GreatSchools.org Finds Its Niche

Science.gov (United States)

Samuels, Christina A.

2012-01-01

GreatSchools.org neatly ranks more than 136,000 traditional public, private, and charter schools nationwide on a scale of 1 to 10, based on state test scores. But what often draws readers are the gossipy insider comments posted by parents, students, and teachers, and the star ratings those commenters contribute. The growth of online school rating…

Tobacco Free School Environment Initiative (Eritrea) | IDRC ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

Eritrea has identified tobacco-free schools as its first priority. ... Special journal issue highlights IDRC-supported findings on women's paid work ... A new website and resource library will help improve developing country registration and ...

Teaching the Federal Budget, National Debt, and Budget Deficit: Findings from High School Teachers

Science.gov (United States)

Marri, Anand R.; Ahn, Meesuk; Crocco, Margaret Smith; Grolnick, Maureen; Gaudelli, William; Walker, Erica N.

2011-01-01

The issues surrounding the federal budget, national debt, and budget deficit are complex, but not beyond the reach of young students. This study finds scant treatment of the federal budget, national debt, and budget deficit in high schools today. It is hardly surprising that high school teachers spend so little time discussing these topics in…

To Be Alone or in a Group: An Exploration into How the School-Based Experiences Differ for Black Male Teachers across One Urban School District

Science.gov (United States)

Bristol, Travis J.

2018-01-01

One urban district administered the Black Male Teacher Environment Survey (BMTES) to each of its Black male teachers to measure their school-based experiences. This article highlights descriptive statistics from the 86 Black male teacher respondents. Findings suggest that participants' background characteristics and school-based experiences varied…

Factors Affecting Children's Judgement of Culturally Deviant Acts: Findings from an International School in Japan

Science.gov (United States)

Kutsuki, Aya; Tanaka, Yumi

2016-01-01

This study explored the relationship between perceptions of culturally deviant acts and multicultural experiences of elementary-school children attending an international school in Japan. Findings indicated that children judged a Japanese harsher than a foreigner, irrespective of the children's age. It was also found that younger children were…

Integrated Schools: Finding a New Path

Science.gov (United States)

Orfield, Gary; Frankenberg, Erica; Siegel-Hawley, Genevieve

2010-01-01

Research shows that schools remain a powerful tool for shoring up individual opportunity and for attaining a thriving, multiracial democratic society. The authors point to social science evidence that demonstrates how segregated schooling limits the prospects of both minority and majority students and how integrated education can close the…

Finding a Safe Haven in Middle School.

Science.gov (United States)

Mehas, Kay; Boling, Kevin; Sobieniak, Sharon; Sprague, Jeffrey; Burke, Mack D.; Hagan, Shanna

1998-01-01

This article describes a school-wide violence prevention program at one Oregon middle school. The school implemented the Second Step curriculum, which teaches students nonviolent alternatives to address conflict and concepts of empathy, impulse control, problem solving, and anger management. The process used to select, implement, and evaluate the…

Spring Research Festival Highlighted on WHAG-TV | Poster

Science.gov (United States)

WHAG-TV (Hagerstown, Md.) visited Fort Detrick to highlight the 2015 Spring Research Festival (SRF), sponsored by the National Interagency Confederation for Biological Research (NICBR). Visit the WHAG-TV website to see the video broadcast, which aired May 6. The video was produced by WHAG Reporter Mallory Sofastaii. The video featured Linganore High School senior Rebecca

Managing Food Allergies at School: School Administrators

Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Podcasts

2015-01-15

This podcast highlights the importance of ensuring that comprehensive school plans are in place to manage food allergies. It also identifies some key actions school administrators can take to support students with food allergies, and highlights CDC food allergy resources for schools.  Created: 1/15/2015 by National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPHP).   Date Released: 1/15/2015.

Managing Food Allergies at School: School Superintendents

Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Podcasts

2015-01-13

This podcast highlights the importance of ensuring that comprehensive school district plans are in place to manage food allergies. It also identifies some key actions school superintendents can take to support students with food allergies, and highlights CDC food allergy resources for schools.  Created: 1/13/2015 by National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPHP).   Date Released: 1/20/2015.

Find Your School's Analemma

Science.gov (United States)

Lough, Tom; Vanover, Courtney

2014-01-01

On any given sunny day, Courtney Vanover's third graders were like alarm clocks, making sure everyone in the room knew when 9:30 was approaching. Why? Because they were participating in a yearlong science project to answer the question, "Where is the tip of the shadow of the school flagpole each morning at 9:30?" Although they did not…

The Art of Teaching Science in Secondary Schools: A Meta Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Hassan, Sharifah Sariah Syed; Ibrahim, Ahmad Abdullahi

2018-01-01

This study attempted to highlight the trend of research in science related subjects specifically in schools. Articles and journals were retrieved from Google scholar under peer reviewed with the aim to highlight the trend of research methods, findings and teaching strategies. The themes were based on pedagogical approaches of teaching science,…

Bidirectional associations between emotions and school adjustment.

Science.gov (United States)

Hernández, Maciel M; Eisenberg, Nancy; Valiente, Carlos; Spinrad, Tracy L; Berger, Rebecca H; VanSchyndel, Sarah K; Silva, Kassondra M; Diaz, Anjolii; Thompson, Marilyn S; Gal, Diana E; Southworth, Jody

2017-11-24

We examined the relations of children's (N = 301) observed expression of negative and positive emotion in classes or nonclassroom school contexts (i.e., lunch and recess) to school adjustment from kindergarten to first grade. Naturalistic observations of children's emotional expressivity were collected, as were teachers' reports of children's school engagement and relationship quality with teachers and peers. In longitudinal panel models, greater teacher-student conflict and lower student engagement in kindergarten predicted greater negative expressivity in both school contexts. School engagement and peer acceptance in kindergarten positively predicted first grade positive emotion in the classroom. Suggestive of possible bidirectional relations, there was also small unique prediction (near significant) from negative expressivity at lunch and recess to higher teacher-student conflict, from negative expressivity in the classroom to low peer acceptance, and from positive expressivity in the classroom to higher peer acceptance. The pattern of findings suggests that the quality of experience at school uniquely predicts children's emotional expressivity at school more consistently than vice versa-a finding that highlights the important role of school context in young children's emotionality at school. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Dispositions to school education and self concept in Slovenian and British high-school students

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Darja Kobal

2001-09-01

Full Text Available The article highlights the relationship between dispositions to school education and self-concept. What is meant by the expression "dispositions of school education" are phenomena like attitudes to school, achievement motivation, believes about personal control over learning, external constrains to learning etc. The definition of self-concept and its brief contemporary understanding is mentioned. The aim of the study is to find out the expression of certain areas of self-concept and dispositions to school education. A group of Slovenian and a group of British high school students participated in the study. The results of ANOVA and discriminant analysis showed significant differences as related to nationality. For example, British participants exceeded Slovenians in many areas of self-concept. They also expressed some significant differences in their dispositions to school. The results are interpreted in the light of personality and national differences.

Highlighting High Performance: Blackstone Valley Regional Vocational Technical High School; Upton, Massachusetts

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

2006-10-01

This brochure describes the key high-performance building features of the Blackstone Valley High School. The brochure was paid for by the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative as part of their Green Schools Initiative. High-performance features described are daylighting and energy-efficient lighting, indoor air quality, solar energy, building envelope, heating and cooling systems, and water conservation. Energy cost savings are also discussed.

The B4 school check behaviour measures: findings from the Hawke's Bay evaluation.

Science.gov (United States)

Hedley, Cath; Thompson, Shona; Morris Matthews, Kay; Pentecost, Mandy; Wivell, Judy; Frost, Ariana Stockdale; Morris, Helen

2012-11-01

The Before (B4) School Check is a free health and development check delivered by specifically trained nurses to four year old children throughout New Zealand, aimed to identify and address any health, behavioural, social or developmental concerns that could affect a child's ability to get the most benefit from school. Reported here are the results of an evaluation of the B4 School Checks in Hawke's Bay, focusing specifically on children assessed at the 84 School Check with behaviour issues as determined by the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Health Hawke's Bay (HHB) records were reviewed to understand the number and demographics of the children assessed with behaviour issues at the B4 School Checks up to 31 August 2011, and the interventions to which they were referred. Telephone Interviews were conducted with 36 parents/caregivers of these children to address the questions, what difference did the B4 School Check make to children assessed with behaviour issues and what aspects of the B4 School Check delivery contributed to successful outcomes for these children? Results showed that child behaviour issues in Hawke's Bay were identified in more boys than girls and concentrated in more deprived families. Māori children were represented in numbers disproportional to the regional population. The majority of referrals for child behaviour directed parents/caregivers to non-governmental organisations for family support and parenting programmes. Thematic analysis was applied to the qualitative data derived from the interviews with parents/caregivers and results indicated high levels of satisfaction with the B4 School Check for behaviour and the referred outcomes. Implications for nursing practice arise from these findings in that they identify factors which contribute to what does and does not work well for achieving successful outcomes from the B4 School Check for behaviour.

Dental Students' Knowledge of Resources for LGBT Persons: Findings from Three Dental Schools.

Science.gov (United States)

Feng, Xiaoying; Mugayar, Leda; Perez, Edna; Nagasawa, Pamela R; Brown, David G; Behar-Horenstein, Linda S

2017-01-01

Recently, there has been increased attention to including cultural diversity in the education of health professionals, including concern for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) inclusion and visibility. Studies regarding cultural exposure and acceptance of LGBT populations have been concentrated in medicine, with findings showing that medical providers often graduate having missed the preparation required to care for LGBT persons. A visible, comprehensive, culturally competent environment in dental schools would help ensure that all oral health professionals and students are aware of services available to address the particular needs of LGBT students. The aims of this survey-based study conducted in 2015-16 were to determine dental students' perceptions regarding LGBT students' needs and to assess dental students' knowledge of resources for LGBT persons at three U.S. dental schools, one each in the Midwest, West, and South. Of the 849 students invited to participate, 364 completed the survey (338 dental, 26 dental hygiene), for an overall response rate of 43%. The response rate at individual schools ranged from 30% to 55%. The results showed perceptions of insufficient LGBT information, resources, and support at these institutions, especially at the Western school. There were significant differences among the three schools, with students at the Western school more than the other two schools perceiving that their institution was less aware of whether it met the academic, social support, and spiritual needs of LGBT students. There were no significant differences between LGBT and non-LGBT students' perceptions. The authors urge dental school administrators to explore the degree to which their programs teach respectful and caring behavior towards LGBT students and, by extension, LGBT patient populations.

Highlights from e-EPS: Hetland to receive EPS-PED Award for Secondary School Teaching

CERN Multimedia

Urbaan Titulaer

2013-01-01

e-EPS News is an addition to the CERN Bulletin line-up, showcasing articles from e-EPS – the European Physical Society newsletter – as part of a collaboration between the two publications.   The EPS Physics Education Division selected Karl Thorstein Hetland, West Telemark Secondary School, Norway, as this year’s recipient of its Secondary School Teaching Award. K.T. Hetland developed the Energy Network, which aims to make students energy conscious and focus on renewable energy. The Energy Network, created in 2005, consists of 15 local networks, each involving an upper secondary school and several lower secondary schools, 55 schools in all. Material from the Network is used in physics classes in a large number of schools at national level and plays a major role in recruiting university physics students. K.T. Hetland will receive his award at the International Physics Education Conference, held together with the European Physics Educati...

School Boundaries: Finding Solutions While Gaining Community Support

Science.gov (United States)

Lazarus, William

2010-01-01

Some of the most complicated issues facing school districts across the country revolve around resource allocation and student assignment planning. Determining school attendance boundaries, selecting sites for new schools, closing existing ones, balancing seat utilization while minimizing travel costs, and achieving socioeconomic diversity are all…

The Cape Times's portrayal of school violence

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Corene de Wet

2016-05-01

Full Text Available This study explores the Cape Times's portrayal of school violence in the Western Cape (WC, South Africa, reporting on findings from a qualitative content analysis of 41 news articles retrieved from the SA Media database. The findings shed light on the victims and their victimisation, the perpetrators, as well as the context of the violence, identifying gangsterism, as well as school administrative and community factors as the reasons for violence in WC schools. It is argued that school violence and gangsterism are inextricably linked to the Cape Flats in particular, and that the interaction of forms of inequality and oppression such as racism, class privilege and gender oppression are structural root causes for school violence in this area of the WC. The study highlights the negative consequences of school violence on teaching and learning and on the economy. It is concluded that even if the Cape Times paints an exaggerated and atypical picture of violence in the gang-riddled parts of the WC, the detrimental effects thereof on the regions cannot be denied. The study therefore recommends a holistic approach to addressing the structural root causes of school violence where it takes place in the WC.

"AfterZone:" Outcomes for Youth Participating in Providence's Citywide After-School System. Executive Summary

Science.gov (United States)

Kauh, Tina J.

2011-01-01

This executive summary highlights the main findings from our participation and outcomes analysis of the "AfterZone" initiative--a citywide system-building effort in Providence, Rhode Island, that aims to provide high-quality, accessible out-of-school-time services to middle school youth. The summary briefly defines the AfterZone's unique…

Caring Leadership in Schools: Findings from Exploratory Analyses

Science.gov (United States)

Louis, Karen Seashore; Murphy, Joseph; Smylie, Mark

2016-01-01

Purpose: This article (1) analyzes and synthesizes literatures from philosophy and education to propose a conceptual framework for caring in schools and caring school leadership and (2) reports the results of an exploratory analysis of the relationship of caring principal leadership to school-level supports for student academic learning.…

Predictive Data Tools Find Uses in Schools

Science.gov (United States)

Sparks, Sarah D.

2011-01-01

The use of analytic tools to predict student performance is exploding in higher education, and experts say the tools show even more promise for K-12 schools, in everything from teacher placement to dropout prevention. Use of such statistical techniques is hindered in precollegiate schools, however, by a lack of researchers trained to help…

Educating English Language Learners: Instructional Approaches and Teacher Collaboration in Philadelphia Public Schools. PERC Research Brief

Science.gov (United States)

Reumann-Moore, Rebecca; Rowland, Jeannette; Hughes, Rosemary; Lin, Joshua

2016-01-01

Districts, charter management organizations, and individual schools can learn a great deal from each other about strategies for creating robust and supportive learning environments for English Language Learners (ELLS). This brief highlights key findings about how Philadelphia public schools were crafting instructional approaches to serve their…

Misconceptions Highlighted among Medical Students in the Annual International Intermedical School Physiology Quiz

Science.gov (United States)

Cheng, Hwee-Ming; Durairajanayagam, Damayanthi

2012-01-01

The annual Intermedical School Physiology Quiz (IMSPQ), initiated in 2003, is now an event that attracts a unique, large gathering of selected medical students from medical schools across the globe. The 8th IMSPQ, in 2010, hosted by the Department of Physiology, University of Malaya, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, had 200 students representing 41…

Integration of ICTs into the Basic Curriculum in Primary Schools in ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

Integration of ICTs into the Basic Curriculum in Primary Schools in Sénégal - Phase ... Special journal issue highlights IDRC-supported findings on women's paid work ... A new website and resource library will help improve developing country ...

Staffing the Principalship: Finding, Coaching, and Mentoring School Leaders

Science.gov (United States)

Lovely, Suzette

2004-01-01

"Help Wanted" signs are springing up outside schools. The shortage of school administrators is not coming, it is here. To thwart the shortage and keep schools on the cutting edge, diligence in cultivating, training, and inspiring a new generation of school leaders--especially for the principalship, must be exercised. Staffing the Principalship…

Where Sustainable School Meets the ‘Tthird Teacher’: Primary School Case Study From Barcelona, Spain

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marta Brkovic

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Participatory evaluation of aspiring sustainable schools and their pedagogical potential has recently come into focus. A few authors have made a significant start in examining schools as both environmentally and socially sustainable environments, which might simultaneously represent the ‘third teacher’. However, discussion around this idea is new in Spain. This paper describes a participatory post-occupancy study conducted with teachers and pupils in Fort Pienc School, Barcelona, Spain. Findings reveal the pedagogical potential of the school’s spaces and fabric, characterised as ‘sustainable’, and highlight the aspects that the research participants feel are performing and underperforming. The paper concludes that if we want sustainable schools to be a strategy for renovating the educational process and for leading us towards a better tomorrow globally and locally,  new models for exploring the pedagogical potential of sustainable schools should be developed and the efforts of all relevant parties synchronised; from architects to governments, from pupils to teachers.

Promoting Energy-Balance Behaviors among Ethnically Diverse Adolescents: Overview and Baseline Findings of the Central Texas CATCH Middle School Project

Science.gov (United States)

Springer, Andrew E.; Kelder, Steven H.; Byrd-Williams, Courtney E.; Pasch, Keryn E.; Ranjit, Nalini; Delk, Joanne E.; Hoelscher, Deanna M.

2013-01-01

The Central Texas Coordinated Approach To Child Health (CATCH) Middle School Project is a 3.5-year school-based project aimed at promoting physical activity (PA), healthy eating, and obesity prevention among public middle school students in Texas. This article describes the CATCH intervention model and presents baseline findings from spring 2009.…

"Who Stays and Who Leaves?" Findings from a Three-Part Study of Teacher Turnover in NYC Middle Schools

Science.gov (United States)

Marinell, William H.; Coca, Vanessa M.

2013-01-01

This paper synthesizes findings from the Research Alliance's investigation of teacher turnover in New York City's public middle schools. These years are widely recognized as a critical turning point for students, and the NYC Department of Education (DOE) is pursuing a range of middle school improvement initiatives. The stability of the middle…

School Locations and Traffic Emissions — Environmental (InJustice Findings Using a New Screening Method

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Philine Gaffron

2015-02-01

Full Text Available It has been shown that the location of schools near heavily trafficked roads can have detrimental effects on the health of children attending those schools. It is therefore desirable to screen both existing school locations and potential new school sites to assess either the need for remedial measures or suitability for the intended use. Current screening tools and public guidance on school siting are either too coarse in their spatial resolution for assessing individual sites or are highly resource intensive in their execution (e.g., through dispersion modeling. We propose a new method to help bridge the gap between these two approaches. Using this method, we also examine the public K-12 schools in the Sacramento Area Council of Governments Region, California (USA from an environmental justice perspective. We find that PM2.5 emissions from road traffic affecting a school site are significantly positively correlated with the following metrics: percent share of Black, Hispanic and multi-ethnic students, percent share of students eligible for subsidized meals. The emissions metric correlates negatively with the schools’ Academic Performance Index, the share of White students and average parental education levels. Our PM2.5 metric also correlates with the traffic related, census tract level screening indicators from the California Communities Environmental Health Screening Tool and the tool’s tract level rate of asthma related emergency department visits.

Evaluation of the School Breakfast Program Pilot Project: Findings from the First Year of Implementation. Nutrition Assistance Program Report Series.

Science.gov (United States)

McLaughlin, Joan E.; Bernstein, Lawrence S.; Crepinsek, May Kay; Daft, Lynn M.; Murphy, J. Michael

In 1998, Congress authorized implementation of a 3-year pilot breakfast program involving 4,300 students in elementary schools in 6 school districts representing a range of economic and demographic characteristics. The program began in the 2000-01 school year. This lengthy report presents the findings from the pilot's first year. The study had two…

Belongingness in Early Secondary School: Key Factors that Primary and Secondary Schools Need to Consider.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sharmila Vaz

Full Text Available It is unknown if, and how, students redefine their sense of school belongingness after negotiating the transition to secondary school. The current study used longitudinal data from 266 students with, and without, disabilities who negotiated the transition from 52 primary schools to 152 secondary schools. The study presents the 13 most significant personal student and contextual factors associated with belongingness in the first year of secondary school. Student perception of school belongingness was found to be stable across the transition. No variability in school belongingness due to gender, disability or household-socio-economic status (SES was noted. Primary school belongingness accounted for 22% of the variability in secondary school belongingness. Several personal student factors (competence, coping skills and school factors (low-level classroom task-goal orientation, which influenced belongingness in primary school, continued to influence belongingness in secondary school. In secondary school, effort-goal orientation of the student and perception of their school's tolerance to disability were each associated with perception of school belongingness. Family factors did not influence belongingness in secondary school. Findings of the current study highlight the need for primary schools to foster belongingness among their students at an early age, and transfer students' belongingness profiles as part of the hand-over documentation. Most of the factors that influenced school belongingness before and after the transition to secondary are amenable to change.

The School Assessment for Environmental Typology (SAfETy): An Observational Measure of the School Environment.

Science.gov (United States)

Bradshaw, Catherine P; Milam, Adam J; Furr-Holden, C Debra M; Johnson, Sarah Lindstrom

2015-12-01

School safety is of great concern for prevention researchers, school officials, parents, and students, yet there are a dearth of assessments that have operationalized school safety from an organizational framework using objective tools and measures. Such a tool would be important for deriving unbiased assessments of the school environment, which in turn could be used as an evaluative tool for school violence prevention efforts. The current paper presents a framework for conceptualizing school safety consistent with Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) model and social disorganization theory, both of which highlight the importance of context as a driver for adolescents' risk for involvement in substance use and violence. This paper describes the development of a novel observational measure, called the School Assessment for Environmental Typology (SAfETy), which applies CPTED and social disorganizational frameworks to schools to measure eight indicators of school physical and social environment (i.e., disorder, trash, graffiti/vandalism, appearance, illumination, surveillance, ownership, and positive behavioral expectations). Drawing upon data from 58 high schools, we provide preliminary data regarding the validity and reliability of the SAfETy and describe patterns of the school safety indicators. Findings demonstrate the reliability and validity of the SAfETy and are discussed with regard to the prevention of violence in schools.

Bullying victimization and student engagement in elementary, middle, and high schools: Moderating role of school climate.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Chunyan; Sharkey, Jill D; Reed, Lauren A; Chen, Chun; Dowdy, Erin

2018-03-01

Bullying is the most common form of school violence and is associated with a range of negative outcomes, including traumatic responses. This study used hierarchical linear modeling to examine the multilevel moderating effects of school climate and school level (i.e., elementary, middle, and high schools) on the association between bullying victimization and student engagement. Participants included 25,896 students in 4th to 12th grades from 114 schools. Results indicated that, after controlling for student and school demographic factors, positive school climate was associated with higher behavioral/cognitive and emotional engagement of students across all grades. This highlights the critical and fundamental role of positive school climate in bullying prevention and intervention, among students across all grade levels, including those with frequent bullying victimization experience. Results also showed that negative associations between student-level bullying victimization and engagement were intensified in more positive school climates. This finding suggests that, in comparison with students in schools with less positive school climates, the engagement of bullying victims in schools with a more positive school climate might be more negatively influenced by their victimization experience. Additionally, the relation between student-level bullying victimization and emotional engagement was significantly different across middle and high schools. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Symposium Highlights

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Owen-Whitred, K.

2015-01-01

Overview/Highlights: To begin, I'd like to take a moment to highlight some of the novel elements of this Symposium as compared to those that have been held in the past. For the first time ever, this Symposium was organized around five concurrent sessions, covering over 300 papers and presentations. These sessions were complemented by an active series of exhibits put on by vendors, universities, ESARDA, INMM, and Member State Support Programmes. We also had live demonstrations throughout the week on everything from software to destructive analysis to instrumentation, which provided the participants the opportunity to see recent developments that are ready for implementation. I'm sure you all had a chance to observe - and, more importantly, interact with - the electronic Poster, or ePoster format used this past week. This technology was used here for the first time ever by the IAEA, and I'm sure was a first for many of us as well. The ePoster format allowed participants to interact with the subject matter, and the subject matter experts, in a dynamic, engaging way. In addition to the novel technology used here, I have to say that having the posters strategically embedded in the sessions on the same topic, by having each poster author introduce his or her topic to the assembled group in order to lure us to the poster area during the breaks, was also a novel and highly effective technique. A final highlight I'd like to touch on in terms of the Symposium organization is the diversity of participation. This chart shows the breakdown by geographical distribution for the Symposium, in terms of participants. There are no labels, so don't try to read any, I simply wanted to demonstrate that we had great representation in terms of both the Symposium participants in general and the session chairs more specifically-and on that note, I would just mention here that 59 Member States participated in the Symposium. But what I find especially interesting and

Managing Food Allergies at School: School Nurses

Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Podcasts

2015-01-20

This podcast highlights the leadership role of school nurses in the management of food allergies in schools. It also identifies CDC food allergy resources for schools.  Created: 1/20/2015 by National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPHP).   Date Released: 1/20/2015.

Highlights from Drug Use Among American High School Students 1975-1977.

Science.gov (United States)

Johnston, Lloyd D.; And Others

The current prevalence of drug use among American high school seniors and the trends in use since 1975 are the two major topics treated. Also reported are prevailing attitudes and beliefs among seniors concerning various types of drug use. Eleven separate classes of drugs are distinguished: marihuana (including hashish), inhalants, hallucinogens,…

Beyond Blackboards: Engaging Underserved Middle School Students in Engineering.

Science.gov (United States)

Blanchard, Sarah; Judy, Justina; Muller, Chandra; Crawford, Richard H; Petrosino, Anthony J; White, Christina K; Lin, Fu-An; Wood, Kristin L

Beyond Blackboards is an inquiry-centered, after-school program designed to enhance middle school students' engagement with engineering through design-based experiences focused on the 21 st Century Engineering Challenges. Set within a predominantly low-income, majority-minority community, our study aims to investigate the impact of Beyond Blackboards on students' interest in and understanding of engineering, as well as their ability to align their educational and career plans. We compare participants' and nonparticipants' questionnaire responses before the implementation and at the end of the program's first academic year. Statistically significant findings indicate a school-wide increase in students' interest in engineering careers, supporting a shift in school culture. However, only program participants showed increased enjoyment of design-based strategies, understanding of what engineers do, and awareness of the steps for preparing for an engineering career. These quantitative findings are supported by qualitative evidence from participant focus groups highlighting the importance of mentors in shaping students' awareness of opportunities within engineering.

When Learning English is Compulsory at School:

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maryam Azarnoosh

2014-11-01

Full Text Available Research findings highlight the role of motivation in the long-term process of learning a second/foreign language. One’s motivation can change even in a short period of time under the influence of multifarious factors. To enrich our understanding of the attitudinal/motivational basis of foreign language learning this study attempts to investigate L2 motivational fluctuation, and the possibility of predicting EFL learners’ motivated learning behavior in light of Dörnyei’s (2005, 2009 theory of L2 motivational self system. To this end, 1670 junior high and high school students studying English as a compulsory subject in Iran filled out L2 motivational self system questionnaire. Independent samples t-test and regression analyses were applied; and the findings indicated a higher motivational disposition for junior high school students in comparison to high school students, except for their attitudes towards L2 community. For both groups, attitudes towards L2 learning was the best predictor of students motivated learning behavior.

Comparison of the enrollment percentages of magnet and non-magnet schools in a large urban school district.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Emily Arcia

2006-12-01

Full Text Available Are magnet schools in a position to meet diversity ideals? As districts are declared unitary and released from court ordered desegregation, many are framing their commitments to fairness and equity in terms of diversity˜i.e., comparable rates of participation and comparable educational outcomes in all segments the student population. In this study, the enrollment statistics for magnet and contiguous non-magnet public schools in Miami-Dade County Public Schools, a large, urban district that had been released from court ordered desegregation, were compared to each other and to district enrollment averages at two time points: the year the district was declared unitary and four years hence. Findings indicated that within four years of being declared unitary, the gains that the magnet schools had made with regards to Black/non-Black desegregation had eroded substantially. Also, in the four year span, magnet schools had not made significant strides in meeting the diversity ideals adopted by the district at being released from supervision by the court. These findings highlight the difficulty of attaining diversity in student enrollment characteristics when quotas are not used and suggest that recruitment and enrollment policies must be crafted with care if districts are to achieve diversity goals.

Towards sustaining performance in a Gauteng secondary school

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nonceba P. Ntuta

2010-11-01

Full Text Available Orientation: Poor school performance is a major problem in South Africa. To date the success of intervention strategies that were aimed at turning the situation around in dysfunctional schools have been short lived and were not sustainable. Research purpose: The aim of this study was to determine the reasons for the failure of an intervention programme in a school that managed to perform well for the time when it received assistance. Motivation: It is essential to determine the reasons for this continuous failure of school intervention programmes if we want to address the serious problems experienced by the South African education system. Research design, approach and method: In this study, a qualitative research approach within a case-study design was used. Main findings: The main reasons for the inability of the school to sustain its performance were not internal (within the school itself but external (within the education system. Practical and managerial implications: The findings of this study highlight the importance of external leadership and support by the districts and the Department of Education in changing the poor performance of schools at large. Main contribution: Contrary to literature emphasising the lack of leadership at school level as the main problem of poor school performance, this study found that the problem was mainly due to a lack of leadership at departmental level.

The effect of a total rewards strategy on school teachers’ retention

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Boitomelo Makhuzeni

2015-11-01

Full Text Available Orientation: South African schools are facing significant challenges to retain a talented pool of school teachers. A total rewards strategy could assist schools to reduce teacher turnover. Research purpose: The aim of this study was to determine the effect of a total rewards strategy on the turnover intentions of school teachers in the North-West province. Motivation: The under supply of quality teachers has negative consequences for both school pupils and the larger community. Research approach, design and method: A qualitative research approach was followed using semi-structured interviews to gather data from teachers in the North-West province (N = 6. Main findings: The findings showed that performance management, career development and compensations of teachers were poorly applied in schools. Teachers strongly considered leaving the teaching profession as a result of poor rewards. The participants were fairly satisfied with their work benefits and work-life balance. Practical/managerial implications: School management should implement reward practices and policies that will attract and enhance retention of school teachers. Contribution: This research highlighted the problematic areas in the reward systems for school teachers and the subsequent impact thereof on their turnover intentions.

Perceived School and Neighborhood Safety, Neighborhood Violence and Academic Achievement in Urban School Children

Science.gov (United States)

AJ, Milam; CDM, Furr-Holden; PJ, Leaf

2010-01-01

Community and school violence continue to be a major public health problem, especially among urban children and adolescents. Little research has focused on the effect of school safety and neighborhood violence on academic performance. This study examines the effect of the school and neighborhood climate on academic achievement among a population of 3rd-5th grade students in an urban public school system. Community and school safety were assessed using the School Climate Survey, an annual city-wide assessment of student’s perception of school and community safety. Community violence was measured using the Neighborhood Inventory for Environmental Typology, an objective observational assessment of neighborhood characteristics. Academic achievement was measured using the Maryland State Assessment (MSA), a standardized exam given to all Maryland 3rd-8th graders. School Climate Data and MSA data were aggregated by school and grade. Objective assessments of neighborhood environment and students’ self-reported school and neighborhood safety were both strongly associated with academic performance. Increasing neighborhood violence was associated with statistically significant decreases from 4.2%-8.7% in math and reading achievement; increasing perceived safety was associated with significant increases in achievement from 16%-22%. These preliminary findings highlight the adverse impact of perceived safety and community violence exposure on primary school children’s academic performance. PMID:21197388

[Class Climate, Academic Well-Being and Self-Rated Health Among School Children in Germany: Findings of the National Educational Panel Study (NEPS)].

Science.gov (United States)

Rathmann, Katharina; Herke, Max; Hurrelmann, Klaus; Richter, Matthias

2018-04-01

The aim of this study was to examine the associations between features of class climate and school wellbeing, based on self-rated health and reports of absence from school due to illness among adolescents in secondary schools, by using data from the German National Educational Panel Study (NEPS). Data was obtained from the National Educational Panel Study (NEPS). The sample includes (n=7,348) seventh grade students in regular schools (Starting Cohort 3, Wave 3, 2012). Measures of class climate comprise indicators about demands, control and orientation, autonomy and interaction among students as well as teaching quality in German language class. School wellbeing was measured by satisfaction with school and helplessness in main school subjects. Bivariate and logistic multilevel logistic regression techniques are applied, by controlling for student age, gender and school type attended. Multilevel results showed that particularly among students with higher school satisfaction, there was a higher likelihood of self-rated health and less school absence due to illness. In contrast, perceived helplessness in major subjects and learning orientation were negatively associated with both outcomes. Further, students attending low track schools had a higher risk of school absence than students in high track schools. The results highlight the fact that particularly students' school wellbeing in terms of school satisfaction and perceived helplessness in the subjects German and mathematics are associated with self-rated poorer health and school absence due to illness. Therefore, health promotion initiatives should particularly focus on students' school wellbeing as well as on students attending low track schools. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

Managing Food Allergies at School: School Nutrition Professionals

Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Podcasts

2015-01-13

This podcast highlights the role of school nutrition professionals in the management of food allergies in schools. It also identifies CDC food allergy resources for schools.  Created: 1/13/2015 by National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPHP).   Date Released: 1/13/2015.

Impacts of a Violence Prevention Program for Middle Schools: Findings after 3 Years of Implementation. NCEE 2011-4017

Science.gov (United States)

Silvia, Suyapa; Blitstein, Jonathan; Williams, Jason; Ringwalt, Chris; Dusenbury, Linda; Hansen, William

2011-01-01

This is the second and final report summarizing findings from an impact evaluation of a violence prevention intervention for middle schools. This report provides findings from the second and third years of the 3-year intervention. The U.S. Department of Education (ED) contracted with RTI International and its subcontractors, Pacific Institute for…

Exploring personality traits and well-being among pre-school and primary school teachers in Croatia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sanja Tatalović Vorkapić

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Background Pre-school and primary school teachers are directly involved in the education of children. In addition to teachers’ competences, the quality of their work is significantly influenced by their psychological well-being. It is therefore important to focus on their well-being as well as on personality traits they have. The main objective of this study was to examine the relationship between life satisfaction, happiness, optimism and personality traits of pre-school and primary school teachers in Croatia. Participants and procedure The study was conducted on a sample of 103 pre-school teachers and 117 primary school teachers who completed self-evaluated scales on personality traits, life satisfaction, happiness and optimism. Results The results demonstrated high levels of all personality traits in both samples. High levels of life satisfaction were positively associated with happiness and optimism. Personality traits were also positively associated with life satisfaction, happiness and optimism. There were no differences in life satisfaction, happiness, optimism or personality traits between pre-school and primary school teachers, except for openness to experience being higher in pre-school teachers. Emotional stability was a significant predictor of teachers’ well-being. Conclusions The results have significant implications for improvement of teaching practice at primary school and pre-school levels. The findings highlight the importance of teachers’ personality traits and their well-being for the quality of their work with children.

Obesity Prevention Practices of Elementary School Nurses in Minnesota: Findings from Interviews with Licensed School Nurses

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Morrison-Sandberg, Leslie F.; Kubik, Martha Y.; Johnson, Karen E.

2011-01-01

Elementary schools are an optimal setting to provide obesity prevention interventions, yet little is known about the obesity prevention practices of elementary school nurses. The purpose of this study was to gain insight into current obesity-related school nursing practice in elementary schools in Minnesota, opinions regarding school nurse-led…

Severity of MIH findings at tooth surface level among German school children.

Science.gov (United States)

Petrou, M A; Giraki, M; Bissar, A-R; Wempe, C; Schäfer, M; Schiffner, U; Beikler, T; Schulte, A G; Splieth, C H

2015-06-01

This study was to investigate the distribution and clinical characteristics of teeth diagnosed with MIH at surface and defect type level in a cohort of German children. The study cohort included 242 children diagnosed with MIH which had been recorded during the compulsory dental school examinations of 20 German primary schools. The subjects had been enrolled by cluster sampling. All children attended the second to fourth grade (age 7-10 years, mean 8.1 ± 0.8). The children were examined by five calibrated examiners (kappa = 0.9) after tooth brushing. The recording comprised teeth, surfaces, type and severity of MIH defects and was conducted using a portable light, mirrors and cotton rolls. MIH was registered according to the EAPD criteria. Defects MIH defects at various surfaces of the same tooth were common. The number of affected tooth surfaces was positively correlated with the severity of MIH at child (p MIH teeth. The knowledge of the intra-oral distribution and severity of MIH findings at the enamel surface level is important for assessing the treatment needs.

Ultrasound findings in urinary shistosomaisis infection in school children in the Gezira State Central Sudan.

Science.gov (United States)

Elmadani, Ahmed E; Hamdoun, Anas O; Monis, Ahmed; Karamino, Nhashal E; Gasmelseed, Nagla

2013-01-01

To evaluate the ultrasound findings of urinary schistosomiasis in Quran school (Khalwas) children in Gezira State Sudan, we studied all the students from two schools. A total of 103 boys were tested for urinary schistosomiasis using the urine filtration method. Schistosoma haematobium (S. haematobium) eggs were counted. Ultrasound was performed for all the positive subjects. Seventy-three (71%) subjects were positive for S. haematobium. The mean age was 11.3 ± 2.9 years. Sixty-six (90.4%) subjects showed urinary tract abnormalities. The findings revealed the following degrees of wall thickening: 53.0% mild, 18.2% moderate and 21.2% severe. Urinary bladder polyp(s) were noted in 43.3% (single) and 40.9% (multiple) of the subjects, and calcification of the bladder wall was observed in 7.6% subjects. Ureteric dilatation was noted in 38/73 (52.0%), while hydronephrosis was detected in 19/73 (26.3%). The vast majority of urinary tract schistomiasis lesions were in the urinary bladder. Ultrasound is a useful tool for identifying the morbidity of S. haematobium in endemic areas.

Managing Food Allergies at School: School Mental Health Professionals

Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Podcasts

2015-01-20

This podcast highlights the role of school mental health professionals in the management of food allergies in schools. It also identifies CDC food allergy resources for schools.  Created: 1/20/2015 by National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPHP).   Date Released: 1/20/2015.

Association of School Characteristics and Implementation in the X:IT Study-A School-Randomized Smoking Prevention Program.

Science.gov (United States)

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.

The Relationship Between Immigrant School Composition, Classmate Support and Involvement in Physical Fighting and Bullying among Adolescent Immigrants and Non-immigrants in 11 Countries

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Walsh, Sophie D; De Clercq, Bart; Molcho, Michal

2016-01-01

Increasing numbers of migrant youth around the world mean growing numbers of heterogeneous school environments in many countries. Contradictory findings regarding the relationship between immigrant school composition (the percentage of immigrant versus non-immigrant students in a school) and adol...... influences levels of peer violence. The results highlight a need for school intervention programs encouraging positive relations in schools with immigrant populations.......) and adolescent peer violence necessitate further consideration. The current study examined the relationship between immigrant school composition and peer violence, considering classmate support as a potential moderator among 51,636 adolescents (50.1 % female) from 11 countries. The findings showed that a higher...

Flooding and schools: experiences in Hull in 2007.

Science.gov (United States)

Convery, Ian; Carroll, Bob; Balogh, Ruth

2015-01-01

Hull, a city in the East Riding of Yorkshire, United Kingdom, suffered severe flooding in June 2007, affecting some 8,600 households and most schools. Despite the potential for damage in such disasters, no studies of the effects of floods on teachers and schools in the UK appear to have been published previously. This study analysed the impacts of the floods on teachers in Hull in two stages: first through correspondence with Hull City Council and a mailed questionnaire to 91 head teachers of primary, secondary, and special schools; and second, through in-depth interviews with head teachers from six flooded schools, representing different degrees of flood experience, and a questionnaire completed by eight teachers from the same schools. The findings reveal the importance and the complexity of the role of the school in the wider community in a time of crisis. The study highlights issues concerning preparedness for floods, support for schools, and flood protection for schools. © 2014 The Author(s). Disasters © Overseas Development Institute, 2014.

Intrinsic, identified, and controlled types of motivation for school subjects in young elementary school children.

Science.gov (United States)

Guay, Frédéric; Chanal, Julien; Ratelle, Catherine F; Marsh, Herbert W; Larose, Simon; Boivin, Michel

2010-12-01

There are two approaches to the differential examination of school motivation. The first is to examine motivation towards specific school subjects (between school subject differentiation). The second is to examine school motivation as a multidimensional concept that varies in terms of not only intensity but also quality (within school subject differentiation). These two differential approaches have led to important discoveries and provided a better understanding of student motivational dynamics. However, little research has combined these two approaches. This study examines young elementary students' motivations across school subjects (writing, reading, and maths) from the stance of self-determination theory. First, we tested whether children self-report different levels of intrinsic, identified, and controlled motivation towards specific school subjects. Second, we verified whether children self-report differentiated types of motivation across school subjects. Participants were 425 French-Canadian children (225 girls, 200 boys) from three elementary schools. Children were in Grades 1 (N=121), 2 (N=126), and 3 (N=178). Results show that, for a given school subject, young elementary students self-report different levels of intrinsic, identified, and controlled motivation. Results also indicate that children self-report different levels of motivation types across school subjects. Our findings also show that most differentiation effects increase across grades. Some gender effects were also observed. These results highlight the importance of distinguishing among types of school motivation towards specific school subjects in the early elementary years.

