen
2015-01-01
In electron tomography, accurate alignment of tilt series is an essential step in attaining high-resolution 3D reconstructions. Nevertheless, quantitative assessment of alignment quality has remained a challenging issue, even though many alignment methods have been reported. Here, we report a fast and accurate method, tomoAlignEval, based on the Beer-Lambert law, for the evaluation of alignment quality. Our method is able to globally estimate the alignment accuracy by measuring the goodness of log-linear relationship of the beam intensity attenuations at different tilt angles. Extensive tests with experimental data demonstrated its robust performance with stained and cryo samples. Our method is not only significantly faster but also more sensitive than measurements of tomogram resolution using Fourier shell correlation method (FSCe/o). From these tests, we also conclude that while current alignment methods are sufficiently accurate for stained samples, inaccurate alignments remain a major limitation for high resolution cryo-electron tomography. PMID:26455556
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Communicating the Benefits of a Full Sequence of High School Science Courses
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Nicholas, Catherine Marie
High school students are generally uninformed about the benefits of enrolling in a full sequence of science courses, therefore only about a third of our nation's high school graduates have completed the science sequence of Biology, Chemistry and Physics. The lack of students completing a full sequence of science courses contributes to the deficit in the STEM degree production rate needed to fill the demand of the current job market and remain competitive as a nation. The purpose of the study was to make a difference in the number of students who have access to information about the benefits of completing a full sequence of science courses. This dissertation study employed qualitative research methodology to gain a broad perspective of staff through a questionnaire and document review and then a deeper understanding through semi-structured interview protocol. The data revealed that a universal sequence of science courses in the high school district did not exist. It also showed that not all students had access to all science courses; students were sorted and tracked according to prerequisites that did not necessarily match the skill set needed for the courses. In addition, the study showed a desire for more support and direction from the district office. It was also apparent that there was a disconnect that existed between who staff members believed should enroll in a full sequence of science courses and who actually enrolled. Finally, communication about science was shown to occur mainly through counseling and peers. A common science sequence, detracking of science courses, increased communication about the postsecondary and academic benefits of a science education, increased district direction and realistic mathematics alignment were all discussed as solutions to the problem.
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Demystifying pediculosis: school nurses taking the lead.
Pontius, Deborah J
2014-01-01
The treatment of Pediculosis capitis, or head lice, is fraught with misinformation, myths, and mismanagement. Common myths include the need to exclude children from school, the need to remove all visible nits ("no-nit" policies), the need for massive environmental cleaning, that head lice live for long periods of time, and that schools are a common location for lice transmission. Head lice are a common childhood nuisance, causing embarrassment and emotional trauma in both children and families. This article explores and challenges the commonly held beliefs about the identification, management, and treatment of Pediculosis by presenting current recommended evidence-based practice. It also challenges pediatric nurses, and school nurses in particular, in alignment with the National Association of School Nurses (NASN) Position Statement on Pediculosis Management in the School Setting, to act as change agents for reasonable and effective school policies and practices.
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Lyon, Lucinda; Itaya, Lisa E; Hoover, Terry; Booth, Mark T; Nadershahi, Nader
2017-08-01
In today's dental education environment, a humanistic culture is an expectation for all U.S. dental schools, codified in 2013 by its inclusion in the Commission on Dental Accreditation's standards for accreditation. The University of the Pacific Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry has made an active commitment to humanism since the mid-1970s. The aim of this study was to determine how well the school's students and faculty and staff members perceived the school was living up to its formal aspirational values and who was benefitting from the humanistic culture. Using an electronic survey, data were collected from a total of 195 students, faculty members, and staff members in 2014. Respondents were 15% of the 492 full- and part-time faculty members; 9% of the total student population of 540; and 29% of 255 staff members. In the responses, humanism was described as manifest by attributes such as caring, understanding, respect, and compassion. Although the findings confirmed the value of a humanistic culture, some portions of the school's formal definition and goals, such as good work ethic, professional responsibility, high ethical standards, increasing independence, and attainment of competence, appeared less frequently in responses. Authentic assessment of institutional culture proved challenging. Focus groups offered additional ways to assess how effectively the school lives its core value of humanism. There was recognition that more varied, robust methods were needed to assess institutional alignment with stated goals for a humanistic learning environment.
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Best Practice in Middle-School Science
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Oliveira, Alandeom W.; Wilcox, Kristen C.; Angelis, Janet; Applebee, Arthur N.; Amodeo, Vincent; Snyder, Michele A.
2013-03-01
Using socio-ecological theory, this study explores best practice (educational practices correlated with higher student performance) in middle-school science. Seven schools with consistently higher student performance were compared with three demographically similar, average-performing schools. Best practice included instructional approaches (relevance and engagement, inquiry, differentiated instruction, collaborative work, moderate amounts of homework, and integration of language literacy and science) and administrative practices (nurturing a climate of opportunity to succeed in science, offering professional development based on data and dialogue, engaging teachers in standards-based curriculum revision and alignment, and recruiting the right fit of teacher). It is argued that best practice entails multiple levels of teaching and administrative praxis that together form a school-wide socio-ecological system conducive to higher performance.
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Fabrication of high temperature superconductors
Balachandran, Uthamalingam; Dorris, Stephen E.; Ma, Beihai; Li, Meiya
2003-06-17
A method of forming a biaxially aligned superconductor on a non-biaxially aligned substrate substantially chemically inert to the biaxially aligned superconductor comprising is disclosed. A non-biaxially aligned substrate chemically inert to the superconductor is provided and a biaxially aligned superconductor material is deposited directly on the non-biaxially aligned substrate. A method forming a plume of superconductor material and contacting the plume and the non-biaxially aligned substrate at an angle greater than 0.degree. and less than 90.degree. to deposit a biaxially aligned superconductor on the non-biaxially aligned substrate is also disclosed. Various superconductors and substrates are illustrated.
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Alignment of Irregular Grains by Mechanical Torques
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Hoang, Thiem; Cho, Jungyeon; Lazarian, A.
2018-01-01
We study the alignment of irregular dust grains by mechanical torques due to the drift of grains through the ambient gas. We first calculate mechanical alignment torques (MATs) resulting from specular reflection of gas atoms for seven irregular shapes: one shape of mirror symmetry, three highly irregular shapes (HIS), and three weakly irregular shapes (WIS). We find that the grain with mirror symmetry experiences negligible MATs due to its mirror-symmetry geometry. Three HIS can produce strong MATs, which exhibit some generic properties as radiative torques (RATs), while three WIS produce less efficient MATs. We then study grain alignment by MATs for the different angles between the drift velocity and the ambient magnetic field, for paramagnetic and superparamagnetic grains assuming efficient internal relaxation. We find that for HIS grains, MATs can align subsonically drifting grains in the same way as RATs, with low-J and high-J attractors. For supersonic drift, MATs can align grains with low-J and high-J attractors, analogous to RAT alignment by anisotropic radiation. We also show that the joint action of MATs and magnetic torques in grains with iron inclusions can lead to perfect MAT alignment. Our results point out the potential importance of MAT alignment for HIS grains predicted by the analytical model of Lazarian & Hoang, although more theoretical and observational studies are required due to uncertainty in the shape of interstellar grains. We outline astrophysical environments where MAT alignment is potentially important.
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NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Lih, Shyh-Shiuh (Inventor); Takano, Nobuyuki (Inventor); Lee, Hyeong Jae (Inventor); Bao, Xiaoqi (Inventor); Badescu, Mircea (Inventor); Bar-Cohen, Yoseph (Inventor); Sherrit, Stewart (Inventor); Ostlund, Patrick N. (Inventor)
2017-01-01
A high temperature ultrasonic probe and a mounting fixture for attaching and aligning the probe to a steam pipe using blind alignment. The high temperature ultrasonic probe includes a piezoelectric transducer having a high temperature. The probe provides both transmitting and receiving functionality. The mounting fixture allows the high temperature ultrasonic probe to be accurately aligned to the bottom external surface of the steam pipe so that the presence of liquid water in the steam pipe can be monitored. The mounting fixture with a mounted high temperature ultrasonic probe are used to conduct health monitoring of steam pipes and to track the height of condensed water through the wall in real-time.
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Eliciting Taiwanese high school students' scientific ontological and epistemic beliefs
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Lin, Tzung-Jin; Tsai, Chin-Chung
2017-11-01
This study employed the interview method to clarify the underlying dimensions of and relationships between students' scientific ontological and epistemic beliefs. Forty Taiwanese high school students were invited to participate in this study. Through content analysis of the participants' interview responses two ontological dimensions including 'status of nature' and 'structure of nature' were identified and found to be associated with each other. The two epistemic dimensions 'knowledge' and 'knowing' aligned with past literature were also categorised. Besides five pattern variations in terms of the aforementioned four dimensions were recognised based on the students' philosophical stances on their scientific ontological and epistemic beliefs. According to the Chi-square test results both dimensions of scientific ontological beliefs were significantly related to the two dimensions of scientific epistemic beliefs respectively. In general the students who endorsed a more sophisticated ontological stance regarding the status and structure of nature tended to express a more mature epistemic stance toward scientific knowledge and ways of knowing. The results suggest that the maturation of students' scientific epistemic beliefs may serve as a precursor and the fundamental step in promoting the sophistication of students' scientific ontological beliefs.
