Methods for measuring student response to stimulant medication: A meta‐analytic review

Measuring student response to interventions has become an important role for school psychologists. Children with Attention‐Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) are frequently treated with stimulant medication, but the response to the treatment is rarely adequately assessed. The current study examined the sensitivity of measures used to assess the outcomes of stimulant medication for children identified with ADHD using meta‐analytic procedures. A total of 812 articles were reviewed with 35 being selected for the study based on a common treatment protocol of .3 to .5 mg/kg with a 2‐ to 8‐week pre‐ and post‐test interval. Measures were categorized as behavioral, psychological, or physiological. A total of 81 effect sizes were computed with a total unbiased estimate of effect of .53 and unbiased estimates of effect of .11 for physiological measures, .38 for psychological measures, and .56 for behavioral measures. Tests of homogeneity found nonsignificant results within each of the three categories. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Local amenities,unobserved quality,and market clearing: Adjusting teacher compensation to provide equal education opportunities

Local school districts differ in their ability to pay for teacher quality, and in the amenities they offer as places to live and work. Market clearing with heterogeneous quality yields geographically varying teacher salary levels that confound scarcity with unobserved differences in quality. The paper discusses identification and estimation of a model of quality-adjusted teacher salaries in local markets with unobserved market-clearing prices. Exogenous variables in the model include community and district characteristics, job characteristics and working conditions, and individual characteristics. We apply the model to estimate the relative cost of providing comparably qualified teachers for urban and rural public schools in the state of Alaska, which has high geographic variation in amenities and local financial resources. The quality-adjusted geographic salary differentials implied by the results suggest much larger compensation differentials for isolated rural schools than most of these school districts can afford under current levels of state support.     

The impact of gross anatomy on the future head and neck surgeon

Gross anatomy is not only a rite of passage for medical students as they enter the world of practicing medicine but may also be an unrecognized fork in the road in their pursuit of choosing a medical specialty. Otolaryngology: head and neck surgery tends to be poorly represented in medical school curriculum, often only offered as an elective rotation. However, head and neck anatomy remains a constant in most medical schools, granting some exposure to otolaryngology whether students realize it or not. A common thread among most head and neck surgeons in their decision to pursue this surgical specialty is a love for head and neck anatomy, spawned in that first year gross anatomy course. This first and potentially only exposure to otolaryngology should be optimized, as it can have a profound effect in the selection of otolaryngology as a specialty. This introduction can be facilitated by (1) inviting otolaryngology residents to assist during the dissection of the head and neck, (2) soliciting otolaryngology attending physicians to provide clinical correlation lectures, and (3) anatomy professors should identify students who excel in the head and neck portion of the curriculum and direct them towards otolaryngology mentors. There may be a great missed opportunity if a career in otolaryngology is not discussed with students during the dissection of the head and neck. Anat Sci Ed 2:89–90, 2009. © 2009 American Association of Anatomists.     

Evaluating Intervention Effects in a Diagnostic Classification Model Framework

The evaluation of intervention effects is an important objective of educational research. One way to evaluate the effectiveness of an intervention is to conduct an experiment that assigns individuals to control and treatment groups. In the context of pretest/posttest designed studies, this is referred to as a control‐group pretest/posttest design. The transition diagnostic classification model (TDCM) was recently developed to assess growth, defined as change in attribute mastery status over time, in a diagnostic classification model framework. The TDCM, however, does not model multiple groups, and therefore is not able to analyze data from a control‐group pretest/posttest designed experiment. In this study, we extend the TDCM to model multiple groups, thereby enabling the examination of group‐differential growth in attribute mastery and the evaluation of intervention effects. The utility of the multigroup TDCM is demonstrated in the evaluation of an innovative instructional method in mathematics education.     

