Online Searching on Selected Business Databases for Management Aspects of Health Care

Reference librarians developed an assessment tool to determine if formal classroom instruction on the use of PDAs benefits medical students. The questionnaire on PDA concepts and skills, designed to assess both comfort level and self-described skill level, was administered to students before and after a mandatory hands-on PDA class. Of 105 students surveyed, 90 (85.7%) felt the class was immediately beneficial. Mean scores on all questions increased from pre-session to post-session. Score increases were statistically significant (p < .05) for almost all questions, demonstrating to faculty, students, and instructors that the PDA class is beneficial, necessary, and should remain mandatory.     

Ankle Accelerometry for Assessing Physical Activity Among Adolescent Girls: Threshold Determination,Validity, Reliability,and Feasibility

Purpose: Ankle accelerometry allows for 24-hr data collection and improves data volume/integrity versus hip accelerometry. Using Actical ankle accelerometry, the purpose of this study was to (a) develop sensitive/specific thresholds, (b) examine validity/reliability, (c) compare new thresholds with those of the manufacturer, and (d) examine feasibility in a community sample (low-income, urban adolescent girls). Method: Two studies were conducted with 6th- through 7th-grade girls (aged 10–14 years old): First was a laboratory study (n = 24), in which 2 Actical accelerometers were placed on the ankle and worn while measuring energy expenditure (Cosmed K4b2, metabolic equivalents [METs]) during 10 prescribed activities. Analyses included device equivalence reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient [ICC], activity counts of 2 Acticals), criterion-related validity (correlation, activity counts and METs), and calculations of sensitivity, specificity, kappa, and receiver-operating characteristic curves for thresholds. The second was a free-living study (n = 459), in which an Actical was worn for more than 7 days on the ankle (full 24-hr days retained). Analyses included feasibility (frequencies, missing data) and paired t tests (new thresholds vs. those of the manufacturer). Results: In the laboratory study, the Actical demonstrated reliability (ICC = .92) and validity (r = .81). Thresholds demonstrated sensitivity (91%), specificity (84%), kappa = .73 (p = .043), area under curve range = .81–.97. In the free-living study, 99.6% of participants wore the accelerometer; 84.1% had complete/valid data (mean = 5.7 days). Primary reasons for missing/invalid data included: improper programming/documentation (5.2%), failure to return device (5.0%), and wear-time ≤ 2 days (2.8%). The moderate-to-vigorous physical activity threshold (> 3,200 counts/minute) yielded 37.2 min/day, 2 to 4.5 times lower than that of the manufacturer's software (effect size = 0.74–4.05). Conclusions: Validity, reliability, and feasibility evidences support Actical ankle accelerometry to assess physical activity in community studies of adolescent girls. When comparing manufacturers' software versus new thresholds, a major difference was observed.     

A promising science and literacy instructional model with Hispanic fifth grade students

Abstract

This study evaluated the Science and Literacy Instructional Model aimed at helping primarily Hispanic bilingual/English Learners (ELs) and economically disadvantaged fifth grade students with science achievement as measured by high-stakes standardized science achievement scores. The model combined purposeful planning, innovative academic vocabulary instruction, and a Lesson Design Lab. Difference-in proportions tests were used to determine if students at two school campuses showed positive achievement gains on a state science test. This study found statistically significant results with medium to large effect sizes at both campuses. Findings contribute to much needed research, practice, and policy in the area of effective models to assist both teachers and students in an era of high-stakes testing.     

Pa’lante,siempre pa’lante: pedagogies of the home among Puerto Rican college educated families

Research focused on Latinas/os in higher education often examines patterns of failure, while neglecting factors that contribute to Latina/o generational familial success. This article focuses on intergenerational strategies taught within college-educated Puerto Rican households that assist in academic achievement and success in higher education. Delgado Bernal theorized pedagogies of the home to explain co-constructed cultural knowledge within Chicana/o households to challenge deficit perspectives. Through analysis of educational oral histories of four college-educated Puerto Rican families, pedagogies of the home are extended. The Puerto Rican college-educated children demonstrate sin pelos en la lengua (without mincing words), contradictions among college completers, and pa’lante siempre pa’lante (always moving forward) as strategies employed in navigating higher education. In rearticulating, pedagogies of the home for the Puerto Rican community, institutions of higher education can better respond to the various experiences of Latinas/os.     

Relationship Between Language and Concept Science Notebook Scores of English Language Learners and/or Economically Disadvantaged Students

Despite research interest in testing the effects of literacy-infused science interventions in different contexts, research exploring the relationship, if any, between academic language and conceptual understanding is scant. What little research exists does not include English language learners (ELLs) and/or economically disadvantaged (ED) student samples—students most at risk academically. This study quantitatively determined if there exists a relationship, and if so, how strong of a relationship, between ELL and ED students’ academic language and conceptual understanding based on science notebook scores used in a larger science and literacy-infused intervention with a sample of culturally diverse students. The study also considered strengths of relationships between language and concept science notebook scores within student language status groups (ELL, former ELL, and English speaking). Correlational analyses noted positive, large, and significant correlations between students’ language and concept scores overall, with the largest correlations for science notebook entries using more academic language. Large correlations also existed for ELL student entries at the end of the school year. Implications of the findings for future research and practice in science classrooms including literacy interventions, such as science notebooks, with populations of culturally diverse students are discussed.     

The effects of working conditions on teacher retention

Teacher attrition is one of the driving contributors to the shortage of effective teachers internationally and in the United States. The common factors that spur teachers worldwide to leave the profession include low salaries, quality of teacher preparation programs, overwhelming workload, and poor working conditions. In this study, we analyzed three years of Arizona public schools’ teacher retention data and quantitative and qualitative working conditions survey data to understand the relationship between attrition patterns, perceived working conditions at their schools, and the characteristics of the schools where they were employed. We compared attrition rates in schools with different student demographic compositions and related these differences to working conditions as perceived by teachers in these schools. We found that schools where teachers rated their working conditions as more satisfactory had lower attrition rates and also were schools with higher rates of low-income and/or minority students. This findings support the hypothesis of working conditions being a mediating factor in the interplay between school demographics and teacher attrition. We document patterns of teacher retention rates across schools with different student demographics and discuss implications for policy.     

The Intersectionality of Culturally Responsive Teaching and Performance Poetry: Validating Secondary Latino Youth and Their Community

In this article the authors draw from culturally responsive teaching and multicultural education to describe performance poetry as an effective strategy for validating secondary aged Latino youths’ lived experiences. Supported by teacher modeling and the incorporation of community poets, students created and shared their own powerful poems that provided authentic opportunities to engage in critical analysis of the poems and issues of equality, social justice, and equity. Performance poetry is successfully used as a tool for validation, honoring and learning from our community, and transformation. Students in this border community were validated in terms of the identities as members of multiple worlds, learned about their own neighborhood from community poets, and were transformed in their identities as community activists through performance poetry. However, in this era of standardized teaching and high-stakes testing, teaching through performance poetry is often not supported in schools.