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The Role of Content Knowledge in Ill-Structured Problem Solving for High School Physics Students
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Milbourne, Jeff; Wiebe, Eric
2018-02-01
While Physics Education Research has a rich tradition of problem-solving scholarship, most of the work has focused on more traditional, well-defined problems. Less work has been done with ill-structured problems, problems that are better aligned with the engineering and design-based scenarios promoted by the Next Generation Science Standards. This study explored the relationship between physics content knowledge and ill-structured problem solving for two groups of high school students with different levels of content knowledge. Both groups of students completed an ill-structured problem set, using a talk-aloud procedure to narrate their thought process as they worked. Analysis of the data focused on identifying students' solution pathways, as well as the obstacles that prevented them from reaching "reasonable" solutions. Students with more content knowledge were more successful reaching reasonable solutions for each of the problems, experiencing fewer obstacles. These students also employed a greater variety of solution pathways than those with less content knowledge. Results suggest that a student's solution pathway choice may depend on how she perceives the problem.
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NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Sabella, Mel S.; Van Duzor, Andrea G.; Passehl, Jennie; Weisenburger, Kara
2012-05-01
Because of the diverse character of colleges and universities throughout the United States, it is naive to believe that a one-size-fits-all model of teacher preparation aligns with specific resources and student population needs. Exploring innovative models that challenge traditional programs is now being encouraged by organizations such as the American Association of Physics Teachers and the American Physical Society. Chicago State University (CSU) is now exploring exciting changes to its physics teacher preparation program by utilizing the expertise of Chicago Area teachers and early teaching experiences for students interested in, but not yet committed to, the physics teaching profession.
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Souba, Wiley W; Mauger, David; Day, David V
2007-03-01
To gain a better understanding of the values that medical school deans and surgery chairs consider most essential for effective leadership, to assess their perceptions of the values and leadership climate in their institutions, and to test the premise that agreement on leadership values and climate predict greater organizational effectiveness and performance. From June 2005 through March 2006, questionnaires designed to assess leadership core values and organizational leadership climate were mailed to medical school deans and surgery chairs of the 125 U.S. academic health centers. Institutional performance measures used were the National Institutes of Health (NIH) standing and U.S. News and World Report ranking of each institution. Sixty-eight surgery chairs (54%) and 60 deans (48%) returned surveys. Q-sort results on 38 positive leadership values indicated that integrity, trust, and vision were considered the most important core values for effective leadership by both chairs and deans. Both groups ranked business acumen, authority, and institutional reputation as least important. Deans consistently ranked the leadership climate as being healthier (more positive) than did their surgery chairs on multiple scale items: leadership is widely shared (P = .005), information is widely shared (P = .002), missions are aligned (P = .003), open communication is the norm (P = .009), good performance is rewarded (P = .01), teamwork is widely practiced (P = .01), and leaders are held accountable (P = 002). Tighter alignment between chairs and deans on core values and on the leadership climate scale correlated with higher school and department NIH standing and higher U.S. News and World Report medical school and hospital ranking (P < .05). Although surgery chairs and deans espouse similar core leadership values, deans believe that a healthier leadership climate exists in their institutions than their surgery chairs do. The study findings suggest that tighter leadership alignment between deans and surgery chairs may predict a higher level of institutional performance in the clinical and academic arenas.
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Wright, Imogen A; Travers, Simon A
2014-07-01
The challenge presented by high-throughput sequencing necessitates the development of novel tools for accurate alignment of reads to reference sequences. Current approaches focus on using heuristics to map reads quickly to large genomes, rather than generating highly accurate alignments in coding regions. Such approaches are, thus, unsuited for applications such as amplicon-based analysis and the realignment phase of exome sequencing and RNA-seq, where accurate and biologically relevant alignment of coding regions is critical. To facilitate such analyses, we have developed a novel tool, RAMICS, that is tailored to mapping large numbers of sequence reads to short lengths (<10 000 bp) of coding DNA. RAMICS utilizes profile hidden Markov models to discover the open reading frame of each sequence and aligns to the reference sequence in a biologically relevant manner, distinguishing between genuine codon-sized indels and frameshift mutations. This approach facilitates the generation of highly accurate alignments, accounting for the error biases of the sequencing machine used to generate reads, particularly at homopolymer regions. Performance improvements are gained through the use of graphics processing units, which increase the speed of mapping through parallelization. RAMICS substantially outperforms all other mapping approaches tested in terms of alignment quality while maintaining highly competitive speed performance. © The Author(s) 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.
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2011 Astronomy Day at McDonald Observatory
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Preston, Sandra; Hemeway, M.; Wetzel, M.
2012-01-01
Our philosophy is that everyday is Astronomy Day because the McDonald Observatory's Frank N. Bash Visitors Center is open 362 days a year. So, how did we create a special celebration for the "Astronomy Day” declared by the Astronomical League? During September 26-29 we conducted 20 videoconferences and served 12,559 students with "Astronomy Day” programming. Connect2Texas provides bridging for a network of Texas-based museums and cultural, historical, and scientific organizations that offer educational content to schools throughout the state via videoconferencing. Connect2Texas connected McDonald Observatory to 334 schools; most of these schools were in Texas, but schools in a dozen other states also participated. While most schools had a "view-only" connection, at least 20 of the schools had interactive connections, whereby the students could ask questions of the presenter. Connect2Texas also collects evaluation information from the participating schools that we will use to produce a report for our funders and make modifications to future programs as need be. The videoconferences were offered free of charge. The theme for the 2011 Astronomy Day program was the Year of the Solar System, which aligns with NASA's theme for 2011 and 2012. By aligning with this NASA theme, we could leverage NASA artwork and materials to both advertise and enrich the learning experience. Videoconference materials also included pre- and post-videoconference assessment sheets, an inquiry based activity, and pre- and post-videoconference activities, all of which were made available online. One of the lessons learned from past Astronomy Day videoconferences is that the days the Astronomical League declares as "Astronomy Day” are not always good days for Texas schools to participate. So, we choose an Astronomy Day that meets the needs of Texas schools and our schedule - so any day can be Astronomy Day. 2011 Astronomy Day was made possible by The Meyer-Levy Charitable Trust.
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NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Delp, Matthew J.
This study utilized survey research to investigate how school districts within K-12 education select, implement, and evaluate Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) programs. Thirty school districts within the Math and Science Collaborative located in Western Pennsylvania participated in this research. In addition to characterizing the STEM programs of the participating school districts, this study also analyzed the alignment of these programs to the components of comprehensive STEM programs and critical approaches to substantiate STEM program implementation as stated in the literature (Augustine, 2005; Bybee, 2010a, 2010b; Carnevale et al., 2011; DeJarnette, 2010; Epstein & Miller, 2011b; Gardner et al., 1983; Hossain & Robinson, 2011, 2012; Kuenzi, 2008). Findings suggest that the primary goal for school districts, as it relates to STEM program implementation, is to influence students' interest and pursuit of STEM-related careers and degrees. In order to achieve this goal, results of this study indicate the focus of STEM program implementation occurs with the greatest frequency at the middle school (grades seven and eight) level, are developed as an adaptation to the curriculum, and are very diverse from one school district to the next. In addition, findings suggest that although school districts maintain they aim to promote careers and degrees in STEM, districts rely on traditional methods of evaluating STEM program implementation (i.e. standardized test scores) and do not track the longitudinal impact their STEM programs as they related to degrees and careers in STEM. Furthermore, results indicate district STEM programs are not aligned to the characteristics of comprehensive STEM programs as defined by the literature. In order to address the misalignment of school district goals and evaluation processes involved in STEM program implementation and the absence of the characteristics commensurate with comprehensive STEM programs, this study has created a framework to guide school districts in STEM program selection, implementation, and evaluation.
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CAB-Align: A Flexible Protein Structure Alignment Method Based on the Residue-Residue Contact Area.
Terashi, Genki; Takeda-Shitaka, Mayuko
2015-01-01
Proteins are flexible, and this flexibility has an essential functional role. Flexibility can be observed in loop regions, rearrangements between secondary structure elements, and conformational changes between entire domains. However, most protein structure alignment methods treat protein structures as rigid bodies. Thus, these methods fail to identify the equivalences of residue pairs in regions with flexibility. In this study, we considered that the evolutionary relationship between proteins corresponds directly to the residue-residue physical contacts rather than the three-dimensional (3D) coordinates of proteins. Thus, we developed a new protein structure alignment method, contact area-based alignment (CAB-align), which uses the residue-residue contact area to identify regions of similarity. The main purpose of CAB-align is to identify homologous relationships at the residue level between related protein structures. The CAB-align procedure comprises two main steps: First, a rigid-body alignment method based on local and global 3D structure superposition is employed to generate a sufficient number of initial alignments. Then, iterative dynamic programming is executed to find the optimal alignment. We evaluated the performance and advantages of CAB-align based on four main points: (1) agreement with the gold standard alignment, (2) alignment quality based on an evolutionary relationship without 3D coordinate superposition, (3) consistency of the multiple alignments, and (4) classification agreement with the gold standard classification. Comparisons of CAB-align with other state-of-the-art protein structure alignment methods (TM-align, FATCAT, and DaliLite) using our benchmark dataset showed that CAB-align performed robustly in obtaining high-quality alignments and generating consistent multiple alignments with high coverage and accuracy rates, and it performed extremely well when discriminating between homologous and nonhomologous pairs of proteins in both single and multi-domain comparisons. The CAB-align software is freely available to academic users as stand-alone software at http://www.pharm.kitasato-u.ac.jp/bmd/bmd/Publications.html.