Tobacco Use. Adolescent Health Highlight. Publication #2012-33

Science.gov (United States)

Murphey, David; Barry, Megan; Vaughn, Brigitte; Terzian, Mary

2012-01-01

Cigarette smoking has steadily declined among adolescents during the last fifteen years, although use of some tobacco products, like cigars, has seen recent increases. However, large numbers of teens continue to use tobacco products. This "Adolescent Health Highlight" presents key research findings; describes prevalence and trends; illustrates…

Transition from high schools to engineering education

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kolmos, Anette; Holgaard, Jette Egelund; Clausen, Nicolaj Riise

2017-01-01

Pre-university engineering education has received increasing attention to attract more students to engineering and make them better prepared to enter engineering studies at university level. Denmark is one of the countries that offer established high school curriculum that makes engineering...... the core identity of the school. In a longitudinal research project, the cohort of all Danish engineering students who were enrolled in 2010 has been followed. This study takes a quantitative approach to highlight the differences in preparedness for engineering students who have a background...... themselves as being better prepared in relation to the conduct of experiments, engineering analysis and tolls, as well as in relation to process competences as design, problem solving and teamwork. The students from the profession-oriented high schools also find themselves better prepared in relation...

Learning in school for tomorrow jobs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ana Burgués

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Purpose: The economic crisis highlights the importance of education as a driving force for change. Learning skills that provide the ability to access jobs that allow a good quality of life has taken a decisive role in the educational development of people. Therefore, schools must adapt to the needs of today's informational society in line with the objectives of Europe 2020. This article examines whether these needs are best answered on democratic management schools.Design/methodology/approach: It is analyzed three educative experiences from the compulsory and permanent education. To do it, it has been done eleventh communicative life stories to teachers and volunteers at these three schools managed democratically.Findings and Originality/value: Schools with democratic management are more permeable to the needs of citizens, as they include their voice in the process of teaching - learning . Therefore, there is a greater adaptation to future labor market needs, as currently contemplated in the European strategy.Social implications: The results of this study contribute to the open scientific debate centered in the relation between the model of school management and its impact on the future employment of people and therefore increasing democracy in the school management could generate greater possibilities to get better jobs.Originality/value: Putting the issue of democratic school management at the centre of the employability debate could make possible to move from partial solutions that do not improve the capabilities to find work, to global solutions that take into account the educational needs of the people involved.

The Audiometric Findings among Curitiba and Metropolitan Area Students

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Klas, Regina

2014-02-01

Full Text Available Introduction Hearing loss can compromise the language, learning process, and socialization of students. Objective Study the audiometric findings among Curitiba and Metropolitan Area students. Methods Analysis of data collected at the hearing health service of Paraná State special education and inclusion department. Results The sample consisted of 646 students, children and teenagers of both genders (38.2% female and 61.8% male, with average age of 8.12 years (range 2 to 15; all were students of public or private schools of Curitiba and Metropolitan Area. The justifications to refer the students to audiometric evaluation were: otolaryngologists diagnosis (73.1%, school difficulties (39.6%, and midlevel hearing problems (32%. Audiometric results showed that 29.5% of the students had hearing loss. Conductive hearing losses showed the greatest occurrence among preschool students (right ear 38.6%, left ear 39.8%. The predominant hearing loss degree was mild (RE 20.5%, LE 19.3% to slight (RE 17%, LE 19.3%, as was the horizontal configuration (RE 81.5%, LE 78.4%. A significant relationship (p = 0.0000 between hearing loss and poor school performance was noted. Conclusion Considering the available data, especially the high number of findings of conductive losses, it is necessary to highlight prevention and diagnosis of early hearing alteration. Nevertheless, Brazil, as an emerging country, has been pursuing improvement in health and life quality of all citizens.

School food policy at Dutch primary schools: room for improvement? Cross-sectional findings from the INPACT study.

Science.gov (United States)

van Ansem, Wilke Jc; Schrijvers, Carola Tm; Rodenburg, Gerda; Schuit, Albertine J; van de Mheen, Dike

2013-04-12

Schools can play an important role in the prevention of obesity, e.g. by providing an environment that stimulates healthy eating habits and by developing a food policy to provide such an environment. The effectiveness of a school food policy is affected by the content of the policy, its implementation and its support by parents, teachers and principals. The aim of this study is to detect opportunities to improve the school food policy and/or implementation at Dutch primary schools. Therefore, this study explores the school food policy and investigates schools' (teachers and principals) and parents' opinion on the school food policy. Data on the schools' perspective of the food policy was collected from principals and teachers by means of semi-structured interviews. In total 74 principals and 72 teachers from 83 Dutch primary schools were interviewed. Data on parental perceptions about the school food policy were based on a cross-sectional survey among 1,429 parents from the same schools. Most principals (87.1%) reported that their school had a written food policy; however in most cases the rules were not clearly defined. Most of the principals (87.8%) believed that their school paid sufficient attention to nutrition and health. Teachers and principals felt that parents were primarily responsible to encourage healthy eating habits among children, while 49.8% of the parents believed that it is also a responsibility of the school to foster healthy eating habits among children. Most parents reported that they appreciated the school food policy and comply with the food rules. Parents' opinion on the enforcement of the school food policy varied: 28.1% believed that the school should enforce the policy more strongly, 32.1% was satisfied, and 39.8% had no opinion on this topic. Dutch primary schools could play a more important role in fostering healthy eating habits among children. The school food policy could be improved by clearly formulating food rules, simplifying

Indoor radon levels in schools of South-East Italy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Trevisi, Rosabianca; Leonardi, Federica; Simeoni, Carla; Tonnarini, Sabrina; Veschetti, Miriam

2012-01-01

A survey was conducted to evaluate average levels of indoor radon and gamma doses in all educational buildings (506 schools) located in South-East Italy (the Salento peninsula, province of Lecce). In this paper the final findings relating to measurements performed with SSNTD dosemeters in 438 schools (86% of the sample) are reported. The average annual activity concentration of radon in schools located in the province of Lecce is 209 ± 9 Bq/m 3 . Radon values actually ranged from 21 Bq/m 3 to 1608 Bq/m 3 . About 7% of schools showed radon concentration values above 500 Bq/m 3 , the Italian action level for workplaces. - Highlights: ► The annual radon concentration in schools of the province of Lecce is 209 ± 9 Bq/m 3 . ► Schools radon values (209 ± 9 Bq/m 3 ) are higher than the regional average (52 ± 2 Bq/m 3 ). ► Nursery schools showed higher radon values. ► Nursery schools had the highest percentage of schools (12%) over 500 Bq/m 3 .

The School Budget, Power and Responsibility in Grant-Maintained Schools.

Science.gov (United States)

Richards, Simon

1992-01-01

Describes Audenshaw High School in Manchester, England, the first school to achieve grant-maintained status under the 1988 Education Reform Act, as an example of future school administration in the United Kingdom. Examines five aspects of budgeting that this change has entailed, highlighting funding problems and opportunities. (10 references) (MLH)

The Educational Governance of German School Social Science: The Example of Globalization

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andrea Szukala

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Purpose: This article challenges the outsiders' views on European school social science adopting genuine cosmopolitan views, when globalisation is treated in social science classrooms. Method: The article is based on the theoretical framework of educational governance analysis and on qualitative corpus analysis of representative German Laenders' social science curricula from 1994-2014 (n=13. Findings: The article highlights tendencies of renationalisation of the global learning agenda and the problematisation of democracy in contexts of globalisation studies at German schools.

Racial Differences in the Transactional Relationship Between Depression and Alcohol Use From Elementary School to Middle School.

Science.gov (United States)

Birkley, Erica L; Zapolski, Tamika C B; Smith, Gregory T

2015-09-01

The aim of this investigation was to test hypothesized reverse prospective relationships between alcohol consumption and depressive symptomatology as a function of race among youth. In a two-wave prospective study, 328 European American, 328 African American, and 144 Hispanic American youth were studied at the end of fifth grade (last year of elementary school) and the end of sixth grade (first year of middle school). A positive correlation was observed between alcohol consumption and depressive symptoms among all youth. However, the predictive relationship differed based on race. For European American and Hispanic American youth, depressive symptom levels at the end of elementary school predicted alcohol consumption at the end of the first year of middle school, but the converse relationship was not observed. For African American youth, the opposite pattern was found. Alcohol consumption at the end of elementary school predicted depressive symptom levels at the end of the first year of middle school, and the converse relationship was not observed. These findings suggest the possibility that etiological relationships between depression and alcohol use vary by race, thus highlighting the importance of considering race when studying the risk process.

Changing from primary to secondary school highlights opportunities for school environment interventions aiming to increase physical activity and reduce sedentary behaviour: a longitudinal cohort study.

Science.gov (United States)

Marks, Jennifer; Barnett, Lisa M; Strugnell, Claudia; Allender, Steven

2015-05-08

There is little empirical evidence of the impact of transition from primary to secondary school on obesity-related risk behaviour. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of a change of school system on physical activity (PA) and sedentary behaviour in pre-early adolescents. Fifteen schools in Victoria, Australia were recruited at random from the bottom two strata of a five level socio-economic scale. In nine schools, students in year 6 primary school transitioned to a different school for year 7 secondary school, while in six schools (combined primary-secondary), students remained in the same school environment from year 6 to year 7. Time 1 (T1) measures were collected from students (N=245) in year 6 (age 11-13). Time 2 (T2) data were collected from 243 (99%) of the original student cohort when in year 7. PA and sedentary behaviour data were collected objectively (via ActiGraph accelerometer) and subjectively (via child self-report recall questionnaire). School environment data were collected via school staff survey. Change of behaviour analyses were conducted longitudinally i) for all students and ii) by change/no change of school. Mixed model regression analysis tested for behavioural interaction effects of changing/not changing school. Sixty-three percent (N=152) changed schools from T1 to T2. Across all students we observed declines in average daily moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) (-4 min) and light PA (-23 min), and increases in average daily sedentary behaviour (16 min), weekday leisure screen time (17 min) and weekday homework screen time (25 min), all Penvironment, students who changed school reported a greater reduction in PA intensity at recess and lunch, less likelihood to cycle to/from school, greater increase in weekday (41 mins) and weekend (45 mins) leisure screen time (Pbehaviour, and has further compounding effects on behaviour type by changing school environments.

Creating the document 'Promoting health in schools: from evidence to action'.

Science.gov (United States)

St Leger, Lawrence; Young, Ian M

2009-12-01

Schools across the world have been involved in health promotion and health education for nearly a century. Do school based initiatives make any difference to the education and health outcomes of young people? This article describes the process in developing the document Promoting health in schools: from evidence to action. The document was produced primarily for the Education sector. It develops an argument about why schools should be undertaking health related initiatives. It also highlights major findings from the literature about what is possible to achieve in school health and the circumstances under which the gains will occur. Attention is focused both on the evidence from the education sector, e.g. effective schools, learning and teaching approaches, and from the health sector, e.g. a whole of school or Health Promoting School (HPS) approach, as well as identifying outcomes from topic areas such as mental and emotional health, healthy eating and nutrition, physical activity, hygiene, sexual health and relationships, substance use and misuse.

Latinos' Changing Ethnic Group Representation From Elementary to Middle School: Perceived Belonging and Academic Achievement.

Science.gov (United States)

Morales-Chicas, Jessica; Graham, Sandra

2017-09-01

This study examined the association between change in ethnic group representation from elementary to middle school and Latino students' school belonging and achievement. The ethnic diversity of students' middle school was examined as a moderator. Participants were 1,825 Latino sixth graders from 26 ethnically diverse urban middle schools. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that a change in ethnic representation toward fewer Latinos in middle school than elementary school was related to less perceived belonging and lower achievement in schools with low ethnic diversity. There were no mean differences as a function of declining representation in more diverse middle schools, suggesting that greater school diversity was protective. Findings highlight the importance of examining school ethnic context, especially across the middle school transition. © 2016 The Authors. Journal of Research on Adolescence © 2016 Society for Research on Adolescence.

Taking a Second Look: Following Surveys with Student's Descriptions of the Culture of Aggression in a Middle School

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Diana Nicholson

2006-01-01

Full Text Available This article describes a research study on aggressive behaviour among students in middle school. The study was initiated in response to concern about agressive behaviour held by the school administration. A survey on aggressive behaviour was administered and followed by interviews with a sample of students. Student interviews highlighted a number of very important issues to consider when assessing and responding to aggressive behaviour in a school: school crowding , the playing out of dominant masculinity, involving students in finding solutions to identified problems, and considering the role of the whole school culture in sustaining agressive behaviour.

THE CHALLENGES OF SCHOOL-BASED YOUTH SUICIDE PREVENTION: EXPERIENCES AND PERCEPTIONS OF MENTAL HEALTH PROFESSIONALS IN SOUTH AFRICAN SCHOOLS.

Science.gov (United States)

Woolf, Maryke; Bantjes, Jason; Kagee, Ashraf

2015-01-01

Youth suicidal behaviour poses a significant public health concern. Mental health care professionals working in schools have an important role to play in youth suicide prevention initiatives, although little is known of the experiences of this group of professionals in the developing world. The aim of this study was to explore the experiences of mental health professionals working in South African schools and document their insights, attitudes and beliefs regarding youth suicidal behaviour. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven school-based mental health care professionals and data were analysed using Thematic Analysis. Participants reported that they relied on a reactive strategy by responding to youths who were in crisis. They were challenged by a lack of support from faculty staff, lack of access to resources, and heavy caseloads. Findings highlight the need for a proactive and collaborative approach to suicide prevention among mental health care professionals, teachers and parents in South African schools and improved training and supervision.

Navigating middle grades: role of social contexts in middle grade school climate.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Ha Yeon; Schwartz, Kate; Cappella, Elise; Seidman, Edward

2014-09-01

During early adolescence, most public school students undergo school transitions, and many students experience declines in academic performance and social-emotional well-being. Theories and empirical research have highlighted the importance of supportive school environments in promoting positive youth development during this period of transition. Despite this, little is known about the proximal social and developmental contexts of the range of middle grade public schools US students attend. Using a cross-sectional dataset from the eighth grade wave of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Cohort 1998-1999, the current study examines the middle grade school social context from the perspectives of administrators and teachers in public schools with typical grade configurations (k-8 schools, middle schools, and junior high schools) and how it relates to students' perceptions of school climate. We find that administrators and teachers in k-8 schools perceive a more positive school social context, controlling for school structural and demographic characteristics. This school social context, in turn, is associated with students' perceptions of their schools' social and academic climate. Implications for educational policy and practice are discussed.

Local Foods in Maryland Schools and Implications for Extension: Findings from Schools and Farmers

Science.gov (United States)

Oberholtzer, Lydia; Hanson, James C.; Brust, Gerald; Dimitri, Carolyn; Richman, Nessa

2012-01-01

This article describes results from a study examining the supply chain for local foods in Maryland school meals, the barriers and opportunities for increasing local foods in schools, and the development of Extension efforts to meet the needs identified. Interviews and surveys were administered with stakeholders, including farmers and food service…

Using an Electronic Highlighter to Eliminate the Negative Effects of Pre-Existing, Inappropriate Highlighting

Science.gov (United States)

Gier, Vicki; Kreiner, David; Hudnell, Jason; Montoya, Jodi; Herring, Daniel

2011-01-01

The purpose of the present experiment was to determine whether using an active learning technique, electronic highlighting, can eliminate the negative effects of pre-existing, poor highlighting on reading comprehension. Participants read passages containing no highlighting, appropriate highlighting, or inappropriate highlighting. We hypothesized…

How School Climate Influences Teachers' Emotional Exhaustion: The Mediating Role of Emotional Labor.

Science.gov (United States)

Yao, Xiuping; Yao, Meilin; Zong, Xiaoli; Li, Yulan; Li, Xiying; Guo, Fangfang; Cui, Guanyu

2015-10-08

Currently, in China, improving the quality of teachers' emotional labor has become an urgent need for most pre-kindergarten through 12th grade (p-12) schools because the new curriculum reform highlights the role of emotion in teaching. A total of 703 primary and high school teachers in Mainland China were investigated regarding their perceptions of school climate, emotional labor strategy and emotional exhaustion via questionnaires. The findings revealed that the teachers' perceptions of the school climate negatively affected surface acting but positively affected deep acting. Surface acting positively predicted emotional exhaustion, and deep acting had no significant effect on emotional exhaustion. Moreover, emotional labor mediated the relationship between the teachers' perceptions of the school climate and emotional exhaustion. Programs aimed at improving the school climate and the teachers' use of appropriate emotional labor strategies should be implemented in schools in Mainland China.

The Learning School Approach and Student Proficiency in ELA and Math: Preliminary Findings. Catalyst Schools Research Study Report

Science.gov (United States)

Hammer, Patricia Cahape

2016-01-01

The Learning School initiative completed its pilot testing in June 2016, with 28 schools, called catalyst schools, taking part. Catalyst schools were located in all eight regional education service agencies (RESAs) and were supported by RESA staff in implementing the Learning School approach. Five schools had been part of the program for 2 years…

Managing Food Allergies at School: School Transportation Staff

Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Podcasts

2015-01-20

This podcast highlights the role of bus drivers and transportation staff in the management of food allergies in schools. It also identifies CDC food allergy resources for schools.  Created: 1/20/2015 by National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPHP).   Date Released: 1/20/2015.

Race, Class, and Emerging Sexuality: Teacher Perceptions and Sexual Harassment in Schools

Science.gov (United States)

Rahimi, Regina; Liston, Delores

2011-01-01

Sexual harassment is a highly troubling gendered phenomenon that plagues young women on a daily basis. The way in which sexual harassment is perceived and treated is varied and is largely based on racial and class stereotypes. This paper highlights the findings from a study in which a group of middle and high school teachers were interviewed and…

A Mandatory Uniform Policy in Urban Schools: Findings from the School Survey on Crime and Safety: 2003-04

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Seunghee Han

2010-01-01

Full Text Available The main purpose of the study is to examine the relations between a mandatory school uniform policy and student problem behavior. The study is based on the School Survey on Crime and Safety (SSOCS 2003-04 data. Analyzing data from 421 urban schools, the study found that schools adopting a mandatory uniform policy are negatively associated with rates of student problem behaviors except at the high school level. As with other school safety initiatives, parental involvement at the elementary school level, and teacher training and community efforts at the high school level were revealed as negative predictors of student problem behavior.

Finding Savings in Community Use of Schools

Science.gov (United States)

Gandy, Julia

2013-01-01

This article reports on the growing challenge of managing community groups using educational facilities for meetings, athletics, and special events. It describes how, by using an online scheduling software program, one school district was able to track payments and save time and money with its event and facility scheduling process.

The financial management of research centers and institutes at U.S. medical schools: findings from six institutions.

Science.gov (United States)

Mallon, William T

2006-06-01

To explore three questions surrounding the financial management of research centers and institutes at U.S. medical schools: How do medical schools allocate institutional funds to centers and institutes? How and by whom are those decisions made? What are the implications of these decision-making models on the future of the academic biomedical research enterprise? Using a qualitative research design, the author and associates interviewed over 150 faculty members and administrators at six medical schools and their parent universities in 2004. Interview data were transcribed, coded, and analyzed using a grounded theory approach. This methodology generated rich descriptions and explanations of the six medical schools, which can produce extrapolations to, but not necessarily generalizable findings to, other institutions and settings. An examination of four dimensions of financial decision-making-funding timing, process, structure, and culture-produces two essential models of how medical schools approach the financial management of research centers. In the first, a "charity" model, center directors make hat-in-hand appeals directly to the dean, the result of which may depend on individual negotiation skills and personal relationships. In the second, a "planned-giving" model, the process for obtaining and renewing funds is institutionalized, agreed upon, and monitored. The ways in which deans, administrators, department chairs, and center directors attend to, decide upon, and carry out financial decisions can influence how people throughout the medical school think about interdisciplinary and collaborative activities marshalled though centers and institutes.

Medics in Primary School

Science.gov (United States)

Press, Colin

2003-01-01

Some time ago a flyer on "Medics in Primary School" came the author's way. It described a programme for making placements in primary schools available to medical students. The benefits of the program to medical students and participating schools were highlighted, including opportunities to develop communication skills and demystify…

Chest Radiographic Findings in Primary Pulmonary Tuberculosis: Observations from High School Outbreaks

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Koh, Won Jung; Kwon, O Jung; Lee, Kyung Soo [Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Samsung Medical Center, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Jeong, Yeon Joo [Pusan National University School of Medicine, Pusan National University Hospital, Busan (Korea, Republic of); Kim, Hee Jin; Lew, Woo Jin [Korean Institute of Tuberculosis, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Cho, En Hi [4Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

2010-12-15

To describe the radiographic findings of primary pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) in previously healthy adolescent patients. The Institutional Review Board approved this retrospective study, with a waiver of informed consent from the patients. TB outbreaks occurred in 15 senior high schools and chest radiographs from 58 students with identical strains of TB were analyzed by restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis by two independent observers. Lesions of nodule(s), consolidation, or cavitation in the upper lung zones were classified as typical TB. Mediastinal lymph node enlargement; lesions of nodule(s), consolidation, or cavitation in lower lung zones; or pleural effusion were classified as atypical TB. Inter-observer agreement for the presence of each radiographic finding was examined by kappa statistics. Of 58 patients, three (5%) had normal chest radiographs. Cavitary lesions were present in 25 (45%) of 55 students. Lesions with upper lung zone predominance were observed in 27 (49%) patients, whereas lower lung zone predominance was noted in 18 (33%) patients. The remaining 10 (18%) patients had lesions in both upper and lower lung zones. Pleural effusion was not observed in any patient, nor was the mediastinal lymph node enlargement. Hilar lymph node enlargement was seen in only one (2%) patient. Overall, 37 (67%) students had the typical form of TB, whereas 18 (33%) had TB lesions of the atypical form. The most common radiographic findings in primary pulmonary TB by recent infection in previously healthy adolescents are upper lung lesions, which were thought to be radiographic findings of reactivation pulmonary TB by remote infection

School Consolidation and the Politics of School Closure across Communities

Science.gov (United States)

Karanxha, Zorka; Agosto, Vonzell; Black, William R.; Effiom, Claudius B.

2013-01-01

This case involves dilemmas for educational leaders who may face the process of school consolidation brought on by decreased funding and demands for accountability. We highlight the challenges and opportunities to collaborate within and across diverse communities and schools with varying expressions of cultural, political, ethical, and…

Mobile learning and high-lighting language education

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Vinther, Jane

Mobile learning and high-profiling language education. The number of students learning a second or foreign language and participating in instruction in languages other than English has been in decline for some time. There seems to be such a general tendency across nations albeit for a variety...... of reasons idiosyncratic to the particular national conditions. This paper gives an account of a diversified national project designed to infuse foreign language learning classes in upper secondary schools in Denmark with renewed enthusiasm through systematically experimenting with the new media by taking...... advantage of the social side in their application. The aim has been to make language classes attractive and relevant and to highlight the attractiveness and fun in learning through web 2.0 and mobile units. The overall project was supported by the Danish ministry of education as well as the individual...

A comparison of the social competence of children with moderate intellectual disability in inclusive versus segregated school settings.

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

Hardiman, Sharon

2009-03-01

This is the first study to compare the social competence of children with moderate intellectual disability in inclusive versus segregated school settings in the Republic of Ireland. A convenience sample was recruited through two large ID services. The sample comprised 45 children across two groups: Group 1 (n=20; inclusive school) and Group 2 (n=25; segregated school). Parents and teachers completed the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire and the Adaptive Behaviour Scale-School: 2nd edition. A series of 2 x 2 ANOVAs were carried out on social competence scores using educational placement type (inclusive vs segregated school) and proxy rater (parent vs teacher) as the independent variables. Key findings indicated that children in inclusive schools did not differ significantly from children in segregated schools on the majority of proxy ratings of social competence. This supports the belief that children with intellectual disabilities can function well in different educational settings. Present findings highlight the importance of utilising the functional model of ID when selecting and designing school placements for children with moderate ID.

A comparison of the social competence of children with moderate intellectual disability in inclusive versus segregated school settings.

Science.gov (United States)

Hardiman, Sharon; Guerin, Suzanne; Fitzsimons, Elaine

2009-01-01

This is the first study to compare the social competence of children with moderate intellectual disability in inclusive versus segregated school settings in the Republic of Ireland. A convenience sample was recruited through two large ID services. The sample comprised 45 children across two groups: Group 1 (n=20; inclusive school) and Group 2 (n=25; segregated school). Parents and teachers completed the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire and the Adaptive Behaviour Scale-School: 2nd edition. A series of 2 x 2 ANOVAs were carried out on social competence scores using educational placement type (inclusive vs segregated school) and proxy rater (parent vs teacher) as the independent variables. Key findings indicated that children in inclusive schools did not differ significantly from children in segregated schools on the majority of proxy ratings of social competence. This supports the belief that children with intellectual disabilities can function well in different educational settings. Present findings highlight the importance of utilising the functional model of ID when selecting and designing school placements for children with moderate ID.

What Do Schools Need? School Professionals' Perceptions of School Psychology

Science.gov (United States)

Ahtola, Annarilla; Kiiski-Mäki, Hanna

2014-01-01

Indirect work of school psychologists has not actualized itself widely in everyday practices. To understand this contradiction, the working environment of school psychologists, that is, the school, is worthy of closer examination. In the present study, we wanted to find out which factors affect school professionals' perceptions of school…

Teaching psychosomatic (biopsychosocial) medicine in United States medical schools: survey findings.

Science.gov (United States)

Waldstein, S R; Neumann, S A; Drossman, D A; Novack, D H

2001-01-01

A survey of US medical schools regarding the incorporation of psychosomatic (biopsychosocial) medicine topics into medical school curriculum was conducted. The perceived importance and success of this curriculum, barriers to teaching psychosomatic medicine, and curricular needs were also assessed. From August 1997 to August 1999, representatives of US medical schools were contacted to complete a survey instrument either by telephone interview or by written questionnaire. Survey responses were received from 54 of the 118 US medical schools contacted (46%). Responses were obtained from representatives of both public (57%) and private (43%) institutions. Only 20% of respondents indicated that their schools used the term "psychosomatic medicine"; the terms "behavioral medicine" (63%) and "biopsychosocial medicine" (41%) were used more frequently. Coverage of various health habits (eg, substance use and exercise) ranged from 52% to 96%. The conceptualization and/or measurement of psychosocial factors (eg, stress and social support) was taught by 80% to 93% of schools. Teaching about the role of psychosocial factors in specific disease states or syndromes ranged from 33% (renal disease) to 83% (cardiovascular disease). Coverage of treatment-related issues ranged from 44% (relaxation/biofeedback) to 98% (doctor-patient communication). Topics in psychosomatic medicine were estimated to comprise approximately 10% (median response) of the medical school curriculum. On a scale of 1 (lowest) to 10 (highest), ratings of the relative importance of this curriculum averaged 7 (SD = 2.5; range = 2-10). Student response to the curriculum varied from positive to mixed to negative. Perceived barriers to teaching psychosomatic medicine included limited resources (eg, time, money, and faculty), student and faculty resistance, and a lack of continuity among courses. Sixty-three percent of respondents expressed an interest in receiving information about further incorporation of topics in

Understanding Immigrants, Schooling, and School Psychology: Contemporary Science and Practice

Science.gov (United States)

Frisby, Craig L.; Jimerson, Shane R.

2016-01-01

Immigration into the United States is a particularly salient topic of current contemporary educational, social, and political discussions. The school-related needs of immigrant children and youth can be well served by rigorous research and effective school psychology preservice training and preparation. This overview highlights key definitions,…

When chefs adopt a school? An evaluation of a cooking intervention in English primary schools.

Science.gov (United States)

Caraher, Martin; Seeley, Annie; Wu, Michelle; Lloyd, Susan

2013-03-01

This article sets out the findings from research on the impact of a, UK based, chefs in schools teaching programme on food, health, nutrition and cookery. Professional chefs link with local schools, where they deliver up to three sessions to one class over a year. The research measured the impact of a standardised intervention package and changes in food preparation and consumption as well as measuring cooking confidence. The target group was 9-11year olds in four schools. The main data collection method was a questionnaire delivered 2weeks before the intervention and 2weeks afterwards. There was a group of four matched control schools. Those taking part in the intervention were enthused and engaged by the sessions and the impact measures indicated an intention to change. There were gains in skills and confidence to prepare and ask for the ingredients to be purchased for use in the home. Following the session with the chef, the average reported cooking confidence score increased from 3.09 to 3.35 (by 0.26 points) in the intervention group - a statistically significant improvement. In the control group this change was not statistically significant. Children's average reported vegetable consumption increased after the session with the chef, with the consumption score increasing from 2.24 to 2.46 points (0.22 points) again, a statistically significant increase with no significant changes in the control group. The research highlights the need to incorporate evaluation into school cooking initiatives as the findings can provide valuable information necessary to fine-tune interventions and to ensure consistency of the healthy eating messages. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Findings from the 2013 NZCER Primary and Intermediate Schools National Survey

Science.gov (United States)

New Zealand Council for Educational Research, 2014

2014-01-01

The New Zealand Council for Educational Research (NZCER) primary and intermediate schools national survey was carried out in July-August 2013. NZCER questioned principals, teachers and trustees at a representative sample of schools, and sought the views of a random sample of 1 in 4 parents in 36 of these schools. In all, the survey gathered data…

Smoking Prevention for Students: Findings From a Three-Year Program of Integrated Harm Minimization School Drug Education.

Science.gov (United States)

Midford, Richard; Cahill, Helen; Lester, Leanne; Foxcroft, David R; Ramsden, Robyn; Venning, Lynne

2016-01-01

This study investigated the impact of the Drug Education in Victorian Schools (DEVS) program on tobacco smoking. The program taught about licit and illicit drugs in an integrated manner over 2 years, with follow up in the third year. It focused on minimizing harm, rather than achieving abstinence, and employed participatory, critical-thinking and skill-based teaching methods. A cluster-randomized, controlled trial of the program was conducted with a student cohort during years 8 (13 years), 9 (14 years), and 10 (15 years). Twenty-one schools were randomly allocated to the DEVS program (14 schools, n = 1163), or their usual drug education program (7 schools, n = 589). One intervention school withdrew in year two. There was a greater increase in the intervention students' knowledge about drugs, including tobacco, in all 3 years. Intervention students talked more with their parents about smoking at the end of the 3-year program. They recalled receiving more education on smoking in all 3 years. Their consumption of cigarettes had not increased to the same extent as controls at the end of the program. Their change in smoking harms, relative to controls, was positive in all 3 years. There was no difference between groups in the proportionate increase of smokers, or in attitudes towards smoking, at any time. These findings indicate that a school program that teaches about all drugs in an integrated fashion, and focuses on minimizing harm, does not increase initiation into smoking, while providing strategies for reducing consumption and harm to those who choose to smoke.

Portfolio District Reform Meets School Turnaround: Early Implementation Findings from the Los Angeles Public School Choice Initiative

Science.gov (United States)

Marsh, Julie A.; Strunk, Katharine O.; Bush, Susan

2013-01-01

Purpose: Despite the popularity of school "turnaround" and "portfolio district" management as solutions to low performance, there has been limited research on these strategies. The purpose of this paper is to address this gap by exploring the strategic case of Los Angeles Unified School District's Public School Choice…

Urine examination findings in apparently healthy new school ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

mass screening settings were significant predictors of end- stage renal disease.4 The ... has been used to diagnose urinary tract infection.5,6 Urinary tract infections are ... such as Nigeria, where many school-age children are survivors.

What Barriers and Facilitators Do School Nurses Experience When Implementing an Obesity Intervention?

Science.gov (United States)

Schroeder, Krista; Smaldone, Arlene

2017-12-01

A recent evaluation of a school nurse-led obesity intervention demonstrated a 5% implementation rate. The purpose of this study was to explore school nurses' perceived barriers to and facilitators of the intervention in order to understand reasons for the low implementation rate. Methods included semi-structured individual interviews with school nurses. Data were analyzed using content analysis and heat mapping. Nineteen nurses participated and eight themes were identified. Parental and administrative gatekeeping, heavy nurse workload, obesogenic environments, and concerns about obesity stigma were barriers to implementation. Teamwork with parents and school staff was a key facilitator of implementation. Nurses also noted the importance of cultural considerations and highlighted the need to tailor the intervention to the unique needs of their school environment and student population. These findings suggest that for school nurses to play a key role in school-based obesity interventions, barriers must be identified and addressed prior to program implementation.

Finding Balance: The Professional Life of a Charter School Teacher

Science.gov (United States)

Clark, Marjorie

2010-01-01

This phenomenological study of one charter school teacher sought to answer the question, what is it like to be a teacher in a charter school? Exploring issues of preparation, working conditions, and job satisfaction, this teacher expressed a range of emotions about her chosen work environment. I found that the pervasive stress surrounding her work…

[Translated Title: Participatory research to develop a school violence observation instrument].

Science.gov (United States)

Medina Santiago, Nilda G; Rivera, Tania Cruz; Rodríguez, Maryanes Trenche; Báez Ávila, Loggina S

2017-01-01

School violence has been recognized worldwide as a public health problem that negatively impacts the educational process. However, in Puerto Rico official statistics and the media generally focus on isolated incidents of extreme violence in which weapons are used or property is destroyed. Little data is available about the most common forms of violence that often occur in schools on a daily basis. The Instrumento de Observación de Violencia Escolar (INOVE) , developed with the input of school communities participating in Project VIAS (Violence and Asthma Health Disparity Network) of Universidad del Este (UNE), was used in this study to gather information about the characteristics of violence in two Puerto Rican schools. Among the study findings we highlight gender differences in observed violence and aggressive games and interactions between students. The data collected have served as a basis for decision-making regarding violence prevention in participating schools and have implications for the development of prevention strategies and programs.

BBG Highlights

Data.gov (United States)

Broadcasting Board of Governors — BBG Highlights is a monthly summary of the BBG's accomplishments and news and developments affecting the Agency's work. Now, for the first time, this monthly update...

Coaching at-risk youth in a school within a socially challenging environment

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ryom, Knud Eske; Maar Andersen, Mie; Stelter, Reinhard

2017-01-01

The purpose of this study was to implement group coaching in a school setting and examine the participants’ experiences. Participants were all males (age 12–16 years), primarily with a Middle Eastern family background and from a socioeconomically deprived area. A 2-year intervention with regular...... coaching counselling during school hours was delivered. Qualitative longitudinal interviews (n = 6) and long-term fieldwork found that group coaching enhanced social cohesion and social resilience. The study concludes that group coaching can be a valid tool for addressing at-risk youth in schools. Even...... though this study was limited to one school in a certain context, the implications can be important knowledge in other settings. An important practical finding was that bodily experience incorporated as part of the coaching sessions was highlighted as beneficial, as well as the use of a group approach...

AEB highlights

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1975-01-01

AEB HIGHLIGHTS is a half-yearly report reflecting the most important recent achievements of the various Research and Technical Divisions of the Atomic Energy Board. It appears alternately in English and Afrikaans [af

AEB highlights

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1977-01-01

AEB HIGHLIGHTS is a half yearly report reflecting the most important recent achievements of the various Research and Technical Divisions of the Atomic Energy Board. It appears alternately in English and Afrikaans [af

Exploring the longitudinal association between interventions to support the transition to secondary school and child anxiety.

Science.gov (United States)

Neal, S; Rice, F; Ng-Knight, T; Riglin, L; Frederickson, N

2016-07-01

School transition at around 11-years of age can be anxiety-provoking for children, particularly those with special educational needs (SEN). The present study adopted a longitudinal design to consider how existing transition strategies, categorized into cognitive, behavioral or systemic approaches, were associated with post-transition anxiety amongst 532 typically developing children and 89 children with SEN. Multiple regression analysis indicated that amongst typically developing pupils, systemic interventions were associated with lower school anxiety but not generalized anxiety, when controlling for prior anxiety. Results for children with SEN differed significantly, as illustrated by a Group × Intervention type interaction. Specifically, systemic strategies were associated with lower school anxiety amongst typically developing children and higher school anxiety amongst children with SEN. These findings highlight strategies that schools may find useful in supporting typically developing children over the transition period, whilst suggesting that children with SEN might need a more personalized approach. Copyright © 2016 The Foundation for Professionals in Services for Adolescents. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Family Conflict, Mood, and Adolescents’ Daily School Problems: Moderating Roles of Internalizing and Externalizing Symptoms

Science.gov (United States)

Timmons, Adela C.; Margolin, Gayla

2014-01-01

Using daily diary data, this study examined cross-day associations between family conflict and school problems and tested mediating effects of daily negative mood and moderating effects of psychological symptoms. For 2 weeks, parents and adolescents (N = 106; mean age = 15.4) reported daily conflict; adolescents reported daily negative mood and school problems. Results indicated bidirectional, multi-day spillover between parent-adolescent conflict and school problems with daily negative mood statistically accounting for spillover both within and across days. Externalizing symptoms strengthened links between father-adolescent conflict and school problems, whereas depressive and anxious symptoms strengthened links between parent-adolescent conflict and daily negative mood. By demonstrating cross-domain transmission of daily problems, these findings highlight the salience of everyday events as possible intervention targets. PMID:25346538

A Case Study of a Rural Iowa School Preparing to Meet New State Guidelines for School Libraries

Science.gov (United States)

Krueger, Karla Steege

2009-01-01

A qualitative case study highlighting one rural Iowa elementary school provided insight into the issue of small schools without library programs as they are preparing to meet the Iowa reinstatement of the requirement for school library programs. The site was purposefully chosen because it has been operating without a school library program or…

Implementation of School Uniform Policy and the Violation of Students' Human Rights in Schools

Science.gov (United States)

Mahlangu, Vimbi Petrus

2017-01-01

The paper highlights the violations of students' human rights in schools. The problem is the incident that took place at a school in Pretoria in 2016 where Black girls protested against the School's Code of Conduct relating to hairstyle. Qualitative approach was used to collect information through a literature review and desk-top research methods.…

Ranking the schools: How school-quality information affects school choice in the Netherlands

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Koning, P.W.C.; van der Wiel, K.

2013-01-01

This paper analyzes whether information about the quality of high schools published in a national newspaper affects school choice in the Netherlands. We find that negative (positive) school-quality scores decrease (increase) the number of first-year students who choose a school after the year of

Do school inspections improve primary school performance?

OpenAIRE

Dinand Webbink; Rob Luginbuhl; I. de Wolf

2007-01-01

Inspectors from the Dutch Inspectorate of Education inspect primary schools, write inspection reports on each inspected school, and make recommendations as to how each school can improve. We test whether these inspections result in better school performance. Using a fixed-effects model, we find evidence that school inspections do lead to measurably better school performance. Our assessment of school performance is based on the Cito test scores of pupils in their final year of primary school. ...

The effects of community factors on school participation in Turkey: A multilevel analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Gumus, Sedat

2014-05-01

Turkey, like many developing countries, is facing considerable problems in terms of low school attendance rates, late enrolment and early dropout of girls in particular. Numerous studies have already been conducted, both in Turkey and elsewhere, to determine the factors affecting school enrolment of boys and girls. Existing studies in Turkey, however, have focused extensively on the association between household-level factors and school participation, ignoring the role of the broader environment in which children live. Using a recent, large-scale and nationally representative data set, this paper investigates school participation at both primary and secondary levels in Turkey, giving specific attention to community- level factors. In taking into account socioeconomic context variables using the multilevel modelling method, this study contributes significantly to current school participation literature in Turkey. The author's findings highlight the importance of community/context factors in explaining low school enrolment in Turkey. The results of the study can help policy makers develop a systematic understanding of the relationship between socioeconomic context and school participation, and enable them to make more appropriate decisions for improving school participation across the country.

Finding a Place for Health in the Schooling Process: A Challenge for Education.

