Closing the Racial/Ethnic Gap Between Students of Color and Their Teachers: An Elusive Goal

This article examines minority teacher recruitment policies and programs of the past two decades and explores their influence on the racial/ethnic makeup of the teaching force in elementary and secondary public schools. The results show that while important progress has been made toward increasing the overall number and proportion of minority teachers in the public schools, those gains have been eclipsed by the rapid growth of the minority student population. As a result, the racial/ethnic gap between students of color and their teachers has actually increased over the years. The authors provide an overview of current minority teacher recruitment state policies and introduce the Teacher-Student Parity Index, a new metric for comparing the proportions of teachers and students from different racial/ethnic groups to gain a more textured understanding of the demographic reality of today's schools than is presently found in the literature. The authors conclude with recommendations for policy and research.     

Using growth curves to determine the timing of booster sessions

Booster sessions are often recommended to reestablish or reinforce the cognitive messages or behavior changes due to therapeutic and behavioral interventions. To plan intervention‐relevant booster sessions, researchers need to know the pattern(s) of individual change over time in outcome variables and for experimental groups. Growth curve analysis of repeated measures can estimate these patterns for different categories of intervention participants. This article demonstrates an application of this method using data from a recently completed multisite randomized experiment that compared 3 different counseling and testing methods for prevention of HIV infection and other sexually transmitted diseases, Project RESPECT. Reported self‐efficacy for condom use with the main sexual partner is used as an illustrative example. For most experimental groups, self‐efficacy for condom use declined for both female and male respondents soon after the intervention and booster sessions should have been instituted within 3 months after the intervention. The article closes with some recommendations for both prospective and retrospective use of growth curves to rationally plan the timing of booster sessions and to evaluate their effectiveness in preventing relapse.     

Urine dipstick analysis for identification of runners susceptible to acute kidney injury following an ultramarathon

Abstract

This study examined whether urine dipstick testing might be useful to predict the development of acute kidney injury after an ultramarathon. Participants in the 2011 161-km Western States Endurance Run underwent post-race blood and urine dipstick analyses. Of the 310 race finishers, post-race urine dipstick testing was completed on 152 (49%) and post-race blood also was obtained from 150 of those runners. Based on “injury” and “risk” criteria for acute kidney injury of blood creatinine 2.0 and 1.5 times estimated baseline, respectively, 4% met the criteria for injury and an additional 29–30% met the criteria for risk of injury. Those meeting the injury criteria had higher creatine kinase concentrations (P < 0.001) than those not meeting the criteria. Urine dipstick tests that read positive for at least 1+ protein, 3+ blood, and specific gravity ≥ 1.025 predicted those meeting the injury criteria with sensitivity of 1.00 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.54–1.00), specificity of 0.76 (95% CI 0.69–0.83), positive predictive value of 0.15 (95% CI 0.06–0.30), negative predictive value of 1.00 (95% CI 0.97–1.00), and likelihood ratio for a positive test of 4.2. We conclude that urine dipstick testing was successfully able to identify those individuals meeting injury criteria for acute kidney injury with excellent sensitivity and specificity.     

Perceptions of Work–Life Balance for Urban Academic Librarians: An Exploratory Study

Abstract

The topic of work–life balance (WLB) has gotten a lot of attention in popular literature, but there has been little library scholarship on the issue. This exploratory study presents the perceptions of 329 academic librarians on what they believe an ideal WLB looks like, and how it impacts their personal and professional responsibilities. The authors asked about strategies for a successful WLB, about overall job satisfaction, coping strategies, and more. The study is intended to prompt discussions of the topic, and lead to an exploration of how to continue to grow and support a strong workforce.     

Improving self-monitoring and self-regulation: From cognitive psychology to the classroom

Although there is abundant experimental metamemory research on the relation between students’ monitoring, regulation of learning, and learning outcomes, relatively little of this work has influenced educational research and practice. Metamemory research, traditionally based on experimental paradigms from cognitive psychology, can potentially contribute to designing and improving educational interventions that foster self-monitoring and self-regulation in children, adolescents, and young adult learners. We describe the metamemory paradigm, and provide a short overview of the insights it has generated with regard to improving metacognitive skills in these groups of learners. Moreover, we summarize the contributions to this special issue on translating insights from cognitive psychology research on metamemory to educational research and practice, and describe possible themes and directions for future research that could further bridge the gap between fundamental and more applied research on metacognition, so as to design effective educational interventions.     

"I'd rather not talk about it": adolescents' and young adults' use of topic avoidance in stepfamilies

This study examined adolescents' and young adults' use of topic avoidance with their mothers, fathers, stepmothers, and stepfathers. The types of topics avoided differed according to the type of parent-child relationship. Specifically, adolescents and young adults engaged in the most topic avoidance with their stepparents (regardless of whether the stepparent was a stepmother or stepfather), followed by their fathers, and then their mothers. Quantitative measures indicated that sex was the most frequently avoided topic across all relationship types. Open-ended responses revealed additional commonly avoided topics, including talking about the other parent/family, deep conversations, and money (e.g., child support payments). The most frequently reported reasons for this avoidance were self protection, relationship protection, and conflict. This research suggests that children in stepfamilies face unique decisions about topic avoidance. Communication Boundary Management Theory (Petronio, 1991) was used to explain how adolescents and young adults might engage in topic avoidance to regulate their personal boundaries, constructing relatively impermeable boundaries with some adults while maintaining looser boundaries with others. Finally, numerous practical suggestions are offered for understanding the balance between openness and closedness in stepfamilies and for promoting healthy stepfamily functioning.     

Examining Secondary Special Education Teachers’ Literacy Instructional Practices

This study presents findings from a survey of secondary special education teachers who teach reading. Respondents were 577 special education teachers from a large Midwestern state who completed an online or mail survey. Results based on quantitative and qualitative analyses indicate predominant foci of secondary special education teachers’ reading instructional practices were teaching vocabulary and comprehension, engaging in ongoing formative assessment, and incorporating technology into instruction. Major themes included the widespread use of commercial reading programs and a bifurcation of instructional roles. These findings are discussed in relation to the national discourse on adolescent literacy and current schooling initiatives including the Common Core State Standards and Multi-tiered Systems of Support.     

E-learning and Evaluation in Modern Educational System

Implementation of information and communication technologies as well as emersion of new user interfaces and web 2.0 technologies changes the way of education system, the way of living and business transactions in general. The way we communicate, operate, produce and live is also changing. In accordance with it, the systems of education change from traditional to modern. The following changes occur： from content delivery to knowledge production, from transfer of knowledge from teachers to students towards encouragement of development and construction of knowledge, from courses and programs changing to the adaptation of the study environment, from the faculty professionalism to the quality of teaching and student learning and the early involvement of students in research work and projects. These occurring changes also affect the students＇ and professors＇ mobility. Here, the word ＂mobility＂ represents not only the student exchange programs and the easier transitions from one＇s home university to a foreign one, but also the way professors conduct their classes. With the development of certain software, students＇ class attendance no longer represents an important factor, as they can now learn from distance using the mentioned software, taking the learning process one step further. In order for above-mentioned changes to occur, the use of e-learning and the development of new tools are almost mandatory. With this in mind, the goal of this paper is to analyze quantitatively the changes that are occurring almost every day that affect the students＇ learning and the professors＇ teaching methods.