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High-speed multiple sequence alignment on a reconfigurable platform.
Oliver, Tim; Schmidt, Bertil; Maskell, Douglas; Nathan, Darran; Clemens, Ralf
2006-01-01
Progressive alignment is a widely used approach to compute multiple sequence alignments (MSAs). However, aligning several hundred sequences by popular progressive alignment tools requires hours on sequential computers. Due to the rapid growth of sequence databases biologists have to compute MSAs in a far shorter time. In this paper we present a new approach to MSA on reconfigurable hardware platforms to gain high performance at low cost. We have constructed a linear systolic array to perform pairwise sequence distance computations using dynamic programming. This results in an implementation with significant runtime savings on a standard FPGA.
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Joseph, Agnel Praveen; Srinivasan, Narayanaswamy; de Brevern, Alexandre G
2012-09-01
Comparison of multiple protein structures has a broad range of applications in the analysis of protein structure, function and evolution. Multiple structure alignment tools (MSTAs) are necessary to obtain a simultaneous comparison of a family of related folds. In this study, we have developed a method for multiple structure comparison largely based on sequence alignment techniques. A widely used Structural Alphabet named Protein Blocks (PBs) was used to transform the information on 3D protein backbone conformation as a 1D sequence string. A progressive alignment strategy similar to CLUSTALW was adopted for multiple PB sequence alignment (mulPBA). Highly similar stretches identified by the pairwise alignments are given higher weights during the alignment. The residue equivalences from PB based alignments are used to obtain a three dimensional fit of the structures followed by an iterative refinement of the structural superposition. Systematic comparisons using benchmark datasets of MSTAs underlines that the alignment quality is better than MULTIPROT, MUSTANG and the alignments in HOMSTRAD, in more than 85% of the cases. Comparison with other rigid-body and flexible MSTAs also indicate that mulPBA alignments are superior to most of the rigid-body MSTAs and highly comparable to the flexible alignment methods. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.
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Extremely High Thermal Conductivity of Aligned Carbon Nanotube-Polyethylene Composites.
Liao, Quanwen; Liu, Zhichun; Liu, Wei; Deng, Chengcheng; Yang, Nuo
2015-11-10
The ultra-low thermal conductivity of bulk polymers may be enhanced by combining them with high thermal conductivity materials such as carbon nanotubes. Different from random doping, we find that the aligned carbon nanotube-polyethylene composites has a high thermal conductivity by non-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations. The analyses indicate that the aligned composite not only take advantage of the high thermal conduction of carbon nanotubes, but enhance thermal conduction of polyethylene chains.
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Using Stars to Align a Steered Laser System for Cosmic Ray Simulation
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Krantz, Harry; Wiencke, Lawrence
2016-03-01
Ultra high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) are the highest energy cosmic particles with kinetic energy above 1018eV . UHECRs are detected from the air shower of secondary particles and UV florescence that results from interaction with the atmosphere. A high power UV laser beam can be used to simulate the optical signature of a UHCER air shower. The Global Light System (GLS) is a planned network of ground-based light sources including lasers to support the planned space-based Extreme Universe Space Observatory (EUSO). A portable prototype GLS laser station has been constructed at the Colorado School of Mines. Currently the laser system uses reference targets on the ground but stars can be used to better align the beam by providing a complete hemisphere of targets. In this work, a CCD camera is used to capture images of known stars through the steering head optics. The images are analyzed to find the steering head coordinates of the target star. The true coordinates of the star are calculated from the location and time of observation. A universal adjustment for the steering head is determined from the differences between the two pairs of coordinates across multiple stars. This laser system prototype will also be used for preflight tests of the ESUO Super Pressure Balloon mission.
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NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Larsen, Kristine
2017-01-01
The Disciplinary Core Ideas (DCI) of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) are grouped into the broad disciplinary areas of Physical Sciences, Life Sciences, Earth and Space Sciences, and Engineering, Technology and Application of Science, and feature learning progressions based on endpoint targets for each grade band. Since the Middle School DCIs build on the expected learning achievements to be reached by the end of Fifth Grade, and High School DCI similarly build on the expected learning achievements expected for the end of Eighth Grade, the Middle School grade band is of particular importance as the bridge between the Elementary and High School curriculum. In states where there is not a special Middle School Certification many of these science classes are taught by teachers prepared to teach at the Elementary level (and who may have limited content background). As a result, some pre-service and in-service teachers have expressed reduced self-confidence in both their own science content knowledge and their ability to apply it in the NGSS-based classroom, while decades of research has demonstrated the pervasiveness of science misconceptions among teachers. Thus the adoption of NGSS has the potential to drive talented teachers out of the profession who feel that they are ill-prepared for this sweeping transition. The key is providing rigorous education in both content and pedagogy for pre-service teachers and quality targeted professional development for in-service teachers. This report focuses on the Middle School Space Sciences grade band DCIs and presents research on specific difficulties, misconceptions and uncertainties with the material demonstrated by pre-service education students over the past four years in a required university science content course, as well as two year-long granted workshop series for current Middle School teachers. This information is relevant to the development of both new content courses aligned with NGSS for pre-service teachers and professional development for in-service teachers.
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NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Fitzgerald, Michael; McKinnon, David H.; Danaia, Lena; Deehan, James
2016-12-01
In this paper, we present the results from a study of the impact on students involved in a large-scale inquiry-based astronomical high school education intervention in Australia. Students in this intervention were led through an educational design allowing them to undertake an investigative approach to understanding the lifecycle of stars more aligned with the `ideal' picture of school science. Through the use of two instruments, one focused on content knowledge gains and the other on student views of school science, we explore the impact of this design. Overall, students made moderate content knowledge gains although these gains were heavily dependent on the individual teacher, the number of times a teacher implemented and the depth to which an individual teacher went with the provided materials. In terms of students' views, there were significant global changes in their views of their experience of the science classroom. However, there were some areas where no change or slightly negative changes of which some were expected and some were not. From these results, we comment on the necessity of sustained long-period implementations rather than single interventions, the requirement for similarly sustained professional development and the importance of monitoring the impact of inquiry-based implementations. This is especially important as inquiry-based approaches to science are required by many new curriculum reforms, most notably in this context, the new Australian curriculum currently being rolled out.
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China's New National Curriculum Reform: Innovation, Challenges and Strategies
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Guan, Qun; Meng, Wanjin
2007-01-01
This paper presents systematically China's New National Curriculum Reform (CNNCR). It covers the background, origin, essence, goals, features, evolvement, schedule, implementation, the alignment in primary, secondary and middle schools' curricula and inter-subjects, the outcomes and the challenges and strategies of CNNCR.
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Aligning the PRME: How Study Abroad Nurtures Responsible Leadership
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Sroufe, Robert; Sivasubramaniam, Nagaraj; Ramos, Diane; Saiia, David
2015-01-01
Productive relationships between business schools and corporate organizations provide fertile ground for bringing business leaders, faculty, students, and community partners face-to-face with contemporaries abroad to foster development of responsible global leadership competencies. While well-orchestrated multicountry collaboration offers unique…
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Integrative network alignment reveals large regions of global network similarity in yeast and human.
Kuchaiev, Oleksii; Przulj, Natasa
2011-05-15
High-throughput methods for detecting molecular interactions have produced large sets of biological network data with much more yet to come. Analogous to sequence alignment, efficient and reliable network alignment methods are expected to improve our understanding of biological systems. Unlike sequence alignment, network alignment is computationally intractable. Hence, devising efficient network alignment heuristics is currently a foremost challenge in computational biology. We introduce a novel network alignment algorithm, called Matching-based Integrative GRAph ALigner (MI-GRAAL), which can integrate any number and type of similarity measures between network nodes (e.g. proteins), including, but not limited to, any topological network similarity measure, sequence similarity, functional similarity and structural similarity. Hence, we resolve the ties in similarity measures and find a combination of similarity measures yielding the largest contiguous (i.e. connected) and biologically sound alignments. MI-GRAAL exposes the largest functional, connected regions of protein-protein interaction (PPI) network similarity to date: surprisingly, it reveals that 77.7% of proteins in the baker's yeast high-confidence PPI network participate in such a subnetwork that is fully contained in the human high-confidence PPI network. This is the first demonstration that species as diverse as yeast and human contain so large, continuous regions of global network similarity. We apply MI-GRAAL's alignments to predict functions of un-annotated proteins in yeast, human and bacteria validating our predictions in the literature. Furthermore, using network alignment scores for PPI networks of different herpes viruses, we reconstruct their phylogenetic relationship. This is the first time that phylogeny is exactly reconstructed from purely topological alignments of PPI networks. Supplementary files and MI-GRAAL executables: http://bio-nets.doc.ic.ac.uk/MI-GRAAL/.