Science.gov (United States)

Ridge, Damien; Northfield, Jeff; St. Leger, Lawrence; Marshall, Bernie; Sheehan, Margaret; Maher, Shelley

2002-01-01

Evaluated outcomes in selected Australian schools of an intervention project, Health Promoting Schools (promoted by the World Health Organization). Found that studied schools moved beyond oppositional constructions of health and education towards approaching health as an element of effective schooling. (EV)

Bullying in schools: the power of bullies and the plight of victims.

Science.gov (United States)

Juvonen, Jaana; Graham, Sandra

2014-01-01

Bullying is a pervasive problem affecting school-age children. Reviewing the latest findings on bullying perpetration and victimization, we highlight the social dominance function of bullying, the inflated self-views of bullies, and the effects of their behaviors on victims. Illuminating the plight of the victim, we review evidence on the cyclical processes between the risk factors and consequences of victimization and the mechanisms that can account for elevated emotional distress and health problems. Placing bullying in context, we consider the unique features of electronic communication that give rise to cyberbullying and the specific characteristics of schools that affect the rates and consequences of victimization. We then offer a critique of the main intervention approaches designed to reduce school bullying and its harmful effects. Finally, we discuss future directions that underscore the need to consider victimization a social stigma, conduct longitudinal research on protective factors, identify school context factors that shape the experience of victimization, and take a more nuanced approach to school-based interventions.

School Related Alienation: Perceptions of Secondary School Students.

Science.gov (United States)

Kunkel, Richard C.; And Others

Responses to questionnaires administered to 10,000 senior high school students to ascertain their feelings of alienation as related to their schools are presented. The questionnaire items concerned: School as an Institution, The School as Teacher, Authority--Autonomy, and Parental Interest in School. The findings that resulted from the…

School Effectiveness and Teacher Effectiveness in Mathematics: Some Preliminary Findings from the Evaluation of the Mathematics Enhancement Program (Primary).

Science.gov (United States)

Muijs, Daniel; Reynolds, David

2000-01-01

Examines effects of teacher behaviors and classroom organization on 2,128 pupils' progress in mathematics in UK primary schools participating in a math intervention program. Using multilevel modeling techniques, finds that teacher behaviors could explain between 60 and 70 percent of pupils' progress on numeracy tests. (Contains 35 references.)…

Health-promoting schools

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kwan, Stella Y L; Petersen, Poul Erik; Pine, Cynthia M

2005-01-01

Schools provide an important setting for promoting health, as they reach over 1 billion children worldwide and, through them, the school staff, families and the community as a whole. Health promotion messages can be reinforced throughout the most influential stages of children's lives, enabling...... them to develop lifelong sustainable attitudes and skills. Poor oral health can have a detrimental effect on children's quality of life, their performance at school and their success in later life. This paper examines the global need for promoting oral health through schools. The WHO Global School...... Health Initiative and the potential for setting up oral health programmes in schools using the health-promoting school framework are discussed. The challenges faced in promoting oral health in schools in both developed and developing countries are highlighted. The importance of using a validated...

Early Career Teachers' Perceptions and Experiences of Leadership Development: Balancing Structure and Agency in Contrasting School Contexts

Science.gov (United States)

Woodhouse, Joan; Pedder, David

2017-01-01

Drawing on the findings of a three-year, longitudinal study investigating early career teachers' (ECTs) experiences and perceptions of leadership development in English secondary schools, this paper highlights, from the perspectives of ECTs, some of the factors that support and facilitate leadership development during the first few years of the…

Fixing High Schools

Science.gov (United States)

Perkins-Gough, Deborah

2005-01-01

Reports from national education organizations in the US indicate the sorry state of high schools in the country that are accused of failing to adequately prepare their graduates for college or for the workforce, highlighting what is a serious problem in light of the troubled state of the US economy. The need to improve high schools is urgent and…

Practices of Waldorf-Inspired Schools. Research Brief

Science.gov (United States)

Friedlaender, Diane; Beckham, Kyle; Zheng, Xinhua; Darling-Hammond, Linda

2015-01-01

"Growing a Waldorf-Inspired Approach in a Public School District" documents the practices and outcomes of Alice Birney, a Waldorf-Inspired School in Sacramento City Unified School District (SCUSD). This study highlights how such a school addresses students' academic, social, emotional, physical, and creative development. The study also…

Exploring Students Perception and ICT Use in Indonesian High Schools

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anton Suratno

2017-06-01

Full Text Available The recent spread of technological innovation along with the sophistication of the ICT gadgets have shapped and transformed the realm of learning and teaching including in that of English Language. Alongside, ICT has become more and more inextricable part of human businesses and put a higher level of demand for technological literacy in the part of English learners in order for them to be convident in the digital era membership and participation. This study surveyed 400 high school students as regards: (a their ICT gadgets perceived ownership; (b their day-to-day outside and in-school use and; (c their activities using ICT gadgets for English learning. Findings from the descriptive analyses of the mixed-method study, disclose the positive perception about the gadget ownership. Interestingly, the current study also discovers that there has been a mismatch between the positively perceived ownership of the ICT gadgets and the real day-to-day use as facilitative media for learning, in particular as a useful aids for English language learning. Focusing on the result discussion, issues with regard to discrepancies in the provision of infrastructures and the lack of the support system by school institutions emerge from the FGD analysis highlighting the importance for all decision makers, school institutions, and teachers to consciously start doing something about it. By highlighting the pivotal role of the technology, the researcher suggested a real action for responding to the call for a change in both policy makers and institutonal levels to start integrating the technology into the school curricula.

Risk Factors for School Dropout in a Sample of Juvenile Offenders.

Science.gov (United States)

Fernández-Suárez, Asunción; Herrero, Juan; Pérez, Beatriz; Juarros-Basterretxea, Joel; Rodríguez-Díaz, Francisco J

2016-01-01

Backgrounds: The high rates of school dropout worldwide and their relevance highlight the need for a close study of its causes and consequences. Literature has suggested that school dropout might be explained by multiple causes at different levels (individual, family, school, and neighborhood). The aim of the current study is to examine the relation between individual (defiant attitude, irresponsibility, alcohol abuse, and illegal drugs use), family (educational figure absent and parental monitoring), school factors (truancy and school conflict) and school dropout. Method: Judicial files of all juvenile offenders (218 males and 46 females) with a judicial penal measure in Asturias (Spain) in the year 2012 were examined. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to estimate the relationships between school dropout and individual, family and school variables. Results: As for the individual characteristics, results showed that school dropouts were more irresponsible than non-dropouts. Also they had higher rates of illegal drug use and alcohol abuse. Moreover, lack of parental monitoring emerged as a key predictive factor of school dropout, beyond the type of family structure in terms of the presence of both or only one educational figure. Finally, school factors did not show a significant relationship to school dropout. Conclusions : These findings indicate that school dropout is a multidimensional process. School and family policies that emphasize the role of parental monitoring and prevent alcohol and substance abuse are recommended.

Risk Factors for School Dropout in a Sample of Juvenile Offenders

Science.gov (United States)

Fernández-Suárez, Asunción; Herrero, Juan; Pérez, Beatriz; Juarros-Basterretxea, Joel; Rodríguez-Díaz, Francisco J.

2016-01-01

Backgrounds: The high rates of school dropout worldwide and their relevance highlight the need for a close study of its causes and consequences. Literature has suggested that school dropout might be explained by multiple causes at different levels (individual, family, school, and neighborhood). The aim of the current study is to examine the relation between individual (defiant attitude, irresponsibility, alcohol abuse, and illegal drugs use), family (educational figure absent and parental monitoring), school factors (truancy and school conflict) and school dropout. Method: Judicial files of all juvenile offenders (218 males and 46 females) with a judicial penal measure in Asturias (Spain) in the year 2012 were examined. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to estimate the relationships between school dropout and individual, family and school variables. Results: As for the individual characteristics, results showed that school dropouts were more irresponsible than non-dropouts. Also they had higher rates of illegal drug use and alcohol abuse. Moreover, lack of parental monitoring emerged as a key predictive factor of school dropout, beyond the type of family structure in terms of the presence of both or only one educational figure. Finally, school factors did not show a significant relationship to school dropout. Conclusions: These findings indicate that school dropout is a multidimensional process. School and family policies that emphasize the role of parental monitoring and prevent alcohol and substance abuse are recommended. PMID:28082934

The Observation Of Defects Of School Buildings Over 100 Years Old In Perak

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Alauddin Kartina

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Malaysia is blessed with a rich legacy of heritage buildings with unique architectural and historical values. The heritage buildings become a symbol of the national identity of our country. Therefore, heritage buildings, as important monuments should be conserved well to ensure the extension of the building’s life span and to make sure continuity functions of the building for future generations. The aim of this study is to analyze the types of defects attached in school buildings over 100 years located in Perak. The data were collected in four different schools aged over 100 years in Perak. The finding of the study highlighted the types of defects which were categorized based on building elements, including external wall, roof, door, ceiling, staircase, column, internal wall, floor and windows. Finding showed that the type of defects occurred in school buildings over 100 years in Perak is the same as the other heritage buildings. This finding can be used by all parties to take serious actions in preventing defects from occurring in buildings over 100 years. This would ensure that buildings’ functional life span can be extended for future use.

School Bullying in Urban China: Prevalence and Correlation with School Climate

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Han, Ziqiang; Zhang, Guirong; Zhang, Haibo

2017-01-01

School violence and bullying in China is under investigated, though it has become a national concern recently. Using updated national representative survey data collected in 2016 from seven provinces across China, covering students from all pre-college school types (primary, middle, high and vocational schools), this paper analyzes the prevalence of school bullying and the correlation with several school attributes. The incidences of reported bullying, bullying others and witnessing bullying are 26.10%, 9.03% and 28.90%, respectively. Primary school students are more likely to be involved in bullying behaviors. Students from elite schools (leading schools) are also more likely to be involved. Relation with teachers, relation with peers and perceived academic achievement are protective factors. Being a boy is the only significant predictor of school bullying among the family and demographic characteristics used. The results highlight the importance of school climate on preventing school violence and bullying, and a whole-school intervention approach is needed for future intervention. PMID:28946682

School Bullying in Urban China: Prevalence and Correlation with School Climate.

Science.gov (United States)

Han, Ziqiang; Zhang, Guirong; Zhang, Haibo

2017-09-25

School violence and bullying in China is under investigated, though it has become a national concern recently. Using updated national representative survey data collected in 2016 from seven provinces across China, covering students from all pre-college school types (primary, middle, high and vocational schools), this paper analyzes the prevalence of school bullying and the correlation with several school attributes. The incidences of reported bullying, bullying others and witnessing bullying are 26.10%, 9.03% and 28.90%, respectively. Primary school students are more likely to be involved in bullying behaviors. Students from elite schools (leading schools) are also more likely to be involved. Relation with teachers, relation with peers and perceived academic achievement are protective factors. Being a boy is the only significant predictor of school bullying among the family and demographic characteristics used. The results highlight the importance of school climate on preventing school violence and bullying, and a whole-school intervention approach is needed for future intervention.

Understanding the drive to escort: a cross-sectional analysis examining parental attitudes towards children’s school travel and independent mobility

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Mammen George

2012-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The declining prevalence of Active School Transportation (AST has been accompanied by a decrease in independent mobility internationally. The objective of this study was to compare family demographics and AST related perceptions of parents who let their children walk unescorted to/from school to those parents who escort (walk and drive their children to/from school. By comparing these groups, insight was gained into how we may encourage greater AST and independent mobility in youth living in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area, Canada. Methods This study involved a cross-sectional design, using data from a self-reported questionnaire (n =1,016 that examined parental perceptions and attitudes regarding AST. A multinomial logistic regression analysis was used to explore the differences between households where children travelled independently to school or were escorted. Results Findings revealed that unescorted children were: significantly older, the families spoke predominantly English at home, more likely to live within one kilometer from school, and their parents agreed to a greater extent that they chose to reside in the current neighborhood in order for their child to walk to/from school. The parents of the escorted children worried significantly more about strangers and bullies approaching their child as well as the traffic volume around school. Conclusions From both a policy and research perspective, this study highlights the value of distinguishing between mode (i.e., walking or driving and travel independence. For policy, our findings highlight the need for planning decisions about the siting of elementary schools to include considerations of the impact of catchment size on how children get to/from school. Given the importance of age, distance, and safety issues as significant correlates of independent mobility, research and practice should focus on the development and sustainability of non-infrastructure programs

School Choice, Student Mobility, and School Quality: Evidence from Post-Katrina New Orleans

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Welsh, Richard O.; Duque, Matthew; McEachin, Andrew

2016-01-01

In recent decades, school choice policies predicated on student mobility have gained prominence as urban districts address chronically low-performing schools. However, scholars have highlighted equity concerns related to choice policies. The case of post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans provides an opportunity to examine student mobility patterns in…

Attracting and Retaining Teachers in Cambridgeshire: Working Conditions and Teachers Flows from a School Workforce Census Data Perspective

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Bélanger, Julie; Broeks, Miriam

2016-01-01

This report explores the working conditions and flows of state-funded secondary school teachers in Cambridgeshire compared to a select number of other local authorities and to the English national landscape as a whole between 2010 and 2015. It also presents findings for different subjects, highlighting the situation for science, technology,…

School Construction Management: Expert Administrators Speak.

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Fickes, Michael

2001-01-01

Presents expert opinion on school construction management communication concerning educational needs, obtaining consensus among diverse groups, and envisioning what schools must offer in the future. Why furniture issues are also important is highlighted. (GR)

Small School Reform

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Carroll E. Bronson

2013-05-01

Full Text Available This qualitative ethnographic case study explored the evolution of a public urban high school in its 3rd year of small school reform. The study focused on how the high school proceeded from its initial concept, moving to a small school program, and emerging as a new small high school. Data collection included interviews, observations, and document review to develop a case study of one small high school sharing a multiplex building. The first key finding, “Too Many Pieces, Not Enough Glue,” revealed that the school had too many new programs starting at once and they lacked a clear understanding of their concept and vision for their new small school, training on the Montessori philosophies, teaching and learning in small schools, and how to operate within a teacher-cooperative model. The second key finding, “A Continuous Struggle,” revealed that the shared building space presented problems for teachers and students. District policies remain unchanged, resulting in staff and students resorting to activist approaches to get things done. These findings offer small school reform leaders suggestions for developing and sustaining a small school culture and cohesion despite the pressures to revert back to top-down, comprehensive high school norms.

"As a Parent You Become a Tiger": Parents Talking about Bullying at School.

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Hale, Rebecca; Fox, Claire L; Murray, Michael

2017-01-01

Bullying at school can be a distressing experience for children. It is also likely to be distressing for their parents. In spite of this, research in the field of school bullying and peer victimisation has tended to overlook the experience of parents when their child is bullied. This study explored school bullying from the parent's perspective. Twenty-one parents took part in semi-structured focus groups and interviews to share their experiences. Thematic analysis of the interview transcripts identified two main themes: 'perceived institutional factors' and 'being a good parent'. It was found that parents viewed their principal role as protecting their child; they referred to this as an instinct and fundamental to them being a good parent. However, during their attempts to help their child, many parents talked about difficulties working with schools and this triggered frustration and distrust towards teachers. The findings highlight the importance of communication between parents and teachers and ensuring that parents are kept informed of progress when teachers are trying to address the problem. Additionally, the findings indicate that parents may hold different views to teachers about their role in school bullying situations. This would suggest that parents looking at the situation from the teacher's perspective, and vice versa, could help to build better parent-teacher relationships when tackling school bullying.

School resources and student achievment: worldwide findings and methodological issues

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Paulo A. Meyer. M. Nascimento

2008-03-01

Full Text Available The issues raised in the Education Production Function literature since the US 1966 Coleman Report have fuelled high controversy on the role of school resources in relation to student performance. In several literature reviews and some self estimates, Erik Hanushek (1986, 1997, 2006 systematically affirms that these two factors are not associated one to another – neither in the US nor abroad. In recent cross-country analyses, Ludger Woessmann (2003; 2005a; 2005b links international differences in attainment to institutional differences across educational systems – not to resourcing levels. In the opposite direction, Stephen Heyneman and William Loxley (1982, 1983 tried to demonstrate in the 1980’s that, at least for low income countries, school factors seemed to outweigh family characteristics on the determination of students’ outcomes – although other authors show evidence that such a phenomenon may have existed only during a limited period of the 20th Century. In the 1990s, meta-analyses raised the argument that school resources were sufficiently significant to be regarded as pedagogically important. The turn of the Century witnessed a new movement: the recognition that endogenous determination of resource allocation is a substantial methodological issue. Therefore, efforts have been made to incorporate the decision-making processes that involve families, schools and policy-makers in economic models. This implies changes in research designs that may affect the direction of future policy advices patronised by international development and educational organisations.

Lean Mean Times--Budgeting for School Media Technology.

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Johnson, Doug

1995-01-01

Discusses budgeting strategies for school media technology programs. Highlights include sources for school funding, school district budget information, control of the budget, how to write an effective budget, working with other community and school groups, local politics, and sidebars that discuss spreadsheets and maintenance budgets. (LRW)

School Libraries Empowering Learning: The Australian Landscape.

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Todd, Ross J.

2003-01-01

Describes school libraries in Australia. Highlights include the title of teacher librarian and their education; the history of the role of school libraries in Australian education; empowerment; information skills and benchmarks; national standards for school libraries; information literacy; learning outcomes; evidence-based practice; digital…

Naïve Conceptions About Multimedia Learning:A Study on Primary School Textbooks

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Barbara eColombo

2013-07-01

Full Text Available An interview study, based on specific pictures taken from textbooks used in primary schools, was carried out to investigate illustrators’, teachers’, students’, and common people’s beliefs about the role that illustrations play in facilitating learning. Participants’ responses were internally coherent, indicating a systematic nature of the underlying naïve conceptions. Findings disprove Mayer’s pessimistic claim that laypersons’ conceptions of multimedia learning fail to match experimentally supported principles and theories. On the contrary, interviewees spontaneously came very close to the multimedia learning theory, which states that students learn better from pictures, which fit specific cognitive principles. Implications for school instruction are highlighted.

Assessing School Facilities in Public Secondary Schools in Delta ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This study investigated school facilitates in public secondary schools in Delta State, Nigeria. The purpose of the study was to find out the state of the facilities, the types of maintenance carried out on the facilities by school administrators, the factors encouraging school facilities depreciation and the roles of school ...

Schooling in modern Europe exploring major issues and their ramifications

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Husén, Torsten

1993-11-01

Basing its arguments on a major study conducted on behalf of the Academia Europaea by a study group coordinated by the author, this paper sets out a number of important findings concerning problems besetting schooling in modern Europe. The paper begins by stressing the importance of studying the state of European education at a particularly significant time when major political changes are taking place, trade and labour markets are in a process of rapid integration, schools as institutions are becoming increasingly complex and there is a need to establish a new European identity and consciousness. The main questions examined, against the current background of industrialization, urbanization, changing demography and growing European integration, are those relating particularly to educational response to growing international competition and the consequences of changing family structure. Among problems considered are those arising from the changing capacity of schools to provide a substitute for the family and other influences in modern society at a time when, for various reasons, these are declining and schooling is generally being prolonged. Priority areas proposed for school education in the new circumstances include the promotion of European citizenship, the teaching of foreign languages to all, a preparation for working life geared to its rapidly changing structure and the expansion of appropriate scientific and technological education. The need to find solutions to the problems of educating immigrant groups and to develop evaluation systems in order to monitor quality maintenance are particularly highlighted.

Ethnic identity, school connectedness, and achievement in standardized tests among Mexican-origin youth.

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Santos, Carlos E; Collins, Mary Ann

2016-07-01

The aim of this study was to investigate the association between school connectedness and performance in standardized test scores and whether this association was moderated by ethnic private regard. The study combines self-report data with school district reported data on standardized test scores in reading and math and free and reduced lunch status. Participants included 436 Mexican-origin youth attending a middle school in a southwestern U.S. state. Participants were on average 12.34 years of age (SD = .95) and 51.8% female and 48.2% male. After controlling for age, gender, free and reduced lunch status, and generational status, school connectedness and ethnic private regard were both positive predictors of standardized test scores in reading and math. Results also revealed a significant interaction between school connectedness and ethnic private regard in predicting standardized test scores in reading, such that participants who were low on ethnic private regard and low on school connectedness reported lower levels of achievement compared to participants who were low on ethnic private regard but high on school connectedness. At high levels of ethnic private regard, high or low levels of school connectedness were not associated with higher or lower standardized test scores in reading. The findings in this study provide support for the protective role that ethnic private regard plays in the educational experiences of Mexican-origin youth and highlights how the local school context may play a role in shaping this finding. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Homework Policy and Student Choice: Findings from a Montessori Charter School

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Scott, Catherine M.; Glaze, Nelda

2017-01-01

The use of homework has been a controversial topic in education for many years: what types of homework to give, how much, and how often. In previous years, Ocean Montessori School (a pseudonym), the site of this study, offered homework like that of traditional public schools, such as worksheets and rote skill practice. Feeling conflicted about the…

Argonne National Laboratory Research Highlights 1988

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

1988-01-01

The research and development highlights are summarized. The world's brightest source of X-rays could revolutionize materials research. Test of a prototype insertion device, a key in achieving brilliant X-ray beams, have given the first glimpse of the machine's power. Superconductivity research focuses on the new materials' structure, economics and applications. Other physical science programs advance knowledge of material structures and properties, nuclear physics, molecular structure, and the chemistry and structure of coal. New programming approaches make advanced computers more useful. Innovative approaches to fighting cancer are being developed. More experiments confirm the passive safety of Argonne's Integral Fast Reactor concept. Device simplifies nuclear-waste processing. Advanced fuel cell could provide better mileage, more power than internal combustion engine. New instruments find leaks in underground pipe, measure sodium impurities in molten liquids, detect flaws in ceramics. New antibody findings may explain ability to fight many diseases. Cadmium in cigarettes linked to bone loss in women. Programs fight deforestation in Nepal. New technology could reduce acid rain, mitigate greenhouse effect, enhance oil recovery. Innovative approaches transfer Argonne-developed technology to private industry. Each year Argonne educational programs reach some 1200 students

School Processes Mediate School Compositional Effects: Model Specification and Estimation

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Liu, Hongqiang; Van Damme, Jan; Gielen, Sarah; Van Den Noortgate, Wim

2015-01-01

School composition effects have been consistently verified, but few studies ever attempted to study how school composition affects school achievement. Based on prior research findings, we employed multilevel mediation modeling to examine whether school processes mediate the effect of school composition upon school outcomes based on the data of 28…

STEM Out-of-School Time Programs for Girls. Highlights from the Out-of-School Time Database. Research Update, No. 5

Science.gov (United States)

Chun, Katie; Harris, Erin

2011-01-01

Increasing interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) has become part of education reform efforts in recent years in order to prepare students for the challenges of the twenty-first century global economy. Out-of-school time (OST) programs that focus on girls' involvement in STEM can play an essential role in improving…

School food policy at Dutch primary schools: Room for improvement? Cross-sectional findings from the INPACT study

NARCIS (Netherlands)

W.J.C. van Ansem (Wilke); C.Th.M. Schrijvers (Carola); G. Rodenburg (Gerda); A.J. Schuit (Jantine); H. van de Mheen (Dike)

2013-01-01

textabstractBackground: Schools can play an important role in the prevention of obesity, e.g. by providing an environment that stimulates healthy eating habits and by developing a food policy to provide such an environment. The effectiveness of a school food policy is affected by the content of the

Humanizing the High School: The Power of Peers.

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Stader, David L.; Gagnepain, F. J.

2000-01-01

Discusses what high schools can do to improve student relationships, highlighting a St. Louis area school's efforts to develop peer-mentoring and peer-mediation programs. Offers guidelines to help other schools develop a school culture that promotes caring, teaches constructive conflict resolution, and reduces potential for violence. (MLH)

School food policy at Dutch primary schools: room for improvement? Cross-sectional findings from the INPACT study

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Ansem, Wilke Jc; Schrijvers, Carola Tm; Rodenburg, Gerda; Schuit, Albertine J; van de Mheen, Dike

2013-01-01

BACKGROUND: Schools can play an important role in the prevention of obesity, e.g. by providing an environment that stimulates healthy eating habits and by developing a food policy to provide such an environment. The effectiveness of a school food policy is affected by the content of the policy, its

Individual and School Organizational Factors that Influence Implementation of the PAX Good Behavior Game Intervention.

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Domitrovich, Celene E; Pas, Elise T; Bradshaw, Catherine P; Becker, Kimberly D; Keperling, Jennifer P; Embry, Dennis D; Ialongo, Nicholas

2015-11-01

Evidence-based interventions are being disseminated broadly in schools across the USA, but the implementation levels achieved in community settings vary considerably. The current study examined the extent to which teacher and school factors were associated with implementation dosage and quality of the PAX Good Behavior Game (PAX GBG), a universal classroom-based preventive intervention designed to improve student social-emotional competence and behavior. Specifically, dosage (i.e., number of games and duration of games) across the school year and quality (i.e., how well the game is delivered) of PAX GBG implementation across four time points in a school year were examined. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to examine the association between teacher-level factors (e.g., demographics, self-reports of personal resources, attitudes toward the intervention, and workplace perceptions) and longitudinal implementation data. We also accounted for school-level factors, including demographic characteristics of the students and ratings of the schools' organizational health. Findings indicated that only a few teacher-level factors were significantly related to variation in implementation. Teacher perceptions (e.g., fit with teaching style, emotional exhaustion) were generally related to dosage, whereas demographic factors (e.g., teachers' age) were related to quality. These findings highlight the importance of school contextual and proximal teacher factors on the implementation of classroom-based programs.

Alcohol marketing and drunkenness among students in the Philippines: findings from the nationally representative Global School-based Student Health Survey.

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Swahn, Monica H; Palmier, Jane B; Benegas-Segarra, Agnes; Sinson, Fe A

2013-12-10

A largely unaddressed issue in lower income countries and the Philippines, in particular, is the role of alcohol marketing and its potential link to early alcohol use among youth. This study examines the associations between exposures to alcohol marketing and Filipino youths' drinking prevalence and drunkenness. Cross-sectional analyses were used to examine the Global School-based Student Health Survey (GSHS) conducted in Philippines (2011). The self-administered questionnaires were completed by students primarily 13 to 16 years of age (N = 5,290). Three statistical models were computed to test the associations between alcohol marketing and alcohol use, while controlling for possible confounding factors. Alcohol marketing, specifically through providing free alcohol through a company representative, was associated with drunkenness (AOR: 1.84; 95% CI=1.06-3.21) among youths after controlling for demographic and psychosocial characteristics, peer environment, and risky behaviors. In addition, seeing alcohol ads in newspapers and magazines (AOR: 1.65, 95% CI=1.05-2.58) and seeing ads at sports events, concerts or fairs (AOR: 1.50, 95% CI =1.06-2.12) were significantly associated with increased reports of drunkenness. There are significant associations between alcohol marketing exposure and increased alcohol use and drunkenness among youth in the Philippines. These findings highlight the need to put policies into effect that restrict alcohol marketing practices as an important prevention strategy for reducing alcohol use and its dire consequences among vulnerable youth.

Influencing College and Higher Education Choices in Disadvantaged Hispanic High School Students Through a School-Based Health Club.

Science.gov (United States)

Singh, Harsimran; Matza, Maria; Latham, Christine

2017-06-01

Statistics representing professional health care providers do not adequately reflect the shift in the nation's diverse population. Latinos are significantly underrepresented at all levels of appropriate academic programs critical for entry to health profession careers. This project describes the implementation of a student-run, faculty-facilitated Future Nurse and Health Club at a school (with majority Latino students) to emphasize the importance of higher education in health care. Demographic and psychosocial profiles of club members were also developed to understand community needs. The Future Nurse and Health Club was established in partnership with faculty and researchers representing a university-based nursing program, school officials, and community leaders. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected from club members and their parents using a variety of techniques including questionnaires and focus groups. The findings of the study highlighted a variety of student- and parent-related factors including poor lifestyle habits and perceptions of support that could potentially influence Latino high school students' interest and progress in health care-related higher education. A school-based health career club involving active participation of parents and students with support from health care professionals such as academic nursing faculty has the potential to simultaneously raise student interest in health-related careers and health needs of their community.

Findings from the First & Only National Data Base on Elemiddle & Middle Schools (Executive Summary)

Science.gov (United States)

Hough, David L.

2009-01-01

The study presented here is the first large scale effort on a national level to examine the relationship between K-8 Elemiddle Schools and 6-8 Middle Schools. From a population of more than 2,000 middle grades schools in 49 public school districts across 26 states, a sample of 542 Elemiddle and 506 Middle Schools was drawn. Both regression and…

E-cigarette curiosity among U.S. middle and high school students: Findings from the 2014 national youth tobacco survey.

Science.gov (United States)

Margolis, Katherine A; Nguyen, Anh B; Slavit, Wendy I; King, Brian A

2016-08-01

Curiosity is a potential risk factor for electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) use, which has increased considerably among US youth in recent years. We examined the relationship between curiosity about e-cigarettes and perceived harm, comparative addictiveness, and e-cigarette advertisement exposure. Data came from the 2014 National Youth Tobacco Survey, a nationally representative survey of U.S. middle and high school students. In 2014, 2.5% of middle school and 9.2% of high school students currently used cigarettes, while 3.9% of middle school and 13.4% of high school students reported current e-cigarette use. Among never e-cigarette users (n=17,286), descriptive statistics assessed curiosity about e-cigarettes by combustible tobacco use, sex, race/ethnicity, and school level. Associations between curiosity and perceived harm (absolute and comparative to cigarettes), comparative addictiveness, and e-cigarette advertising exposure were explored using multivariate models in 2015. Among youth who never used e-cigarettes, 25.8% reported curiosity about e-cigarettes. Higher levels of perceived absolute harm and comparative harm were associated with lower levels of curiosity, while no association was observed between comparative addictiveness and curiosity. Among never combustible tobacco users, the odds of high curiosity were greater among non-Hispanic blacks (odds ratio (OR): 1.39; 95% confidence interval (CI):1.02-1.88), Hispanics (OR=1.79; 95% CI:1.48-2.16), and non-Hispanic 'Other' (OR=1.47; 95% CI:1.15-1.89) race/ethnicities than non-Hispanic whites. One-quarter of middle and high school students who have never used e-cigarettes are curious about the products, with greater curiosity among those with lower perceptions of harm from these products. These findings may help inform future strategies aimed at reducing curiosity about e-cigarettes among youth. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Education to Thrive in a Heterogeneous and Democratic Society - A Task for Citizenship and Character Education? Results of Case Studies in Three Berlin Schools

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Ewa Bacia

2017-09-01

Findings: Findings: The results of the case studies provide numerous insights into the issue’s complexity and highlight the need to discuss the goals as well as different models of CCE more broadly. Since the understanding of goals and appropriate means of CCE differs strongly depending on cultural and school context, analyzing CCE in the context of heterogeneity in democratic societies implies multidimensional questions. Practical implications: Future research needs to include more members of the studied school communities in the process of participatory action research: Deeper insight into the field can be achieved by integrating multiple perspectives. At the same time more members of the school community can reflect on the study outcomes, which might facilitate their direct implementation into practice.

Responding to Violence in Postapartheid Schools: On School Leadership as Mutual Engagement

Science.gov (United States)

Davids, Nuraan; Waghid, Yusef

2016-01-01

Schools in post-apartheid South Africa appear to be under siege by violence. In turn, school leaders find themselves in the unenviable position of not only having to deal with inadequate educator professionalism and learner underachievement--particularly in previously disadvantaged schools--but are under pressure to find ways to counteract the…

Highlight shapes and perception of gloss for real and photographed objects.

Science.gov (United States)

van Assen, Jan Jaap R; Wijntjes, Maarten W A; Pont, Sylvia C

2016-01-01

Gloss perception strongly depends on the three-dimensional shape and the illumination of the object under consideration. In this study we investigated the influence of the spatial structure of the illumination on gloss perception. A diffuse light box in combination with differently shaped masks was used to produce a set of six simple and complex highlight shapes. The geometry of the simple highlight shapes was inspired by conventional artistic practice (e.g., ring flash for photography, window shape for painting and disk or square for cartoons). In the box we placed spherical stimuli that were painted in six degrees of glossiness. This resulted in a stimulus set of six highlight shapes and six gloss levels, a total of 36 stimuli. We performed three experiments of which two took place using digital photographs on a computer monitor and one with the real spheres in the light box. The observers had to perform a comparison task in which they chose which of two stimuli was glossiest and a rating task in which they rated the glossiness. The results show that, perhaps surprisingly, more complex highlight shapes were perceived to produce a less glossy appearance than simple highlight shapes such as a disk or square. These findings were confirmed for both viewing conditions, on a computer display and in a real setting. The results show that variations in the spatial structure of "rather simple" illumination of the "extended source" type highlight influences perceived glossiness.

Family conflict, mood, and adolescents' daily school problems: moderating roles of internalizing and externalizing symptoms.

Science.gov (United States)

Timmons, Adela C; Margolin, Gayla

2015-01-01

Using daily diary data, this study examined cross-day associations between family conflict and school problems and tested mediating effects of daily negative mood and moderating effects of psychological symptoms. For 2 weeks, parents and adolescents (N = 106; Mage = 15.4) reported daily conflict; adolescents reported daily negative mood and school problems. Results indicated bidirectional, multiday spillover between parent-adolescent conflict and school problems with daily negative mood statistically accounting for spillover both within and across days. Externalizing symptoms strengthened links between father-adolescent conflict and school problems, whereas depressive and anxious symptoms strengthened links between parent-adolescent conflict and daily negative mood. By demonstrating cross-domain transmission of daily problems, these findings highlight the salience of everyday events as possible intervention targets. © 2014 The Authors. Child Development © 2014 Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.

THE HIGH SCHOOL COUNSELOR BEFORE CONFLICTS AND THE SCHOOL VIOLENCE

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Rubén Sánchez-Carranza

2016-01-01

Full Text Available This article aims to reflect on the figure and role of high school counselor in the task of addressing conflict situations in which students are immersed. The existence of a rising tide of violence in school conflicts and how important it is to know what countries in Europe , Asia and Latin America is done to promote a culture of peace is recognized. What happened it is exposed in a high school in Germany and how questions from the critical eye that are applicable to our Mexican reality are issued. Finally, it highlights the importance of skills that the counselor must possess or develop to prevent school conflicts escalate to levels of violence.Finally experience working with the School counselors S033 about this subject area is described.

How did the Good School Toolkit reduce the risk of past week physical violence from teachers to students? Qualitative findings on pathways of change in schools in Luwero, Uganda.

Science.gov (United States)

Kyegombe, N; Namakula, S; Mulindwa, J; Lwanyaaga, J; Naker, D; Namy, S; Nakuti, J; Parkes, J; Knight, L; Walakira, E; Devries, K M

2017-05-01

Violence against children is a serious violation of children's rights with significant impacts on current and future health and well-being. The Good School Toolkit (GST) is designed to prevent violence against children in primary schools through changing schools' operational cultures. Conducted in the Luwero District in Uganda between 2012 and 2014, findings from previous research indicate that the Toolkit reduced the odds of past week physical violence from school staff (OR = 0.40, 95%CI 0.26-0.64, p students, teachers, school administration, and parents, and two focus group discussion with teachers. Interviews were conducted using semi-structured tools and analysed using thematic analysis complemented by constant comparison and deviant case analysis techniques. Within a context of normative acceptance of corporal punishment this qualitative paper reports suggestive pathways related to teacher-student relationships through which reductions in violence operated. First, improved student-teacher relationships resulted in improved student voice and less fear of teachers. Second, the intervention helped schools to clarify and encourage desired behaviour amongst students through rewards and praise. Third, many teachers valued positive discipline and alternative discipline methods, including peer-to-peer discipline, as important pathways to reduced use of violence. These shifts were reflected in changes in the views, use, and context of beating. Although the GST is effective for reducing physical violence from teachers to students, violence persisted, though at significantly reduced levels, in all schools with reductions varying across schools and individuals. Much of the success of the Toolkit derives from the support it provides for fostering better student-teacher relationships and alternative discipline options. Such innovation could usefully be incorporated in teacher training syllabi to equip teachers with knowledge and skills to maintain discipline without the

The GSA Difference: LGBTQ and Ally Experiences in High Schools with and without Gay-Straight Alliances

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tina Fetner

2015-08-01

Full Text Available We examine the lived experiences of high-school students who participated in lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ-centered activism of some kind, highlighting the promise of gay-straight alliance groups by comparing the experiences of students at schools with gay-straight alliances (GSA schools with the experiences of students at schools that did not have an LGBTQ-specific group (no-GSA schools. We compare students at GSA and no-GSA schools based on their experiences of harassment, experiences of support from authority figures, and patterns of friendships. We find that students at both types of schools experienced harassment and heard negative comments about lesbian and gay people. However, students at GSA schools reported more support from teachers and administrators than students at no-GSA schools, who have stories of teachers and administrators actively opposing equality for LGBTQ people. Students at GSA schools reported a wide variety of friendships across sexual identities, while students at no-GSA schools felt more isolated and withdrawn. This much-needed qualitative comparative analysis of students’ experiences brings a human face to the improved quality of life that schools with gay-straight alliances can bring to young people.

Teaching law in medical schools: first, reflect.

Science.gov (United States)

Campbell, Amy T

2012-01-01

Law is now routinely included in the medical school curriculum, often incorporated into bioethics and/or practice of medicine coursework. There seems to lack, however, a systematic understanding of what works in terms of getting across an effective depth and breadth of legal knowledge for medical students - or what such would even look like. Moreover, and more critically, while some literature addresses these what, when, how, and who questions, a more fundamental question is left unanswered: why teach law in medical school? This article suggests a process to reveal a more consensual understanding of this latter question. The author highlights findings and recommendations of some of the leading literature to date related to teaching law in medical schools, and also recent U.K. projects addressing legal teaching in medical schools. Reflecting on these materials and activities, the author suggests that we take a "pause" before we argue for more or different legal topics within the medical curriculum. Before we alter the curricula for more and/or different "law," first, it is critical to have a meaningful, stakeholder-driven, consensus-seeking discussion of the goals of legal education: why do we think it matters that medical students learn about "the law"? © 2012 American Society of Law, Medicine & Ethics, Inc.

School bullying

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

and relational practices – as well as the abjections by which subjects and social groups are formed – have inspired several of the articles, and the authors seek to reveal complex patterns of relating amongst children in school classes that are saturated by marginalisation and bullying practices. Foucault......School Bullying: New Theories in Context brings together the work of scholars who utilise ontological, epistemological and methodological approaches that challenge paradigm one, contributing to the shift in research on school bullying that we call paradigm two. Several of the authors have...... in these countries highlights both the similarities and differences amongst national school systems. Most importantly, the authors share an analytical ambition to understand bullying as a complex phenomenon that is enacted or constituted through the interactive/intra-active entanglements that exist between a variety...

XVII 'Jacques-Louis Lions' Spanish-French School

CERN Document Server

Alonso, Pedro

2017-01-01

The first part of this volume gathers the lecture notes of the courses of the “XVII Escuela Hispano-Francesa”, held in Gijón, Spain, in June 2016. Each chapter is devoted to an advanced topic and presents state-of-the-art research in a didactic and self-contained way. Young researchers will find a complete guide to beginning advanced work in fields such as High Performance Computing, Numerical Linear Algebra, Optimal Control of Partial Differential Equations and Quantum Mechanics Simulation, while experts in these areas will find a comprehensive reference guide, including some previously unpublished results, and teachers may find these chapters useful as textbooks in graduate courses. The second part features the extended abstracts of selected research work presented by the students during the School. It highlights new results and applications in Computational Algebra, Fluid Mechanics, Chemical Kinetics and Biomedicine, among others, offering interested researchers a convenient reference guide to these l...

The rural school meal as a site for learning about food.

