Transforming American High Schools: Possibilities for the Next Phase of High School Reform

The next phase of high school reform is ripe with possibilities. Over the last 3 decades, educational research has identified a number of promising and effective high school models. Research demonstrates the benefits of career academies and early college schools. Schools that offer small, personalized environments; comprehensive approaches to schoolwide instruction and operations; and integrated opportunities to experience career and college have exhibited positive impacts on labor market outcomes, student achievement, or high school graduation. Guided by advances in research of high school reform and recent education policy, leaders and funders of reform and educational innovations should seek to further integrate structural arrangements and instructional practices with local employers and higher education institutions. Reforms should also search for ways to accelerate rapid and dramatic improvements in school performance.     

Development of a Curriculum for Long-Term Care Nurses to Improve Recognition of Depression in Dementia

There is increasing recognition of the severe consequences of depression in long-term care residents with dementia. Most health care providers are unprepared to recognize and to manage the complexity of depression in dementia. Targeted educational initiatives in nursing homes are needed to address this growing problem. This paper describes the development of competencies, learning objectives, and learning outcomes for a curriculum on depression in dementia for nurses working in nursing home settings. This work provides the foundation for a curriculum to improve learning for nurses and, ultimately, to advance health care outcomes for residents with cooccurring depression and dementia.     

Por los ojos de madres: Latina mothers’ understandings of college readiness

In this study, data from six focus groups with 30 Latina mothers in South Texas were analyzed utilizing a “funds of knowledge” approach to uncover their understandings of college readiness and their role in ensuring their children are college ready. Findings indicate that Latina mothers perceived college readiness in a holistic fashion, similar to the concept of educación, in that being college ready encompasses academic preparation and other particular personal attributes that ensure success in college. Mothers also believed they had a shared responsibility in college readiness efforts by providing emotional, financial, and moral support while school personnel and students were responsible for other aspects. Such findings are crucial given that current college readiness research does not explicitly consider the role of parents in college readiness efforts or how parents perceive this notion.     

Using Design-Based Latent Growth Curve Modeling With Cluster-Level Predictor to Address Dependency

The authors compared the effects of using the true Multilevel Latent Growth Curve Model (MLGCM) with single-level regular and design-based Latent Growth Curve Models (LGCM) with or without the higher-level predictor on various criterion variables for multilevel longitudinal data. They found that random effect estimates were biased when the higher-level predictor was not included and that standard errors of the regression coefficients from the higher-level were underestimated when a regular LGCM was used. Nevertheless, random effect estimates, regression coefficients, and standard error estimates were consistent with those from the true MLGCM when the design-based LGCM included the higher-level predictor. They discussed implication for the study with empirical data illustration.