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Pairagon: a highly accurate, HMM-based cDNA-to-genome aligner.
Lu, David V; Brown, Randall H; Arumugam, Manimozhiyan; Brent, Michael R
2009-07-01
The most accurate way to determine the intron-exon structures in a genome is to align spliced cDNA sequences to the genome. Thus, cDNA-to-genome alignment programs are a key component of most annotation pipelines. The scoring system used to choose the best alignment is a primary determinant of alignment accuracy, while heuristics that prevent consideration of certain alignments are a primary determinant of runtime and memory usage. Both accuracy and speed are important considerations in choosing an alignment algorithm, but scoring systems have received much less attention than heuristics. We present Pairagon, a pair hidden Markov model based cDNA-to-genome alignment program, as the most accurate aligner for sequences with high- and low-identity levels. We conducted a series of experiments testing alignment accuracy with varying sequence identity. We first created 'perfect' simulated cDNA sequences by splicing the sequences of exons in the reference genome sequences of fly and human. The complete reference genome sequences were then mutated to various degrees using a realistic mutation simulator and the perfect cDNAs were aligned to them using Pairagon and 12 other aligners. To validate these results with natural sequences, we performed cross-species alignment using orthologous transcripts from human, mouse and rat. We found that aligner accuracy is heavily dependent on sequence identity. For sequences with 100% identity, Pairagon achieved accuracy levels of >99.6%, with one quarter of the errors of any other aligner. Furthermore, for human/mouse alignments, which are only 85% identical, Pairagon achieved 87% accuracy, higher than any other aligner. Pairagon source and executables are freely available at http://mblab.wustl.edu/software/pairagon/
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Bullock, Alison; Tseng, Hsu-Min; Wells, Stephanie E
2017-01-01
Objectives To examine how burnout across medical student to junior doctor transition relates to: measures of professional identity, team understanding, anxiety, gender, age and workplace learning (assistantship) alignment to first post. Design A longitudinal 1-year cohort design. Two groups of final-year medical students: (1) those undertaking end-of-year assistantships aligned in location and specialty with their first post and (2) those undertaking assistantships non-aligned. An online questionnaire included: Professional Identity Scale, Team Understanding Scale, modified Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale and modified Copenhagen Burnout Inventory. Data were collected on four occasions: (T1) prior to graduation; (T2) 1 month post-transition; (T3) 6 months post-transition and (T4) 10 months post-transition. Questionnaires were analysed individually and using linear mixed-effect models. Setting Medical schools and postgraduate training in one UK country. Participants All aligned assistantship (n=182) and non-aligned assistantship students (n=319) were contacted; n=281 (56%) responded: 68% (n=183) females, 73% (n=206) 22–30 years, 46% aligned (n=129). Completion rates: aligned 72% (93/129) and non-aligned 64% (98/152). Results Analyses of individual scales revealed that self-reported anxiety, professional identity and patient-related burnout were stable, while team understanding, personal and work-related burnout increased, all irrespective of alignment. Three linear mixed-effect models (personal, patient-related and work-related burnout as outcome measures; age and gender as confounding variables) found that males self-reported significantly lower personal, but higher patient-related burnout, than females. Age and team understanding had no effect. Anxiety was significantly positively related and professional identity was significantly negatively related to burnout. Participants experiencing non-aligned assistantships reported higher personal and work-related burnout over time. Conclusions Implications for practice include medical schools’ consideration of an end-of-year workplace alignment with first-post before graduation or an extended shadowing period immediately postgraduation. How best to support undergraduate students’ early professional identity development should be examined. Support systems should be in place across the transition for individuals with a predisposition for anxiety. PMID:29284717
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NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Lee, Sang Jin; Heo, Min; Lee, Donghyun; Heo, Dong Nyoung; Lim, Ho-Nam; Kwon, Il Keun
2017-12-01
In this study, we designed highly-aligned thermoplastic polycarbonate urethane (PCU) fibrous scaffolds coated with bioactive compounds, such as Poly-L-Lysine (PLL) and Poly-L-Ornithine (PLO), to enhance cellular adhesion and directivity. These products were characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM) analysis which demonstrated that highly aligned fiber strands were formed without beads when coated onto a mandrel rotating at 1800 rpm. During in vitro cell test, PLO-coated, aligned PCU scaffolds were found to have significantly higher proliferation rates than PLL coated and bare PCU scaffolds. Interestingly, dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs) were observed to stretch along the longitudinal axis parallel to the cell direction on highly aligned scaffolds. These results clearly confirm that our strategy may suggest a useful paradigm by inducing neural tissue repair as a means to remodeling and healing of tissue for restorative procedures in neural tissue engineering.
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Corrected High-Frame Rate Anchored Ultrasound with Software Alignment
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Miller, Amanda L.; Finch, Kenneth B.
2011-01-01
Purpose: To improve lingual ultrasound imaging with the Corrected High Frame Rate Anchored Ultrasound with Software Alignment (CHAUSA; Miller, 2008) method. Method: A production study of the IsiXhosa alveolar click is presented. Articulatory-to-acoustic alignment is demonstrated using a Tri-Modal 3-ms pulse generator. Images from 2 simultaneous…
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Posture Alignment of Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis: Photogrammetry in Scoliosis School Screening.
Penha, Patrícia Jundi; Penha, Nárima Lívia Jundi; De Carvalho, Bárbarah Kelly Gonçalves; Andrade, Rodrigo Mantelatto; Schmitt, Ana Carolina Basso; João, Sílvia Maria Amado
The objective of this study was to describe the posture patterns of adolescents diagnosed with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) in a scoliosis school screening (SSS). Two-dimensional photogrammetry was used to assess the posture of 37 adolescents diagnosed with scoliosis (scoliosis group, SG) (Cobb angle ≥10°) and 76 adolescents with a false positive diagnosis (false positive group, FPG) (Cobb angle <10°, angle of trunk rotation ≥7°). In total, 2562 10- to 14-year-old adolescents were enrolled in the SSS, which was performed in public schools in the cities of Amparo, Pedreira, and Mogi Mirim in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. Their posture was analyzed using Postural Analysis Software. Continuous variables were tested using Student t test, and categorical variables were tested using a χ2 test. The SG, FPG, simple curve group, and double curve group were all compared. Bivariate analysis was used to identify associations between postural deviations and scoliosis. The adopted significance level was α = .05. The SG (2.7 ± 1.9°) had greater shoulder obliquity than the FPG (1.9 ± 1.4°) (P = .010), and this deviation was associated with scoliosis (odds ratio [95% CI] P = 1.4 [1.1-1.8] 0.011). The SG had asymmetry between the right- and left-side lower limb frontal angle, shoulder sagittal alignment, and knee angle. The double curve group (3 ± 1.7°) presented a greater value of the vertical alignment of the torso than the simple curve group did (1.9 ± 1°; P = .032). Adolescents diagnosed with AIS in an SSS had greater shoulder obliquity and asymmetry between the right and left sides. Shoulder obliquity was the only postural deviation associated with AIS. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Inc.
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Using School-Level Interviews to Develop a Multisite PE Intervention Program
Moe, Stacey G.; Pickrel, Julie; McKenzie, Thomas L.; Strikmiller, Patricia K.; Coombs, Derek; Murrie, Dale
2008-01-01
The Trial of Activity for Adolescent Girls (TAAG) is a randomized, multicenter field trial in middle schools that aims to reduce the decline of physical activity in adolescent girls. To inform the development of the TAAG intervention, two phases of formative research are conducted to gain information on school structure and environment and on the conduct of physical education classes. Principals and designated staff at 64 eligible middle schools were interviewed using the School Survey during Phase 1. The following year (Phase 2), physical education department heads of the 36 schools selected into TAAG were interviewed. Responses were examined to design a standardized, multicomponent physical activity intervention for six regions of the United States. This article describes the contribution of formative research to the development of the physical education intervention component and summarizes the alignment of current school policies and practices with national and state standards. PMID:16397159
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Santhanagopalan, Sunand; Balram, Anirudh; Meng, Dennis Desheng
2013-03-26
It is commonly perceived that reduction-oxidation (redox) capacitors have to sacrifice power density to achieve higher energy density than carbon-based electric double layer capacitors. In this work, we report the synergetic advantages of combining the high crystallinity of hydrothermally synthesized α-MnO2 nanorods with alignment for high performance redox capacitors. Such an approach is enabled by high voltage electrophoretic deposition (HVEPD) technology which can obtain vertically aligned nanoforests with great process versatility. The scalable nanomanufacturing process is demonstrated by roll-printing an aligned forest of α-MnO2 nanorods on a large flexible substrate (1 inch by 1 foot). The electrodes show very high power density (340 kW/kg at an energy density of 4.7 Wh/kg) and excellent cyclability (over 92% capacitance retention over 2000 cycles). Pretreatment of the substrate and use of a conductive holding layer have also been shown to significantly reduce the contact resistance between the aligned nanoforests and the substrates. High areal specific capacitances of around 8500 μF/cm(2) have been obtained for each electrode with a two-electrode device configuration. Over 93% capacitance retention was observed when the cycling current densities were increased from 0.25 to 10 mA/cm(2), indicating high rate capabilities of the fabricated electrodes and resulting in the very high attainable power density. The high performance of the electrodes is attributed to the crystallographic structure, 1D morphology, aligned orientation, and low contact resistance.