Science.gov (United States)

Torres, Irene; Benn, Jette

2017-10-01

The aim of the article is to contribute to the understanding of the school meal as a site for learning about food, nutrition and the wider determinants of health in three small rural schools of Ecuador. Based on a year-long qualitative fieldwork, the multiple case study associates Vygotsky's sociocultural theory of learning with Noddings' theory of care to analyze the findings. In the study, elements of care in the relationships between children and adults seemed to promote dialogue and, in this way, adults were able to model what is required to care for others and oneself. This entails that a focus solely on food or limitations on social interaction during the school meal may reduce its learning opportunities. The study concurs with the research that the food is better received when it is more aligned with the students' expectations. In addition, the findings support the view that rural school meal programs should address the views of parents and teachers because of their influence on how the meal is prepared and provided. The article proposes that schools work within a flexible framework emphasizing attention to the caring aspects of the meal, as a means to develop this dimension of the school meal. The study also contends that a collaborative reshaping of conditions formally set by school food policy is consistent with a critical approach to food and nutrition. In connection with this, the study concludes by highlighting the value of revisiting Noddings' perspective of care as deriving from the practice of opening up and meeting the other. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Next Generation of Risk Assessment Multi-Year Study—Highlights of Findings, Applications to Risk Assessment, and Future Directions

Science.gov (United States)

Cote, Ila; Andersen, Melvin E.; Ankley, Gerald T.; Barone, Stanley; Birnbaum, Linda S.; Boekelheide, Kim; Bois, Frederic Y.; Burgoon, Lyle D.; Chiu, Weihsueh A.; Crawford-Brown, Douglas; Crofton, Kevin M.; DeVito, Michael; Devlin, Robert B.; Edwards, Stephen W.; Guyton, Kathryn Z.; Hattis, Dale; Judson, Richard S.; Knight, Derek; Krewski, Daniel; Lambert, Jason; Maull, Elizabeth Anne; Mendrick, Donna; Paoli, Gregory M.; Patel, Chirag Jagdish; Perkins, Edward J.; Poje, Gerald; Portier, Christopher J.; Rusyn, Ivan; Schulte, Paul A.; Simeonov, Anton; Smith, Martyn T.; Thayer, Kristina A.; Thomas, Russell S.; Thomas, Reuben; Tice, Raymond R.; Vandenberg, John J.; Villeneuve, Daniel L.; Wesselkamper, Scott; Whelan, Maurice; Whittaker, Christine; White, Ronald; Xia, Menghang; Yauk, Carole; Zeise, Lauren; Zhao, Jay; DeWoskin, Robert S.

2016-01-01

, Andersen ME, Ankley GT, Barone S, Birnbaum LS, Boekelheide K, Bois FY, Burgoon LD, Chiu WA, Crawford-Brown D, Crofton KM, DeVito M, Devlin RB, Edwards SW, Guyton KZ, Hattis D, Judson RS, Knight D, Krewski D, Lambert J, Maull EA, Mendrick D, Paoli GM, Patel CJ, Perkins EJ, Poje G, Portier CJ, Rusyn I, Schulte PA, Simeonov A, Smith MT, Thayer KA, Thomas RS, Thomas R, Tice RR, Vandenberg JJ, Villeneuve DL, Wesselkamper S, Whelan M, Whittaker C, White R, Xia M, Yauk C, Zeise L, Zhao J, DeWoskin RS. 2016. The Next Generation of Risk Assessment multiyear study—highlights of findings, applications to risk assessment, and future directions. Environ Health Perspect 124:1671–1682; http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/EHP233 PMID:27091369

Blocking the Bullies: Has South Carolina's Safe School Climate Act Made Public Schools Safer?

Science.gov (United States)

Terry, Troy M.

2010-01-01

Recent news in the national media about two students' deaths as a result of harassment in school has highlighted a renewed desire for educators to address the culture of bullying and harassment in public schools, especially when the victims are targeted for their real or perceived differences. South Carolina's legislature responded to this need in…

A longitudinal study of school belonging and academic motivation across high school.

Science.gov (United States)

Neel, Cari Gillen-O'; Fuligni, Andrew

2013-01-01

This longitudinal study examined how school belonging changes over the years of high school, and how it is associated with academic achievement and motivation. Students from Latin American, Asian, and European backgrounds participated (N = 572; age span = 13.94-19.15 years). In ninth grade, girls' school belonging was higher than boys'. Over the course of high school, however, girls' school belonging declined, whereas boys' remained stable. Within-person longitudinal analyses indicated that years in which students had higher school belonging were also years in which they felt that school was more enjoyable and more useful, above and beyond their actual level of achievement. Results highlight the importance of belonging for maintaining students' academic engagement during the teenage years. © 2012 The Authors. Child Development © 2012 Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.

Long-term impact of a chef on school lunch consumption: findings from a 2-year pilot study in Boston middle schools.

Science.gov (United States)

Cohen, Juliana F W; Smit, Liesbeth A; Parker, Ellen; Austin, S Bryn; Frazier, A Lindsay; Economos, Christina D; Rimm, Eric B

2012-06-01

School cafeterias can play an important role in providing healthy meals. Although schools participating in the National School Lunch Program are required to meet minimum program standards, advocates recommend that innovations be sought to enhance menu dietary quality. This study evaluated the Chef Initiative, a 2-year pilot study in two Boston middle schools, designed to increase the availability and consumption of healthier school foods. Between 2007 and 2009, a professional chef trained cafeteria staff to prepare healthier school lunches (ie, more whole grains, fresh/frozen fruits and vegetables, and less sugar, salt, saturated fats, and trans fats). Meal nutrient compositions were monitored from 2007 to 2009, and a plate waste study conducted in the spring of 2009 compared food selection and consumption patterns among students at Chef Initiative schools, with students receiving standard school lunches at two matched control schools. Paired t tests and descriptive statistics were used to examine differences in menus and mixed-model analysis of variance was used to analyze differences in students' food selection and consumption between Chef Initiative and control schools. Overall, the Chef Initiative schools provided healthier lunches and the percent of foods consumed at Chef Initiative and control schools were similar (61.6% vs 57.3%; P=0.63). Of the areas targeted, there was greater whole-grain selection and vegetable consumption; 51% more students selected whole grains (P=0.02) and students consumed 0.36 more vegetable servings/day (P=0.01) at Chef Initiative schools. The potential of chefs collaborating with cafeteria staff to improve the availability, selection, and consumption of healthier meals is promising. Copyright © 2012 Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Rethinking the Quest for School Improvement: Some Findings from the DESSI Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Huberman, A. Michael; Miles, Matthew B.

1984-01-01

A review of the Study of Dissemination Efforts Supporting School Improvement (DESSI) field study indicated a need for reorganization of the conceptual paradigms used to account for school improvement. Current paradigms do not account for the rational and conflict theories of social change. (DF)

Does Combining School and Work Affect School and Post-School Outcomes? Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth

Science.gov (United States)

Anlezark, Alison; Lim, Patrick

2011-01-01

In this report the authors seek to answer the question of whether combining school and work is detrimental or beneficial to a student's school educational performance and labour market outcomes. They find that young people who combine school and work are distributed right across the school population. Results show that individuals can combine…

Healthy eating at school

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bruselius-Jensen, Maria Louisa; Egberg Mikkelsen, Bent

". This paper highlights the role that the organisation of food provision plays by comparing the attitudes of students towards in-school food provision as opposed to out-of-school provision where food is provided by outside caterers. Schools having internal food production and schools having external food...... operated catering seems to have a negative effect on the social and cultural structures and functions related to the meal during lunchtime. Having meals in schools where external caterers are employed is experienced as an individual act by the students in comparison with schools having internal catering......Unhealthy eating are common among adolescents and the school is a well suited setting for promoting healthy eating. For the school to play a role here, however an environment must be created, in which the school and the students develop a sense of ownership for a healthy food and nutrition "regime...

Middle School Math Acceleration and Equitable Access to Eighth-Grade Algebra: Evidence from the Wake County Public School System

Science.gov (United States)

Dougherty, Shaun M.; Goodman, Joshua S.; Hill, Darryl V.; Litke, Erica G.; Page, Lindsay C.

2015-01-01

Taking algebra by eighth grade is considered an important milestone on the pathway to college readiness. We highlight a collaboration to investigate one district's effort to increase middle school algebra course-taking. In 2010, the Wake County Public Schools began assigning middle school students to accelerated math and eighth-grade algebra based…

OSART mission highlights related to on-the-job training

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mazour, T.; Hide, K.

1996-01-01

This paper summarizes the highlights, related to the topic of on-the-job training (OJT), for Agency OSART missions conducted since 1990 (a total of 27 missions). Recommendations and suggestions for improvements related to on-the-job training and qualification programmes are discussed, as well as Good Practices and Good Performances. For Good Practices and Good Performances, the plant is identified to aid in follow-up by meeting participants. For recommendations and suggestions, the number of plants that had recommendations/findings in this area are identified by a number in parentheses after the item. The paper takes a broad approach toward highlights that are related to OJT. For example, there have been a number of OSART recommendations and suggestions concerning responsibilities, authorities and interfaces for NPP activities. These recommendations and suggestions relate not only to responsibilities and interfaces for on-the-job training and qualification programmes, but also to other areas as well

Alternative education programmes and middle school dropout in Honduras

Science.gov (United States)

Marshall, Jeffery H.; Aguilar, Claudia R.; Alas, Mario; Castellanos, Renán Rápalo; Castro, Levi; Enamorado, Ramón; Fonseca, Esther

2014-05-01

Honduras has made steady progress in expanding post-primary school coverage in recent years, but many rural communities still do not provide a middle (lower secondary) school. As a result, Honduras has implemented a number of middle school alternative programmes designed to meet the needs of at-risk populations throughout the country. This article analyses dropout in three of the four main alternative lower secondary school programmes in Honduras over a three-year period for a cohort of roughly 5,500 students. The results show that these programmes are indeed reaching a vulnerable population in the country, but dropout rates are generally very high - upwards of 50 per cent in some cases - between Grades 7 and 9. Furthermore, even in the control school comparison samples made up of formal lower secondary schools, about 25 per cent of children leave school between Grades 7 and 9. The authors' analysis includes propensity score matching (PSM) methods that make more focused comparisons between students in alternative programmes and control samples. These results show that dropout rates in alternative programmes are not much different than in control schools, and only significant in one programme comparison, when taking into account family background characteristics like socioeconomic status (SES). Multivariate analysis within alternative programme samples finds that attrition is lower in those learning centres which have adopted key features of formal schools, such as university-educated teachers. The results highlight the tremendous variation in the alternative middle school sector in terms of programme features, school quality and student outcomes, as well as the challenges of expanding this sector to meet the growing demand for lower secondary schooling in Honduras.

Schooling mediates brain reserve in Alzheimer's disease: findings of fluoro-deoxy-glucose-positron emission tomography.

Science.gov (United States)

Perneczky, R; Drzezga, A; Diehl-Schmid, J; Schmid, G; Wohlschläger, A; Kars, S; Grimmer, T; Wagenpfeil, S; Monsch, A; Kurz, A

2006-09-01

Functional imaging studies report that higher education is associated with more severe pathology in patients with Alzheimer's disease, controlling for disease severity. Therefore, schooling seems to provide brain reserve against neurodegeneration. To provide further evidence for brain reserve in a large sample, using a sensitive technique for the indirect assessment of brain abnormality (18F-fluoro-deoxy-glucose-positron emission tomography (FDG-PET)), a comprehensive measure of global cognitive impairment to control for disease severity (total score of the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease Neuropsychological Battery) and an approach unbiased by predefined regions of interest for the statistical analysis (statistical parametric mapping (SPM)). 93 patients with mild Alzheimer's disease and 16 healthy controls underwent 18F-FDG-PET imaging of the brain. A linear regression analysis with education as independent and glucose utilisation as dependent variables, adjusted for global cognitive status and demographic variables, was conducted in SPM2. The regression analysis showed a marked inverse association between years of schooling and glucose metabolism in the posterior temporo-occipital association cortex and the precuneus in the left hemisphere. In line with previous reports, the findings suggest that education is associated with brain reserve and that people with higher education can cope with brain damage for a longer time.

School Expenditure and School Performance: Evidence from New South Wales Schools Using a Dynamic Panel Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Pugh, G.; Mangan, J.; Blackburn, V.; Radicic, D.

2015-01-01

This article estimates the effects of school expenditure on school performance in government secondary schools in New South Wales, Australia over the period 2006-2010. It uses dynamic panel analysis to exploit time series data on individual schools that only recently has become available. We find a significant but small effect of expenditure on…

Pollution! Find a STEM solution!

Science.gov (United States)

Takač, Danijela; Moćan, Marina

2016-04-01

Primary and secondary school Pantovčak is an innovative school in downtown Zagreb, Croatia. The school is involved in many projects concerning STEM education. Pollution! Find a STEM solution! is a two year long cross-curricular project that grew out of identified need to develop STEM and ICT skills more. Pisa results make evident that students' knowledge is poor and motivation for math and similar subjects is low. Implying priorities of European Commission, like e-learning, raises motivation and also develops basic skills and improves knowledge in science, math, physic, ICT. Main objectives are to increase students' interest in STEM education and careers and introduce them to all available new trends in technology, engineering and science in their region by visiting clean technology industries and strengthening links with them, to introduce some future digital jobs and prepare students for rapid technological changes by integrating ICT into classroom practice more, to highlight the importance of global environmental issues and improve the knowledge in the areas of sustainable development and renewable energy, to develop collaborative partnership between schools and the wider community in formal, non-formal and informal learning, to support multilingualism by publishing Open Educational Resources in 8 different languages and to strengthen the professional profile of the teaching profession. The project brings together 231 teachers and 2729 students from five different European countries in learning to think globally and work on activities that contribute to the community's well-being. There are altogether 33 activities, divided in 4 categories. STEM activities are focused on students building the devices for measuring air, light and noise pollution in their school and homes. They use the scientific method to analyze the data and compare the results with their peers to find a solution. Eskills, digital literacy and digital jobs are focused on introducing career

Finding a Golden Mean in Education Policy: Centering Religious and Public Schools

Science.gov (United States)

Cooper, Bruce S.; McSween, Rose Byron; Murphy, Peter

2012-01-01

The separation between Church and State, private and public education, is blurring, and coming together, as the government gives families vouchers to attend private and religious schools. Religious groups are starting and supporting their own charter schools, and local jurisdictions (cities and counties) are providing free transportation and food…

Implementation of School Uniform Policy and the Violation of Students’ Human Rights in Schools

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vimbi Petrus Mahlangu

2017-05-01

Full Text Available The paper highlights the violations of students’ human rights in schools. The problem is the incident that took place at a school in Pretoria in 2016 where Black girls protested against the School’s Code of Conduct relating to hairstyle. Qualitative approach was used to collect information through a literature review and desk-top research methods. Black girls claimed they were discriminated against and the protest serves as an example to demonstrate students’ human rights violations when schools implement school uniform policies. Inequality in schools is rife in South Africa. School uniform policies with regard to dress codes are expected to reduce school violence, prevent discipline issues, and improve in school safety. Students have rights and their rights can include issues regarding cultural, economic, and political freedoms. Students, especially adolescents, respond very negatively to school uniforms.

Transforming Low Socioeconomic Status Schools to Learning for Well-Being Schools

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nunez, Heilyn Camacho

2016-01-01

This article presents the initial finding about the complexity of dealing with a transformation of a low socioeconomic school into a learning for well-being school. The article looks at the problem through the lens of complexity theory to discuss the different components, subsystems and the diffe......This article presents the initial finding about the complexity of dealing with a transformation of a low socioeconomic school into a learning for well-being school. The article looks at the problem through the lens of complexity theory to discuss the different components, subsystems...

An Investigation of Students' Perceptions about Democratic School Climate and Sense of Community in School

Science.gov (United States)

Karakus, Memet

2017-01-01

This study aims to investigate students' perceptions about democratic school climate and sense of community in school. In line with this purpose, it aims to find answers to the following questions: How democratic do students find the school climate? What is students' sense of belonging level at school? What is the academic success level of…

Atmospheric Research 2011 Technical Highlights

Science.gov (United States)

2012-01-01

The 2011 Technical Highlights describes the efforts of all members of Atmospheric Research. Their dedication to advancing Earth Science through conducting research, developing and running models, designing instruments, managing projects, running field campaigns, and numerous other activities, is highlighted in this report.

Variable School Start Times and Middle School Student's Sleep Health and Academic Performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Lewin, Daniel S; Wang, Guanghai; Chen, Yao I; Skora, Elizabeth; Hoehn, Jessica; Baylor, Allison; Wang, Jichuan

2017-08-01

Improving sleep health among adolescents is a national health priority and implementing healthy school start times (SSTs) is an important strategy to achieve these goals. This study leveraged the differences in middle school SST in a large district to evaluate associations between SST, sleep health, and academic performance. This cross-sectional study draws data from a county-wide surveillance survey. Participants were three cohorts of eighth graders (n = 26,440). The school district is unique because SST ranged from 7:20 a.m. to 8:10 a.m. Path analysis and probit regression were used to analyze associations between SST and self-report measures of weekday sleep duration, grades, and homework controlling for demographic variables (sex, race, and socioeconomic status). The independent contributions of SST and sleep duration to academic performance were also analyzed. Earlier SST was associated with decreased sleep duration (χ 2  = 173, p academic performance, and academic effort. Path analysis models demonstrated the independent contributions of sleep duration, SST, and variable effects for demographic variables. This is the first study to evaluate the independent contributions of SST and sleep to academic performance in a large sample of middle school students. Deficient sleep was prevalent, and the earliest SST was associated with decrements in sleep and academics. These findings support the prioritization of policy initiatives to implement healthy SST for younger adolescents and highlight the importance of sleep health education disparities among race and gender groups. Copyright © 2017 Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Brookhaven highlights

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rowe, M.S.; Belford, M.; Cohen, A.; Greenberg, D.; Seubert, L.

1993-01-01

This report highlights the research activities of Brookhaven National Laboratory during the period dating from October 1, 1992 through September 30, 1993. There are contributions to the report from different programs and departments within the laboratory. These include technology transfer, RHIC, Alternating Gradient Synchrotron, physics, biology, national synchrotron light source, applied science, medical science, advanced technology, chemistry, reactor physics, safety and environmental protection, instrumentation, and computing and communications

Breakfast skipping is associated with cyberbullying and school bullying victimization. A school-based cross-sectional study.

Science.gov (United States)

Sampasa-Kanyinga, Hugues; Roumeliotis, Paul; Farrow, Claire V; Shi, Yuanfeng F

2014-08-01

Breakfast skipping is a health concern that has well-known negative consequences physically and psychologically. It is therefore important to understand why children skip breakfast. The purpose of this study was to establish whether the experience of bullying and cyberbullying impacts upon breakfast skipping and to further evaluate whether the inability for youths to cope with bullying victimization affects their mental health (depression), and in turn predicts breakfast skipping. Data were obtained from the Eastern Ontario 2011 Youth Risk Behaviour Survey, a cross-sectional regional school-based survey of middle and high school students (11-20 years old) across the five counties of Eastern Ontario, Canada (N = 3035). Self-reported data about children's experiences of bullying victimization, breakfast eating habits, socio-economical status, depression, and other risk behaviours were analysed. Approximately half of the participants (50.4%) reported not eating breakfast on a regular basis: 26.3% and 24.1% reported often (usually eat breakfast three times or more per week) and frequent (usually eat breakfast twice a week or less) breakfast skipping behaviour, respectively. Victims of both cyberbullying and school bullying presented greater likelihood of often (adjusted relative risk ratio (RR) = 1.55; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.17-2.06) and frequent (RR = 1.97; 95% CI = 1.28-3.03) breakfast skipping. Mediation analysis further showed that depression fully mediated the relationship between school bullying victimization and frequent breakfast skipping. Moreover, depression partially mediated the associations between both cyberbullying and school bullying with frequent breakfast skipping. These findings highlight the potential interrelationships between cyberbullying, school bullying and depression in predicting unhealthy breakfast skipping behaviour in children. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

School Psychology and Childhood – a public school experience

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Silvia Maria Cintra da Silva

2009-02-01

Full Text Available This work reports an activity performed as part of coursework in Psychology class during a school semester which aimed to provide students an effective experience of what public school psychologists do, based on the critical presumptions about Psychology and also aimed to present reflections on the performance of this professional together with children. The proposal involved encounters with teachers and children and the undergraduates were responsible for the preparation and execution of activities under the supervision of professors. The Psychology students highlighted the importance of this practice for their professional training, which provided discussions on key questions such as childhood, education and the impact of School Psychology in the Brazilian educational scope.

Boys' Music? School Context and Middle-School Boys' Musical Choices

Science.gov (United States)

Bennetts, Kathleen Scott

2013-01-01

This article focusses primarily on the findings relating to the musical participation of boys in one Melbourne school. As part of a project that investigated boys' attitudes and participation at fifty-one schools, several contextual features were identified that set "Balton Boys" High School' apart from other participating schools,…

Switching Schools: Reconsidering the Relationship Between School Mobility and High School Dropout

Science.gov (United States)

Gasper, Joseph; DeLuca, Stefanie; Estacion, Angela

2014-01-01

Youth who switch schools are more likely to demonstrate a wide array of negative behavioral and educational outcomes, including dropping out of high school. However, whether switching schools actually puts youth at risk for dropout is uncertain, since youth who switch schools are similar to dropouts in their levels of prior school achievement and engagement, which suggests that switching schools may be part of the same long-term developmental process of disengagement that leads to dropping out. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997, this study uses propensity score matching to pair youth who switched high schools with similar youth who stayed in the same school. We find that while over half the association between switching schools and dropout is explained by observed characteristics prior to 9th grade, switching schools is still associated with dropout. Moreover, the relationship between switching schools and dropout varies depending on a youth's propensity for switching schools. PMID:25554706

The Role of Research in School Project Work and Teacher Development: Results from Project "Schools Ethics Technology."

Science.gov (United States)

Wellensiek, Anneliese; Lembens, Anja; Schallies, Michael

"Schools Ethics Technology" was a German interdisciplinary research project with the Centre of Ethics in the Sciences at the University of Tubingen. The project highlighted the new topic of biotechnology and genetic engineering, involving the formation of active project groups within schools. This study examined teaching activities…

Alcohol marketing and drunkenness among students in the Philippines: findings from the nationally representative Global School-based Student Health Survey

Science.gov (United States)

2013-01-01

Background A largely unaddressed issue in lower income countries and the Philippines, in particular, is the role of alcohol marketing and its potential link to early alcohol use among youth. This study examines the associations between exposures to alcohol marketing and Filipino youths’ drinking prevalence and drunkenness. Methods Cross-sectional analyses were used to examine the Global School-based Student Health Survey (GSHS) conducted in Philippines (2011). The self-administered questionnaires were completed by students primarily 13 to 16 years of age (N = 5290). Three statistical models were computed to test the associations between alcohol marketing and alcohol use, while controlling for possible confounding factors. Results Alcohol marketing, specifically through providing free alcohol through a company representative, was associated with drunkenness (AOR: 1.84; 95% CI = 1.06–3.21) among youths after controlling for demographic and psychosocial characteristics, peer environment, and risky behaviors. In addition, seeing alcohol ads in newspapers and magazines (AOR: 1.65, 95% CI = 1.05–2.58) and seeing ads at sports events, concerts or fairs (AOR: 1.50, 95% CI = 1.06–2.12) were significantly associated with increased reports of drunkenness. Conclusions There are significant associations between alcohol marketing exposure and increased alcohol use and drunkenness among youth in the Philippines. These findings highlight the need to put policies into effect that restrict alcohol marketing practices as an important prevention strategy for reducing alcohol use and its dire consequences among vulnerable youth. PMID:24325264

Not just black and white: peer victimization and the intersectionality of school diversity and race.

Science.gov (United States)

Fisher, Sycarah; Middleton, Kyndra; Ricks, Elizabeth; Malone, Celeste; Briggs, Candyce; Barnes, Jessica

2015-06-01

Although bullying is a prevalent issue in the United States, limited research has explored the impact of school diversity on types of bullying behavior. This study explores the relationship between school diversity, student race, and bullying within the school context. The participants were African American and Caucasian middle school students (n = 4,581; 53.4% female). Among the participants, 89.4% were Caucasian and 10.6% were African American. The research questions examined the relationship between school diversity, student race and bullying behaviors, specifically race-based victimization. The findings suggested that Caucasian middle school students experience more bullying than African American students generally, and specifically when minorities in school settings. Caucasian students also experienced almost three times the amount of race-based victimization than African American students when school diversity was held constant. Interestingly, African American students experienced twice the amount of race-based victimization than Caucasian students when in settings with more students of color. The present study provides insight into bullying behaviors across different contexts for different races and highlights the need to further investigate interactions between personal and environmental factors on the bulling experiences of youth.

Assessing drivers and barriers of energy-saving measures in Oklahoma’s public schools

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Castleberry, Becca; Gliedt, Travis; Greene, J. Scott

2016-01-01

Implementing energy conservation initiatives within public schools, including both behavioral changes as well as building retrofits, can generate cost saving and educational benefits. However, the level of energy efficiency improvements that can be achieved may depend on the socio-economic characteristics of the school or the underlying district. The purpose of this research is to identify and examine the factors that have a role in influencing the adoption of energy-saving practices and/or building retrofits within Oklahoma’s public schools. In order to investigate these factors, a survey was administered to public school administrators across the state. The results illustrate different factors that drive schools to make decisions associated with energy conservation and retrofitting efforts. A comparative analysis between different types of schools (e.g., rural vs. urban, low- vs. high-income) was also conducted to discover the combination of characteristics that are associated with energy-saving measures. The findings could help school administrators and teachers understand how they might adopt new behaviors or technologies. - Highlights: • Energy performance improvements depend on characteristics of a school district. • Districts with environmental science classes more likely to take energy measures. • Cost savings motivated energy measures in high-income/large-population districts. • A cluster analysis revealed geographic patterns of energy saving measures.

PATHS in Croatia: A school-based randomised-controlled trial of a social and emotional learning curriculum.

Science.gov (United States)

Novak, Miranda; Mihić, Josipa; Bašić, Josipa; Nix, Robert L

2017-04-01

This study represents the first rigorous evaluation of a social-emotional learning curriculum, PATHS (Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies; Kusché & Greenberg, 1994), in elementary schools in Croatia. This study randomly assigned 29 schools to receive the universal preventive intervention or continue with usual practices. Within those schools, this study included 57 classrooms and 568 children. Teachers rated nine child behaviours in the middle of first grade (pre-intervention) and near the end of second grade (post-intervention). Hierarchical linear models, nesting children within classrooms, revealed few changes in behaviour across the sample as a whole or among higher risk children. However, there were changes on eight of the nine behaviours for lower risk children. The findings are considered in the context of the classroom culture and teachers' preparation and readiness to implement a social-emotional learning curriculum in Croatia. This study highlights the need to supplement universal preventive interventions with selective preventive interventions that can provide more intensive and targeted skill practice for higher risk children. This study also highlights the nuanced effects of a universal preventive intervention in helping different children in different ways. © 2016 International Union of Psychological Science.

Relations among school students' self-determined motivation, perceived enjoyment, effort, and physical activity behaviors.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Tao

2009-12-01

Guided by the self-determination theory, the purpose of this study was to examine the predictive strength of self-determined motivation toward motivational outcomes (perceived enjoyment, perceived effort, physical activity behaviors) for 286 middle school students in physical education. Analyses indicated that intrinsic motivation, identified regulation, and introjected regulation were positively related to students' enjoyment, perceived effort, and physical activity, whereas amotivation was negatively associated with students' enjoyment and perceived effort. The findings highlighted the importance of higher self-determined motivation (intrinsic motivation and identified regulation) in students' perceived enjoyment, effort, and physical activity behaviors. This study supports the use of self-determination theory to investigate students' motivational outcomes in school physical education.

Active Travel to School: Findings from the Survey of US Health Behavior in School-Aged Children, 2009-2010

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Yong; Ivey, Stephanie S.; Levy, Marian C.; Royne, Marla B.; Klesges, Lisa M.

2016-01-01

Background: Whereas children's active travel to school (ATS) has confirmed benefits, only a few large national surveys of ATS exist. Methods: Using data from the Health Behavior in School-aged Children (HBSC) 2009-2010 US survey, we conducted a logistic regression model to estimate the odds ratios of ATS and a linear regression model to estimate…

Enriching science, practice, and policy relevant to school psychology around the globe.

Science.gov (United States)

Jimerson, Shane R

2016-03-01

This editorial provides a brief synthesis of the past, present, and future of School Psychology Quarterly, highlighting important contributions as an international resource to enrich, invigorate, enhance, and advance science, practice, and policy relevant to school psychology around the globe. Information herein highlights (a) the value of high quality and timely reviews, (b) publishing manuscripts that address a breadth of important topics relevant to school psychology, and (c) the structure and contributions of the special topic sections featured in School Psychology Quarterly. (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

TRAVELLERS: a school-based early intervention programme helping young people manage and process change, loss and transition. Pilot phase findings.

Science.gov (United States)

Dickinson, Pauline; Coggan, Carolyn; Bennett, Sara

2003-06-01

This paper outlines the conceptual background and findings from the pilot phase of TRAVELLERS--an early intervention programme designed to enhance protective factors for young people experiencing change, loss and transition events and early signs of emotional distress. The pilot study aimed to determine whether TRAVELLERS was a feasible, acceptable and promising intervention for young people within secondary schools in Aotearoa/New Zealand. The conceptual origins of the TRAVELLERS programme are described in terms of: adolescent mental health concerns; emerging mental health promotion theory and practice; and prevention and early intervention models. The key elements of the TRAVELLERS programme are described. The programme was piloted in two secondary schools, one rural and one urban with 34 participants (females n = 24, males n = 10). Evaluation methods included: review of programme materials; identification of potential selection tools appropriate to Year 9 students; analysis of selection questionnaire; and conduct of feedback from participants, facilitators and parents/caregivers. The TRAVELLERS programme provides a means of identifying and selecting young people who may benefit from participating in an early intervention programme. The programme has achieved a statistically significant reduction in participants' distress (p Young people were overwhelmingly enthusiastic about most aspects of TRAVELLERS. School personnel reported that TRAVELLERS was an appropriate and acceptable programme to the school. Targeted interventions provided within a supportive school environment can contribute to enhancing protective factors such as personal and interpersonal coping strategies, increased help-seeking behaviour, and young people feeling more positive about themselves and their lives. The pilot programme has been amended and prepared for a two year trial phase in 10 secondary schools during 2002-2003.

Inside the Black Box of School Reform: Explaining the How and Why of Change at "Getting Results" Schools

Science.gov (United States)

McDougall, Dennis; Saunders, William M.; Goldenberg, Claude

2007-01-01

This article reports key findings from a process-focused external evaluation that compared a subset of "Getting Results" project schools and comparison schools in order to understand the dynamics of school-wide reform efforts at these primary schools. Findings shed light on the "black box" of school reform and illuminate the…

Air pollution and the school air environment

OpenAIRE

Fsadni, Peter; Montefort, Stephen

2015-01-01

There is growing concern about the association of school indoor air quality (SIAQ) with asthma, rhinitis, and rhinoconjunctivitis. Students and school staff deserve the highest standards of school air quality to ensure a safe and productive environment for our children’s education. Existing studies highlight the presence of several air pollutants present within school classrooms that have a direct association with poor health and poor student performance. Very little data exist ab...

E-Books in Public School Libraries: Are We There Yet?

Science.gov (United States)

Rothman, Allison

2017-01-01

Demands for school technology innovations, implementation of 1:1 device models, and increased interest in digital media highlight complicated issues such as funding, equity, and decision making for e-book collection development and programming in school libraries. School librarians considering purchase of e-books for school libraries still cannot…

SpaceWire Tiger Team Findings and Suggestions

Science.gov (United States)

Ishac, Joseph A.

2011-01-01

This technical report intends to highlight the key findings and recommendations of the SpaceWire Tiger Team for the CoNNeCT project. It covers findings which are technical in nature, covering design concepts and approaches.

School Autonomy, Accountability and Collaboration: A Critical Review

Science.gov (United States)

Keddie, Amanda

2015-01-01

English education has recently experienced radical policy reform in the areas of school autonomy and accountability. The key focus of this paper is on how schools might best navigate through these policy moves. It highlights how these moves have constructed schools, teachers and students in problematic ways but also how they are offering…

A rural math, science, and technology elementary school tangled up in global networks of practice

Science.gov (United States)

Carlone, Heidi B.; Kimmel, Sue; Tschida, Christina

2010-06-01

This is an ethnographic study of a newly created math, science, and technology elementary magnet school in a rural community fiercely committed to cultural preservation while facing unprecedented economic instability brought on by massive loss of manufacturing jobs. Our goal was to understand global- and community-level contexts that influenced the school's science curriculum, the ways the school promoted itself to the community, and the implicit meanings of science held by school staff, parents and community members. Main sources of data were the county's newspaper articles from 2003 to 2006, the school's, town's, and business leaders' promotional materials, and interviews with school staff, parents, and community members. A key finding was the school's dual promotion of science education and character education. We make sense of this "science with character" curriculum by unpacking the school and community's entanglements with historical (cultural preservation), political (conservative politics, concerns for youth depravity), and economic (globalization) networks. We describe the ways those entanglements enabled certain reproductive meanings of school science (as add-on, suspect, and elitist) and other novel meanings of science (empathetic, nurturing, place-based). This study highlights the school as a site of struggle, entangled in multiple networks of practice that influence in positive, negative, and unpredictable ways, the enacted science curriculum.

Contextual influences on school effectiveness : The role of school boards

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hofman, RH

1995-01-01

The purpose of this research project is to investigate if characteristics of school boards and their administrative control do explain variance among schools in pupil achievement in the cognitive domain. A combination of findings of research on school effectiveness and organizational effectiveness,

Necessary but Not Sufficient: The Continuing Inequality between Men and Women in Educational Leadership, Findings from the American Association of School Administrators Mid-Decade Survey

OpenAIRE

Robinson, Kerry; Shakeshaft, Charol; Grogan, Margaret; Newcomb, Whitney Sherman

2017-01-01

The gender of school leaders makes a difference in career paths, personal life, and characteristics of workplace. There is additional evidence that men and women are appointed or elected to lead different kinds of educational jurisdictions. Even if those differences did not exist, equitable access to leadership positions for people of different backgrounds would make this an important issue. This article reports gender-related findings from the American Association of School Administrators 20...

Connecting and Networking for Schools

Science.gov (United States)

Resources for connecting and networking for schools through e-newsletters, finding school IAQ Champions and other EPA school programs such as Asthma, Energy Star, Clean School Bus USA, School Flag, etc.

Academic motivation, self-concept, engagement, and performance in high school: key processes from a longitudinal perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

Green, Jasmine; Liem, Gregory Arief D; Martin, Andrew J; Colmar, Susan; Marsh, Herbert W; McInerney, Dennis

2012-10-01

The study tested three theoretically/conceptually hypothesized longitudinal models of academic processes leading to academic performance. Based on a longitudinal sample of 1866 high-school students across two consecutive years of high school (Time 1 and Time 2), the model with the most superior heuristic value demonstrated: (a) academic motivation and self-concept positively predicted attitudes toward school; (b) attitudes toward school positively predicted class participation and homework completion and negatively predicted absenteeism; and (c) class participation and homework completion positively predicted test performance whilst absenteeism negatively predicted test performance. Taken together, these findings provide support for the relevance of the self-system model and, particularly, the importance of examining the dynamic relationships amongst engagement factors of the model. The study highlights implications for educational and psychological theory, measurement, and intervention. Copyright © 2012 The Foundation for Professionals in Services for Adolescents. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Education and Health Matters: School Nurse Interventions, Student Outcomes, and School Variables

Science.gov (United States)

Wolfe, Linda C.

2013-01-01

This paper presents findings from a quantitative, correlational study that examined selected school nursing services, student academic outcomes, and school demographics. Ex post facto data from the 2011-2012 school year of Delaware public schools were used in the research. The selected variables were school nurse interventions provided to students…

Delinquent behaviors among students exposed to family violence in Quebec schools

Science.gov (United States)

Cénat, Jude Mary; Hébert, Martine; Blais, Martin; Lavoie, Francine; Guerrier, Mireille

2016-01-01

Objective Juvenile delinquency is one of the major public concerns in many countries. This study aims to document the association between exposure to interparental violence and delinquent behaviors among high school students in Quebec (Canada). Methods A representative sample of 8194 students aged 14–20 years was recruited in Quebec (Canada) high schools. Participants completed a questionnaire describing delinquent behaviors as well as exposure to interparental psychological and physical violence. Findings Overall, one out of two participants has experienced delinquent behaviors and 61.8% of them have reported having been exposed to at least one of the two forms of family violence. Overall, youth exposed to interparental violence are more likely to experience delinquent behaviors. Both psychological and physical interparental violence were significantly and independently associated with delinquent behaviors. Conclusion The findings of this study point out the vulnerability of youth exposed to interparental violence. They also highlight the need in the prevention of juvenile delinquency to focus not only on youth but also on both parents that may have been involved in family violence. PMID:28111591

Frequent fliers, school phobias, and the sick student: school health personnel's perceptions of students who refuse school.

Science.gov (United States)

Torrens Armstrong, Anna M; McCormack Brown, Kelli R; Brindley, Roger; Coreil, Jeannine; McDermott, Robert J

2011-09-01

This study explored school personnel's perceptions of school refusal, as it has been described as a "common educational and public health problem" that is less tolerated due to increasing awareness of the potential socioeconomic consequences of this phenomenon. In-depth interviews were conducted with school personnel at the middle school (N = 42), high school (N = 40), and district levels (N = 10). The findings focus on emergent themes from interviews with school health personnel (N = 12), particularly those themes related to their perceptions of and role in working with school-refusing students. Personnel, especially school health services staff, constructed a typification of the school-refusing student as "the sick student," which conceptualized student refusal due to reasons related to illness. Personnel further delineated sick students by whether they considered the illness legitimate. School health personnel referenced the infamous "frequent fliers" and "school phobics" within this categorization of students. Overarching dynamics of this typification included parental control, parental awareness, student locus of control, blame, and victim status. These typifications influenced how personnel reacted to students they encountered, particularly in deciding which students need "help" versus "discipline," thus presenting implications for students and screening of students. Overall, findings suggest school health personnel play a pivotal role in screening students who are refusing school as well as keeping students in school, underscoring policy that supports an increased presence of school health personnel. Recommendations for school health, prevention, and early intervention include the development of screening protocols and staff training. © 2011, American School Health Association.

A Death at School: What School Leaders Should Do

Science.gov (United States)

Garran, Christopher

2014-01-01

All school leaders at some point will find themselves confronted by the need to shepherd their school communities through emotionally draining experiences. Death requires school leaders to act with compassion, care, and awareness that they are modeling for young people how to grieve. Few better examples of servant leadership exist. Communication…

Contextualising Inequalities in Rates of School Exclusion in English Schools: Beneath the "Tip of the Ice-Berg"

Science.gov (United States)

Gazeley, Louise; Marrable, Tish; Brown, Chris; Boddy, Janet

2015-01-01

There is an increasing emphasis internationally on better understanding the links between inequalities and processes within school systems. In England there has been a particular focus on rates of school exclusion because the national data has consistently highlighted troubling patterns of over-representation. This paper argues that a move away…

Parental Involvement in Norwegian Schools

Science.gov (United States)

Paulsen, Jan Merok

2012-01-01

This article examines findings on key challenges of school-parent relations in Norway. The review is based on recent large-scale studies on several issues, including formalized school-parent cooperation, parental involvement in the pedagogical discourse, and teacher perspectives on the parents' role in the school community. Findings suggest a…

Biotransformation and bioactivation reactions - 2016 literature highlights.

Science.gov (United States)

Khojasteh, S Cyrus; Rietjens, Ivonne M C M; Dalvie, Deepak; Miller, Grover

2017-08-01

We are pleased to present a second annual issue highlighting a previous year's literature on biotransformation and bioactivation. Each contributor to this issue worked independently to review the articles published in 2016 and proposed three to four articles, which he or she believed would be of interest to the broader research community. In each synopsis, the contributing author summarized the procedures, analyses and conclusions as described in the original manuscripts. In the commentary sections, our authors offer feedback and highlight aspects of the work that may not be apparent from an initial reading of the article. To be fair, one should still read the original article to gain a more complete understanding of the work conducted. Most of the articles included in this review were published in Drug Metabolism and Disposition or Chemical Research in Toxicology, but attempts were made to seek articles in 25 other journals. Importantly, these articles are not intended to represent a consensus of the best papers of the year, as we did not want to make any arbitrary standards for this purpose, but rather they were chosen by each author for their notable findings and descriptions of novel metabolic pathways or biotransformations. I am pleased that Drs. Rietjens and Dalvie have again contributed to this annual review. We would like to welcome Grover P Miller as an author for this year's issue, and we thank Tom Baillie for his contributions to last year's edition. We have intentionally maintained a balance of authors such that two come from an academic setting and two come from industry. Finally, please drop us a note if you find this review helpful. We would be pleased to hear your opinions of our commentary, and we extend an invitation to anyone who would like to contribute to a future edition of this review. This article is dedicated to Professor Thomas Baillie for his exceptional contributions to the field of drug metabolism.