“Everything inside me was silenced”: (Re)defining rape through visceral counterpublicity

This essay advances a theory of visceral counterpublicity through two case studies of recent high-profile rape crimes in the United States – the cases of Emily Doe and Emma Sulkowicz. Both cases garnered considerable public attention, yet neither perpetrator was convicted of rape. This essay analyzes how Doe and Sulkowicz performed public responses to these outcomes, using their bodies to argue what happened to them was indeed rape. These embodied forms constitute what I call visceral counterpublicity: modes of public engagement that (1) proceed when discursive frameworks understood through liberal subjectivity fall short; (2) expose the body's threatened boundaries to incite an affective response, or bodily intensity, in audiences; and (3) illuminate a subjugated position within the public sphere. Together, these cases call into question how mainstream publics define and discuss rape and suggest a potential shift in public opinion over rape to include visceral frameworks. This theory provides utility for rhetorical theorists and critics attempting to make sense of a range of embodied protests by drawing attention to how legal structures appear in and create larger public discourse about the body and violence.     

Dealing with non‐normality: an introduction and step‐by‐step guide using R

The article presents some notes on normalization and illustrates these procedures using graphing functions in R. Using real data, the paper also presents an R package and online Shiny app that efficiently transforms variables in large datasets.     

Rolling Back Zero Tolerance: The Effect of Discipline Policy Reform on Suspension Usage and Student Outcomes

Beginning in the early 1990s, states and districts enacted zero-tolerance discipline policies that relied heavily on out-of-school suspensions. Recently, districts nationwide have revised these policies in favor of more tempered disciplinary responses. In 2012–2013, Philadelphia reformed its discipline policy to limit suspensions for nonviolent student misconduct and granted principals greater discretion in responding to more serious occurrences of student misconduct. Employing a difference-in-differences approach, we find that Philadelphia's reform resulted in a modest decline in suspensions for nonviolent infractions in the year of reform; however, total suspensions remained unchanged while serious incidents of student misconduct increased. Further, the truancy rate increased and district math and English language arts achievement declined following the policy reform. These findings should inform policymakers and practitioners on the implications of district-level reforms for suspension usage and the potential consequences for student outcomes.     

The influence of successive matches on match-running performance during an under-23 international soccer tournament: The necessity of individual analysis

This study investigated the effects of successive matches on match-running in elite under-23 soccer players during an international tournament. Match-running data was collected using a semi-automated multi-camera tracking system during an international under-23 tournament from all participating outfield players. Players who played 100% of all group stage matches were included (3 matches separated by 72 h, n = 44). Differences in match-running performance between matches were identified using a generalised linear mixed model. There were no clear effects for total, walking, jogging, running, high-speed running and sprinting distance between matches 1 and 3 (effect size (ES); ?0.32 to 0.05). Positional analysis found that sprint distance was largely maintained from matches 1 to 3 across all positions. Attackers had a moderate decrease in total, jogging and running distance between matches 1 and 3 (ES; ?0.72 to ?0.66). Classifying players as increasers or decreasers in match-running revealed that match-running changes are susceptible to individual differences. Sprint performance appears to be maintained over successive matches regardless of playing position. However, reductions in other match-running categories vary between positions. Changes in match-running over successive matches affect individuals differently; thus, players should be monitored on an individual basis.     

Six-year body composition change in male elite senior rugby league players

This study investigated the change in body composition and bone mineral content (BMC) of senior rugby league (RL) players between 2008 and 2014. Twelve male professional RL players (age, 24.6 ± 4.0 years; stature, 183.4 ± 8.4 cm) received a dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry scan during preseason in 2008 and 2014. Between 2008 and 2014, very likely increases in leg lean mass (LM), total trunk and leg BMC, and a likely increase in arm BMC and possible increases in body mass (BM), total and trunk fat mass (FM), and total, trunk and arm LM were observed. Unlikely decreases and unclear changes in leg and arm FM were also found. Large negative correlations were observed between age and BM (r = ?0.72), LM (r = ?0.70), FM (r = ?0.61) and BMC (r = ?0.84) change. Three participants (19.1 ± 1.6 years) increased LM by 7.0–9.3 kg. Younger players had the largest increases in LM during this period, although an older player (30-year old) still increased LM. Differences in body composition change were also observed for participants of the same age, thus contextual factors should be considered. This study demonstrates the individuality of body composition changes in senior professional rugby players, while considering the potential change in young athletes.