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High yield growth of patterned vertically aligned carbon nanotubes using inkjet-printed catalyst.
Beard, James D; Stringer, Jonathan; Ghita, Oana R; Smith, Patrick J
2013-10-09
This study reports on the fabrication of vertically aligned carbon nanotubes localized at specific sites on a growth substrate by deposition of a nanoparticle suspension using inkjet printing. Carbon nanotubes were grown with high yield as vertically aligned forests to a length of approximately 400 μm. The use of inkjet printing for catalyst fabrication considerably improves the production rate of vertically aligned patterned nanotube forests compared with conventional patterning techniques, for example, electron beam lithography or photolithography.
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Precision lens assembly with alignment turning system
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Ho, Cheng-Fang; Huang, Chien-Yao; Lin, Yi-Hao; Kuo, Hui-Jean; Kuo, Ching-Hsiang; Hsu, Wei-Yao; Chen, Fong-Zhi
2017-10-01
The poker chip assembly with high precision lens barrels is widely applied to ultra-high performance optical system. ITRC applies the poker chip assembly technology to the high numerical aperture objective lenses and lithography projection lenses because of its high efficiency assembly process. In order to achieve high precision lens cell for poker chip assembly, an alignment turning system (ATS) is developed. The ATS includes measurement, alignment and turning modules. The measurement module is equipped with a non-contact displacement sensor (NCDS) and an autocollimator (ACM). The NCDS and ACM are used to measure centration errors of the top and the bottom surface of a lens respectively; then the amount of adjustment of displacement and tilt with respect to the rotational axis of the turning machine for the alignment module can be determined. After measurement, alignment and turning processes on the ATS, the centration error of a lens cell with 200 mm in diameter can be controlled within 10 arcsec. Furthermore, a poker chip assembly lens cell with three sub-cells is demonstrated, each sub-cells are measured and accomplished with alignment and turning processes. The lens assembly test for five times by each three technicians; the average transmission centration error of assembly lens is 12.45 arcsec. The results show that ATS can achieve high assembly efficiency for precision optical systems.
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Vick, Alexis Danielle; Baugh, Aaron; Lambert, Julie; Vanderbilt, Allison A; Ingram, Evan; Garcia, Richard; Baugh, Reginald F
2018-01-01
A growing body of research illustrates the importance of aligning efforts across the operational continuum to achieve diversity goals. This alignment begins with the institutional mission and the message it conveys about the priorities of the institution to potential applicants, community, staff, and faculty. The traditional themes of education, research, and service dominate most medical school mission statements. The emerging themes of physician maldistribution, overall primary-care physician shortage, diversity, and cost control are cited less frequently. The importance and salience of having administrative leaders with an explicit commitment to workforce and student diversity is a prominent and pivotal factor in the medical literature on the subject. Organizational leadership shapes the general work climate and expectations concerning diversity, recruitment, and retention. Following the Bakke decision, individual medical schools, supported by the Association of American Medical Colleges, worked to expand the frame of reference for evaluating applicants for medical school. These efforts have come together under the rubric of "holistic review", permitted by the US Supreme Court in 2003. A large diverse-applicant pool is needed to ensure the appropriate candidates can be chosen for the incoming medical school class. Understanding the optimal rationale and components for a successful recruitment program is important. Benchmarking with other schools regionally and nationally will identify what should be the relative size of a pool. Diversity is of compelling interest to us all, and should pervade all aspects of higher education, including admissions, the curriculum, student services and activities, and our faculties. The aim of medical education is to cultivate a workforce with the perspectives, aptitudes, and skills needed to fuel community-responsive health-care institutions. A commitment toward diversity needs to be made.
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NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Kelly, Mary Kathryn
The purpose of this study was to develop an understanding of the relationships among school-level and science education reform efforts and how, collectively, they contribute to the progress of equitable, systemic science education reform. A case study research design was employed to gather both qualitative and quantitative data between 1995 and 1999. The site of this study is a non-selective, urban middle school in a large district that participated in several reform efforts. These reforms include both efforts focused on school-level change and efforts focused on change in science teaching and learning. Its program incorporates aspects of several school-level reforms---from the underlying Paideia philosophy, to structural characteristics of middle schools, to site-based decision-making, to its status as a magnet school, to its participation as a professional development school. Further, the participation of all science teachers in the intensive, standards-based professional development offered by Ohio's systemic reform of mathematics and science created a critical mass of reform-oriented teachers who supported one another as they incorporated reform-based practices into their teaching. The interplay of the reform efforts has manifested in a high level of science achievement in comparison to the school's district. Addressing the third component of O'Day and Smith's model for systemic reform, the need for school-level change to enable implementation of curriculum frameworks and aligned policies, this study illustrates two important points. First, the high-quality teacher professional development increased teachers' capacity to change their practices by enhancing their knowledge of and skills in implementing standards-based teaching practices. Second, because of the synchrony among the school-level reforms and between the school-level and science education reforms, the context of Webster provided a supportive environment in which lasting changes in science teaching and learning were implemented. Science education reform efforts were mediated by the school's context to create an environment in which the reform practices could be implemented and sustained. Using Kahle's (1998) Equity Metric, this study demonstrates that the synergy of the policies and practices of school-level and science education reforms can contribute to the progress of equitable, systemic science education reform.
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Aronin, Miriam; McDuffie, Thomas E., Jr.
2009-01-01
This article presents an interview with G. Kip Bollinger. G. Kip Bollinger currently works as a consultant for Intermediate Units, school districts, professional science societies, and science text and kit producers. He performs curriculum alignment, does assessment training, coaches science teachers, trains teachers in the use of specific…
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Aligning Montessori Schools with "True" Montessori Essentials.
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Kahn, David
2003-01-01
Describes evolution of the Montessori perspective as Montessori adolescent programs attempt to reinforce the elementary and early childhood stages. Asserts that although development of these programs is experimental and undefined, a crystallization point around the whole of Montessori may occur amid diverse implementation. Asserts that Montessori…
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Funds Flow in the Era of Value-Based Health Care.
Itri, Jason N; Mithqal, Ayman; Krishnaraj, Arun
2017-06-01
Health care reform is creating significant challenges for hospital systems and academic medical centers (AMCs), requiring a new operating model to adapt to declining reimbursement, diminishing research funding, market consolidation, payers' focus on higher quality and lower cost, and greater cost sharing by patients. Maintaining and promoting the triple mission of clinical care, research, and education will require AMCs to be system-based with strong alignment around governance, operations, clinical care, and finances. Funds flow is the primary mechanism whereby an AMC maintains the triple mission through alignment of the hospital, physician practices, school of medicine, undergraduate university, and other professional schools. The purpose of this article is to discuss challenges with current funds flow models, impact of funds flow on academic and private practice radiology groups, and strategies that can increase funds flow to support radiology practices achieving clinical, research, and teaching missions in the era of value-based health care. Copyright © 2017 American College of Radiology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Structural re-alignment in an immunologic surface region of ricin A chain
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Zemla, A T; Zhou, C E
2007-07-24
We compared structure alignments generated by several protein structure comparison programs to determine whether existing methods would satisfactorily align residues at a highly conserved position within an immunogenic loop in ribosome inactivating proteins (RIPs). Using default settings, structure alignments generated by several programs (CE, DaliLite, FATCAT, LGA, MAMMOTH, MATRAS, SHEBA, SSM) failed to align the respective conserved residues, although LGA reported correct residue-residue (R-R) correspondences when the beta-carbon (Cb) position was used as the point of reference in the alignment calculations. Further tests using variable points of reference indicated that points distal from the beta carbon along a vector connectingmore » the alpha and beta carbons yielded rigid structural alignments in which residues known to be highly conserved in RIPs were reported as corresponding residues in structural comparisons between ricin A chain, abrin-A, and other RIPs. Results suggest that approaches to structure alignment employing alternate point representations corresponding to side chain position may yield structure alignments that are more consistent with observed conservation of functional surface residues than do standard alignment programs, which apply uniform criteria for alignment (i.e., alpha carbon (Ca) as point of reference) along the entirety of the peptide chain. We present the results of tests that suggest the utility of allowing user-specified points of reference in generating alternate structural alignments, and we present a web server for automatically generating such alignments.« less
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The NASA Climate Change Research Initiative - A Scientist's Perspective
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
LeGrande, A. N.; Pearce, M. D.; Dulaney, N.; Kelly, S. M.