A Survey of Secondary School Students' Perceptions of and Attitudes Toward Use of Drugs by Teenagers. Part I, Part II, Part III.; A Survey of Secondary School Teachers' Perceptions of the Role of the Schools in Dealing with Teenage Drug Use. A General Overview of Survey Findings.

Science.gov (United States)

Montgomery County Public Schools, Rockville, MD.

Three volumes report the findings of a student survey among a random sample of 2,777 junior high and senior high school students. Volume one presents the overall findings: the typical student believes that drug use and experimentation are not common, except for marihuana, alcohol, cigarettes, and glue; believes that drug use is increasing; is not…

Advocacy: Making the Gold Standard School a Reality

Science.gov (United States)

Roberts, Julia Link; Inman, Tracy Ford

2011-01-01

In their last column, the authors described a Gold Standard School--a place in which all children thrive including the gifted and talented. The Checklist for a Gold Standard School, which is included in this article, highlights the main characteristics of such a school including a focus on continuous progress, talent development, policies that…

Leadership and management in UK medical school curricula.

Science.gov (United States)

Jefferies, Richard; Sheriff, Ibrahim H N; Matthews, Jacob H; Jagger, Olivia; Curtis, Sarah; Lees, Peter; Spurgeon, Peter C; Fountain, Daniel Mark; Oldman, Alex; Habib, Ali; Saied, Azam; Court, Jessica; Giannoudi, Marilena; Sayma, Meelad; Ward, Nicholas; Cork, Nick; Olatokun, Olamide; Devine, Oliver; O'Connell, Paul; Carr, Phoebe; Kotronias, Rafail Angelos; Gardiner, Rebecca; Buckle, Rory T; Thomson, Ross J; Williams, Sarah; Nicholson, Simon J; Goga, Usman

2016-10-10

Purpose Although medical leadership and management (MLM) is increasingly being recognised as important to improving healthcare outcomes, little is understood about current training of medical students in MLM skills and behaviours in the UK. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach This qualitative study used validated structured interviews with expert faculty members from medical schools across the UK to ascertain MLM framework integration, teaching methods employed, evaluation methods and barriers to improvement. Findings Data were collected from 25 of the 33 UK medical schools (76 per cent response rate), with 23/25 reporting that MLM content is included in their curriculum. More medical schools assessed MLM competencies on admission than at any other time of the curriculum. Only 12 schools had evaluated MLM teaching at the time of data collection. The majority of medical schools reported barriers, including overfilled curricula and reluctance of staff to teach. Whilst 88 per cent of schools planned to increase MLM content over the next two years, there was a lack of consensus on proposed teaching content and methods. Research limitations/implications There is widespread inclusion of MLM in UK medical schools' curricula, despite the existence of barriers. This study identified substantial heterogeneity in MLM teaching and assessment methods which does not meet students' desired modes of delivery. Examples of national undergraduate MLM teaching exist worldwide, and lessons can be taken from these. Originality/value This is the first national evaluation of MLM in undergraduate medical school curricula in the UK, highlighting continuing challenges with executing MLM content despite numerous frameworks and international examples of successful execution.

La asesoría del psicopedagogo y la dirección del círculo infantil Psychological counseling and nursery school management

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Laritza Raquel del Risco López

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The paper refers the impact of psychological counseling on improving nursery school management. By studying the actual practices of these professionals and institutions, constructing a theoretical framework, and exchanging with specialists, the authors attain to rethink, improve and update educational practice. The researchers make extensive use of theoretical methods for constructing a framework, observe psychologist performance at nursery schools, and conduct interviews and survey on related issues. The effectiveness of the proposal was assessed on the basis of experts’ criteria (nursery school professionals and psychologists. The findings include a description of psychological counseling in nursery schools viewing the process as a dynamic interchange of ideas and mutual professional support. Likewise, the highlights of the process of articulating psychologists and principal performances are given. ,

Radiologic findings of primary pneumonia in children

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Song, Chi Sung; Kim, In One; Yeon, Kyung Mo

1991-01-01

It is not always easy to detect and interpret radiologic findings of pediatric pneumonia. Authors retrospectively analysed radiologic findings of 102 cases of pediatric primary pneumonia treated at Yeong-Deung-Po City Hospital between 1988 and 1990 to understand the past trend of radiologic pattern and to attain helpful information in diagnosing pediatric pneumonia hereafter. Results were as follows. Positive radiologic findings were noted in 85 cases (84%), but 17 cases (16%) showed indefinite lesion. The cases of infantile pneumonia (under 1 year of age) were 44. The most frequent finding was bilateral peribronchial infiltration with overearation (21 cases, 48%), followed by multiple patchy atelectasis associated with the findings of bilateral peribronchial infiltration and overaeration (nine cases, 23%), peribronchial infiltration without definite overaeration (six cases, 14%), alveolar consolidation superimposed on the peribronchial infiltration (three cases, 6%), alveolar consolidation (three cases, 6%) and bronchopneumonic pattern (two cases, 4%). The cases of pre-school age (1-5 years of age) were 34. Bilateral parahilar peribronchial infiltration was the most frequent finding (24 cases, 71%), followed by alveolar consolidation (six cases, 17%) and bronchopneumonic pattern (four cases, 12%). The cases of school age (over 6 years of age) were seven. Six cases (85%) showed alveolar consolidation and one case (15%) showed bronchopneumonic pattern. In short, the younger the patient was, the more frequently the interstitial infiltration occurred. Furthermore, overaeration and patchy atelectasis were unique findings of infantile pneumonia. After the school age, the pattern of pneumonia became similar to that of adults

Examining School Leadership in New York City Community Schools

Science.gov (United States)

Campo, Stacey Elizabeth

2017-01-01

The community school model is rooted in John Dewey's (1902) conceptualization of the public school as a hub for the community. This work has evolved over a hundred years and recently experienced prominence in the public eye as a fundamental component of New York City's school turnaround policy. This dissertation describes findings and…

Editorial highlighting and highly cited papers

Science.gov (United States)

Antonoyiannakis, Manolis

Editorial highlighting-the process whereby journal editors select, at the time of publication, a small subset of papers that are ostensibly of higher quality, importance or interest-is by now a widespread practice among major scientific journal publishers. Depending on the venue, and the extent to which editorial resources are invested in the process, highlighted papers appear as News & Views, Research Highlights, Perspectives, Editors' Choice, IOP Select, Editors' Summary, Spotlight on Optics, Editors' Picks, Viewpoints, Synopses, Editors' Suggestions, etc. Here, we look at the relation between highlighted papers and highly influential papers, which we define at two levels: having received enough citations to be among the (i) top few percent of their journal, and (ii) top 1% of all physics papers. Using multiple linear regression and multilevel regression modeling we examine the parameters associated with highly influential papers. We briefly comment on cause and effect relationships between citedness and highlighting of papers.

Quality and equitable education in primary and secondary schools ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Families, communities, schools and churches play a crucial role in reducing or reinforcing both social and educational inequalities in Zimbabwe. Leadership in schools plays a pivotal role in ensuring discipline and promoting quality education in their institutions. This paper seeks to highlight the issues that affect schools in ...

School Competition and Teacher Labor Markets: Evidence from Charter School Entry in North Carolina

OpenAIRE

C. Kirabo Jackson

2011-01-01

I analyze changes in teacher turnover, hiring, effectiveness, and salaries at traditional public schools after the opening of a nearby charter school. While I find small effects on turnover overall, difficult to staff schools (low-income, high-minority share) hired fewer new teachers and experienced small declines in teacher quality. I also find evidence of a demand side response where schools increased teacher compensation to better retain quality teachers. The results are robust across a va...

Low control beliefs in relation to school dropout and poor health: findings from the SIODO case-control study.

Science.gov (United States)

Bosma, Hans; Theunissen, Marie-José; Verdonk, Petra; Feron, Frans

2014-11-28

There is cumulating evidence that health is compromised through adverse socioeconomic conditions negatively affecting how people think, feel, and behave. Low control beliefs might be a key mechanism. The reversed possibility that low control beliefs might set people on a pathway towards adverse socioeconomic and health-related outcomes is much less examined. A case-control design was used, consisting of 330 cases who dropped out of school in the 2010-2011 school year and 330 controls who still attended school at the end of that year. The respondents, aged between 18 and 23, came from Eindhoven and surrounding areas in the south-east of The Netherlands. A questionnaire asked for current health status, recalled socioeconomic and social background, and recalled control beliefs (mastery and general self-efficacy). Logistic regression analyses were used. Recalls of low mastery and low self-efficacy were strongly related to both dropout and less than good health. Low socioeconomic background was also associated to odds of dropout, but did not confound or moderate the associations of low control beliefs with dropout and health. Odds ratios of dropout and less than good health indicated at least twice the odds of a poor outcome with recalls of low control beliefs. Independent of the socioeconomic background, low control beliefs are related to heightened odds of both poor health and school dropout. Individual differences in control beliefs might thus be as fundamental as socioeconomic conditions in generating life-course socioeconomic and health-related pathways. Although the findings should first be cross-validated in prospective studies, public health professionals working with youth might already start considering early interventions in youth with all too fatalistic and powerless mind-sets.

Interaction university and school

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gionara Tauchen

2016-05-01

Full Text Available Considering that the interaction between universities and middle schools is fundamental for organization and the qualification of the education system, we conducted a qualitative study on twenty public municipal schools of Rio Grande, RS, designed to investigate and understand the effectiveness of university activities (teaching, research and extension in regard to the promotion and strengthening of the interactions between these institutions. We highlight the activities related to Pibid, the Education Observatory, extension, supervised internships, and to undergraduate and postgraduate research. From comprehensions about these activities, we discuss the interaction between school and university.

A qualitative analysis of factors influencing middle school students' use of skills taught by a violence prevention curriculum.

Science.gov (United States)

Farrell, Albert D; Mehari, Krista R; Kramer-Kuhn, Alison M; Mays, Sally A; Sullivan, Terri N

2015-06-01

This study examined factors that influenced the use of skills taught in a school-based universal violence prevention program. Interviews were conducted with 91 students from two urban schools (83% were African American and 12% multiracial) and 50 students from a nearby county school (52% were White, 32% African American, and 12% multiracial). About half the sample (54%) was male. All had been in sixth grade classrooms where the Second Step (Committee for Children, 1997b) violence prevention curriculum had been implemented earlier in the school year or in the preceding school year. Qualitative analysis of interview transcripts suggested that participants' use of intervention skills was influenced by their beliefs and values, perceived relevance and effectiveness of the skill, issues related to enacting the behavior, and contextual factors. These findings highlight the need for a more intensive and comprehensive effort to address barriers and supports that influence the relevance and impact of school-based violence prevention programs. Copyright © 2015 Society for the Study of School Psychology. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Using Highlighting to Train Attentional Expertise.

Science.gov (United States)

Roads, Brett; Mozer, Michael C; Busey, Thomas A

2016-01-01

Acquiring expertise in complex visual tasks is time consuming. To facilitate the efficient training of novices on where to look in these tasks, we propose an attentional highlighting paradigm. Highlighting involves dynamically modulating the saliency of a visual image to guide attention along the fixation path of a domain expert who had previously viewed the same image. In Experiment 1, we trained naive subjects via attentional highlighting on a fingerprint-matching task. Before and after training, we asked subjects to freely inspect images containing pairs of prints and determine whether the prints matched. Fixation sequences were automatically scored for the degree of expertise exhibited using a Bayesian discriminative model of novice and expert gaze behavior. Highlighted training causes gaze behavior to become more expert-like not only on the trained images but also on transfer images, indicating generalization of learning. In Experiment 2, to control for the possibility that the increase in expertise is due to mere exposure, we trained subjects via highlighting of fixation sequences from novices, not experts, and observed no transition toward expertise. In Experiment 3, to determine the specificity of the training effect, we trained subjects with expert fixation sequences from images other than the one being viewed, which preserves coarse-scale statistics of expert gaze but provides no information about fine-grain features. Observing at least a partial transition toward expertise, we obtain only weak evidence that the highlighting procedure facilitates the learning of critical local features. We discuss possible improvements to the highlighting procedure.

Using Highlighting to Train Attentional Expertise.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Brett Roads

Full Text Available Acquiring expertise in complex visual tasks is time consuming. To facilitate the efficient training of novices on where to look in these tasks, we propose an attentional highlighting paradigm. Highlighting involves dynamically modulating the saliency of a visual image to guide attention along the fixation path of a domain expert who had previously viewed the same image. In Experiment 1, we trained naive subjects via attentional highlighting on a fingerprint-matching task. Before and after training, we asked subjects to freely inspect images containing pairs of prints and determine whether the prints matched. Fixation sequences were automatically scored for the degree of expertise exhibited using a Bayesian discriminative model of novice and expert gaze behavior. Highlighted training causes gaze behavior to become more expert-like not only on the trained images but also on transfer images, indicating generalization of learning. In Experiment 2, to control for the possibility that the increase in expertise is due to mere exposure, we trained subjects via highlighting of fixation sequences from novices, not experts, and observed no transition toward expertise. In Experiment 3, to determine the specificity of the training effect, we trained subjects with expert fixation sequences from images other than the one being viewed, which preserves coarse-scale statistics of expert gaze but provides no information about fine-grain features. Observing at least a partial transition toward expertise, we obtain only weak evidence that the highlighting procedure facilitates the learning of critical local features. We discuss possible improvements to the highlighting procedure.

Schools, Schooling, and Children's Support of Their Aging Parents.

Science.gov (United States)

Brauner-Otto, Sarah R

2009-10-01

Intergenerational transfers play an important role in individuals' lives across the life course. In this paper I pull together theories on intergenerational transfers and social change to inform our understanding of how changes in the educational context influence children's support of their parents. By examining multiple aspects of a couple's educational context, including husbands' and wives' education and exposure to schools, this paper provides new information on the mechanisms through which changes in social context influence children's support of their parents. Using data from a rural Nepalese area I use multilevel logistic regression to estimate the relationship between schooling, exposure to schools, and the likelihood of couples giving to their parents. I find that both schooling and exposure to schools itself have separate, opposite effects on support of aging parents. Higher levels of schooling for husbands was associated with a higher likelihood of having given support to husbands' parents. On the other hand, increased exposure to schools for husbands and wives was associated with a lower likelihood of having given to wives' parents. Findings constitute evidence that multiple motivations for intergenerational support exist simultaneously and are related to social context through different mechanisms.

School Breakfast Program and school performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Meyers, A F; Sampson, A E; Weitzman, M; Rogers, B L; Kayne, H

1989-10-01

To test the hypothesis that participation in the School Breakfast Program by low-income children is associated with improvements in standardized achievement test scores and in rates of absence and tardiness, children in grades 3 through 6 were studied in the Lawrence, Mass, public schools, where the School Breakfast Program was begun at the start of the second semester 1986-1987 school year. The changes in scores on a standardized achievement test and in rates of absence and tardiness before and after the implementation of the School Breakfast Program for children participating in the program were compared with those of children who also qualified but did not participate. Controlling for other factors, participation in the School Breakfast Program contributed positively to the 1987 Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills battery total scale score and negatively to 1987 tardiness and absence rates. These findings suggest that participation in the School Breakfast Program is associated with significant improvements in academic functioning among low-income elementary school children.

The Experiences of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Middle School Students: Findings from the 2007 National School Climate Survey. Research Brief

Science.gov (United States)

Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), 2009

2009-01-01

In 2007, Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) conducted the fifth National School Climate Survey (NSCS), a biennial survey of LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) secondary school students. The NSCS examines the experiences of LGBT youth in U.S. middle and high schools, documenting bias and behaviors that make schools…

The Fusion of School Improvement and Leadership Capacity in an Elementary School

Science.gov (United States)

Sigurðardóttir, Sigríður Margrét; Sigþórsson, Rúnar

2016-01-01

The article reports the findings of a qualitative case study in one elementary school in Iceland. The aim was to investigate the level of leadership capacity within the school, and how this had evolved through the school's improvement. Information was gathered over one school year about planned improvements that had taken place in the school over…

Strategies for Improving Access to Drinking Water in Schools

Science.gov (United States)

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2014

2014-01-01

Water consumption is important for students' cognition, dental health, and physical health. The availability and promotion of free water during the school day has been shown to increase water consumption and may prevent school children from being overweight. This brief highlights areas where local school wellness policies (i.e., wellness…

Schools as Racial Spaces: Understanding and Resisting Structural Racism

Science.gov (United States)

Blaisdell, Benjamin

2016-01-01

Analyzing schools as racial spaces can help researchers examine the role of teachers in the perpetuation of structural racism in schools. Based on ethnographic and autoethnographic work, this article offers examples of schools as racial spaces, spaces where whiteness controlled access. It also highlights four teachers who pursued racial equity in…

Implementation of a School Districtwide Grassroots Antibullying Initiative: A School Staff and Parent-Focused Evaluation of Because Nice Matters

Science.gov (United States)

De Pedro, Kris Tunac; Pineda, Diana; Capp, Gordon; Moore, Hadass; Benbenishty, Rami; Astor, Ron Avi

2017-01-01

Military-connected youths experience stressful life events, including deployments and multiple school transitions, that make them vulnerable to bullying. Social workers have highlighted the power of grassroots school community initiatives that address risk issues among youths while empowering the community (see http://www.thecommunityguide.org).…

A coalition partnership of vision health through a health-promoting school program for primary school students in Taiwan.

Science.gov (United States)

Chang, Li-Chun; Guo, Jong-Long; Liao, Li-Ling; Peng, Hsiu-Ying; Hsieh, Pei-Lin

2017-09-01

Myopia, the most common refractive error, is the most common cause of avoidable visual impairment among children and has reached epidemic proportions among children and young adults in urban areas of East and Southeast Asia that contain populations of Chinese ancestry. Moreover, vision health is an important theme of the health-promoting school program issued by the Ministry of Education in Taiwan. The aim of this study is to assess the impact of pre- and post-intervention proposed by the health-promoting school (HPS) model. The objectives are to understand whether the HPS model influenced the vision screening results and the attitude, knowledge level, and vision care behavior of the students involved. A prospective cohort study design was used to evaluate a vision health program. Four elementary schools, local education authorities, and one university in northern Taiwan established a coalition partnership to design a six-month program to combat myopia among students. The target population was 6668 school children from local elementary schools. For the purpose of this study, the outcome of visual acuity testing (in logMAR) was analyzed with a sampling of 373 school children (aged 11-12 years old) who were chosen from high prevalence of poor vision classes. After the HPS program, the attitudes, behaviors, and knowledge levels of the school children regarding vision health were significantly improved. The pre-intervention mean logMAR of all participating students ( N = 373) was -.10, which increased to -.19 after the intervention. Analysis using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test showed that the logMAR value was significantly improved after the intervention ( t = 2.13, p < 0.05). Our findings highlight the relevance and effectiveness of the coalition's efforts, which reinforces the usefulness of co-operatively implementing the HPS program.

Examining the relationship between child maltreatment and school performance in public schools in Saudi Arabia: A pilot study.

Science.gov (United States)

Altamimi, Dana; Almuneef, Maha; Albuhairan, Fadia; Saleheen, Hassan

2017-07-01

The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between child maltreatment (CM) and school performance among adolescents in Saudi Arabia. A cross-sectional study was conducted in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in 2014. The enrolment criteria included both male and female Saudi students ( n=674; 52.7% male) aged 12-19 years ( M age =15.6±1.6 years), attending intermediate and secondary schools belonging to the Ministry of National Guard. A self-administered questionnaire was used to gather information on different forms of abuse that had occurred in the past or were currently occurring. Poor school performance was more likely in students who lived among substance-use family members or guardians compared with those who did not (33.3% vs. 11.4%; p<0.01), those with an imprisoned family member compared with those without (26.5% vs. 11.2%; p<0.01), those who were psychologically abused compared with those who were not abused (21.0% vs. 10.1%; p<0.01), those who were physically abused compared with those who were not abused (18.9% vs. 9.3%; p<0.01), and those suffering multiple forms of abuse compared with those not abused (23.4% vs. 9.7%; p<0.01). Logistic regression analysis showed that household dysfunction was the most predisposing factor to poor performance in school, and included living among substance-use family members or guardians (odds ratio=4.0; 95% confidence interval=1.7-9.5) and living with imprisoned family member (odds ratio=3.1, 95% confidence interval=1.5-6.3). CM, along with family structure and dynamics, has an adverse relationship with students' school performance. These findings highlight the importance of increasing awareness of the impact of CM on school performance among families, schools and the community.

My life as a pupil: The autobiographical memories of adolescents excluded from school.

Science.gov (United States)

Farouk, Shaalan

2017-02-01

Narrative psychology is founded on the premise that substantial insight can be gained into individuals' self-understanding and behaviour by studying the content of their autobiographical memories. This article contributes to this field of inquiry by suggesting that our understanding of adolescents' exclusion from mainstream education can be enhanced by examining their recollections of school using a narrative dialogical approach. In a research project the autobiographical memories of fifteen female and twenty male students, aged 15-16 years, who had been excluded from secondary schools in London, England were collected and analysed. The aim was to examine how in their narrated depictions of the past, the adolescents explained and justified their position and behaviour at different times in their lives at school. The findings highlight how adolescents perceive themselves to have become positioned by the voices of significant others, schools as institutions and themselves at earlier or later stages in their lives. Copyright © 2016 The Foundation for Professionals in Services for Adolescents. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Making the Transition from Traditional to Home Schooling: Home School Family Motivations

Science.gov (United States)

Anthony, Kenneth Vance; Burroughs, Susie

2010-01-01

This study examined the motivations of families that operate home schools. Four intact, religiously conservative families were interviewed and observed over one year. Findings showed that families were motivated by multiple factors to leave traditional schooling and begin home schooling. Additionally, the motivations to home school influenced the…

School bullying

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

the importance of qualitative research in the field of school bullying. However, the authors also acknowledge the importance of insights obtained through quantitative studies, such as survey material, and through mixed methods (see Hansen, Henningsen and Kofoed on page XX, and Cross and Barnes on page XX)....... seen amongst various the actors involved in bullying practices. Theoretical approaches based in deconstruction, discourse analysis and narrative analysis as well as mixed methods have been utilised to analyse the qualitative data. This anthology makes a particular contribution in highlighting......School Bullying: New Theories in Context brings together the work of scholars who utilise ontological, epistemological and methodological approaches that challenge paradigm one, contributing to the shift in research on school bullying that we call paradigm two. Several of the authors have...

Linking school effectiveness and school improvement : The background and outline of the project

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Creemers, B.P.M.; Reezigt, G.J.

2005-01-01

School effectiveness and school improvement have different origins: School effectiveness is more directed to finding out "what works" in education and "why"; school improvement is practice and policy oriented and intended to change education in the desired direction. However, in their orientation to

International School Children's Health Needs: School Nurses' Views in Europe

Science.gov (United States)

Hansson, Annika; Clausson, Eva; Janlov, Ann-Christin

2012-01-01

Rapid globalization and the integration of national economies have contributed to the sharp rise in enrollment in international schools. How does this global nomadism affect international school children and their individual health needs? This study attempts to find an answer by interviewing 10 school nurses, with varying degrees of experience in…

The Effect of High School Shootings on Schools and Student Performance

OpenAIRE

Louis-Philippe Beland; Dongwoo Kim

2015-01-01

We analyze how fatal shootings in high schools affect schools and students using data from shooting databases, school report cards, and the Common Core of Data. We examine schools’ test scores, enrollment, and number of teachers, as well as graduation, attendance, and suspension rates at schools that experienced a shooting, employing a difference-in-differences strategy that uses other high schools in the same district as the comparison group. Our findings suggest that homicidal shootings s...

Attention-deficit hyperactive disorder in school-aged children in Saudi Arabia.

Science.gov (United States)

Alqahtani, Mohammed M J

2010-09-01

The current study was designed to explore the prevalence of attention-deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD) in primary schools in Saudi Arabia. The study collected data from both teachers and parents for 708 primary school pupils attending grades 1-3 (7-9 years old), using DSM-IV criteria of ADHD. The result showed that the overall rate of ADHD was 2.7%, and in particular, the rate of attention types, 2.0%; hyperactive/impulsivity type, 1.4% and combined type, 0.7%. Teachers reported ADHD in a higher frequency than parents. However, applying a combination of reports from teachers and parents, screening of ADHD is likely to be more accurate. These findings highlight the importance of detecting ADHD in pupils at an early age and to develop a specific set of psychological clinical interventions for helping them.

Influence of family and school-level factors on age of sexual initiation.

Science.gov (United States)

White, Candace N; Warner, Lynn A

2015-02-01

This study examined the association of individual, family, and school-level characteristics with age of sexual initiation (ASI) and focused specifically on school context as a moderator of known predictors of ASI. Data are from Waves I and IV of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (N = 10,596). Predictors include grade point average, physical development, attitudes about sex, likelihood of higher education, alcohol use, delinquency, family structure, parents' education level, childhood abuse, maternal approval of sex, parental monitoring, and parent-child relationship quality. School-level predictors are averages of adolescents' attitudes about sex and likelihood of higher education and parents' education. Hierarchical linear models run separately by sex were used to predict ASI. When school-level attitudes about sex are more favorable, both boys and girls report younger ASI, and school mean parental education attainment moderates the influence of individual adolescents' attitudes about sex on ASI. More of the predictors are significant for girls than boys, whereas perception of maternal and peer approval of sexual activity are the most salient predictors of younger ASI for boys. Results highlight the importance of school context for understanding adolescents' motivations for early ASI. Findings support the need for school-wide prevention interventions that engage adolescents, peers, and parents in addressing attitudes about early sex. Copyright © 2015 Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Health Problems at School

Science.gov (United States)

... the Word Shop AAP Find a Pediatrician Ages & Stages Prenatal Baby Toddler Preschool Gradeschool Fitness Nutrition Puberty School Teen Young Adult Healthy Children > Ages & Stages > Gradeschool > School > Health Problems at School Ages & Stages ...

PREDICTION OF ENJOYMENT IN SCHOOL PHYSICAL EDUCATION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Arto Gråstén

2012-06-01

Full Text Available The specific aim of this study was to examine whether motivational climate, perceived physical competence, and exercise motivation predict enjoyment in school physical education within the same sample of adolescents across three years of secondary school. A sample of 639 students (girls = 296, boys = 343 aged between 13- to 15-years at the commencement of the study completed the Intrinsic Motivation Climate in Physical Education Questionnaire, Physical Self-Perception Profile, Physical Education Motivation Scale, and Physical Education Enjoyment Scale. Results derived from path analyses indicated that task-involving motivational climate predicted enjoyment in physical education via perceived physical competence and intrinsic motivation in both girls and boys. In particular, these results supported previous findings of Vallerand et. al (1997 with the self-determination theory and the achievement goal theory. Ego-involving climate was not a significant predictor either in girls or boys. The current results provide continuing support for the investigation of Vallerand's model in the physical education setting, and highlight that motivational climate is an area that requires further evaluation as a contributing factor in the improvement of physical education teaching. A better understanding of the role of motivational climate may assist efforts to promote children's and adolescents' perceived physical competence, intrinsic motivation, and enjoyment in the school physical education setting

School nurses can address existing gaps in school-age sleep research.

Science.gov (United States)

Willgerodt, Mayumi A; Kieckhefer, Gail M

2013-06-01

Sleep has been linked to a host of physical, behavioral, and emotional outcomes, and research has documented that youth across the globe are experiencing inadequate sleep. Despite this knowledge, however, very little research has been conducted on school-age children; much of the extant research has focused on infants, toddlers, preschoolers, adolescents, and adults. School-age children exhibit increasing independence around health-related behaviors, which provide health professionals the opportunity to educate and promote healthy sleep behaviors. This commentary extends previous research reviews by identifying the current gaps in sleep research, highlighting future directions needed in sleep research, and explaining why school nurses are best suited to address this growing public health issue.

"You Can Try, But You Won't Stop It. It'll Always Be There": Youth Perspectives on Violence and Prevention in Schools.

Science.gov (United States)

Sundaram, Vanita

2016-02-01

The role of schools in preventing violence among teenagers has been highlighted, as has the development of youth-led prevention initiatives. This article explores how young people's views on violence influence their perceptions of its preventability, drawing on focus group discussions with 14- to 16-year-olds from six schools across the north of England. Young people view violence as a highly individualized phenomenon, and gender norms play an important role in shaping young people's perceptions of the preventability of violence. The findings presented here suggest that school-based violence prevention must fundamentally address gender norms and expectations to challenge young people's acceptance and tolerance of violence. © The Author(s) 2014.

The Thurgood Marshall School of Law Empirical Findings: A Report of the Statistical Analysis of the February 2010 TMSL Texas Bar Results

Science.gov (United States)

Kadhi, T.; Holley, D.; Rudley, D.; Garrison, P.; Green, T.

2010-01-01

The following report gives the statistical findings of the 2010 Thurgood Marshall School of Law (TMSL) Texas Bar results. This data was pre-existing and was given to the Evaluator by email from the Dean. Then, in-depth statistical analyses were run using the SPSS 17 to address the following questions: 1. What are the statistical descriptors of the…

Correlates of gambling on high-school grounds

Science.gov (United States)

Foster, Dawn W.; Hoff, Rani A.; Pilver, Corey E.; Yau, Yvonne H. C.; Steinberg, Marvin A.; Wampler, Jeremy; Krishnan-Sarin, Suchitra; Potenza, Marc N.

2015-01-01

Objective This study examined adolescent gambling on school grounds (GS+) and how such behavior was associated with gambling-related attitudes. Further, we examined whether GS+ moderated associations between at-risk problem-gambling (ARPG) and gambling behaviors related to gambling partners. Method Participants were 1988 high-school students who completed survey materials. Demographic, perceptions, attitudes, and gambling variables were stratified by problem-gambling severity (ARPG versus recreational gambling) and GS+ status. Chi-square and adjusted logistic regression models were used to examine relationships among study variables. Results Nearly 40% (39.58%) of students reported past-year GS+, with 12.91% of GS+ students, relative to 2.63% of those who did not report gambling on school grounds (GS), meeting DSM-IV criteria for pathological gambling (pgambling behaviors. Weaker links in GS+ students, in comparison with GS-, students, were observed between problem-gambling severity and gambling with family members (interaction odds ratio (IOR)=0.60; 95%CI=0.39–0.92) and gambling with friends (IOR=0.21; 95%CI=0.11–0.39). Conclusions GS+ is common and associated with pathological gambling and more permissive attitudes towards gambling. The finding that GS+ (relative to GS-) youth show differences in how problem-gambling is related to gambling partners (friends and family) warrants further investigation regarding whether and how peer and familial interactions might be improved to diminish youth problem-gambling severity. The high frequency of GS+ and its relationship with ARPG highlight a need for school administrators and personnel to consider interventions that target school-based gambling. PMID:26232102

Excellence in Urban High Schools: An Emerging District/School Perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

Yin, Robert K.; And Others

This report presents the preliminary findings of the District/Secondary School Study. The study had two purposes: (1) to identify ways of managing urban high schools to produce excellence, and (2) to recommend policy-relevant guidance to existing school and district administrators. The study design focused on the testing of two specific theories…

Should School Boards Discontinue Support for High School Football?

Science.gov (United States)

Margolis, Lewis H; Canty, Greg; Halstead, Mark; Lantos, John D

2017-01-01

A pediatrician is asked by her local school board to help them decide whether to discontinue their high school football program. She reviews the available evidence on the risks of football and finds it hopelessly contradictory. Some scholars claim that football is clearly more dangerous than other sports. Others suggest that the risks of football are comparable to other sports, such as lacrosse, ice hockey, or soccer. She finds very little data on the long-term sequelae of concussions. She sees claims that good coaching and a school culture that prioritizes the health of athletes over winning can reduce morbidity from sports injuries. In this paper, 3 experts also review the evidence about sports risks and discuss what is known and not known about the science and the ethics of high school football. Copyright © 2017 by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

The Role of Leadership in Surviving a School Shooting

Science.gov (United States)

Brown, Carleton H.

2018-01-01

At a small rural middle school in the southern United States, two students murdered a teacher, four students, and injured 10 during a shooting spree. This case represents the lived experiences of a school principal, counselor, and community that survived the deadly rampage. The case highlights the challenges that school leaders may face such as…

The ethnic prejudice of Flemish teachers: The role of ethnic school composition and of teachability.

Science.gov (United States)

Vervaet, Roselien; D'hondt, Fanny; Van Houtte, Mieke; Stevens, Peter A J

2016-10-01

The aim of this study is to investigate the association between ethnic composition in school and the ethnic prejudice of teachers, controlling for the individual characteristics of teachers and their perceptions of pupils' teachability. Multilevel analyses were carried out on data for 499 Flemish teachers in 44 Flemish (Belgian) secondary schools, collected through an online questionnaire. In this study, ethnic prejudice means a negative attitude to Moroccans, Turks, and Eastern Europeans. A scale was created by taking the mean scores for 18 items, with higher scores indicating greater ethnic prejudice (Quillian, 1995; Witte, 1999). Teachers with long-term higher education or a university diploma are shown to be less ethnically prejudiced than teachers with a lower level of education. Moreover, teachers who work at a school with a greater number of ethnic minority pupils, and at the same time evaluate their pupils as more teachable, are less ethnically prejudiced. These findings highlight the need for more research into the underlying processes, such as pupils' teachability, that influence the relationship between school characteristics and the ethnic prejudice of teachers. More knowledge about the context-specific factors and processes that mediate and/or moderate this relationship can increase the theoretical understanding of the development of ethnic prejudice. It can also highlight particular social characteristics, which can be the focus of social and organizational policy aimed at reducing ethnic prejudices. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Children's exposure to sustainability practices during the transition from preschool into school and their learning and socioemotional development.

Science.gov (United States)

Benner, Aprile D; Thornton, Anna; Crosnoe, Robert

2017-01-01

Evidence that the learning gains of preschool fade as children transition into elementary school has led to increased efforts to sustain preschool advantages during this key transitional period. This study explores whether the observed benefits of sustainability practices for a range of child outcomes are explained and/or moderated by family and school mechanisms selecting children into experiencing these practices. Analyses of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort revealed that both family and school factors predicted children's exposure to several PK-3 sustainability practices. PK-3 sustainability practices were associated with reading (but not math) gains and better interpersonal skills (but not fewer externalizing behaviors) following the transition into kindergarten. These links were not conditioned by the selection mechanisms. The findings highlight who is more likely to seek out (at the family level) or offer (at the school level) sustainability practices and how relevant they are to fighting preschool fadeout.

Arab Parents' Involvement in School Reform in Israel

Science.gov (United States)

Arar, Khalid; Abu-Asbah, Khaled; Nasra, Muhammed Abu

2014-01-01

Current research indicates that parental involvement positively influences children's academic success. This study investigates parental involvement in the Arab education system in Israel, highlighting involvement in the New Horizon reform. We interviewed school principals and parent committee chairpersons from 15 Arab schools. The study confirmed…

Growing a Waldorf-Inspired Approach in a Public School District

Science.gov (United States)

Friedlaender, Diane; Beckham, Kyle; Zheng, Xinhua; Darling-Hammond, Linda

2015-01-01

This report documents the practices and outcomes of Alice Birney, a public K-8 Waldorf-Inspired School in Sacramento City Unified School District (SCUSD). This study highlights how such a school addresses students' academic, social, emotional, physical, and creative development. Birney students outperform similar students in SCUSD on several…

Community Involvement in School: Social Relationships in a Bedroom Community

Science.gov (United States)

Preston, Jane P.

2013-01-01

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to describe how community involvement in school is associated with the social relationships existing/lacking within a bedroom community. Thirty-five interviews with school council members, teachers, and community members highlighted that traditional forms of community involvement in school generate…

Online Resources for High School Teachers--A CLIC Away

Science.gov (United States)

Holmes, Jon L.

2000-04-01

will be added that will facilitate sharing ideas with other high school teachers. We also expect to develop additional ways of finding, categorizing, and bringing to your attention the wealth of information that is JCE. If you have suggestions for making CLIC more useful, just send them to jceonline@chem.wisc.edu and put "CLIC" in the subject field. Visit CLIC and See... Especially for High School Teachers. The high school editor's monthly columns highlight articles in each issue of JCE and also report news and announcements. Classroom Activities. Student activities use readily available, inexpensive materials. Activities are arranged by title and by topic; you can copy them for your class to use. Tested Demonstrations. If you are looking for a cool demonstration, one that has been tested and works, we have a wide variety to choose from. They are arranged by topic on a pull-down list. Features. Several of our feature columns are tailored for high school teachers (Applications and Analogies, Second Year and AP Chemistry, and others). Laboratory Activities. We have collected, by topic, those that we think are of interest. JCE Software. Here is a shortcut to our peer-reviewed instructional software and video that is best suited for the high school classroom. Periodic Table Live!, General Chemistry Collection, and the Chemistry Comes Alive! series will be especially useful. JCE Internet. Another direct linethis time to animations, video, online features (Conceptual Questions and Challenge Problems, Book and Equipment Guides), and useful Web sites. Articles of Interest. General articles relevant to high school chemistry are grouped here, by topic. JCE Index. If you are still looking, then click here. You can search the index to the entire Journal (since 1924).

Research and technology highlights, 1993

Science.gov (United States)

1994-01-01

This report contains highlights of the major accomplishments and applications that have been made by Langley researchers and by our university and industry colleagues during the past year. The highlights illustrate both the broad range of the research and technology activities supported by NASA Langley Research Center and the contributions of this work toward maintaining United States leadership in aeronautics and space research. This report also describes some of the Center's most important research and testing facilities.

Urban Middle School Students' Perceptions of Bullying, Cyberbullying, and School Safety

Science.gov (United States)

Varjas, Kris; Henrich, Christopher C.; Meyers, Joel

2009-01-01

This study examined 427 urban middle school students' perceptions of bullying, cyberbullying, and school safety utilizing the Student Survey of Bullying Behavior-Revised 2 (Varjas, Meyers, & Hunt, 2006). A unique finding is that cyberbullying may represent a unique modality of victimization and bullying compared with other school-based…

Finding Freedom in Dialectic Inquiry: New Teachers' Responses to Silencing

Science.gov (United States)

Bieler, Deborah; Thomas, Anne Burns

2009-01-01

Background: The need to support new teachers in urban public schools is well established, given current shortages and research that highlights serious issues with teacher retention. Debate continues about approaches to support for new teachers, including questions about the importance of developing an inquiry stance toward teaching. As more…

Nationally Certified School Psychologists' use and reported barriers to using evidence-based interventions in schools: the influence of graduate program training and education.

Science.gov (United States)

Hicks, Taylor B; Shahidullah, Jeffrey D; Carlson, John S; Palejwala, Mohammed H

2014-12-01

The purpose of this study was to empirically investigate Nationally Certified School Psychologists' (NCSP) training in and use of evidence-based interventions (EBIs) for child behavior concerns as well as their reported implementation barriers. A modified Tailored Design Method (TDM; Dillman, Smyth, & Christian, 2009) using up to four mail-based participant contacts was used to obtain survey data (72% usable response rate; n = 392) from a randomly selected national sample of 548 currently practicing NCSPs. Lack of time was rated as the most serious barrier to behavioral EBI implementation, followed by a lack of necessary resources, and financial constraints. Nearly three-quarters (71%) of respondents reported a perceived inadequacy of graduate program training in behavioral EBIs, with a statistically significant difference found between respondents who attended American Psychological Association (APA)-accredited/National Association of School Psychologists (NASP)-approved programs and those who did not. These findings highlight the significant barriers school psychologists encounter when attempting to implement behavioral EBIs within applied practice, as well as the importance of graduate program training in implementation science. Implications for training, practice, and research are discussed. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.

Multiple victimization experiences of urban elementary school students: associations with psychosocial functioning and academic performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Holt, Melissa K; Finkelhor, David; Kantor, Glenda Kaufman

2007-05-01

This study explored the victimization experiences of urban elementary school students to determine whether subsets of youth emerged with similar victimization profiles (e.g., no victimization, multiple types of victimization). It also evaluated whether multiple victimization was associated with greater psychological distress and lower academic performance. Participants were 689 fifth grade students from an urban, ethnically diverse school district in the Northeast. Youth completed self-report measures in school about bullying victimization, victimization in the home and community, and psychosocial functioning. Cluster analysis suggested the existence of three distinct youth profiles: those with minimal victimization, those victimized primarily by their peers, and those with multiple types of victimizations. As hypothesized, youth with multiple victimizations experienced more psychological distress and earned lower grades than their peers. Findings highlight the heterogeneity of youth victimization experiences and their relations to functioning, and have implications for treatment planning among practitioners working with youth.

ATLAS Outreach Highlights

CERN Document Server

Cheatham, Susan; The ATLAS collaboration

2016-01-01

The ATLAS outreach team is very active, promoting particle physics to a broad range of audiences including physicists, general public, policy makers, students and teachers, and media. A selection of current outreach activities and new projects will be presented. Recent highlights include the new ATLAS public website and ATLAS Open Data, the very recent public release of 1 fb-1 of ATLAS data.

Difference between highlight and object colors enhances glossiness.

Science.gov (United States)

Hanada, Mitsuhiko

2012-06-01

The effect of highlight and object colors on perception of glossiness was examined. Ten participants rated glossiness of object images. The color coordinates of objects and highlights were varied while luminance of each pixel was unchanged. Four colors were used for objects and highlights. Objects were perceived as glossier when the highlight color was different from the object color than when they were the same. Objects with some unnatural combinations of highlight and object colors were perceived to be as glossy as those with natural color combinations. The results suggested that differences between highlight and object colors enhance perceived glossiness and that perceived glossiness does not depend on naturalness of color combination for highlights and objects.

Ranking Highlights in Personal Videos by Analyzing Edited Videos.

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Min; Farhadi, Ali; Chen, Tseng-Hung; Seitz, Steve

2016-11-01

We present a fully automatic system for ranking domain-specific highlights in unconstrained personal videos by analyzing online edited videos. A novel latent linear ranking model is proposed to handle noisy training data harvested online. Specifically, given a targeted domain such as "surfing," our system mines the YouTube database to find pairs of raw and their corresponding edited videos. Leveraging the assumption that an edited video is more likely to contain highlights than the trimmed parts of the raw video, we obtain pair-wise ranking constraints to train our model. The learning task is challenging due to the amount of noise and variation in the mined data. Hence, a latent loss function is incorporated to mitigate the issues caused by the noise. We efficiently learn the latent model on a large number of videos (about 870 min in total) using a novel EM-like procedure. Our latent ranking model outperforms its classification counterpart and is fairly competitive compared with a fully supervised ranking system that requires labels from Amazon Mechanical Turk. We further show that a state-of-the-art audio feature mel-frequency cepstral coefficients is inferior to a state-of-the-art visual feature. By combining both audio-visual features, we obtain the best performance in dog activity, surfing, skating, and viral video domains. Finally, we show that impressive highlights can be detected without additional human supervision for seven domains (i.e., skating, surfing, skiing, gymnastics, parkour, dog activity, and viral video) in unconstrained personal videos.

Perceptions about Forest Schools: Encouraging and Promoting Archimedes Forest Schools

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Nawaz, Haq; Blackwell, Sarah

2014-01-01

The aim of this study was to find out parents' and children's perception of outdoor learning programmes with specific reference to Archimedes Forest Schools, known as Forest Schools. A review of existing research showed that there had been no rigorous evaluation of perception of forest schools. The study was conducted in the UK and mixed method…

Project Chrysalis: The Evolution of a Community School.

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Garrett, K.

1996-01-01

Describes the creation and operation of Project Chrysalis, a community, service-learning school transformed from row houses, where children can learn, work, and gain inspiration from artists and social entrepreneurs involved with Houston's Project Row Houses. Personal narratives of two teachers highlight the school's and students' accomplishments…

THE USE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND COMMUNICATION (ICT AND REFERENCE IN MANAGEMENT OF SCHOOLS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fátima da Silva Batista

2016-12-01

Full Text Available This text deals with the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT and its consequences both for the quality of education and to obtain awards as part of the School Management. The development of this theme was made from field research conducted with public schools managers located in different states, which had in common the fact that they obtained good evaluation, the Award in School Management. The qualitative study was conducted through observations, document analysis and semi-structured interviews, with the participation of nine managers. The relevance of this study lies particularly in contributions made in terms of subsidies for transformation processes directed to work by managers with respect to ICTs. Among the study's findings include: (a as to how ICTs are used, showed the concern of managers that they are not separated from the school's education program; (B in relation to the effective contribution of ICTs to obtain the prize, they revealed that their major difference in using them is the way they are incorporated into the teaching process in learning, highlighting its potential as an innovative action in the school routine.

The Introduction of Religious Charter Schools: A Cultural Movement in the Private School Sector

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Bailey, Marcia J. Harr; Cooper, Bruce S.

2009-01-01

Charter schools are opening, and religious associations are also sponsoring these schools since religious groups find private school tuitions to be high and prohibitive. This study includes studies of Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy, a Minnesota Arabic charter school (Blaine and Inver Grove Heights, MN); Ben Gamla Charter School, a Florida English-Hebrew…

No School Left Undemocratic: Experiencing Self-Government In A Free School

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marc-Alexandre PRUDHOMME

2014-12-01

Full Text Available While schools have been assigned the role of introducing students to our current democratic systems, many have highlighted the paradox of teaching democracy in an undemocratic context (e.g. Biesta, 2007. Alternative models of schools that operate democratically such as free schools (democratic schools in which students and teachers largely have similar rights and obligations can offer a great deal in terms of democratic education. In this paper, I will talk about the ethnographic study that I conducted about the experiences of Canadian free school students during school meetings (democratic activity during which students with teachers decide on the activities, operations and rules of the school. During this project, I attended 4 school meetings, spent a period of five weeks making observations in a free school and completed 17 interviews about these experiences. Based on this, I maintain that these meetings arose in a school that operated according to a consensus-based model and that students, while attending these meetings, experienced a combination of feelings that mostly included appreciation and concerns while being involved in decision-making processes. As well, I will contend that students, after having taken part in several school meetings, developed skills and attitudes associated to citizenship such as critical thinking and self-confidence. For conventional schools, this means that providing students with opportunities to take decisions democratically could help to foster such skills and attitudes.

Student-Teacher Relationships As a Protective Factor for School Adjustment during the Transition from Middle to High School.

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Longobardi, Claudio; Prino, Laura E; Marengo, Davide; Settanni, Michele

2016-01-01

with teachers significantly predicted an increase in conduct problems and hyperactive behaviors. This study supports the significance of student-teacher relationships as a protective factor during students' transition to high-school. Our findings also highlight the importance of relationship quality in preventing students' risk of school failure.

Association between junk food consumption and fast-food outlet access near school among Quebec secondary-school children: findings from the Quebec Health Survey of High School Students (QHSHSS) 2010-11.

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Cutumisu, Nicoleta; Traoré, Issouf; Paquette, Marie-Claude; Cazale, Linda; Camirand, Hélène; Lalonde, Benoit; Robitaille, Eric

2017-04-01

We investigated the association between junk food consumption at lunchtime (JCL) and fast-food outlet access near school among secondary-school children in Quebec. A geographic information system database was used to characterize the food environment around a sub-sample of 374 public schools in which 26 655 students were enrolled. The outcome variable was JCL during the previous week, dichotomized into low JCL (none or once) v. high JCL (twice or more). Access to fast-food outlets near school was assessed using an existing database of fast-food outlets in Quebec. Covariates included student (age, sex and self-rated perceived health), family (familial status and parental education) and school (urban/rural status and deprivation) variables. Hierarchical logistic regression models were employed for analyses using PROC GLIMMIX of SAS version 9.3. Province of Quebec, Canada. We used data from the Quebec Health Survey of High School Students (QHSHSS) 2010-11, a survey of secondary-school Quebec students. Exposure to two or more fast-food outlets within a radius of 750 m around schools was associated with a higher likelihood of excess JCL (OR=1·50; 95 % CI 1·28, 1·75), controlling for the characteristics of the students, their families and their schools. The food environment surrounding schools can constitute a target for interventions to improve food choices among secondary-school children living in the province of Quebec. Transforming environments around schools to promote healthy eating includes modifying zoning regulations that restrict access to fast-food outlets around schools.

Tips for Finding the Right Partner. A TASC Resource Guide

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ExpandED Schools, 2014

2014-01-01

ExpandED Schools (formerly TASC) has spent the past 17 years helping schools and community organizations find the right partners. This resource guide offers a guide to the strategic questions school teams might ask themselves and their potential partners to have the best outcomes for young people. The following attachment is included: School…

Chronic School Absenteeism and the Role of Adverse Childhood Experiences.

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Stempel, Hilary; Cox-Martin, Matthew; Bronsert, Michael; Dickinson, L Miriam; Allison, Mandy A

To examine the association between chronic school absenteeism and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) among school-age children. We conducted a secondary analysis of data from the 2011-2012 National Survey of Children's Health including children 6 to 17 years old. The primary outcome variable was chronic school absenteeism (≥15 days absent in the past year). We examined the association between chronic school absenteeism and ACEs by logistic regression with weighting for individual ACEs, summed ACE score, and latent class analysis of ACEs. Among the 58,765 school-age children in the study sample, 2416 (4.1%) experienced chronic school absenteeism. Witnessing or experiencing neighborhood violence was the only individual ACE significantly associated with chronic absenteeism (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 1.55, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.20-2.01). Having 1 or more ACE was significantly associated with chronic absenteeism: 1 ACE (aOR 1.35, 95% CI 1.02-1.79), 2 to 3 ACEs (aOR 1.81, 95% CI 1.39-2.36), and ≥4 ACEs (aOR 1.79, 95% CI 1.32-2.43). Three of the latent classes were also associated with chronic absenteeism, and children in these classes had a high probability of endorsing neighborhood violence, family substance use, or having multiple ACEs. ACE exposure was associated with chronic school absenteeism in school-age children. To improve school attendance, along with future graduation rates and long-term health, these findings highlight the need for an interdisciplinary approach to address child adversity that involves pediatricians, mental health providers, schools, and public health partners. Copyright © 2017 Academic Pediatric Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Prediction of enjoyment in school physical education.

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Gråstén, Arto; Jaakkola, Timo; Liukkonen, Jarmo; Watt, Anthony; Yli-Piipari, Sami

2012-01-01

The specific aim of this study was to examine whether motivational climate, perceived physical competence, and exercise motivation predict enjoyment in school physical education within the same sample of adolescents across three years of secondary school. A sample of 639 students (girls = 296, boys = 343) aged between 13- to 15-years at the commencement of the study completed the Intrinsic Motivation Climate in Physical Education Questionnaire, Physical Self-Perception Profile, Physical Education Motivation Scale, and Physical Education Enjoyment Scale. Results derived from path analyses indicated that task-involving motivational climate predicted enjoyment in physical education via perceived physical competence and intrinsic motivation in both girls and boys. In particular, these results supported previous findings of Vallerand et. al (1997) with the self-determination theory and the achievement goal theory. Ego-involving climate was not a significant predictor either in girls or boys. The current results provide continuing support for the investigation of Vallerand's model in the physical education setting, and highlight that motivational climate is an area that requires further evaluation as a contributing factor in the improvement of physical education teaching. A better understanding of the role of motivational climate may assist efforts to promote children's and adolescents' perceived physical competence, intrinsic motivation, and enjoyment in the school physical education setting. Key pointsThe findings of the current study support existing suggestions of Vallerand's (1997) model in which social factors mediated by a psychological mediator, and exercise motivation are related to positive consequences in the PE context.Task-involving motivational climate predicted PE enjoyment via perceived physical competence and intrinsic motivation with both girls and boys. Task-involving motivational climate in PE lessons at Grade 7 had a strong association with PE

Podcasting as a novel way to communicate with medical school applicants.

Science.gov (United States)

Ferguson, Benjamin D; Bister, Mary K; Krapec, Joni N

2014-09-01

Podcasting in medical education is becoming more widely used and may be a useful tool for communicating with applicants to medical school. Given recent trends in the popularity of podcasting and mobile media, we created a podcast to communicate more effectively with applicants to our medical school as well as with the broader premedical community. The purpose of this study was to characterize the listening habits and motivations of our audience and compare the podcast's benefits to those of other resources. We additionally sought to understand patterns by which our podcast was consumed by a premedical audience. We surveyed medical school applicants who interviewed at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine for matriculation in 2013. Forty-one percent of those surveyed had listened to the podcast prior to their interview. Only 12 % of listeners accessed the podcast using a mobile device. Ninety-two percent of listeners felt that it faithfully represented the medical school, and 81 % felt that listening would encourage the decision to matriculate. A majority of listeners responded that the podcast was more helpful than other traditional resources. This is the first use of podcasting in medical school admissions and represents a novel way to communicate with prospective students. Our findings demonstrate that podcasting can be an effective tool for communicating with applicants to medical school and highlight its usefulness in recruitment. This method of communication could be adopted by other medical schools to enhance the ways in which they inform their own prospective medical students.

Connecting Students to Mental Health Care: Pilot Findings from an Engagement Program for School Nurses

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Kim, Rachel E.; Becker, Kimberly D.; Stephan, Sharon H.; Hakimian, Serop; Apocada, Dee; Escudero, Pia V.; Chorpita, Bruce F.

2015-01-01

Schools function as the major provider of mental health services (MHS) for youth, but can struggle with engaging them in services. School nurses are well-positioned to facilitate referrals for MHS. This pilot study examined the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of an engagement protocol (EP) designed to enhance school nurses'…

The Educational Benefits of Attending Higher Performing Schools: Evidence from Chicago High Schools

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Allensworth, Elaine M.; Moore, Paul T.; Sartain, Lauren; de la Torre, Marisa

2017-01-01

Policymakers are implementing reforms with the assumption that students do better when attending high-achieving schools. In this article, we use longitudinal data from Chicago Public Schools to test that assumption. We find that the effects of attending a higher performing school depend on the school's performance level. At elite public schools…

Trading Places: Autism Inclusion Disorder and School Change

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Lilley, Rozanna

2015-01-01

This article investigates the experiences of students diagnosed with autism who change schools during the early primary years in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. Using the narratives of eight mothers, the article documents the circumstances leading to school change, usually towards more segregated provision. Mothers highlighted the difficulty of…

Transformation of children's mental health services: the role of school mental health.

Science.gov (United States)

Stephan, Sharon Hoover; Weist, Mark; Kataoka, Sheryl; Adelsheim, Steven; Mills, Carrie

2007-10-01

The New Freedom Commission has called for a transformation in the delivery of mental health services in this country. The commission's report and recommendations have highlighted the role of school mental health services in transforming mental health care for children and adolescents. This article examines the intersection of school mental health programs and the commission's recommendations in order to highlight the role of school mental health in the transformation of the child and adolescent mental health system. Schools are uniquely positioned to play a central role in improving access to child mental health services and in supporting mental health and wellness as well as academic functioning of youths. The New Freedom Commission report articulated several goals related to school mental health: reducing stigma, preventing suicide, improving screening and treating co-occurring disorders, and expanding school mental health programs. The authors suggest strategies for change, including demonstrating relevance to schools, developing consensus among stakeholders, enhancing community mental health-school connections, building quality assessment and improvement, and considering the organizational context of schools.

Friendship Quality and School Achievement: A Longitudinal Analysis during Primary School

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Zucchetti, Giulia; Candela, Filippo; Sacconi, Beatrice; Rabaglietti, Emanuela

2015-01-01

This study examined the longitudinal relationship between friendship quality (positive and negative) and school achievement among 228 school-age children (51% girls, M = 8.09, SD = 0.41). A three-wave cross-lagged analysis was used to determine the direction of influence between these domains across school years. Findings revealed that: (a) school…

Wolakota Waldorf School.

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Hamilton, Candy

1998-01-01

Wolakota Waldorf School on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, South Dakota, finds that the Waldorf system works well with Lakota values and culture. Describes a typical day for the kindergarten-only school; its relationship to the local K-12 school; its emphasis on social skills, imagination, play, the Lakota way, and family involvement; and its…

Students with Chronic Health Conditions: The Role of The School Nurse. Position Statement

Science.gov (United States)

Combe, Laurie G.; Mattern, Cheryl; Fleming, Laurie; Killingsworth, Suzie

2017-01-01

It is the position of the National Association of School Nurses (NASN) that to optimize student health, safety, and learning, a professional registered school nurse (hereinafter referred to as school nurse) be present all day, every day. The American Academy of Pediatrics' Council on School Health (2016) highlights the important role school nurses…

Two Years of Case Management: Final Findings from the Communities in Schools Random Assignment Evaluation

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Parise, Leigh M.; Corrin, William; Granito, Kelly; Haider, Zeest; Somers, Marie-Andrée; Cerna, Oscar

2017-01-01

While high school graduation rates are on the rise nationwide, too many students still never reach that milestone, with 7,000 on average dropping out every day. Recognizing that many students need additional support to succeed in school, Communities In Schools (CIS) works to provide and connect students with integrated support services to keep…

Motives and Power of School Board Members: Implications for School Board-Superintendent Relationships

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Mountford, Meredith

2004-01-01

The qualitative study presented in this article explores motivations for school board membership and conceptions of power held by school board members. The findings of the study suggest a relationship exists between the way board members define power and the type of motivation board members have for service. The implications of these findings for…

High School Physics Students' Personal Epistemologies and School Science Practice

Science.gov (United States)

Alpaslan, Muhammet Mustafa; Yalvac, Bugrahan; Loving, Cathleen

2017-11-01

This case study explores students' physics-related personal epistemologies in school science practices. The school science practices of nine eleventh grade students in a physics class were audio-taped over 6 weeks. The students were also interviewed to find out their ideas on the nature of scientific knowledge after each activity. Analysis of transcripts yielded several epistemological resources that students activated in their school science practice. The findings show that there is inconsistency between students' definitions of scientific theories and their epistemological judgments. Analysis revealed that students used several epistemological resources to decide on the accuracy of their data including accuracy via following the right procedure and accuracy via what the others find. Traditional, formulation-based, physics instruction might have led students to activate naive epistemological resources that prevent them to participate in the practice of science in ways that are more meaningful. Implications for future studies are presented.

Secondary Modern School Education: An Essay in Subjugation and Repression

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Dash, Paul

2012-01-01

This article reflects on the inequity of secondary modern school education. In doing so it draws heavily on the experience of the author while highlighting inputs from others who failed the 11+ examination and were banished to such schools. The article argues that selection undermines the self-esteem of secondary modern school pupils and places…

No One Way: Differentiating School District Leadership and Support for School Improvement

Science.gov (United States)

Anderson, Stephen E.; Mascall, Blair; Stiegelbauer, Suzanne; Park, Jaddon

2012-01-01

This article examines findings from a qualitative investigation of how school district administrators in four mid to large sized urban school districts (10,000-50,000) identify and address differences in school performance. The analysis explores the interaction between district policies and actions that centralize and standardize expectations for…

A STUDY ON PREVALENCE OF OBESITY IN SCHOOL CHILDREN IN A RURAL POPULATION IN SOUTH KERALA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nesamony Maneksh Kumar

2017-05-01

Full Text Available BACKGROUND Obesity is defined as having excess body fat due to ‘calorie imbalance’ -too few calories expended for the amount of calories consumed. Childhood obesity has both immediate and long-term effects on health and well-being. This study is aimed to highlight the burden of obesity among school children. The objectives of this study are to find the prevalence of obesity among school children aged 11-15 years and to compare prevalence of obesity among school children of government and private schools. MATERIALS AND METHODS School-based cross-sectional study conducted in 2 private and 2 government schools of a rural area in Trivandrum district. Total 800 students (200 from each school aged 11-15 years in 6 th to 10 th standards were selected by systematic random sampling and consent were obtained. Height (cm and weight (kg were measured using stadiometer and standardised weighing machine, respectively. Body Mass Index (BMI was calculated and categorised as underweight, normal, overweight and obese. The prevalence is expressed in percentages. RESULTS In this study, the total prevalence of overweight and obesity among the total 800 school children is found to be 4% and 1%, respectively. An alarming incidental finding is that the underweight prevalence is 61%, which is significantly high and should be addressed. The overall prevalence of overweight and obesity is 4.25% and 1.75%, respectively in private schools, whereas it is 3.5% and 1%, respectively, in government schools. There is not a significant difference between private and government school children. This may be due to the awareness about problems of obesity and its effects among school children and also timely health checkups in the schools. CONCLUSION This study done in a rural area found that there is a significant prevalence of obesity and overweight as well as a very high prevalence of underweight. It indicates that childhood obesity is an emerging health problem in rural areas

Managing Food Allergies at School: Teachers and Paraeducators

Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Podcasts

2015-01-20

This podcast highlights the role of teachers and paraeducators in the management of food allergies in schools. It also identifies CDC food allergy resources for schools.  Created: 1/20/2015 by National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPHP).   Date Released: 1/20/2015.

Making Room for New Public Schools: How Innovative School Districts Are Learning to Share Public Education Facilities with Charter Schools

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Sazon, Maria C.

2011-01-01

All public school children are entitled to quality public educational facilities--including those who attend public charter schools. Yet charter school leaders often spend substantial time and money searching for a facility. When they find one, they encounter significant costs associated with leasing or purchasing the building. They may have to…

Doing Business with Entrepreneurial America: Protecting School District Interests.

Science.gov (United States)

McCord, Robert S.; Mattocks, T. C.; Kops, Gerald

This paper attempts to identify benchmark considerations when entertaining the question of private management of public school facilities. Management possibilities include contracting for services and charter conversion. The paper also highlights elements of contract law pertinent to formal agreements made between school districts and private…

School and Asthma

Science.gov (United States)

... Videos for Educators Search English Español School and Asthma KidsHealth / For Kids / School and Asthma Print en ... Let's find out. Why Do I Need an Asthma Action Plan? When you're dealing with asthma, ...

Evidence-based speech-language pathology practices in schools: findings from a national survey.

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Hoffman, Lavae M; Ireland, Marie; Hall-Mills, Shannon; Flynn, Perry

2013-07-01

This study documented evidence-based practice (EBP) patterns as reported by speech-language pathologists (SLPs) employed in public schools during 2010-2011. Using an online survey, practioners reported their EBP training experiences, resources available in their workplaces, and the frequency with which they engage in specific EBP activities, as well as their resource needs and future training format preferences. A total of 2,762 SLPs in 28 states participated in the online survey, 85% of whom reported holding the Certificate of Clinical Competence in Speech-Language Pathology credential. Results revealed that one quarter of survey respondents had no formal training in EBP, 11% of SLPs worked in school districts with official EBP procedural guidelines, and 91% had no scheduled time to support EBP activities. The majority of SLPs posed and researched 0 to 2 EBP questions per year and read 0 to 4 American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) journal articles per year on either assessment or intervention topics. Use of ASHA online resources and engagement in EBP activities were documented to be low. However, results also revealed that school-based SLPs have high interest in additional training and resources to support scientifically based practices. Suggestions for enhancing EBP support in public schools and augmenting knowledge transfer are provided.

"Teachers Should Be like Second Parents": Affectivity, Schooling and Poverty in Mexico

Science.gov (United States)

Blasco, Maribel

2004-01-01

The paper highlights the importance of affectivity in school retention in public secondary schools in Guadalajara, Mexico, in a socioeconomic context where the students themselves often decide whether to stay in school or to drop out. In such contexts, students' feelings towards the school and the teachers can become crucial in deciding whether to…

School choice & social stratification: how intra-district transfers shift the racial/ethnic and economic composition of schools.

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Phillips, Kristie J R; Larsen, Elisabeth S; Hausman, Charles

2015-05-01

The liberation model hypothesizes that school choice liberates students from underperforming schools by giving them the opportunity to seek academically superior schooling options outside of their neighborhoods. Subsequently, school choice is hypothesized to diminish stratification in schools. Data from one urban school district is analyzed to test these hypotheses. We specifically examine which factors influence the propensity for parents to participate in choice, and how school choice changes the racial/ethnic and economic composition of schools. We further examine how school choice influences similar changes within distinct sociogeographic areas within the district. We find that families who are zoned to more racially/ethnically and economically diverse schools in sociogeographically diverse areas are more likely to participate in school choice. We also find that intra-district choice is associated with a slight increase in social stratification throughout the district, with more substantial stratification occurring in the most demographically diverse areas and schools. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Children's Food and Drink Purchasing Behaviour "Beyond the School Gate": The Development of a Survey Module.

Science.gov (United States)

Wills, Wendy J; Macdiarmid, Jennie I; Masson, Lindsey F; Bromley, Catherine; Craig, Leone; McNeill, Geraldine

2013-01-01

Many children eat a diet which supplies a higher than recommended amount of nonmilk extrinsic sugars and saturated fatty acids. The school setting is often targeted for nutrition intervention as many children consume food at school. In Scotland, attempts have been made to improve the nutritional content of food in schools and attention has now turned to food and drink available "beyond the school gate." This paper describes the development of a module on food and drink purchasing behaviour. The Food Purchasing Module was designed to collect data, for the first time, from a representative sample of children aged 8-16 years about food and drinks purchased on the way to/from school, during break time/free periods, and at lunchtime, from outlets around schools. Cognitive testing of the module highlighted that younger children find self-completion questionnaires problematic. Older children have fewer problems with self-completion questionnaires but many do not follow question routing, which has implications for the delivery of future surveys. Development of this survey module adds much needed evidence about effectively involving children in surveys. Further research exploring food and drinks purchased beyond the school gate is needed to continue to improve the nutritional quality of children's diets.

Legal Understanding of "Quid Pro Quo" Sexual Harassment in Schools

Science.gov (United States)

Mahlangu, Vimbi Petrus

2017-01-01

This paper highlights legal understanding of quid pro quo sexual harassment in schools. Quid pro quo sexual harassment implies abuse of authority or position to gain something sexual. A duty of care rests on teachers, Schools Governing Bodies and the Department of Education to provide and maintain safe schools that are free from all forms of…

Self-harm in adolescence: protective health assets in the family, school and community.

Science.gov (United States)

Klemera, Ellen; Brooks, Fiona M; Chester, Kayleigh L; Magnusson, Josefine; Spencer, Neil

2017-07-01

The aim of this paper was to examine if the multiple environments of the adolescent including family, peers, school and neighbourhood might function as protective health assets against self-harming behaviour during adolescence. The present study utilised data collected from 1608 respondents aged 15 years as part of the England WHO Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) Study. Multilevel modelling was undertaken using the package MLwiN (version 2.33) to investigate the potential domains and dimensions of family life, school culture and environment, and neighbourhood factors that may operate as protective health assets. The results indicated that while peer support did not appear to operate as a protective health asset in the context of self-harm, key dimensions of adolescent/parent interaction and adolescent experience of the school culture and their neighbourhood were associated with reduced likelihood of self-harming behaviours during adolescence. The Findings highlight the significance of belonging and connectedness as important constituent elements of protective health assets for young people. Interventions that address the multiple environments of the young person, may offer an effective means to reduce the levels of self-harm.

School Starting Age and Crime

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Landersø, Rasmus; Nielsen, Helena Skyt; Simonsen, Marianne

This paper investigates the effects of school starting age on crime while relying on variation in school starting age induced by administrative rules; we exploit that Danish children typically start first grade in the calendar year they turn seven, which gives rise to a discontinuity in children......’s school starting age. Analyses are carried out using register-based Danish data. We find that higher age at school start lowers the propensity to commit crime, but that this reduction is caused by incapacitation while human capital accumulation is unaffected. Importantly, we also find that the individuals...

Symmetric configurations highlighted by collective quantum coherence

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Obster, Dennis [Radboud University, Institute for Mathematics, Astrophysics and Particle Physics, Nijmegen (Netherlands); Kyoto University, Yukawa Institute for Theoretical Physics, Kyoto (Japan); Sasakura, Naoki [Kyoto University, Yukawa Institute for Theoretical Physics, Kyoto (Japan)

2017-11-15

Recent developments in quantum gravity have shown the Lorentzian treatment to be a fruitful approach towards the emergence of macroscopic space-times. In this paper, we discuss another related aspect of the Lorentzian treatment: we argue that collective quantum coherence may provide a simple mechanism for highlighting symmetric configurations over generic non-symmetric ones. After presenting the general framework of the mechanism, we show the phenomenon in some concrete simple examples in the randomly connected tensor network, which is tightly related to a certain model of quantum gravity, i.e., the canonical tensor model. We find large peaks at configurations invariant under Lie-group symmetries as well as a preference for charge quantization, even in the Abelian case. In future study, this simple mechanism may provide a way to analyze the emergence of macroscopic space-times with global symmetries as well as various other symmetries existing in nature, which are usually postulated. (orig.)

Naïve conceptions about multimedia learning: a study on primary school textbooks.

Science.gov (United States)

Colombo, Barbara; Antonietti, Alessandro

2013-01-01

HIGHLIGHTSThis interview study explores beliefs about the instructional role of illustrationsWe compared illustrators', teachers', students' and common people's ideasParticipants' responses were internally coherent and close to multimedia learning theoryWe propose and discuss an integrated multimedia learning model An interview study, based on specific pictures taken from textbooks used in primary schools, was carried out to investigate illustrators', teachers', students', and common people's beliefs about the role that illustrations play in facilitating learning. Participants' responses were internally coherent, indicating a systematic nature of the underlying naïve conceptions. Findings disprove Mayer's pessimistic claim that laypersons' conceptions of multimedia learning fail to match experimentally supported principles and theories. On the contrary, interviewees spontaneously came very close to the multimedia learning theory, which states that students learn better from pictures, which fit specific cognitive principles. Implications for school instruction are highlighted.

Brookhaven highlights, 1986-1987

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rowe, M.S.

1988-01-01

The highlights of research conducted between October 1985 and September 1987 at Brookhaven National Laboratory are reviewed in this publication. Also covered are the administrative and financial status of the laboratory and a brief mention of meetings held and honors received. (FI)

How to find gold and gems: Introduction to gemology in school

Science.gov (United States)

Bauer, Gregory

2016-04-01

Gemology is a part of geosciences usually not taught in French schools or universities, only in some private professional training centers. Teachers and students have often knowledge coming only from their non-professional activities; nevertheless a lot of jobs are linked to gemology. In our high school we propose optional education for students in 2nd class (about 16 years old) in that they can discover gemology and mine linked jobs. We study gemstones and how they are categorized with their crystal structure, specific gravity, hardness, and optical properties. We study chemical composition, accumulation processes and deposit identification in their geological context. We use spectroscopic and isotopic analysis of cut gemstones to understand the atomic structure and identify its origin, which is also a factor in valuing a gemstone. Our region is also rich in gold and silver so we see in our program precious metals deposit processes too.

Middle School Students' Perceptions of the Quality of School Life in Ankara

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Eres, Figen; Bilasa, Pinar

2016-01-01

The aim of this research is to measure the perception of middle school students in Ankara regarding the quality of school life. According to the findings obtained, the students have moderate level perceptions about the quality of school life. Their perceptions about sub-dimensions vary. While the students have the highest perceptions about…

Promoting physical activity with a school-based dance mat exergaming intervention: qualitative findings from a natural experiment.

Science.gov (United States)

Burges Watson, Duika; Adams, Jean; Azevedo, Liane B; Haighton, Catherine

2016-07-20

Physical activity is critical to improving health and well-being in children. Quantitative studies have found a decline in activity in the transition from primary to secondary education. Exergames (active video games) might increase physical activity in adolescents. In January 2011 exergame dance mat systems were introduced in to all secondary schools across two local authority districts in the UK. We performed a quasi-experimental evaluation of a natural experiment using a mixed methods design. The quantitative findings from this work have been previously published. The aim of this linked qualitative study was to explore the implementation of the dance mat scheme and offer insights into its uptake as a physical activity intervention. Embedded qualitative interviews at baseline and 12 month follow-up with purposively selected physical education teachers (n = 20) and 25 focus groups with a convenience sample of pupils (n = 120) from five intervention schools were conducted. Analysis was informed by sociology of translation approach. At baseline, participants (both teachers and pupils) reported different expectations about the dance mats and how they could be employed. Variation in use was seen at follow-up. In some settings they were frequently used to engage hard to reach groups of pupils. Overall, the dance mats were not used routinely to increase physical activity. However there were other unanticipated benefits to pupils such as improved reaction time, co-ordination and mathematic skills. The use of dance mats was limited in routine physical education classes because of contextual issues (school/government policy) technological failures (batteries/updates) and because of expectations about how and where they could be used. Our linked quantitative study (previously published) suggested that the dance mats were not particularly effective in increasing physical activity, but the qualitative results (reported here) show that the dance mats were not used

Promoting physical activity with a school-based dance mat exergaming intervention: qualitative findings from a natural experiment

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Duika Burges Watson

2016-07-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Physical activity is critical to improving health and well-being in children. Quantitative studies have found a decline in activity in the transition from primary to secondary education. Exergames (active video games might increase physical activity in adolescents. In January 2011 exergame dance mat systems were introduced in to all secondary schools across two local authority districts in the UK. We performed a quasi-experimental evaluation of a natural experiment using a mixed methods design. The quantitative findings from this work have been previously published. The aim of this linked qualitative study was to explore the implementation of the dance mat scheme and offer insights into its uptake as a physical activity intervention. Methods Embedded qualitative interviews at baseline and 12 month follow-up with purposively selected physical education teachers (n = 20 and 25 focus groups with a convenience sample of pupils (n = 120 from five intervention schools were conducted. Analysis was informed by sociology of translation approach. Results At baseline, participants (both teachers and pupils reported different expectations about the dance mats and how they could be employed. Variation in use was seen at follow-up. In some settings they were frequently used to engage hard to reach groups of pupils. Overall, the dance mats were not used routinely to increase physical activity. However there were other unanticipated benefits to pupils such as improved reaction time, co-ordination and mathematic skills. The use of dance mats was limited in routine physical education classes because of contextual issues (school/government policy technological failures (batteries/updates and because of expectations about how and where they could be used. Conclusions Our linked quantitative study (previously published suggested that the dance mats were not particularly effective in increasing physical activity, but the qualitative

Child Allergic Symptoms and Well-Being at School: Findings from ALSPAC, a UK Cohort Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Teyhan, Alison; Galobardes, Bruna; Henderson, John

2015-01-01

Eczema and asthma are common conditions in childhood that can influence children's mental health. Despite this, little is known about how these conditions affect the well-being of children in school. This study examines whether symptoms of eczema or asthma are associated with poorer social and mental well-being in school as reported by children and their teachers at age 8 years. Participants were from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. Measures of child well-being in school were child-reported (n = 6626) and teacher reported (n = 4366): children reported on their enjoyment of school and relationships with peers via a self-complete questionnaire; teachers reported child mental well-being using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire [binary outcomes were high 'internalizing' (anxious/depressive) and 'externalizing' (oppositional/hyperactive) problems (high was >90th percentile)]. Child rash and wheeze status were maternally reported and symptoms categorised as: 'none'; 'early onset transient' (infancy/preschool only); 'persistent' (infancy/preschool and at school age); and 'late onset' (school age only). Children with persistent (OR 1.29, 95% CI 1.02 to 1.63) and late onset (OR 1.48, 95% CI 1.02 to 2.14) rash were more likely to report being bullied, and children with persistent wheeze to feel left out (OR 1.42, 95% CI 1.10 to 1.84). Late onset rash was associated with high teacher-reported internalising behaviours (OR 1.61, 95% CI 1.02 to 2.54), and persistent rash with high externalising behaviours (OR 1.37, 95% CI 1.02 to 1.84). Child sleep and maternal mental health explained some of the associations with teacher-reported mental well-being. Symptoms of eczema or asthma can adversely affect a child's social and mental well-being at primary school. This suggests interventions, such as additional support or education of peers, should begin at early stages in schooling.

The Development Needs of Newly Appointed Senior School Leaders in the Western Cape South Africa: A Case Study

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Nelius Jansen van Vuuren

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The essential role that senior school leaders play in school leadership teams to ensure effective strategic leadership in schools has been the subject of intense discussion for many years. Crucial to this debate is the establishment of professional learning and leadership approaches for newly appointed senior school leaders. Recommendations for policy and practice highlight the importance of appropriate, multifaceted, developmental support initiatives for newly appointed school leaders. In many countries, including South Africa, a teaching qualification and, in most cases, extensive teaching experience is the only requirement for being appointed as a senior school leader in a school. This tends to suggest that no further professional development is required for newly appointed school leaders, the problem addressed in this paper. This paper reports on the main findings of the perceived development needs of newly appointed senior school leaders in the Western Cape, South Africa, and suggests that school leaders occupy a unique and specialist role in education, which requires relevant and specific preparation to support effective leadership. The respondents of this study report a lack of contextualised training and support before and after their appointment in their new roles creating unique development needs. This paper, therefore, employs a mixed-method approach to gather data to understand the perceived needs of twenty newly appointed senior school leaders in the Western Cape, South Africa.

Children’s exposure to sustainability practices during the transition from preschool into school and their learning and socioemotional development

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Benner, Aprile D.; Thornton, Anna; Crosnoe, Robert

2017-01-01

Evidence that the learning gains of preschool fade as children transition into elementary school has led to increased efforts to sustain preschool advantages during this key transitional period. This study explores whether the observed benefits of sustainability practices for a range of child outcomes are explained and/or moderated by family and school mechanisms selecting children into experiencing these practices. Analyses of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort revealed that both family and school factors predicted children’s exposure to several PK-3 sustainability practices. PK-3 sustainability practices were associated with reading (but not math) gains and better interpersonal skills (but not fewer externalizing behaviors) following the transition into kindergarten. These links were not conditioned by the selection mechanisms. The findings highlight who is more likely to seek out (at the family level) or offer (at the school level) sustainability practices and how relevant they are to fighting preschool fadeout. PMID:28794610

Sugar Sweetened Beverage Consumption among Primary School Students: Influence of the Schools' Vicinity.

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Lebel, Alexandre; Morin, Pascale; Robitaille, Éric; Lalonde, Benoit; Florina Fratu, Ramona; Bisset, Sherri

2016-01-01

The purpose of the research was to explore the associations between the characteristics of schools' vicinity and the risk of sugar sweetened beverage (SSB) consumption in elementary students. Findings exposed an important variation in student's SSB consumption between schools. Schools with a lower socioeconomic status or in a densely built environment tend to have higher proportion of regular SSB drinkers. These characteristics of the school's vicinity partly explained the variation observed between them. We estimated that a student moving to a school with a higher proportion of SSB drinkers may increase his/her chances by 52% of becoming a daily consumer. Important changes in dietary preferences can occur when children are in contact with a new social environment. Findings also support the idea that dietary behaviors among children result from the complex interactions between biological, social, and environmental factors.

Professional development in the context of Healthy Schools in Quebec.

Science.gov (United States)

Deschesnes, Marthe; Tessier, Caroline; Couturier, Yves; Martin, Catherine

2015-06-01

This article reports preliminary research results on a professional development (PD) model as a mechanism for supporting absorption of the Healthy School (HS) approach into school functioning. The purpose of our study was to document the model implementation process and understand whether it influenced, or not, the accompanied actors' knowledge and practices about HS. The theoretical basis of the model and a description of its implementation, its appreciation by actors and its influence on their knowledge and confidence are presented. The research was conducted in three Quebec schools that had adopted this approach for at least 2 years. Multiple case study methodology, with pre- (T0) and post- (T1) intervention comparison, was adopted. The results disclose that the PD model implemented, which involves socio-constructivist accompaniment, has several assets that support the acquisition and application of new knowledge related to HS in order to promote its absorption within schools. Our findings indicate that PD likely reinforced the actors' knowledge and understanding as well as their confidence. The lessons drawn from the evaluation of this PD model could serve to enhance accompaniment methods implemented to promote the absorption of such initiatives in schools. Our data highlight the relevance and effectiveness of accompaniment anchored in action, calling for practice based on reflection and expert recommendations to meet the objectives of health and academic success. © The Author (2013). Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Understanding the school outcomes of juvenile offenders: an exploration of neighborhood influences and motivational resources.

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Chung, He Len; Mulvey, Edward P; Steinberg, Laurence

2011-08-01

As a group, delinquent youth complete less education and show poor academic outcomes compared to their non-delinquent peers. To better understand pathways to school success, this study integrated individual- and neighborhood-level data to examine academic functioning among 833 White, Black, and Hispanic male juvenile offenders (age 14-17) living in two urban communities. A multilevel path analysis confirmed that youth in relatively more affluent communities report greater access to opportunities in the areas of education and employment, and that these opportunities are associated with higher expectations to succeed and better grades. Findings highlight the importance of taking an ecological approach for understanding processes that shape school effort and achievement. Implications are discussed in the context of promoting academic success among juvenile offenders, specifically, and for understanding pathways to healthy adjustment, more generally.