2017-12-01
For the last four years, I have been a lead mentor in the NASA GISS Climate Change Research Initiative (CCRI) program, a component in the NASA GSFC Office of Education portfolio. It creates a multidisciplinary; vertical research team including a NYC metropolitan teacher, graduate student, undergraduate student, and high school student. While the college and high school members of this research team function like a more traditional internship component, the teacher component provides a powerful, direct way to connect state-of-the art research with students in the classroom. Because the teacher internship lasts a full year, it affords a similar relationship with a teacher that normally only exists between a PhD student and scientist. It also provides an opportunity to train the teacher in using the extensive data archives and other information maintained on NASA's publicly available websites. This time and access provide PhD-level training in the techniques and tools used in my climate research to the high school teacher. The teacher then uses his/her own pedagogical expertise to translate these techniques into age/level appropriate lesson plans for the classroom aligned with current STEM education trends and expectations. Throughout the process, there is an exchange of knowledge between the teacher and scientist that is very similar to the training given to PhD level graduate students. The teacher's understanding of the topic and implementation of the tools is done under a very close collaboration with the scientist supervisor and the NASA Education Program Specialist. This vertical team model encourages collegial communication between teachers and learners from many different educational levels and capitalizes on the efficacy of near peer mentoring strategies. This relationship is important in building trust through the difficult, iterative process that results in the development of highly accurate and quality (continuously discussed and vetted) curriculum composed of science modules on very sophisticated STEM education topics tailored and customized for a high school student audience. This program has thus very meaningful broad impacts with a scientist being able to reach and inspire 150 or more students per year through the expert collaboration of the high school teacher to scientist partnership. PANELIST
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NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
McNeal, K.; Libarkin, J. C.; Ledley, T. S.; Gold, A. U.; Lynds, S. E.; Haddad, N.; Ellins, K.; Dunlap, C.; Bardar, E. W.; Youngman, E.
2015-12-01
Instructors must have on hand appropriate assessments that align with their teaching and learning goals in order to provide evidence of student learning. We have worked with curriculum developers and scientists to develop the Climate Concept Inventory (CCI), which meets goals of the EarthLabs Climate on-line curriculum. The developed concept inventory includes 19 content-driven multiple choice questions, six affective-based multiple choice questions, one confidence question, three open-ended questions, and eight demographic questions. Our analysis of the instrument applies item response theory and uses item characteristic curves. We have assessed over 500 students in nearly twenty high school classrooms in Mississippi and Texas that have engaged in the implementation of the EarthLabs curriculum and completed the CCI. Results indicate that students had pre-post gains on 9 out of 10 of the content-based multiple choice questions with positive gains in answer choice selection ranging from 1.72% to 42%. Students significantly reported increased confidence with 15% more students reporting that they were either very or fairly confident with their answers. Of the six affective questions posed, 5 out of 6 showed significant shifts towards gains in knowledge, awareness, and information about Earth's climate system. The research has resulted in a robust and validated climate concept inventory for use with advanced high school students, where we have been able to apply its use within the EarthLabs project.
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SINA: accurate high-throughput multiple sequence alignment of ribosomal RNA genes.
Pruesse, Elmar; Peplies, Jörg; Glöckner, Frank Oliver
2012-07-15
In the analysis of homologous sequences, computation of multiple sequence alignments (MSAs) has become a bottleneck. This is especially troublesome for marker genes like the ribosomal RNA (rRNA) where already millions of sequences are publicly available and individual studies can easily produce hundreds of thousands of new sequences. Methods have been developed to cope with such numbers, but further improvements are needed to meet accuracy requirements. In this study, we present the SILVA Incremental Aligner (SINA) used to align the rRNA gene databases provided by the SILVA ribosomal RNA project. SINA uses a combination of k-mer searching and partial order alignment (POA) to maintain very high alignment accuracy while satisfying high throughput performance demands. SINA was evaluated in comparison with the commonly used high throughput MSA programs PyNAST and mothur. The three BRAliBase III benchmark MSAs could be reproduced with 99.3, 97.6 and 96.1 accuracy. A larger benchmark MSA comprising 38 772 sequences could be reproduced with 98.9 and 99.3% accuracy using reference MSAs comprising 1000 and 5000 sequences. SINA was able to achieve higher accuracy than PyNAST and mothur in all performed benchmarks. Alignment of up to 500 sequences using the latest SILVA SSU/LSU Ref datasets as reference MSA is offered at http://www.arb-silva.de/aligner. This page also links to Linux binaries, user manual and tutorial. SINA is made available under a personal use license.
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Public School Finance Assessment Project Aligned with ELCC Standards
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Risen, D. Michael
2008-01-01
This is a detailed description of an assessment that can be used in a graduate level of study in the area of public school finance. This has been approved by NCATE as meeting all of the stipulated ELCC standards for which it is designed (1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3.). This course of…
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[Investigation of the cognition and behavior on drug safety in Beijing middle school students].
Cheng, Y C; Pan, Y P; Zhang, Y; Pan, Y T; Ding, C Y; Cao, Y; Zhuo, L; Fang, R F; Gao, A Y; Guo, J; Li, A J; Fu, Q; Ma, J; Zhan, S Y
2017-12-18
To understand the cognition and behavior of drug safety in Beijing middle school students and provide advice for relevant education. A cross-sectional survey using paper questionnaires was carried out on the student body of nine Beijing middle schools. Multi-stage proportionate stratified cluster sampling was adopted to enroll participants. In addition to demographic questions, the questionnaire included 17 questions assessing the cognition and behavior of safe drug use, prioritizing questions that aligned with the health education guideline for primary and secondary school students from Chinese Ministry of Education. Descriptive statistical methods were applied using the SAS 9.2 software. Of the 4 220 students investigated, 2 097(49.7%) were males and 2 123(50.3%) were females. The average age was (14.3±1.7) years. 2 030(48.1%) students were from downtown areas, 1 511(35.8%) were from urban-rural linking areas and 679(16.1%) were from rural areas. Half (51.5%) of the respondents were junior high school students, and the others were from senior high schools (34.2%) and vocational high schools (14.3%). Most of the students (89.6%) lived off campus. The awareness rate of drug safety knowledge was 74.4%, the median score of drug safety behavior was 4 points (full score was 5 points) and there was a statistically positive correlation between the two (Spearman's correlation coefficient was 0.156, P<0.001). Both the awareness rates and the drug safety behavior scores were statistically different among the students in different regions, different school types and different residence types (P<0.001). Multiple factors analysis demonstrated the correlation between the cognition degrees of both drug safety knowledge, behavior and the above factors. Of all the students, 80.4% agreed that any drug could have adverse drug reactions; 40.5% were aware that antibiotics couldn't kill viruses; as many as 49.6% mistook aspirin as antibiotic; 97.4% would read drug instructions before taking them; Only 42.4% put expired drugs into special recycling bins; 49.8% would deviate from the suggested dosage and frequency of their medication when they were sick with common diseases. Overall, the cognition of drug safety in Beijing middle school students is good, but problems still exist in medication adherence, the management of expired drugs and the antibiotics cognition, which need to be fixed through specific, pointed way of education. And more efforts should be made to improve the cognition in rural regions, vocational high schools and on campus students.
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Wave drag reduction due to a self-aligning aerodisk
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Schnepf, Ch.; Wysocki, O.; Schülein, E.
2015-06-01
The effect of a self-aligning aerodisk on the wave drag of a blunt slender body in a pitching maneuver has been numerically investigated. The self-alignment was realized by a coupling of the flow solver and a flight mechanics tool. The slender body was pitched with high repetition rate between α = 0° and 20° at M = 1.41. Even at high α, the concept could align the aerodisk to the oncoming flow. In comparison to the reference body without a self-aligning aerodisk, a distinct drag reduction is achieved. A comparison with existing experimental data shows a qualitatively good agreement considering the shock and separation structure and the kinematics of the aerodisk.
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Teacher-Quality Checklist for School Districts
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
National Council on Teacher Quality, 2010
2010-01-01
Many districts struggle with multiple--and often incompatible--data systems for tracking payroll, collecting teacher evaluations, recruiting and hiring. Aligning these systems and annually assessing where a district stands is the first step towards developing a smart human capital strategy. This checklist outlines the goals, data and questions a…
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RTI Essential Components Integrity Rubric
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
National Center on Response to Intervention, 2011
2011-01-01
The Response to Intervention (RTI) Essential Components Integrity Rubric is for use by individuals who are responsible for monitoring school-level fidelity of RTI implementation. The rubric is aligned with "Essential Components of RTI: A Closer Look at Response to Intervention" (National Center on Response to Intervention, 2010).…
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ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Tatarchuk, Shawna; Eick, Charles
2011-01-01
An outdoor classroom is an exciting way to connect the learning of science to nature and the environment. Many school grounds include gardens, grassy areas, courtyards, and wooded areas. Some even have nearby streams or creeks. These are built-in laboratories for inquiry! In the authors' third-grade classroom, they align and integrate…
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Fads, Fancies and Fantasies: An Educator's Perspective on Current Educational Facility Issues.
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Ryland, James
2003-01-01
Explores educational facilities issues from the personal perspective of being both an educator and an owner. Topics discussed include aligning curriculum and instruction with facilities design, green school rating systems, the relationship between facilities and achievement, longitudinal facilities research, post-occupancy evaluation, and…
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Manage "Human Capital" Strategically
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Odden, Allan
2011-01-01
To strategically manage human capital in education means restructuring the entire human resource system so that schools not only recruit and retain smart and capable individuals, but also manage them in ways that support the strategic directions of the organization. These management practices must be aligned with a district's education improvement…
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Fabrication of high thermal conductivity arrays of carbon nanotubes and their composites
Geohegan, David B [Knoxville, TN; Ivanov, Ilya N [Knoxville, TN; Puretzky, Alexander A [Knoxville, TN
2010-07-27
Methods and apparatus are described for fabrication of high thermal conductivity arrays of carbon nanotubes and their composites. A composition includes a vertically aligned nanotube array including a plurality of nanotubes characterized by a property across substantially all of the vertically aligned nanotube array. A method includes depositing a vertically aligned nanotube array that includes a plurality of nanotubes; and controlling a deposition rate of the vertically aligned nanotubes array as a function of an in situ monitored property of the plurality of nanotubes.
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Solving the shrinkage-induced PDMS alignment registration issue in multilayer soft lithography
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Moraes, Christopher; Sun, Yu; Simmons, Craig A.
2009-06-01
Shrinkage of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) complicates alignment registration between layers during multilayer soft lithography fabrication. This often hinders the development of large-scale microfabricated arrayed devices. Here we report a rapid method to construct large-area, multilayered devices with stringent alignment requirements. This technique, which exploits a previously unrecognized aspect of sandwich mold fabrication, improves device yield, enables highly accurate alignment over large areas of multilayered devices and does not require strict regulation of fabrication conditions or extensive calibration processes. To demonstrate this technique, a microfabricated Braille display was developed and characterized. High device yield and accurate alignment within 15 µm were achieved over three layers for an array of 108 Braille units spread over a 6.5 cm2 area, demonstrating the fabrication of well-aligned devices with greater ease and efficiency than previously possible.
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Geoscience Challenges of a State-by-state Adoption or Adaptation of the NGSS
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Wysession, M. E.
2016-12-01
For the geosciences, the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) contain the largest shift in K-12 education to have happened in our lifetimes, but its adoption is playing our very differently in different states. Because it is illegal to have a national curriculum, the NGSS intentionally avoided providing a curriculum but rather a set of performance expectations that each state (or district or school) could use in its own way to construct assessments and curricula. The result is that although more than 80% of schools in the U.S. are in the process of revising their curricula to align with the NGSS, this is happening in a different way in each state (or district or school). Instead of having a single target for curriculum developers to aim for, the result is to actually create a greater diversity of pedagogic platforms across the U.S. schools than there was before the NGSS were released. Some states (Alaska, North Dakota, Texas, Virginia) stated at the outset that they would not be adopting any version of the NGSS at all. So far seventeen states (and D.C.) have adopted the NGSS verbatim, but they are still each developing their curricula in their own way. In fossil-fuel-concentrated communities, such as Wyoming, Oklahoma, and West Virginia, the strong presence of the topics of climate and climate change in the NGSS have created complications for its adoption. States that still only require two years of high school science for all students, so the addition of a year of Earth and Space Science is creating legislative challenges. There is a general lack of trained and accredited high school geoscience teachers in nearly all states (with a few notable exceptions, such as New York), so the preparation and training of high school geoscience teachers is a significant nationwide concern. There are also large variations in the development of assessment materials, pre-service training, and updating certification programs. Progress is definitely being made, but the NGSS is looking like a patchwork quilt, with no two states' pieces the same, and this is posing great challenges for curriculum developers.
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Optical alignment of high resolution Fourier transform spectrometers
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Breckinridge, J. B.; Ocallaghan, F. G.; Cassie, A. G.
1980-01-01
Remote sensing, high resolution FTS instruments often contain three primary optical subsystems: Fore-Optics, Interferometer Optics, and Post, or Detector Optics. We discuss the alignment of a double-pass FTS containing a cat's-eye retro-reflector. Also, the alignment of fore-optics containing confocal paraboloids with a reflecting field stop which relays a field image onto a camera is discussed.
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Reliability of image-free navigation to monitor lower-limb alignment.
Pearle, Andrew D; Goleski, Patrick; Musahl, Volker; Kendoff, Daniel
2009-02-01
Proper alignment of the mechanical axis of the lower limb is the principal goal of a high tibial osteotomy. A well-accepted and relevant technical specification is the coronal plane lower-limb alignment. Target values for coronal plane alignment after high tibial osteotomy include 2 degrees of overcorrection, while tolerances for this specification have been established as 2 degrees to 4 degrees. However, the role of axial plane and sagittal plane realignment after high tibial osteotomy is poorly understood; consequently, targets and tolerance for this technical specification remain undefined. This article reviews the literature concerning the reliability and precision of navigation in monitoring the clinically relevant specification of lower-limb alignment in high tibial osteotomy. We conclude that image-free navigation registration may be clinically useful for intraoperative monitoring of the coronal plane only. Only fair and poor results for the axial and sagittal planes can be obtained by image-free navigation systems. In the future, combined image-based data, such as those from radiographs, magnetic resonance imaging, and gait analysis, may be used to help to improve the accuracy and reproducibility of quantitative intraoperative monitoring of lower-limb alignment.
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DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Bulmer, John S.; Lekawa-Raus, Agnieszka; Rickel, Dwight G.
We explored high-field (60 T) magneto-resistance (MR) with two carbon nanotube (CNT) material classes: (1) unaligned single-wall CNTs (SWCNT) films with controlled metallic SWCNT concentrations and doping degree and (2) CNT fiber with aligned, long-length microstructure. All unaligned SWCNT films showed localized hopping transport where high-field MR saturation definitively supports spin polarization instead of a more prevalent wave function shrinking mechanism. Nitric acid exposure induced an insulator to metal transition and reduced the positive MR component. Aligned CNT fiber, already on the metal side of the insulator to metal transition, had positive MR without saturation and was assigned to classicalmore » MR involving electronic mobility. Subtracting high-field fits from the aligned fiber’s MR yielded an unconfounded negative MR, which was assigned to weak localization. It is concluded that fluctuation induced tunnelling, an extrinsic transport model accounting for most of the aligned fiber’s room temperature resistance, appears to lack MR field dependence.« less
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Bulmer, John S; Lekawa-Raus, Agnieszka; Rickel, Dwight G; Balakirev, Fedor F; Koziol, Krzysztof K
2017-09-22
We explored high-field (60 T) magneto-resistance (MR) with two carbon nanotube (CNT) material classes: (1) unaligned single-wall CNTs (SWCNT) films with controlled metallic SWCNT concentrations and doping degree and (2) CNT fiber with aligned, long-length microstructure. All unaligned SWCNT films showed localized hopping transport where high-field MR saturation definitively supports spin polarization instead of a more prevalent wave function shrinking mechanism. Nitric acid exposure induced an insulator to metal transition and reduced the positive MR component. Aligned CNT fiber, already on the metal side of the insulator to metal transition, had positive MR without saturation and was assigned to classical MR involving electronic mobility. Subtracting high-field fits from the aligned fiber's MR yielded an unconfounded negative MR, which was assigned to weak localization. It is concluded that fluctuation induced tunnelling, an extrinsic transport model accounting for most of the aligned fiber's room temperature resistance, appears to lack MR field dependence.
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Bulmer, John S.; Lekawa-Raus, Agnieszka; Rickel, Dwight G.; ...
2017-09-22
We explored high-field (60 T) magneto-resistance (MR) with two carbon nanotube (CNT) material classes: (1) unaligned single-wall CNTs (SWCNT) films with controlled metallic SWCNT concentrations and doping degree and (2) CNT fiber with aligned, long-length microstructure. All unaligned SWCNT films showed localized hopping transport where high-field MR saturation definitively supports spin polarization instead of a more prevalent wave function shrinking mechanism. Nitric acid exposure induced an insulator to metal transition and reduced the positive MR component. Aligned CNT fiber, already on the metal side of the insulator to metal transition, had positive MR without saturation and was assigned to classicalmore » MR involving electronic mobility. Subtracting high-field fits from the aligned fiber’s MR yielded an unconfounded negative MR, which was assigned to weak localization. It is concluded that fluctuation induced tunnelling, an extrinsic transport model accounting for most of the aligned fiber’s room temperature resistance, appears to lack MR field dependence.« less
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Pathways to college and STEM careers: enhancing the high school experience.