Factors Influencing Innovative Behaviour of Teachers in Secondary Schools in the North East of Nigeria

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Faiza Abubakar Bawuro

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Innovative behaviour (IB refers to the process of developing, generating, applying or promoting new ideas by employees to increase job performance. Today, the rapid social and technological changes in our environment highlight the significance of IB of employees and especially for teachers. Thus, this paper aimed to develop a conceptual framework of factors influencing innovative behaviour of teachers in secondary schools. The research was explored through critical related literature analysis. Findings were presented in form of descriptive analysis, which shows that workplace happiness (WP, organisational climate (OC, affective commitment (AF and transformational leadership (TFL play a direct role in affecting innovative behaviour. The paper concludes that WP, OC, AF and TL have a positive impact in creating the essential conditions to encourage teachers to show IB in schools.

Administrative Problems in the Single-Track Year-Round High Schools: Research Findings and Guidelines.

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Holt, Laura L.; Karr-Kidwell, PJ

An analysis of the problems pertaining to the adoption of a year-round calendar for high schools, along with the advantages of year-round education (YRE), are examined. It provides a literary review (including historical contexts), types of calendars, benefits, administrative problems, and societal benefits. For the study, 28 schools responded to…

Teachers' and School Leaders' Perceptions of Commercialisation in Australian Public Schools

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Hogan, Anna; Thompson, Greg; Sellar, Sam; Lingard, Bob

2018-01-01

This paper explores teachers' and school leaders' perceptions of commercialisation in Australian public schools, reporting on findings from an open-ended survey question from an exploratory study that sought to investigate teacher and school leader perceptions and experiences of commercialisation. Commercialisation, for the purposes of this paper,…

Mathematical analysis of education tax in Nigerian private schools ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

To overcome inadequate funding of public schools, the introduction of education tax has been suggested in literature. This paper analysed the effects of such tax on private schools using mathematical models, and highlighted the ways for achieving the smooth functioning of the system. Three case senerios were studied: ...

Critical Theory: Implications for School Leadership Theory and Practice.

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Peca, Kathy

The school leader's behaviors are inspired by theories, and theories are intrinsic to practice. This paper provides an overview of an emerging perspective in educational administration, critical theory. The paper first highlights the philosophies of Immanuel Kant, Fichte, Hegel, Marx, and the Frankfurt School. It then discusses critical theory…

School Smarts: A Reflection of Pedagogical and Personal Insights

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Barrera, Magdalena L.

2014-01-01

Recent studies show that many college instructors still believe that Latino students lack the "school smarts" for academic success. This essay challenges the notion of school smarts in order to highlight Latino students' numerous strengths. I share my model for a mentorship program that facilitates better student-faculty…

Caregivers of School Children with Epilepsy: Findings of a Phenomenological Study

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Roberts, Jillian; Whiting, Cheryl

2011-01-01

Epilepsy is one of the most frequently diagnosed neurological disorders among children. Epilepsy is continuously linked with academic underachievement and social challenges. Despite the implications that these difficulties have for a child's educational success, little is known of how children with epilepsy experience school. Understanding how to…

Studies Highlight Biodiesel's Benefits

Science.gov (United States)

, Colo., July 6, 1998 — Two new studies highlight the benefits of biodiesel in reducing overall air Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) conducted both studies: An Overview of Biodiesel and Petroleum Diesel Life Cycles and Biodiesel Research Progress, 1992-1997. Biodiesel is a renewable diesel

Voices that want to be heard: Using bereaved Danish students suggestions to update school bereavement response plans.

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Lytje, Martin

2018-04-01

This study explored how Danish students experienced returning to school following parental bereavement. Eighteen focus group interviews were conducted with 39 participants aged 9 to 17. All participants had experienced the loss of a primary caregiver. Data collection was divided into two phases. In Phase I, 22 participants from four grief groups were interviewed 4 times over the course of a year. During Phase II, confirmatory focus groups were undertaken with the 17 participants. This article explores the findings related to ideas and suggestions made by the students about how the Danish school response could be improved to better meet their needs. The presentation of data is divided into seven themes, which are: Desired school response; Desired support from teachers; Desired boundaries between students and teachers; Desired collaboration; Desired support from peers; Desired rules and structure, and; Desires related to gifts and rituals. Study findings indicate that most students want to be included and have a say when the school plans how to respond to their loss. Students further highlight a need for teacher support when having to reconnect with the class; a need for set rules in relation to leaving the class when feeling sad, and; a need for schools to see the loss as a life-changing event, and grief as something that does not simply disappear after a few months. The article concludes by discussing the ways in which the recommendations provided by the participants can be incorporated into a modern revision of Danish school bereavement response plans.

An Investigation of the Attitudes of School Administrators and School Board Presidents Toward Career Education in Public Schools of New Mexico.

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Conley, Howard Keaton

In an effort to assess, compare, and contrast the attitudes of school administrators and board of education presidents toward career education in the public schools of New Mexico, 88 school districts in the State were surveyed. Findings included: (1) Most of the respondents agreed with the existing State-adopted career education definition with…

"Read All about It," and Teach Kids Using School Newspapers

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Padgett, Raven

2006-01-01

This article presents an adaptation from Communicator, 29 (January 2006), 5-6, in which the author discusses the value of a newspaper as well as the benefits of having a student-run newspaper at a school and highlights the use of school newspapers as a teaching tool. A school newspaper is an excellent way for students to practice their writing and…

20 CFR 416.934 - Impairments which may warrant a finding of presumptive disability or presumptive blindness.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... Blindness Presumptive Disability and Blindness § 416.934 Impairments which may warrant a finding of presumptive disability or presumptive blindness. We may make findings of presumptive disability and... school, because of mental deficiency or is unable to attend any type of school (or if beyond school age...

The school psychologist's role in implementing the principles of positive psychology in the development of the school

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Maksić Slavica B.

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The Serbian school system is currently undergoing a transformation process, dealing with important issues of interest to society as a whole. One of the possible directions of this transformation is the development of a positive school as an institution in which value is placed not only on achievement but also on the wellbeing of all parties. This paper considers to what extent the professional potential of school psychologists could be utilized in this process. The analysis presented here aims to reassess the possibilities of applying the principles of positive psychology to defining and implementing the role of school psychologists, and to put forward along these lines certain suggestions for their practical work. For this purpose, we have reviewed the theoretical foundations of positive education and related research findings, analysed regulations and research findings regarding the work of school psychologists in Serbian schools, and discussed prospects for their further engagement from the standpoint of contemporary theories of organizational changes and development. The possibilities for creating a positive school have been corroborated through numerous studies. According to Serbian school regulations, the school psychologist is expected to be engaged in improving all aspects of work in a school, as well as relationships between all participants in that process. Research findings on building a positive school provide a stimulus, while the position of the school psychologist provides the basis for his or her engagement in the process of transforming Serbian schools into positive schools. The conclusion is that school psychologists could contribute to the development of the school as a positive institution provided their professional role is redefined in accordance with the principles of positive psychology.

School inclusion in youth and adult education

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Eglaucimara Oliveira Rodriguez

2017-05-01

Full Text Available This study investigates teachers’ perceptions about the assistance provided to students with special educational needs, developmental disorders and high skills or giftedness at a state educational institution in Londrina (Brazil which offers exclusively Youth and Adult Education modality. For this, we applied an instrument to collect data with 24 participants whose questions were about school inclusion in Youth and Adult Education. The results showed that most teachers did not receive specific training to support pupils with special educational needs. These professionals reported that they are dissatisfied with the developed work, highlighting the lack of training and capacitating programs as the main cause. Data also showed that, in seeking help and support for professional practice, teachers usually rely on colleagues with specific training and the school teaching staff. Several points highlighted as barriers for effective school inclusion are related to questions present in any heterogeneous class and not specifically with students with special educational needs. Thus, it is believed that the inclusion in the school environment can be a reality and the teacher is a key element in the consolidation of this process.

Expression QTL analysis of top loci from GWAS meta-analysis highlights additional schizophrenia candidate genes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

de Jong, Simone; van Eijk, Kristel R; Zeegers, Dave W L H

2012-01-01

of the Psychiatric GWAS consortium (PGC) yielded five novel loci for schizophrenia. In this study, we aim to highlight additional schizophrenia susceptibility loci from the PGC study by combining the top association findings from the discovery stage (9394 schizophrenia cases and 12 462 controls) with expression QTLs...

Children's Food and Drink Purchasing Behaviour “Beyond the School Gate”: The Development of a Survey Module

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Wills, Wendy J.; Macdiarmid, Jennie I.; Masson, Lindsey F.; McNeill, Geraldine

2013-01-01

Many children eat a diet which supplies a higher than recommended amount of nonmilk extrinsic sugars and saturated fatty acids. The school setting is often targeted for nutrition intervention as many children consume food at school. In Scotland, attempts have been made to improve the nutritional content of food in schools and attention has now turned to food and drink available “beyond the school gate.” This paper describes the development of a module on food and drink purchasing behaviour. The Food Purchasing Module was designed to collect data, for the first time, from a representative sample of children aged 8–16 years about food and drinks purchased on the way to/from school, during break time/free periods, and at lunchtime, from outlets around schools. Cognitive testing of the module highlighted that younger children find self-completion questionnaires problematic. Older children have fewer problems with self-completion questionnaires but many do not follow question routing, which has implications for the delivery of future surveys. Development of this survey module adds much needed evidence about effectively involving children in surveys. Further research exploring food and drinks purchased beyond the school gate is needed to continue to improve the nutritional quality of children's diets. PMID:24959546

Case Study: Fort Mill High School--A Culture of Continuous Improvement

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Southern Regional Education Board (SREB), 2014

2014-01-01

This is the latest in a series of case studies highlighting best practices High Schools That Work (HSTW) network schools and districts are implementing to prepare students better for further studies and careers. Fort Mill High School is in Fort Mill, South Carolina, an outlying suburb of Charlotte, North Carolina. Fort Mill links high quality…

75 FR 4566 - Findings of Misconduct in Science

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-28

... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Office of the Secretary Findings of Misconduct in Science... of HHS, issued a final notice of debarment based on the misconduct in science findings of the Office..., School of Nursing, TSU, committed misconduct in science and research misconduct in research supported by...

Wellbeing, alcohol use and sexual activity in young teenagers: findings from a cross-sectional survey in school children in North West England

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Kelly Imogen E

2010-11-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Adolescent health is a growing concern. High rates of binge drinking and teenage pregnancies, documented in the UK, are two measures defining poor wellbeing. Improving wellbeing through schools is a priority but information on the impact of wellbeing on alcohol use, and on sexual activity among schoolchildren is limited. Methods A cross-sectional survey using self-completed questionnaires was conducted among 3,641 schoolchildren aged 11-14 years due to participate in a sex and relationships education pilot programme in 15 high schools in North West England. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were conducted to examine the relationship between wellbeing and alcohol use, and wellbeing and sexual activity. Results A third of 11 year olds, rising to two-thirds of 14 year olds, had drunk alcohol. Children with positive school wellbeing had lower odds of ever drinking alcohol, drinking often, engaging in any sexual activity, and of having sex. General wellbeing had a smaller effect. The strength of the association between alcohol use and the prevalence of sexual activity in 13-14 year olds, increased incrementally with the higher frequency of alcohol use. Children drinking once a week or more had 12-fold higher odds of any sexual activity, and 10-fold higher odds of having sex. Rare and occasional drinkers had a significantly higher odds compared with non-drinkers. Conclusions The relationship between wellbeing and alcohol use, and wellbeing and sexual activity reinforces the importance of initiatives that enhance positive wellbeing in schoolchildren. The association between alcohol use and sexual activity highlights the need for integrated public health programmes. Policies restricting alcohol use may help reduce sexual exposure among young teenagers.

Simulating school closure policies for cost effective pandemic decision making

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Araz Ozgur M

2012-06-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Around the globe, school closures were used sporadically to mitigate the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic. However, such closures can detrimentally impact economic and social life. Methods Here, we couple a decision analytic approach with a mathematical model of influenza transmission to estimate the impact of school closures in terms of epidemiological and cost effectiveness. Our method assumes that the transmissibility and the severity of the disease are uncertain, and evaluates several closure and reopening strategies that cover a range of thresholds in school-aged prevalence (SAP and closure durations. Results Assuming a willingness to pay per quality adjusted life-year (QALY threshold equal to the US per capita GDP ($46,000, we found that the cost effectiveness of these strategies is highly dependent on the severity and on a willingness to pay per QALY. For severe pandemics, the preferred strategy couples the earliest closure trigger (0.5% SAP with the longest duration closure (24 weeks considered. For milder pandemics, the preferred strategies also involve the earliest closure trigger, but are shorter duration (12 weeks for low transmission rates and variable length for high transmission rates. Conclusions These findings highlight the importance of obtaining early estimates of pandemic severity and provide guidance to public health decision-makers for effectively tailoring school closures strategies in response to a newly emergent influenza pandemic.

Strengthening "the Foundations" of the Primary School Curriculum

Science.gov (United States)

Duncombe, Rebecca; Cale, Lorraine; Harris, Jo

2018-01-01

The low status of the foundation subjects (e.g. Music and Physical Education (PE)) in English primary schools is well documented. Using PE as an illustrative example, a thematic analysis of 51 PE trainee students' assignments, based on their perceptions of a two-week experience in a primary school, highlighted a number of areas of concern (e.g.…

Teachers' Knowledge and Readiness towards Implementation of School Based Assessment in Secondary Schools

Science.gov (United States)

Veloo, Arsaythamby; Krishnasamy, Hariharan N.; Md-Ali, Ruzlan

2015-01-01

School-Based Assessment (SBA) was implemented in Malaysian secondary schools in 2012. Since its implementation, teachers have faced several challenges to meet the aims and objectives of the School-Based Assessment. Based on these challenges this study aims to find the level of teachers' knowledge and readiness towards the implementation of…

Putting Research into Practice in School Violence Prevention and Intervention: How Is School Counseling Doing?

Science.gov (United States)

McAdams, Charles; Shillingford, M. Ann; Trice-Black, Shannon

2011-01-01

This article reports the findings of a national survey of practicing school counselors regarding their knowledge of current research in school violence prevention and intervention. The authors describe four active areas of youth violence research over the past two decades and present findings that suggest that a potentially dangerous gap may exist…

School uniforms: tradition, benefit or predicament?

OpenAIRE

Van Aardt, Annette Marie; Wilken, Ilani

2012-01-01

This article focuses on the controversies surrounding school uniforms. Roleplayers in this debate in South Africa are parents, learners and educators, and arguments centre on aspects such as identity, economy and the equalising effect of school uniforms, which are considered in the literature to be benefits. Opposing viewpoints highlight the fact that compulsory uniforms infringe on learners’ constitutional rights to self-expression. The aim of this research was to determine the perspectives ...

Support for comprehensive sexuality education: perspectives from parents of school-age youth.

Science.gov (United States)

Eisenberg, Marla E; Bernat, Debra H; Bearinger, Linda H; Resnick, Michael D

2008-04-01

Controversy about school-based sexuality education in public schools has continued over the past decade, despite mounting evidence that comprehensive sexuality education effectively promotes sexual health and that parents support these programs in public schools. The present study replicates and expands upon previous findings regarding public views on school-based sexuality education. One thousand six hundred five parents of school-age children in Minnesota responded to telephone surveys in 2006-2007 (63% participation rate), including items regarding general sexuality education, 12 specific topics, the grade level at which each should be taught, and attitudes toward sexuality education. The large majority of parents supported teaching about both abstinence and contraception (comprehensive sexuality education [CSE]; 89.3%), and support was high across all demographic categories of parents. All specific sexuality education topics received majority support (63.4%-98.6%), even those often viewed as controversial. Parents believed most topics should first be taught during the middle school years. Parents held slightly more favorable views on the effectiveness of CSE compared to abstinence-only education, and these views were strongly associated with support for CSE (odds ratio [OR](CSE) = 14.3; OR(abstinence) = 0.11). This study highlights a mismatch between parents' expressed opinions and preferences, and actual sexuality education content as currently taught in the majority of public schools. In light of broad parental support for education that emphasizes multiple strategies for prevention of pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (including abstinence), parents should be encouraged to express their opinions on sexuality education to teachers, administrators, and school boards regarding the importance of including a variety of topics and beginning instruction during middle school years or earlier.

Adolescent neurocognitive development, self-regulation, and school-based drug use prevention.

Science.gov (United States)

Pokhrel, Pallav; Herzog, Thaddeus A; Black, David S; Zaman, Adnin; Riggs, Nathaniel R; Sussman, Steve

2013-06-01

Adolescence is marked by several key development-related changes, including neurocognitive changes. Cognitive abilities associated with self-regulation are not fully developed until late adolescence or early adulthood whereas tendencies to take risks and seek thrilling and novel experience seem to increase significantly throughout this phase, resulting in a discrepancy between increased susceptibility to poor regulation and lower ability to exercise self-control. Increased vulnerability to drug use initiation, maintenance, and dependence during adolescence may be explained based on this imbalance in the self-regulation system. In this paper, we highlight the relevance of schools as a setting for delivering adolescent drug use prevention programs that are based on recent findings from neuroscience concerning adolescent brain development. We discuss evidence from school-based as well as laboratory research that suggests that suitable training may improve adolescents' executive brain functions that underlie self-regulation abilities and, as a result, help prevent drug use and abuse. We note that considerable further research is needed in order (1) to determine that self-regulation training has effects at the neurocognitive level and (2) to effectively incorporate self-regulation training based on neuropsychological models into school-based programming.

The Relevance of Budget Preparation in School Administration | Fan ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

It demands a periodic preparation of the school budget. This paper therefore examines the concept of budgeting, its advantages in our school system and suggests some accounting requirements which are aimed at making the preparation of a budget less cumbersome and more realistic. It highlights four types of budgets: ...

Child Allergic Symptoms and Well-Being at School: Findings from ALSPAC, a UK Cohort Study.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alison Teyhan

Full Text Available Eczema and asthma are common conditions in childhood that can influence children's mental health. Despite this, little is known about how these conditions affect the well-being of children in school. This study examines whether symptoms of eczema or asthma are associated with poorer social and mental well-being in school as reported by children and their teachers at age 8 years.Participants were from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. Measures of child well-being in school were child-reported (n = 6626 and teacher reported (n = 4366: children reported on their enjoyment of school and relationships with peers via a self-complete questionnaire; teachers reported child mental well-being using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire [binary outcomes were high 'internalizing' (anxious/depressive and 'externalizing' (oppositional/hyperactive problems (high was >90th percentile]. Child rash and wheeze status were maternally reported and symptoms categorised as: 'none'; 'early onset transient' (infancy/preschool only; 'persistent' (infancy/preschool and at school age; and 'late onset' (school age only.Children with persistent (OR 1.29, 95% CI 1.02 to 1.63 and late onset (OR 1.48, 95% CI 1.02 to 2.14 rash were more likely to report being bullied, and children with persistent wheeze to feel left out (OR 1.42, 95% CI 1.10 to 1.84. Late onset rash was associated with high teacher-reported internalising behaviours (OR 1.61, 95% CI 1.02 to 2.54, and persistent rash with high externalising behaviours (OR 1.37, 95% CI 1.02 to 1.84. Child sleep and maternal mental health explained some of the associations with teacher-reported mental well-being.Symptoms of eczema or asthma can adversely affect a child's social and mental well-being at primary school. This suggests interventions, such as additional support or education of peers, should begin at early stages in schooling.

From Surveillance to Intervention: Overview and Baseline Findings for the Active City of Liverpool Active Schools and SportsLinx (A-CLASS Project

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nicola McWhannell

2018-03-01

Full Text Available This paper outlines the implementation of a programme of work that started with the development of a population-level children’s health, fitness and lifestyle study in 1996 (SportsLinx leading to selected interventions one of which is described in detail: the Active City of Liverpool, Active Schools and SportsLinx (A-CLASS Project. The A-CLASS Project aimed to quantify the effectiveness of structured and unstructured physical activity (PA programmes on children’s PA, fitness, body composition, bone health, cardiac and vascular structures, fundamental movement skills, physical self-perception and self-esteem. The study was a four-arm parallel-group school-based cluster randomised controlled trial (clinical trials no. NCT02963805, and compared different exposure groups: a high intensity PA (HIPA group, a fundamental movement skill (FMS group, a PA signposting (PASS group and a control group, in a two-schools-per-condition design. Baseline findings indicate that children’s fundamental movement skill competence levels are low-to-moderate, yet these skills are inversely associated with percentage body fat. Outcomes of this project will make an important contribution to the design and implementation of children’s PA promotion initiatives.

From Surveillance to Intervention: Overview and Baseline Findings for the Active City of Liverpool Active Schools and SportsLinx (A-CLASS) Project

Science.gov (United States)

McWhannell, Nicola; Henaghan, Jayne L.

2018-01-01

This paper outlines the implementation of a programme of work that started with the development of a population-level children’s health, fitness and lifestyle study in 1996 (SportsLinx) leading to selected interventions one of which is described in detail: the Active City of Liverpool, Active Schools and SportsLinx (A-CLASS) Project. The A-CLASS Project aimed to quantify the effectiveness of structured and unstructured physical activity (PA) programmes on children’s PA, fitness, body composition, bone health, cardiac and vascular structures, fundamental movement skills, physical self-perception and self-esteem. The study was a four-arm parallel-group school-based cluster randomised controlled trial (clinical trials no. NCT02963805), and compared different exposure groups: a high intensity PA (HIPA) group, a fundamental movement skill (FMS) group, a PA signposting (PASS) group and a control group, in a two-schools-per-condition design. Baseline findings indicate that children’s fundamental movement skill competence levels are low-to-moderate, yet these skills are inversely associated with percentage body fat. Outcomes of this project will make an important contribution to the design and implementation of children’s PA promotion initiatives.

Resourcing Change in Small Schools

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Anderson, Michelle; White, Simone

2011-01-01

The theme of this article is the challenge that school leaders face in creating the conditions for learning in small schools. We draw on the concepts of "social capital" and "social entrepreneurship" to identify tensions and possibilities for school leaders in a case study of a small rural school as they seek to find resources…

An evaluation of primary school students' views about noise levels in school

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Nermin Bulunuz

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Effective education and teaching requires keeping classroom noise levels within specific limits. The purpose of this study is to evaluate students’ views about the noise level in school, its effects, and control of it at two primary schools (one public school and one private school located in a district of Bursa - within the scope of the TÜBİTAK 1001 project numbered 114K738. The research sample consists of 432 third and fourth graders, 223 of whom are from the public school and 209 of whom are from the private school. To collect data, a 20-question survey was administered to the students, and noise measurements were carried out in the schools. According to the findings obtained from the analysis of the answers from the student questionnaire, the students think that the noise level is high especially during break times. In parallel with the student views, the average noise level at break time during recess was found to be 74.56 dBA at the private primary school and 82.18 dBA at the public primary school. These values are much higher than the limits prescribed in the Regulation on Assessment and Management of Environmental Noise in Turkey (RAMEN European Union Harmonization Laws. The research findings show that this important problem must be dealt with urgently, and substantive efforts and activities must be launched to reduce high noise levels in schools.

Smoking among school-going adolescents in selected secondary schools in Peninsular Malaysia- findings from the Malaysian Adolescent Health Risk Behaviour (MyaHRB) study.

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Lim, Kuang Hock; Lim, Hui Li; Teh, Chien Huey; Kee, Chee Cheong; Khoo, Yi Yi; Ganapathy, Shubash Shander; Jane Ling, Miaw Yn; Mohd Ghazali, Sumarni; Tee, Eng Ong

2017-01-01

A multitude of studies have revealed that smoking is a learned behaviour during adolescence and efforts to reduce the incidence of smoking has been identified as long-term measures to curb the smoking menace. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence as well as the intra and inter-personal factors associated with smoking among upper secondary school students in selected schools in Peninsular Malaysia. A study was carried out in 2013, which involved a total of 40 secondary schools. They were randomly selected using a two-stage clustering sampling method. Subsequently, all upper secondary school students (aged 16 to 17 years) from each selected school were recruited into the study. Data was collected using a validated standardised questionnaire. This study revealed that the prevalence of smoking was 14.6% (95% CI:13.3-15.9), and it was significantly higher among males compared to females (27.9% vs 2.4%, p  Malaysian adolescents of school-going age was high, despite implementation of several anti-smoking measures in Malaysia. More robust measures integrating the factors identified in this study are strongly recommended to curb the smoking epidemic among adolescents in Malaysia.

School Principals as Marketing Managers: The Expanding Role of Marketing for School Development

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Anast-May, Linda; Mitchell, Mark; Buckner, Barbara Chesler; Elsberry, Cindy

2012-01-01

This study examined the relative importance that school principals attach to aspects of their role as marketing managers for their schools and their relative satisfaction with their efforts to date. The study included 60 principals from two school districts. Findings suggest that principals are aware of the importance of marketing in today's…

School Performance: A Matter of Health or Socio-Economic Background? Findings from the PIAMA Birth Cohort Study.

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Annemarie Ruijsbroek

Full Text Available Performance in primary school is a determinant of children's educational attainment and their socio-economic position and health inequalities in adulthood. We examined the relationship between five common childhood health conditions (asthma symptoms, eczema, general health, frequent respiratory infections, and overweight, health related school absence and family socio-economic status on children's school performance.We used data from 1,865 children in the Dutch PIAMA birth cohort study. School performance was measured as the teacher's assessment of a suitable secondary school level for the child, and the child's score on a standardized achievement test (Cito Test. Both school performance indicators were standardised using Z-scores. Childhood health was indicated by eczema, asthma symptoms, general health, frequent respiratory infections, overweight, and health related school absence. Children's health conditions were reported repeatedly between the age of one to eleven. School absenteeism was reported at age eleven. Highest attained educational level of the mother and father indicated family socio-economic status. We used linear regression models with heteroskedasticity-robust standard errors for our analyses with adjustment for sex of the child.The health indicators used in our study were not associated with children's school performance, independently from parental educational level, with the exception of asthma symptoms (-0.03 z-score / -0.04 z-score with Cito Test score after adjusting for respectively maternal and paternal education and missing more than 5 schooldays due to illness (-0.18 z-score with Cito Test score and -0.17 z-score with school level assessment after adjustment for paternal education. The effect estimates for these health indicators were much smaller though than the effect estimates for parental education, which was strongly associated with children's school performance.Children's school performance was affected only

School Performance: A Matter of Health or Socio-Economic Background? Findings from the PIAMA Birth Cohort Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Ruijsbroek, Annemarie; Wijga, Alet H; Gehring, Ulrike; Kerkhof, Marjan; Droomers, Mariël

2015-01-01

Performance in primary school is a determinant of children's educational attainment and their socio-economic position and health inequalities in adulthood. We examined the relationship between five common childhood health conditions (asthma symptoms, eczema, general health, frequent respiratory infections, and overweight), health related school absence and family socio-economic status on children's school performance. We used data from 1,865 children in the Dutch PIAMA birth cohort study. School performance was measured as the teacher's assessment of a suitable secondary school level for the child, and the child's score on a standardized achievement test (Cito Test). Both school performance indicators were standardised using Z-scores. Childhood health was indicated by eczema, asthma symptoms, general health, frequent respiratory infections, overweight, and health related school absence. Children's health conditions were reported repeatedly between the age of one to eleven. School absenteeism was reported at age eleven. Highest attained educational level of the mother and father indicated family socio-economic status. We used linear regression models with heteroskedasticity-robust standard errors for our analyses with adjustment for sex of the child. The health indicators used in our study were not associated with children's school performance, independently from parental educational level, with the exception of asthma symptoms (-0.03 z-score / -0.04 z-score with Cito Test score after adjusting for respectively maternal and paternal education) and missing more than 5 schooldays due to illness (-0.18 z-score with Cito Test score and -0.17 z-score with school level assessment after adjustment for paternal education). The effect estimates for these health indicators were much smaller though than the effect estimates for parental education, which was strongly associated with children's school performance. Children's school performance was affected only slightly by a

High School Astronomical Research at the Army and Navy Academy

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Boyce, Pat; Boyce, Grady

2016-06-01

Establishment of a high school astronomy and research program is a difficult task to accomplish in an environment of state mandated high school educational curricula and the task saturation for many teachers today created by their class room and administrative requirements. This environment is most challenging for public schools. The astronomy program we will describe seems to be better suited at least at the present time for private or specialized schools. We will outline how a broad astronomy program was developed over two years at the Army and Navy Academy (ANA), a private boarding school in Carlsbad, California. Starting with no astronomy program in 2013, the Academy now has an astronomy club, a University of California a-g certified two semester high school course, and a college accredited astronomy research seminar with over 20 published high school authors.At ANA the development followed this path: finding a strong proponent at the school who can make actionable decisions; building interest and perceived value to other staff and faculty members; establishing an astronomy club to generate student interest and future student leaders; and designing the a-g certified high school course including the course length, structure and balance of teaching elements. Building on these foundations, the college level astronomy research seminar was then added to provide an avenue for inspired students to undertake actual research and publication of their work in scientific journals in their free time for college credit.Creating a sustainable program with supporting infrastructure comes next. Success with the three foundation steps builds confidence in the program with faculty and staff. Published, tangible successes highlight the value and enable advanced placement and scholarship opportunities for graduates. These successes build enthusiasm. The further keys to sustainability include addressing course credit, instructor compensation and rewards, and integration into the

Barriers to School-Family Collaboration at a School Located in an Informal Settlement in South Africa

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Mavis Maria Raborife

2010-06-01

Full Text Available As the shift towards inclusive education intensifies, the need for school to work collaboratively with families becomes necessaryfor the sake of maximizing students’ academic success. However, in certain communities such effort is often undermined byvarious factors which interact directly and/or indirectly with both institutions – school and family. Schools located in informalsettlements of South Africa are not unique to this situation. This paper presents the perspectives of parents, educators andschool management teams about barriers which inhibit collaboration between the school and families. Interviews conducted ingroups and with individual participants were followed as data collection strategies. Findings revealed factors falling under threecategories, namely: community, schools and family factors. These factors interact with each other in a dynamic way to createchallenges to undermine school-family collaboration. The findings of this study could guide school efforts for promotingmeaningful and long-lasting relationships with families.

Quantifying Collaboration Using Himmelman's Strategies for Working Together: Findings from the Tennessee Coordinated School Health Program

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Quinn, Megan A; Southerland, Jodi L.; Richards, Kasie; Slawson, Deborah L; Behringer, Bruce; Johns-Womack, Rebecca; Smith, Sara

2016-01-01

Purpose: Coordinated school health programs (CSHPs), a type of health promoting school (HPS) program adopted by Canada and the USA, were developed to provide a comprehensive approach to school health in the USA. Community partnerships are central to CSHP and HPS efforts, yet the quality of collaboration efforts is rarely assessed. The purpose of…

Novice Teachers Learning from Others: Mentoring in Shanghai Schools

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Salleh, Hairon; Tan, Charlene

2013-01-01

This paper explores critically the practice of teacher mentoring in Shanghai schools. It begins with a review of the literature on teacher mentoring, which is followed by an introduction to education and teacher mentoring in the schools. The next section critiques teacher mentoring in Shanghai and we highlight three key characteristics and…

-And twelve months later, we are still waiting-: Insights into teaching and use of ICT in rural and remote Australian schools

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Neil Anderson

2007-12-01

Full Text Available This paper presents an analysis of the combined data sets from a large ARC (Australian Research Council funded study on the declining enrolments of female students in high school information technology subjects, and a SiMERR (Science, ICT and Mathematics Education for Rural and Regional Australia study of 9 rural or remote schools in the state of Queensland. The aim of examining the combined data set was to investigate any apparent differences between girls’ perceptions of studying higher level ICT subjects in rural areas compared to metropolitan areas. The findings of the study highlighted some problems experienced by female students studying outside of metropolitan areas. They perceived the subject offerings to be ‘more boring’ than their city counterparts and reported a lower level of home ownership. The paper offers possible explanations for the findings and strongly recommends that strategies need to be implemented to overcome these problems.

Conducting Action Research in Kenyan Primary Schools: A Narrative of Lived Experiences

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Otienoh, Ruth

2015-01-01

This paper is a narrative of my personal experiences of conducting action research in Kenyan primary schools. It highlights the opportunities, successes, challenges and dilemmas I encountered during the process: from the school hunting period, to the carrying out of the actual research in two schools, with four teachers. This study reveals that…

Urban School Choice and Integration: The Effect of Charter Schools in Little Rock

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Ritter, Gary W.; Jensen, Nathan C.; Kisida, Brian; Bowen, Daniel H.

2016-01-01

We examine the impact of charter schools on school integration in the Little Rock, Arkansas metropolitan area. We find that charters are less likely to be hyper-segregated than traditional public schools (TPS), but TPS have compositions more closely reflecting the region. However, differences in each case are slight. Using student-level data to…

A comparison study of instruction between international school and state school of middle school level in Indonesia

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Pamelasari, S. D.; Nurkhalisa, S.; Laksmana, S. I.

2018-03-01

This paper presents a comparison between the instruction in international school and state school in the middle level in Indonesia to find out the strength and weakness of each school in order to identify some professional development needs. The observation and interview were conducted to see the instruction of each school. Some pedagogy aspects consisting of attitude, strategy, and practice were observed to get the overview of instruction. Through this study, it has been found that the teachers apply an active learning approach that created an enthusiastic atmosphere of students’ participation. However, the different circumstance found is in the aspect of the number of students, the language of instruction and students’ characteristics between those schools.

Strategies for School Environmental Management in Nigerian Secondary Schools: A Case of Calabar, Nigeria

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Obong, Linus Beba; Okey, Stella-Maris; Aniah, E. J.; Okaba, Lydia A.

2010-01-01

This paper on strategies for school environmental management in Nigerian secondary schools was carried out in Calabar, Nigeria. To guide the study three research questions were formulated. This was achieved through administration of structured questionnaires in three randomly sampled schools. Findings show regular grass clearing, sweeping of the…

Dine Youth Define Community: Finding Routes to School and Community Partnerships

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Kulago, Hollie Anderson

2011-01-01

The three purposes of this qualitative research study were to: Create a platform for Dine youth to describe their community in their own words; identify effective partnerships between the school and community to promote academic success for Dine youth; and critique the colonizing ways of an old order of Western research that contributed to the…

BARC highlights '88

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1989-01-01

Highlights of research and development activities of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Bombay during 1988 are presented in chapters entitled: Physical Sciences, Chemical Sciences, Materials and Materials Sciences, Radioisotopes, Reactors, Fuel Cycle, Radiological Safety and Protection, Electronics and Instrumentation, Engineering Services, and Life Sciences. Main thrust of the R and D activities of BARC is on nuclear power reactor technology and all stages of nuclear fuel cycle. Some activities are also in the frontier areas such as high temperature superconductivity and inertial confinement fusion. (M.G.B.). figs., tabs., coloured ills

The Sensitivity of Primary School Enrollment to the Cost of Post-Primary Schooling in Rural Pakistan: A Gender Perspective.

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Hazarika, Gautam

2001-01-01

Examines gender differences in the sensitivity of primary-school enrollment to the costs of postprimary schooling in rural Pakistan. Finds that distance from primary school is a significant determinant of female primary-school enrollment and distance from middle school is a significant determinant of male primary-school enrollment. Suggests…

AN EVALUATIVE STUDY OF AN ICT MODULE FOR A SCHOOL LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT PREPARATION PROGRAM

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Sarietjie MUSGRAVE

2017-04-01

Full Text Available This study reports on findings of an evaluative study on the effectiveness of an information and communication technology (ICT module that forms part of the Advanced Certificate in Education: School Leadership and Management program. The study was carried out among distance education (DE students from the University of the Free State enrolled for above mentioned module. Two ICT audit surveys were used to gather data. This study used two modes of evaluation: Jung and Latchem’s (2007 quality indicators for DE and comparison. The findings highlight ready access to ICT, technical support, appropriate guidance and support by knowledgeable, innovative and committed facilitators and the creation of a sense of community as imperatives for teaching education leaders ICT skills and knowledge.

Validation of Multilevel Constructs: Validation Methods and Empirical Findings for the EDI

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Forer, Barry; Zumbo, Bruno D.

2011-01-01

The purposes of this paper are to highlight the foundations of multilevel construct validation, describe two methodological approaches and associated analytic techniques, and then apply these approaches and techniques to the multilevel construct validation of a widely-used school readiness measure called the Early Development Instrument (EDI;…

Intergroup Relations in Integrated Schools: A Glimpse inside Interdistrict Magnet Schools

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Bifulco, Robert; Buerger, Christian; Cobb, Casey

2012-01-01

The frequency and quality of intergroup contact within racially and ethnically diverse schools has potentially important implications for the achievement of desegregation goals. The analyses presented here use survey data to assess intergroup contact within a sample of ten interdistrict magnet schools in Connecticut. Findings indicate frequent…

experience in school

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Maria da Graça B. B. Dias

2005-01-01

Full Text Available An experiment investigated the effect of a make-believe fantasy mode of problem presentation on reasoning about valid conditional syllogisms in three groups of 5-year-old children: a school children from middle-class families in England; b school children from middle-class families in Brazil; and, c children from low SES families in Brazil who had never gone to school. Previous investigations had reported that the use of a fantasy context elicited significantly more logically appropriate responses from school children than did other contexts, and that children with school experiences made significantly more logically appropriate responses than did children without school experience. The present investigation extended these findings to show that the beneficial effects of a fantasy context extended to lower-class illiterate children who never had been exposed to schooling

Why Should Secondary Schools Take Working with Boys Seriously?

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Jackson, David; Salisbury, Jonathan

1996-01-01

Addresses boys' disruptive behavior in the classroom, teachers' resignation to it, and why schools need to work with boys as a matter of importance to enhancing gender work in schools. The limitations of using sex role theory in approaching gender work with boys are highlighted, and teaching methods for harnessing boys' spontaneous interests in…

Redesigning Schools to Raise Achievement. Item Number 39-0464

Science.gov (United States)

American Federation of Teachers, 2003

2003-01-01

The primary goal of the American Federation of Teachers' (AFT) Redesigning Schools to Raise Achievement (RSRA) project is to build capacity at the state, district, school, and classroom levels to improve student achievement to meet the goals of the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act. This checklist highlights some of the opportunities and support…

Social motivation in Qatari schools and their relation to school achievement.

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Nasser, Ramzi

2014-10-01

This study assessed the relation between school-social motivation and student academic achievement. A factor analysis was performed on a set of school-social items selected a priori from three measures of school motivation: the Inventory of School Motivation, the General Achievement Goals Orientation Scale, and the Facilitating Conditions Scale. Three factors with fewer items represented Global Motivation, Peer Help, and Social Power. Hierarchical regression analysis showed social motivation measures were weak predictors of achievement scores in the various content areas. Findings are discussed in the context of Qatari education and culture.

The prevalence of mental disorders among upper primary school children in Kenya.

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Ndetei, David Musyimi; Mutiso, Victoria; Musyimi, Christine; Mokaya, Aggrey G; Anderson, Kelly K; McKenzie, Kwame; Musau, Abednego

2016-01-01

The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence and correlates of mental disorders among upper primary school children in grades five through seven in Kenya. The Youth Self Report (YSR) instrument was adapted for use in Kenyan schools and administered to 2267 school children in grades five through seven from 23 randomly selected schools. We estimated the prevalence of DSM-IV mental disorders, and used logistic regression analyses to examine the socio-demographic factors associated with each disorder. The prevalence of any mental disorder among Kenyan school children was 37.7 % (95 % CI = 35.7-39.7 %). Somatic complaints were the most prevalent (29.6 %, 95 % CI = 27.8-31.5 %), followed by affective disorders (14.1 %, 95 % CI = 12.7-15.6 %) and conduct disorder (12.5 %, 95 % CI = 11.2-13.9). The presence of one or more comorbid mental disorder was seen among 18.2 % (95 % CI = 16.6-19.8 %) of children. Male sex, living in a peri-urban vs. rural area, being held back in school, having divorced or separated parents, and having an employed mother were associated with an increased likelihood of having most of the mental disorders examined, whereas increasing age was associated with a reduced likelihood. We observed a high prevalence of mental disorders among school children in Kenya. If not detected early, these disorders may interfere with children's psychological, social, and educational development. Our findings highlight the importance of implementing screening measures in schools that can detect single and multiple disorders in order to improve the mental health and well-being of the next generation.