Schneider, Barbara; Broda, Michael; Judy, Justina; Burkander, Kri
2013-01-01
With a rising demand for a college degree and an increasingly complicated college search, application, and selection process, there are a number of interventions designed to ease the college-going process for adolescents and their families. One such intervention, the College Ambition Program (CAP), is specifically designed to be a whole-school intervention that comprehensively connects several important aspects of the college-going process and specifically is focused on increasing interest in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). With many adolescents having interest in STEM careers but lacking knowledge of how to transform these interests into plans, CAP supports students in developing and pursuing their educational and occupational goals. CAP offers students tutoring and mentoring, course-counseling and advising, assistance through the financial aid process, and college experiences through visits to college campuses. In addition to these four core components, CAP is also pursuing how to integrate mobile technology and texting to further provide students with tailored resources and information about the college-going process. This chapter describes the complexities of the college-going process, the components of the CAP intervention, and presents findings that demonstrate that these strategies can increase college-going rates and interest in STEM. The authors highlight the importance of developing a college-going culture within high schools that support the alignment of postsecondary and career goals. © WILEY PERIODICALS, INC.
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Estes, R E; Baum, D L; Bray, N M
1986-04-01
The purpose of this study was to investigate the performance of junior high school learning disabled students on standard and modified administrations of selected subtests from the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills. No significant differences were noted for correlations between types of administration and teachers' ratings on any of the subtest comparisons. Grade placements for Vocabulary and Reading Comprehension using the modified administration were significantly higher than those using the standard administration and more closely aligned with teachers' ratings. Math Concept and Math Problem-solving grade-placement scores did not differ by type of administration; teachers' ratings were higher than those produced by either testing format.
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High-harmonic spectroscopy of aligned molecules
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Yun, Hyeok; Yun, Sang Jae; Lee, Gae Hwang; Nam, Chang Hee
2017-01-01
High harmonics emitted from aligned molecules driven by intense femtosecond laser pulses provide the opportunity to explore the structural information of molecules. The field-free molecular alignment technique is an expedient tool for investigating the structural characteristics of linear molecules. The underlying physics of field-free alignment, showing the characteristic revival structure specific to molecular species, is clearly explained from the quantum-phase analysis of molecular rotational states. The anisotropic nature of molecules is shown from the harmonic polarization measurement performed with spatial interferometry. The multi-orbital characteristics of molecules are investigated using high-harmonic spectroscopy, applied to molecules of N2 and CO2. In the latter case the two-dimensional high-harmonic spectroscopy, implemented using a two-color laser field, is applied to distinguish harmonics from different orbitals. Molecular high-harmonic spectroscopy will open a new route to investigate ultrafast dynamics of molecules.
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PROPER: global protein interaction network alignment through percolation matching.
Kazemi, Ehsan; Hassani, Hamed; Grossglauser, Matthias; Pezeshgi Modarres, Hassan
2016-12-12
The alignment of protein-protein interaction (PPI) networks enables us to uncover the relationships between different species, which leads to a deeper understanding of biological systems. Network alignment can be used to transfer biological knowledge between species. Although different PPI-network alignment algorithms were introduced during the last decade, developing an accurate and scalable algorithm that can find alignments with high biological and structural similarities among PPI networks is still challenging. In this paper, we introduce a new global network alignment algorithm for PPI networks called PROPER. Compared to other global network alignment methods, our algorithm shows higher accuracy and speed over real PPI datasets and synthetic networks. We show that the PROPER algorithm can detect large portions of conserved biological pathways between species. Also, using a simple parsimonious evolutionary model, we explain why PROPER performs well based on several different comparison criteria. We highlight that PROPER has high potential in further applications such as detecting biological pathways, finding protein complexes and PPI prediction. The PROPER algorithm is available at http://proper.epfl.ch .
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Kinematic Alignment and Bonding of Silicon Mirrors for High-Resolution Astronomical X-Ray Optics
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Chan, Kai-Wing; Mazzarella, James R.; Saha, Timo T.; Zhang, William W.; Mcclelland, Ryan S.; Biskack, Michael P.; Riveros, Raul E.; Allgood, Kim D.; Kearney, John D.; Sharpe, Marton V.;
2017-01-01
Optics for the next generation's high-resolution, high throughput x-ray telescope requires fabrication of well-formed lightweight mirror segments and their integration at arc-second precision. Recent advances in the fabrication of silicon mirrors developed at NASA/Goddard prompted us to develop a new method of mirror alignment and integration. In this method, stiff silicon mirrors are aligned quasi-kinematically and are bonded in an interlocking fashion to produce a "meta-shell" with large collective area. We address issues of aligning and bonding mirrors with this method and show a recent result of 4 seconds-of-arc for a single pair of mirrors tested at soft x-rays.
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AmpliVar: mutation detection in high-throughput sequence from amplicon-based libraries.
Hsu, Arthur L; Kondrashova, Olga; Lunke, Sebastian; Love, Clare J; Meldrum, Cliff; Marquis-Nicholson, Renate; Corboy, Greg; Pham, Kym; Wakefield, Matthew; Waring, Paul M; Taylor, Graham R
2015-04-01
Conventional means of identifying variants in high-throughput sequencing align each read against a reference sequence, and then call variants at each position. Here, we demonstrate an orthogonal means of identifying sequence variation by grouping the reads as amplicons prior to any alignment. We used AmpliVar to make key-value hashes of sequence reads and group reads as individual amplicons using a table of flanking sequences. Low-abundance reads were removed according to a selectable threshold, and reads above this threshold were aligned as groups, rather than as individual reads, permitting the use of sensitive alignment tools. We show that this approach is more sensitive, more specific, and more computationally efficient than comparable methods for the analysis of amplicon-based high-throughput sequencing data. The method can be extended to enable alignment-free confirmation of variants seen in hybridization capture target-enrichment data. © 2015 WILEY PERIODICALS, INC.
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Fast discovery and visualization of conserved regions in DNA sequences using quasi-alignment
2013-01-01
Background Next Generation Sequencing techniques are producing enormous amounts of biological sequence data and analysis becomes a major computational problem. Currently, most analysis, especially the identification of conserved regions, relies heavily on Multiple Sequence Alignment and its various heuristics such as progressive alignment, whose run time grows with the square of the number and the length of the aligned sequences and requires significant computational resources. In this work, we present a method to efficiently discover regions of high similarity across multiple sequences without performing expensive sequence alignment. The method is based on approximating edit distance between segments of sequences using p-mer frequency counts. Then, efficient high-throughput data stream clustering is used to group highly similar segments into so called quasi-alignments. Quasi-alignments have numerous applications such as identifying species and their taxonomic class from sequences, comparing sequences for similarities, and, as in this paper, discovering conserved regions across related sequences. Results In this paper, we show that quasi-alignments can be used to discover highly similar segments across multiple sequences from related or different genomes efficiently and accurately. Experiments on a large number of unaligned 16S rRNA sequences obtained from the Greengenes database show that the method is able to identify conserved regions which agree with known hypervariable regions in 16S rRNA. Furthermore, the experiments show that the proposed method scales well for large data sets with a run time that grows only linearly with the number and length of sequences, whereas for existing multiple sequence alignment heuristics the run time grows super-linearly. Conclusion Quasi-alignment-based algorithms can detect highly similar regions and conserved areas across multiple sequences. Since the run time is linear and the sequences are converted into a compact clustering model, we are able to identify conserved regions fast or even interactively using a standard PC. Our method has many potential applications such as finding characteristic signature sequences for families of organisms and studying conserved and variable regions in, for example, 16S rRNA. PMID:24564200
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Fast discovery and visualization of conserved regions in DNA sequences using quasi-alignment.
Nagar, Anurag; Hahsler, Michael
2013-01-01
Next Generation Sequencing techniques are producing enormous amounts of biological sequence data and analysis becomes a major computational problem. Currently, most analysis, especially the identification of conserved regions, relies heavily on Multiple Sequence Alignment and its various heuristics such as progressive alignment, whose run time grows with the square of the number and the length of the aligned sequences and requires significant computational resources. In this work, we present a method to efficiently discover regions of high similarity across multiple sequences without performing expensive sequence alignment. The method is based on approximating edit distance between segments of sequences using p-mer frequency counts. Then, efficient high-throughput data stream clustering is used to group highly similar segments into so called quasi-alignments. Quasi-alignments have numerous applications such as identifying species and their taxonomic class from sequences, comparing sequences for similarities, and, as in this paper, discovering conserved regions across related sequences. In this paper, we show that quasi-alignments can be used to discover highly similar segments across multiple sequences from related or different genomes efficiently and accurately. Experiments on a large number of unaligned 16S rRNA sequences obtained from the Greengenes database show that the method is able to identify conserved regions which agree with known hypervariable regions in 16S rRNA. Furthermore, the experiments show that the proposed method scales well for large data sets with a run time that grows only linearly with the number and length of sequences, whereas for existing multiple sequence alignment heuristics the run time grows super-linearly. Quasi-alignment-based algorithms can detect highly similar regions and conserved areas across multiple sequences. Since the run time is linear and the sequences are converted into a compact clustering model, we are able to identify conserved regions fast or even interactively using a standard PC. Our method has many potential applications such as finding characteristic signature sequences for families of organisms and studying conserved and variable regions in, for example, 16S rRNA.