Assessing school disaster preparedness by applying a comprehensive school safety framework: A case of elementary schools in Banda Aceh City

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Sakurai, A.; Bisri, M. B. F.; Oda, T.; Oktari, R. S.; Murayama, Y.

2017-02-01

The study assessed the depth of school disaster safety at public elementary schools in Banda Aceh City, Indonesia in terms of comprehensive school safety, especially school location, disaster management and disaster education. The findings indicate that 56% of public elementary schools in Banda Aceh City are exposed to high tsunami risk, and most externally driven school disaster preparedness activities were not continued by the schools due to lack of ownership and funding. To realize comprehensive school safety, disaster preparedness programs should neither be brought in by external donors, nor be in a patchwork. Rather, it should be conducted jointly and sustainably by the local school and the community and supported by multi-sectoral support in the city. Comprehensive school safety of public elementary schools in Banda Aceh City could be realized by reviewing, updating and localizing school disaster preparedness programs by all the education partners in the city with strong political will and commitment.

Jobs Plan Highlights Education

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Klein, Alyson

2011-01-01

President Barack Obama is putting new money to save educators' jobs and help states refurbish aging school facilities at the center of a nearly $450 billion plan to jump-start the sluggish economy. The author talks about the president's plan which is sure to face hurdles in a politically polarized Washington where one house of Congress is…

Teachers’ Working Conditions Amid Swedish School Choice Reform: Avenues for Further Research

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Karolina Åsa Parding

2016-04-01

Full Text Available Since the 1990s, governance changes, including customer choice agendas, have permeated the public sector and, consequently, welfare sector professionals’ work. One example is the education sector. The aim of this paper is to identify and discuss avenues for further research when it comes to teachers’ working conditions in the light of current choice agendas. This is accomplished by presenting an overview of previous studies on implications of the reforms for teachers’ working conditions. How are these conditions described in relation to the current school choice agenda in Sweden? What directions should be applied to increase knowledge of these conditions? We conclude by identifying some avenues for further research: the issues of organization of work, temporal and spatial dimensions of working conditions, and finally comparative studies of various forms, are suggested as warranting further investigation to highlight the diversified labor market in which teachers find themselves today.Keywords: Competition, governance change, privatization, professional work, school choice, Sweden, teaching profession, working conditions

How Self-Evaluation can make schools more effective

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Davide Capperucci

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Recent European and North American government policies, implementing new systems of evaluation and accountability, have highlighted the use of performance data to inform judgments about schools and stimulate school improvement. This has led to the implementation of school self-evaluation considered as an effective means to increase school quality and effectiveness. Decentralization of education systems has promoted a broadening of educational evaluation methodologies and a conceptualization of theoretical approaches and research about school effectiveness and improvement.This study presents a self-evaluation model, called the ISSEMod, thought to improve school accountability, combining central control managed by public authorities (external control and the autonomy reserved for schools related to pedagogical, instructional and organizational practices (internal control. Using a sample of 58 Tuscan schools, an empirical and explorative model of school self-evaluation focused on a flexible system of areas and indicators to investigate and analyse school quality, is proposed here.

Early School Leaving in Scandinavia

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jakobsen, Vibeke; Bäckman, Olof; Lorentzen, Thomas

2015-01-01

countries and find the highest vocational track dropout rates in Norway and the lowest in Finland. The results indicate that the relative labour market effect of dropping out from a vocational track is most detrimental in Norway. It is also in Norway that we find the greatest gender differences......The article explores the extent to which the organization of vocational tracks in upper secondary school affects the labour market risks associated with early school exit. The Nordic countries share many features, but the upper secondary school systems differ significantly in how their vocational...... tracks are organized. Denmark and Norway have dual vocational tracks, that is, they combine school-based education and workplace apprenticeships, whereas in Finland and Sweden they are primarily school based. We analyse administrative longitudinal data from the mid-1990s to the mid-2000s in the four...

Working Together to Support English Language Learners: School-Family-Community Engagement. PERC Research Brief

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Hughes, Rosemary; Reumann-Moore, Rebecca; Rowland, Jeannette; Lin, Joshua

2016-01-01

When schools, families, and communities work together, student outcomes are better. This brief focuses on the ways family and community engagement can enhance schools' efforts to improve outcomes for ELLs and highlights specific strategies schools can use to more effectively engage families and communities.

CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES OF THE SCHOOL IN HIGH SCHOOL DROPOUT: CASE UNIVERSIDAD AUTÓNOMA DE SINALOA

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Rosalva Ruiz-Ramírez

2014-07-01

Full Text Available The present investigation has the objective to establish the personal, economic and social causes and consequences that create school desertion of high school in Universidad Autónoma de Sinaloa (UAS. The investigation took place in the high school located in the municipality of El Fuerte, Sinaloa, in the academic unit (UA of San Blas and its extensions The Constancia and The Higueras of the Natoches in 2013. A mixed approach was used to analyze qualitative and quantitative information; the studied population was 18 women and 17 men deserters of the school cycle 2011-2012, ten teachers, four directors and twenty non-deserting students. In the results one can see that the principal factor for school desertion was the personnel to be married and not approving classes. The main consequence was economic, highlighting that the poverty cycle is hard to break.

Risky internet behaviors of middle-school students: communication with online strangers and offline contact.

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Burgess Dowdell, Elizabeth

2011-06-01

In today's world, more adolescents are using the Internet as an avenue for social communication and a source of information and to experiment with risky online behaviors. To better understand how early adolescents are using the Internet, a study was undertaken to more clearly identify online use and online risky behaviors and to describe any online relationships with strangers middle-school students may be participating in. This exploratory study adapted the Youth Internet Safety Survey of Finkelhor et al to identify the usage and characteristics of online youth, solicitation of youth, and risky behaviors. Four hundred and four students, with a mean age of 12 years, were recruited from public and parochial schools located in the Northeast. Findings from this study indicate that of a total sample of 404 middle-school students, a small grouping (n = 59; 14.6%) are beginning risky online communication behaviors with strangers. Students who communicated online with strangers were older and had higher rates of posting personal information, risky online behaviors, and stealing. The majority of this group (84%) met offline with the online stranger, and three students reported having been assaulted. Findings suggest that early adolescents are beginning risky online and offline behaviors. Understanding their experiences is important since they highlight how middle-school students are undertaking risks in a new environment that many adults and parents do not fully understand. Clinicians, educators, healthcare providers, and other professionals need to be informed of Internet behaviors in order to assess for risk, to make referrals, to intervene, and to educate.

[Schools meals in French secondary state schools: compliance to national recommendations and schools catering patterns].

Science.gov (United States)

Bertin, M; Lafay, L; Calamassi-Tran, G; Volatier, J-L; Dubuisson, C

2011-02-01

Recent reports on the lack of nutritional quality of meals served in schools have led public authorities to draft, in 1999, recommendations for restoring a balanced food supply. Following the survey carried out by the French food safety Agency in 2005-2006, which highlighted gaps in the implementation of these recommendations, a law passed in July 2010 plans to make these recommendations mandatory, as their 2007 revised version. Thus, the objective of this study was to assess initial school compliance with regard to this last revised version of the recommendations and to identify school patterns through their catering management and implication in a dietary project. Seven hundred and seven secondary state schools were questioned (570 were administrated by the Ministry of Education and 137 by the Ministry of Agriculture) on their catering practices. Twenty consecutive menus from each school were also analyzed with a specific coding system to establish its nutritional composition for comparison with the 2007 recommendations. On average, schools complied with half of the recommendations. Good compliance was observed with the 2007 recommendations concerning fried products, starchy foods, fruits, and dairy products whereas very few schools were in compliance with recommendations concerning fish, cheeses and sweetened desserts containing less than 15 % fat and more than 20 g of sugar per portion. Furthermore, compliance with recommendations was significantly better for lunch meals, and even better for agricultural establishments. A 5-component meal was also associated with greater compliance with the recommendations. In addition, four school patterns were identified based on catering management practices. The first two categories of establishments had knowledge of the recommendations but exhibited different levels of application. The last two types of establishments had no knowledge of the recommendations and differed in their catering management practices. Compliance

AEB-highlights. January - June 1977

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1977-01-01

AEB Highlights is a half-yearly report reflecting the most important recent achievements of the various Research and Technical divisions of the Atomic Energy Board. It appears alternatively in English and Afrikaans [af

Improving the Small Rural or Remote School: The Role of the District

Science.gov (United States)

Clarke, Simon; Wildy, Helen

2011-01-01

There is a robust body of work highlighting distinctive challenges encountered by leaders of small schools in pursuit of school improvement but this work has focused on the school as the unit of change and neglects the role of the district. As the district potentially influences what principals know and how they use their knowledge, this article…

Finding Innovation and Imagination in a Bag of Loose Parts

Science.gov (United States)

Dillon, Anna

2018-01-01

The third annual research symposium at Zakher KG School in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates (UAE), presented an exciting opportunity for the 33 teachers in the school to present their findings from classroom-based action research conducted within their professional learning communities. In this brief article, one attendee describes an unexpected…

Primary school students' mental health in Uganda and its association with school violence, connectedness, and school characteristics: a cross-sectional study.

Science.gov (United States)

Thumann, Barbara F; Nur, Ula; Naker, Dipak; Devries, Karen M

2016-07-29

Few studies have explored risk factors for poor mental health in Ugandan primary schools. This study investigated whether individual- and contextual-level school-related factors including violence from school staff and other students, connectedness to school and peers, as well as school size and urban/rural location, were associated with mental health difficulties in Ugandan children. We also examined whether associations between violence exposure at school and mental health were mediated by connectedness as well as whether associations were different for boys and girls. The analytic sample consisted of 3,565 students from 42 primary schools participating in the Good Schools Study. Data were collected through individual interviews conducted in June and July 2012. Mental health was measured using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. Multilevel logistic regression was applied to investigate factors associated with mental health difficulties. Experiences of violence from school staff and other students in the past week were strongly associated with mental health difficulties (OR = 1.58, 95 % CI 1.31 to 1.90 and 1.81, 1.47 to 2.23, respectively). Children with a low school connectedness had 1.43 times (1.11 to 1.83) the odds of mental health difficulties compared to those with a high school connectedness. The OR comparing children never feeling close to other students at their school with those always feeling close was 1.86 (1.18 to 2.93). The effect of violence on mental health was not mediated through the connectedness variables. School size was not related to mental health difficulties, but attending an urban school increased the odds of mental health difficulties after accounting for other factors. We did not find evidence that the effect of one or more of the exposures on the outcome differed between boys and girls. These findings suggest that violence in school and low connectedness to school and peers are independently associated with mental health

Singapore International Schools: Best Practice in Culturally Diverse Music Education

Science.gov (United States)

Cain, Melissa Anne

2010-01-01

This paper explores the preliminary outcomes of research into the place and role of cultural diversity in primary music classes at five International Schools in Singapore. It highlights the ways in which school philosophy, policy, curriculum and in-service training influence teacher practice. The research provides insights into the challenges…

Influence of school architecture and design on healthy eating: a review of the evidence.

Science.gov (United States)

Frerichs, Leah; Brittin, Jeri; Sorensen, Dina; Trowbridge, Matthew J; Yaroch, Amy L; Siahpush, Mohammad; Tibbits, Melissa; Huang, Terry T-K

2015-04-01

We examined evidence regarding the influence of school physical environment on healthy-eating outcomes. We applied a systems perspective to examine multiple disciplines' theoretical frameworks and used a mixed-methods systematic narrative review method, considering both qualitative and quantitative sources (published through March 2014) for inclusion. We developed a causal loop diagram from 102 sources identified. We found evidence of the influence of many aspects of a school's physical environment on healthy-eating outcomes. The causal loop diagram highlights multilevel and interrelated factors and elucidates the specific roles of design and architecture in encouraging healthy eating within schools. Our review highlighted the gaps in current evidence and identified areas of research needed to refine and expand school architecture and design strategies for addressing healthy eating.

IGC highlights 1988

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1989-01-01

The major thrust of the research and development (R and D) activities of the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR), Kalpakkam is oriented towards mastering fast breeder reactor (FBR) technology. Towards this end, its current R and D activities are carried out in a wide variety of disciplines. Highlights of its R and D activities during 1988 are summarised under the headings: Reactor Engineering and Design, Reactor Physics and Safety, Materials Science and Technology, Sodium Chemistry and Technology, Fuel Reprocessing and Electronics and Instrumentation. The text is illustrated with a number of figures, graphs and coloured pictures. (M.G.B.). figs., tabs

Legal Understanding of Quid Pro Quo Sexual Harassment in Schools

OpenAIRE

Vimbi Petrus Mahlangu

2017-01-01

Paper highlights legal understanding of quid pro quo sexual harassment in schools. Quid pro quo sexual harassment implies abuse of authority or position to gain something sexual. A duty of care rests on teachers, Schools Governing Bodies and the Department of Education to provide and maintain safe schools that are free from all forms of victimisation and abuse. However, there seems to be an abuse of power by all those who are supposedly to protect learners in schools. Paper used an abuse of o...

Learners’ constructions of bullying in a South African school context

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zibeleni L. Hlophe

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Drawing on social constructionism as a theoretical paradigm, this article foregrounds learners’ voices to depict the profiles of bullies and bullying victims within a cultural context of one coeducational secondary school in Hammarsdale in South Africa. The article uses qualitative data from semi-structured individual and focus group interviews as well as a participatory mapping exercise based on a narrative study of six purposefully sampled Grade 9 learners, aged between 13 and 16 years. The findings denote learners’ social identities such as gender, sexual orientation, economic status, age, stature and complexion as critical determinants in the incitement and formation of bully–victim relations. The complex forms, causes and spaces of bullying are highlighted to denote its pervasiveness and the extent of the school’s illpreparedness to effectively respond to bullying incidents. The study recommends education policy and practice reformists foreground learners’ understanding and experiences of bullying as a basis for enhancing social inclusiveness, tolerance and safe schooling environments, for enhanced equitable quality of learning experiences for all the learners.

Energy Policy. Highlights. 2013 Edition

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2013-07-01

Energy Policy Highlights showcases recent developments in energy policies among all 28 IEA member countries. Each contribution underscores the changing nature of both global and domestic energy challenges, as well as the commonality of energy concerns among member countries. The policies highlighted in this publication identify an urgent need to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as a clear policy objective. Electricity, enhancing energy efficiency and increasing the share of renewables in the energy mix in a cost effective manner are likewise areas of common focus. On the end-user side, increasing public awareness of domestic energy policies through improved transparency and engagement is an important facet of policy support among IEA member countries. The successful implementation of policies and other initiatives benefitted from efforts to inform the public.

School belongingness and mental health functioning across the primary-secondary transition in a mainstream sample: multi-group cross-lagged analyses.

Science.gov (United States)

Vaz, Sharmila; Falkmer, Marita; Parsons, Richard; Passmore, Anne Elizabeth; Parkin, Timothy; Falkmer, Torbjörn

2014-01-01

The relationship between school belongingness and mental health functioning before and after the primary-secondary school transition has not been previously investigated in students with and without disabilities. This study used a prospective longitudinal design to test the bi-directional relationships between these constructs, by surveying 266 students with and without disabilities and their parents, 6-months before and after the transition to secondary school. Cross-lagged multi-group analyses found student perception of belongingness in the final year of primary school to contribute to change in their mental health functioning a year later. The beneficial longitudinal effects of school belongingness on subsequent mental health functioning were evident in all student subgroups; even after accounting for prior mental health scores and the cross-time stability in mental health functioning and school belongingness scores. Findings of the current study substantiate the role of school contextual influences on early adolescent mental health functioning. They highlight the importance for primary and secondary schools to assess students' school belongingness and mental health functioning and transfer these records as part of the transition process, so that appropriate scaffolds are in place to support those in need. Longer term longitudinal studies are needed to increase the understanding of the temporal sequencing between school belongingness and mental health functioning of all mainstream students.

School Belongingness and Mental Health Functioning across the Primary-Secondary Transition in a Mainstream Sample: Multi-Group Cross-Lagged Analyses

Science.gov (United States)

Vaz, Sharmila; Falkmer, Marita; Parsons, Richard; Passmore, Anne Elizabeth; Parkin, Timothy; Falkmer, Torbjörn

2014-01-01

The relationship between school belongingness and mental health functioning before and after the primary-secondary school transition has not been previously investigated in students with and without disabilities. This study used a prospective longitudinal design to test the bi-directional relationships between these constructs, by surveying 266 students with and without disabilities and their parents, 6-months before and after the transition to secondary school. Cross-lagged multi-group analyses found student perception of belongingness in the final year of primary school to contribute to change in their mental health functioning a year later. The beneficial longitudinal effects of school belongingness on subsequent mental health functioning were evident in all student subgroups; even after accounting for prior mental health scores and the cross-time stability in mental health functioning and school belongingness scores. Findings of the current study substantiate the role of school contextual influences on early adolescent mental health functioning. They highlight the importance for primary and secondary schools to assess students’ school belongingness and mental health functioning and transfer these records as part of the transition process, so that appropriate scaffolds are in place to support those in need. Longer term longitudinal studies are needed to increase the understanding of the temporal sequencing between school belongingness and mental health functioning of all mainstream students. PMID:24967580

School belongingness and mental health functioning across the primary-secondary transition in a mainstream sample: multi-group cross-lagged analyses.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sharmila Vaz

Full Text Available The relationship between school belongingness and mental health functioning before and after the primary-secondary school transition has not been previously investigated in students with and without disabilities. This study used a prospective longitudinal design to test the bi-directional relationships between these constructs, by surveying 266 students with and without disabilities and their parents, 6-months before and after the transition to secondary school. Cross-lagged multi-group analyses found student perception of belongingness in the final year of primary school to contribute to change in their mental health functioning a year later. The beneficial longitudinal effects of school belongingness on subsequent mental health functioning were evident in all student subgroups; even after accounting for prior mental health scores and the cross-time stability in mental health functioning and school belongingness scores. Findings of the current study substantiate the role of school contextual influences on early adolescent mental health functioning. They highlight the importance for primary and secondary schools to assess students' school belongingness and mental health functioning and transfer these records as part of the transition process, so that appropriate scaffolds are in place to support those in need. Longer term longitudinal studies are needed to increase the understanding of the temporal sequencing between school belongingness and mental health functioning of all mainstream students.

Factors influencing the outdoor concentration of carbonaceous aerosols at urban schools in Brisbane, Australia: Implications for children's exposure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Crilley, L.R.; Ayoko, G.A.; Mazaheri, M.; Morawska, L.

2016-01-01

This comprehensive study aimed to determine the sources and driving factors of organic carbon (OC) and elemental carbon (EC) concentrations in ambient PM 2.5 in urban schools. Sampling was conducted outdoors at 25 schools in the Brisbane Metropolitan Area, Australia. Concentrations of primary and secondary OC were quantified using the EC tracer method, with secondary OC accounting for an average of 60%. Principal component analysis distinguished the contributing sources above the background and identified groups of schools with differing levels of primary and secondary carbonaceous aerosols. Overall, the results showed that vehicle emissions, local weather conditions and secondary organic aerosols (SOA) were the key factors influencing concentrations of carbonaceous component of PM 2.5 at these schools. These results provide insights into children's exposure to vehicle emissions and SOA at such urban schools. - Highlights: • We aimed to find the contributing sources to children's exposure at school. • Measured outdoor organic carbon and elemental carbon at 25 urban schools. • Schools varied in exposure to primary and secondary sources. • Secondary organic carbon the largest component of carbonaceous aerosols. • Vehicle emission levels at schools are primarily dependent on local traffic counts. - Key factors influencing concentrations of carbonaceous component of PM 2.5 at urban schools were found to be vehicle emissions, secondary organic aerosols and local weather conditions.

A Family-School Intervention for Children with ADHD: Results of a Randomized Clinical Trial

Science.gov (United States)

Power, Thomas J.; Mautone, Jennifer A.; Soffer, Stephen L.; Clarke, Angela T.; Marshall, Stephen A.; Sharman, Jaclyn; Blum, Nathan J.; Glanzman, Marianne; Elia, Josephine; Jawad, Abbas F.

2012-01-01

Objective: Accumulating evidence highlights the importance of using psychosocial approaches to intervention for children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) that target the family and school, as well as the intersection of family and school. This study evaluated the effectiveness of a family-school intervention, Family-School…

Demographic and financial characteristics of school districts with low and high à la Carte sales in rural Kansas Public Schools.

Science.gov (United States)

Nollen, Nicole L; Kimminau, Kim S; Nazir, Niaman

2011-06-01

Reducing à la carte items in schools-foods and beverages sold outside the reimbursable meals program-can have important implications for childhood obesity. However, schools are reluctant to reduce à la carte offerings because of the impact these changes could have on revenue. Some foodservice programs operate with limited à la carte sales, but little is known about these programs. This secondary data analysis compared rural and urban/suburban school districts with low and high à la carte sales. Foodservice financial records (2007-2008) were obtained from the Kansas State Department of Education for all public K-12 school districts (n=302). χ² and t tests were used to examine the independent association of variables to à la carte sales. A multivariate model was then constructed of the factors most strongly associated with low à la carte sales. In rural districts with low à la carte sales, lunch prices and participation were higher, lunch costs and à la carte quality were lower, and fewer free/reduced price lunches were served compared to rural districts with high à la carte sales. Lunch price (odds ratio=1.2; 95% confidence interval, 1.1 to 1.4) and free/reduced price lunch participation (odds ratio=3.0; 95% confidence interval, 1.0 to 9.8) remained in the multivariate model predicting low à la carte sales. No differences were found between urban/suburban districts with low and high à la carte sales. Findings highlight important factors to maintaining low à la carte sales. Schools should consider raising lunch prices and increasing meal participation rates as two potential strategies for reducing the sale of à la carte items without compromising foodservice revenue. Copyright © 2011 American Dietetic Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Morningness-eveningness is not associated with academic performance in the afternoon school shift: Preliminary findings.

Science.gov (United States)

Arrona-Palacios, Arturo; Díaz-Morales, Juan F

2017-11-01

The effect of morningness-eveningness, sleep habits, and intelligence on academic performance has been studied in a fixed morning school shift. However, no studies have analysed these variables in an afternoon school shift and tested whether morningness-eveningness is related to academic performance beyond sleep habits and intelligence effects. The psychometric properties of the Morningness-Eveningness Scale for Children (MESC) were analysed. Additionally, academic performance, sex, intelligence, sleep habits, and morningness-eveningness relationship in a morning and afternoon school shift were compared. The sample consisted of 400 students at a secondary public school in Reynosa, Tamaulipas, in north-eastern Mexico (195 boys and 205 girls; mean ± SD: 13.85 ± 0.70 years old) attending a double-shift school system: 200 from the morning shift (99 boys and 101 girls) and 200 from the afternoon shift (96 boys and 104 girls). The students completed the MESC as a measure of morningness-eveningness, a sleep habits survey, a test of academic performance, and the inductive reasoning subtest (R) of the Primary Mental Abilities battery. Adolescents in the two school shifts did not differ in academic performance and intelligence. In the afternoon shift, adolescents slept longer, reported less sleep deficit and social jet lag, and were more oriented to eveningness than adolescents in the morning shift. Sex (girls), sleep length, inductive reasoning, and morningness were associated with academic performance in the morning shift but only sex and intelligence in the afternoon shift. The role of morningness-eveningness in academic performance in the afternoon shift is examined. © 2017 The British Psychological Society.

Adolescents' Involvement in Cyber Bullying and Perceptions of School: The Importance of Perceived Peer Acceptance for Female Adolescents.

Science.gov (United States)

Betts, Lucy R; Spenser, Karin A; Gardner, Sarah E

2017-01-01

Young people are spending increasing amounts of time using digital technology and, as such, are at great risk of being involved in cyber bullying as a victim, bully, or bully/victim. Despite cyber bullying typically occurring outside the school environment, the impact of being involved in cyber bullying is likely to spill over to school. Fully 285 11- to 15-year-olds (125 male and 160 female, M age  = 12.19 years, SD  = 1.03) completed measures of cyber bullying involvement, self-esteem, trust, perceived peer acceptance, and perceptions of the value of learning and the importance of school. For young women, involvement in cyber bullying as a victim, bully, or bully/victim negatively predicted perceptions of learning and school, and perceived peer acceptance mediated this relationship. The results indicated that involvement in cyber bullying negatively predicted perceived peer acceptance which, in turn, positively predicted perceptions of learning and school. For young men, fulfilling the bully/victim role negatively predicted perceptions of learning and school. Consequently, for young women in particular, involvement in cyber bullying spills over to impact perceptions of learning. The findings of the current study highlight how stressors external to the school environment can adversely impact young women's perceptions of school and also have implications for the development of interventions designed to ameliorate the effects of cyber bullying.

How One Elementary School Uses Data to Help Raise Students' Reading Achievement

Science.gov (United States)

Mokhtari, Kouider; Thoma, Jennifer; Edwards, Patricia

2009-01-01

In this column, we share the collective reflections of a group of teachers and a school administrator in one Midwestern elementary school, which highlight the value of using data collaboratively to bring about instructional change and to improve student reading achievement.

Forensic aspects and assessment of school bullying.

Science.gov (United States)

Freeman, Bradley W; Thompson, Christopher; Jaques, Cory

2012-12-01

This article describes school's obligations related to bullying behavior, the assessment of bullying students and their victims, the evaluation of claimed damages due to bullying, and potential interventions for both individuals and school systems to reduce the frequency of bullying behavior. This article assists evaluators when assessing youth who are involved in bullying behavior, either as victims or perpetrators. Key areas highlighted include an overview of bullying behaviors, legal issues related to a school's responsibility in preventing or curtailing bullying behaviors, important components of a bullying assessment, and proposed interventions to minimize bullying. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Parental Involvement in Schools and Class Inequality in Education: Some Recent Findings from Hong Kong

Science.gov (United States)

Kwan, Paula; Wong, Yi-Lee

2016-01-01

Embedded in a new understanding of the concept of parental involvement is that parents work as a collaborator with the school to improve student learning; through involvement in school activities, parents tend to better understand the curriculum and be more closely connected with teachers. However, the literature shows that opportunity available…

Imaginary, Global Culture, and School Violence

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Joyce Mary Adam de Paula e Silva

2011-01-01

Full Text Available In this paper we reflect on the issue of school violence under the light of the theoretical framework of Imaginary. The theme imaginary with regard to the school as institution is analyzed dealing with some characteristics of the society pointed out by different authors, such as Sennett (2006, Taylor (2006, and Baumann (2005.Some of the data from the research carried out with teachers of two schools of the interior of the state of Sao Paulo are presented, highlighting the imaginary on the school and the relations established in this context. This research adopted as its methodology for data collection a group dynamics.In conclusion, we stress the importance that studies on school violence try to clarify the different institutional aspects focusing not only the students and their families, but the interactions within the school. An institutional analysis focusing the micro and macrosocial aspects may contribute in order to lead the school to begin coping with the problems in a more realistic perspective, looking for alternatives in the group itself to evidence barriers raised by the institutional imaginary.

Educators' perceptions of school climate and health in selected primary schools

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stephanus Pretorius

2009-02-01

Full Text Available The aims in this research were to determine the perceptions of school climate held by educators of primary schools in the southern Cape. Six primary schools with a staff complement of 178 educators participated in the investigation. Two instruments were used: the Organisational Climate Description Questionnaire Rutgers Elementary (OCDQ-RE and Dimensions of Organisational Health Inventory of Elementary Schools (OHI-E. The results indicated that primary school educators in the southern Cape perceived their relations with their principals as closed, while educator-educator relations were perceived as more open. An engaged school climate was taken as the typical prototype for the relevant primary schools. Average health profiles were drawn for the overall organisational health of primary schools. A significant relationship was found between primary schools' perceptions of organisational climate and organisational health. A significant difference was found between perceptions held by educators from different primary schools regarding the various dimensions of organisational climate and health. These findings have significant implications for the implementation of change in schools, educators' job satisfaction, motivation, productivity, well-being, and learner achievement.

The Conflict Resolution Connection: Increasing School Attachment in Cooperative Classroom Communities

Science.gov (United States)

Heydenberk, Roberta Anna; Heydenberk, Warren R.

2007-01-01

Although conflict resolution education programs are usually designed to help resolve crises and reduce school disruption, the power of these programs extends far beyond the original purpose of reacting to violence. This article highlights the positive impact of conflict resolution on student relationships and school climates.

Sports-related injuries among high school athletes--United States, 2005-06 school year.

Science.gov (United States)

2006-09-29

Participation in high school sports helps promote a physically active lifestyle. High school sports participation has grown from an estimated 4 million participants during the 1971-72 school year to an estimated 7.2 million in 2005-06. However, despite the documented health benefits of increased physical activity (e.g., weight management, improved self-esteem, and increased strength, endurance, and flexibility), those who participate in athletics are at risk for sports-related injuries. High school athletes account for an estimated 2 million injuries, 500,000 doctor visits, and 30,000 hospitalizations annually. To date, the study of these injuries has been limited by inabilities to calculate injury rates, compare results among groups, and generalize findings from small, nonrepresentative samples. During the 2005-06 school year, researchers at a children's hospital in Ohio used an Internet-based data-collection tool to pilot an injury surveillance system among athletes from a representative national sample of U.S. high schools. This report summarizes the findings of that study, which indicated that participation in high school sports resulted in an estimated 1.4 million injuries at a rate of 2.4 injuries per 1,000 athlete exposures (i.e., practices or competitions). Surveillance of exposure-based injury rates in a nationally representative sample of high school athletes and analysis of injury patterns can help guide activities aimed at reducing these injuries.

Supervision for School Psychologists in Training: Developing a Framework from Empirical Findings

Science.gov (United States)

Gibbs, Simon; Atkinson, Cathy; Woods, Kevin; Bond, Caroline; Hill, Vivian; Howe, Julia; Morris, Sue

2016-01-01

Similar to other professional disciplines, the importance of supervision within school psychology has attracted considerable attention within recent years. Despite this, systematic review of current literature reveals a dearth of empirical literature proposing underlying theoretical structures. This study extends recent qualitative research by…

"It's Almost like a White School Now": Racialised Complexities, Indigenous Representation and School Leadership

Science.gov (United States)

Keddie, Amanda; Niesche, Richard

2012-01-01

Drawing on a broader study that focused on examining principal leadership for equity and diversity, this paper presents the leadership experiences of "Jane", a White, middle-class principal of a rural Indigenous school. The paper highlights how Jane's leadership is inextricably shaped by her assumptions about race and the political dynamics and…

Victories over Violence: The Quest for Safe Schools and Communities

Science.gov (United States)

Mitchell, Martin L.; Brendtro, Larry K.

2013-01-01

Periodic mass school shootings and the steady slaughter of youth on the streets of our cities are both products of cultures of violence. The authors highlight key factors that promote or prevent such acts, beginning with the little-known account of a young boy who perpetuated the most deadly school violence in history.

A New Challenge for School Counselors: Children Who Are Homeless.

Science.gov (United States)

Strawser, Sherri; Markos, Patricia A.; Yamaguchi, Barbara J.; Higgins, Kyle

2000-01-01

Reviews the legislative provisions and mandates governing the education of children and youth who are homeless and the barriers to education presented by school requirements. Highlights the effects of homelessness on children and youth and the role the school counselor should play in the provision of services for them. (Contains 55 references.)…

How Do School-Based Prevention Programs Impact Teachers? Findings from a Randomized Trial of an Integrated Classroom Management and Social-Emotional Program.

Science.gov (United States)

Domitrovich, Celene E; Bradshaw, Catherine P; Berg, Juliette K; Pas, Elise T; Becker, Kimberly D; Musci, Rashelle; Embry, Dennis D; Ialongo, Nicholas

2016-04-01

A number of classroom-based interventions have been developed to improve social and behavioral outcomes for students, yet few studies have examined how these programs impact the teachers who are implementing them. Impacts on teachers may affect students and therefore also serve as an important proximal outcome to examine. The current study draws upon data from a school-based randomized controlled trial testing the impact of two prevention programs. In one intervention condition, teachers were trained in the classroom behavior management program, PAX Good Behavior Game (PAX GBG). In a second intervention condition, teachers were trained to use an integrated program, referred to as PATHS to PAX, of the PAX GBG and a social and emotional learning curriculum called Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies (PATHS©). This study aimed to determine whether both interventions positively impacted teachers, with a particular interest in the teachers' own beliefs and perceptions regarding self-efficacy, burnout, and social-emotional competence. The sample included 350 K-5 teachers across 27 schools (18 schools randomized to intervention, 9 to control). Multilevel latent growth curve analyses indicated that the PATHS to PAX condition generally demonstrated the most benefits to teachers, relative to both the control and PAX GBG conditions. These findings suggest that school-based preventive interventions can have a positive impact on teachers' beliefs and perceptions, particularly when the program includes a social-emotional component. Several possible mechanisms might account for the added benefit to teachers. Additional research is needed to better understand how these programs impact teachers, as well as students.

Controlling for Prior Attainment Reduces the Positive Influence that Single-Gender Classroom Initiatives Exert on High School Students' Scholastic Achievements.

Science.gov (United States)

Pennington, Charlotte R; Kaye, Linda K; Qureshi, Adam W; Heim, Derek

2018-01-01

Research points to the positive impact that gender-segregated schooling and classroom initiatives exert on academic attainment. An evaluation of these studies which reveal positive effects highlights, however, that students are typically selectively assigned to single- or mixed-gender instructional settings, presenting a methodological confound. The current study controls for students' prior attainment to appraise the efficacy of a single-gender classroom initiative implemented in a co-educational high school in the United Kingdom. Secondary data analysis (using archived data) was performed on 266 middle-ability, 11-12 year-old students' standardized test scores in Languages (English, foreign language), STEM-related (Mathematics, Science, Information and Communication Technology), and Non-STEM subjects (art, music, drama). Ninety-eight students (54, 55% female) were taught in single-gender and 168 (69, 41% female) in mixed-gender classrooms. Students undertook identical tests irrespective of classroom type, which were graded in accordance with U.K national curriculum guidelines. Controlling for students' prior attainment, findings indicate that students do not appear to benefit from being taught in single-gender relative to mixed-gender classrooms in Language and STEM-related subjects. Young women benefitted from being taught in mixed-gender relative to single-gender classes for Non-STEM subjects. However, when prior ability is not controlled for, the intervention appears to be effective for all school subjects, highlighting the confounding influence of selective admissions. These findings suggest that gender-segregated classroom initiatives may not bolster students' grades. It is argued that studies that do not control for selection effects may tell us little about the effectiveness of such interventions on scholastic achievement.

Women School Leaders: Entrepreneurs in Low Fee Private Schools in Three West African Nations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Paula A. Cordeiro

2018-01-01

Full Text Available This study explores the opportunities and challenges of women who own low-fee private schools in three West African nations. With the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs in 2000 and the Sustainable Development Goals in 2016, it has become obvious to policymakers that school leadership needs to be a policy priority around the world. Increased school autonomy and a greater focus on schooling and school results have made it essential to understand and support the role of school leaders. Few countries however have strong and systematic initiatives to professionalize school leadership and to nurture and support current school leaders. This becomes even more complex for governments given the rise of private schooling in low and middle-income countries worldwide; thus, it is crucial for governments to understand the importance of leadership at the school level and how to nurture and professionalize it. In this study, the authors examine the roles of women school leaders in Burkina Faso, Ghana, and Liberia within the context of MDG 3: promote gender equality and empower women. Because of the many challenges in the public sector in education in low and middle-income countries, the private sector has responded by creating thousands of small businesses. Since a large and growing number of women are leading these private schools, this study presents the findings on the nature of the leadership of these women entrepreneurs. Fourteen school proprietors participated in face-to face interviews about their reasons for founding a school as well as the supports and challenges they face. Findings discuss the limited professional learning opportunities for school leaders in these nations. The study describes the school leaders’ desires to help build their nations, and the unique cultural and contextual factors in each country.

Finding the Connections between a High-School Chemistry Curriculum and Nano-Scale Science and Technology

Science.gov (United States)

Blonder, Ron; Sakhnini, Sohair

2017-01-01

The high-school chemistry curriculum is loaded with many important chemical concepts that are taught at the high-school level and it is therefore very difficult to add modern contents to the existing curriculum. However, many studies have underscored the importance of integrating modern chemistry contents such as nanotechnology into a high-school…

Adjustment problems in the family and school contexts, attitude towards authority, and violent behavior at school in adolescence.

Science.gov (United States)

Musitu Ochoa, Gonzalo; Estévez Lopez, Estefania; Emler, Nicholas P

2007-01-01

This study analyzed the role of different but interrelated variables in the family and school contexts in relation to problems of violent behavior at school during adolescence. Participants were 1,068 students aged 11 to 16 (47% male) drawn from secondary schools in the Valencian Community (Spain). Statistical analyses were carried out using structural equation modeling. The model accounted for 32% of the variance in school violence. Results showed a direct association between quality of communication with father and teacher's expectations of the student with the adolescent's involvement in violent behavior at school. Moreover, findings showed indirect paths by which adolescents' self-concept (family and school domains), acceptance by peers, and attitude toward authority, seemed to be influenced by the quality of interactions with parent and teachers, and also were closely associated with violent behavior at school. Findings are discussed in relation to previous research on adolescent psychosocial adjustment and behavioral problems at school.

Refugees and education in Canadian schools

Science.gov (United States)

Kaprielian-Churchill, Isabel

1996-07-01

This article summarizes some of the findings and recommendations of a research project focusing on the nature and needs of refugee students in Canadian schools. The school performance of refugee students is examined under the following headings: immigration regulations; initial identification, assessment, placement and monitoring; unaccompanied youngsters; "at risk" students; academic needs; the conflict of cultures. In particular, the article discusses the changing role of the school in the light of recent immigration trends. Many of the findings are applicable to other national settings.

The relationship between school lunch attendance and the food intakes of French schoolchildren aged 3-17 years.

Science.gov (United States)

Dubuisson, Carine; Lioret, Sandrine; Dufour, Ariane; Calamassi-Tran, Gloria; Volatier, Jean-Luc; Lafay, Lionel; Turck, Dominique

2015-06-01

Recently, school meal composition regulations have been implemented in France in order to improve the nutritional status of children. The present study investigated the link between school lunch attendance and the food intakes of schoolchildren aged 3-17 years. Second French cross-sectional dietary survey (2006-2007). Eating frequencies were assessed for twenty-four food groups with a 7 d food record. Eating locations were recorded for main meals. Food group intakes at weekday lunches were compared for the school canteen and for other locations. The children's overall dietary intake was compared based on school lunch attendance. Mainland France. Schoolchildren aged 3-17 years (n 1068). Lunchtime food intake differed between the school canteen and other locations. Some intakes at school canteens were more in accordance with the regulations (more fruit and vegetables, fish and dairy products, and less sandwiches, soft drinks, chocolate and confectionery), whereas others highlighted needs for improvement (more sweet biscuits and pastries, ice cream and dairy desserts, pizzas and salty pastries). Many of these differences were also observed in the children's overall diet: children regularly attending school lunches ate more mashed fruit, fish and sweet biscuits or pastries, and less sandwiches and soft drinks. The link between school lunch attendance and overall diet was less pronounced in secondary-school children. School canteen attendance is associated with both potentially beneficial and deleterious differences in the lunchtime and overall diets of French children. These findings are important to consider when setting national regulations for school meal composition.

Processes and outcomes in school health promotion

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Simovska, Venka

2012-01-01

This is the second special issue of Health Education which features research, theory and practice based perspectives on what counts as desirable outcomes of health promotion in schools in terms of health as well as education, and the effective processes in schools which lead to these outcomes....... The focus in the first special issue was on highlighting the argument that the question about the outcomes of the health-promoting schools should not be limited to narrowly defined health outcomes but needs to be closely linked with the core tasks and values of the school. Building further on this argument......, the papers in this issue feature a number of research issues of relevance for the effectiveness of the health-promoting schools approach, as well as a variety of research and evaluation methodologies contributing to the debate about what counts as reliable evidence within the health-promoting schools...

The “School Foodshed”: schools and fast-food outlets in a London borough

OpenAIRE