Manipulating Treatment Dose: Evaluating the Frequency of a Small Group Intervention Targeting Whole Number Operations

Treatment dose is an understudied aspect of treatment effectiveness. This study compared the frequency with which a small‐group mathematics intervention was delivered weekly (i.e., four times, twice, once) with a control condition while controlling for total duration. 101 at‐risk students in grades 2–4 were randomly assigned to a condition following universal screening and skill‐based assessments. Multilevel modeling was used to evaluate final score and growth on three measures. Results suggested that for the most proximal computation measure, treatment sessions occurring four times weekly produced clear benefits. On the application measure, students in all treatment groups outperformed students in the control condition. For the most complex computation measure, frequency was not a useful predictor. Grade was a moderating variable.     

Stasis in Space! Viewing Definitional Conflicts Surrounding the James Webb Space Telescope Funding Debate

During 2010 and 2011, debate ensued over funding for National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). This article uses stasis theory to analyze reports and statements produced by NASA, politicians, and scientists. The analysis reveals that an official report addresses stasis questions and guides further action. Additionally, varying perspectives on the telescope suggest that definitions play a crucial role in technology funding debates. This analysis demonstrates that stasis theory provides a productive tool for analyzing technology policy debates.     

Knowing What the Patron Wants: Using Predictive Analytics to Transform Library Decision Making

Predictive analytics and machine learning are burgeoning areas of professional practice for large corporations especially businesses that offer products and services to customers. The power to better understand the movement of large amounts of data in a company and the capability to deploy that data to meet a customer's needs is invaluable from a services standpoint. Some in libraries have theorized that this type of data usage could possibly be used in a library service environment as well. In this article, we demonstrate how you can develop and use machine learning algorithms and predictive analytics to proactively understand library behavior. Although libraries are good at data collection, we often rely on statics or old data for assessment. Utilizing a machine learning system, called the Automated Library Information Exchange Network (ALIEN), we can better understand the movement of the items in the collection and better serve the needs of our customers the library patrons.     

CTRL “C” – CTRL “V”; using gaming peripherals to improve library workflows and enhance staff efficiency

Library workflows are an area where repetitive stress can potentially reduce staff efficiency. Day to day activities that require a repetitive motion can bring about physical and psychological fatigue. For library managers, it is important to seek ways in which this type of repetitive stress can be alleviated while having the added benefit of increasing staff productivity and efficiency. Another area where repetitive stress plays a role is in the computer gaming arena. The tasks undertaken by a computer gamer are not unlike the tasks undertaken by a library staff member. It is in this arena of computer gaming that libraries can find new tools and methods for reducing repetitive stress, computer based stress, as well an increase efficiency and effectiveness. This type of improvement can be accomplished by incorporating gaming peripherals into the workflow of the library staff member.     

Diversity on Display: Framing in the Gay Perspective Radio Program

This study explores the archived content of Gay Perspective, a 1970s radio program in Milwaukee as it frames LGBTQIA+ (queer) rights in a historical context. Gay Perspective was produced by the Gay People’s Union (GPU). The group was considered politically “moderate,” emphasizing educational and legal action through their engagement with radio and magazines. Gay Perspective focused much of its energy on trying to demonstrate the need for rights and attempts to demonstrate how the queer community’s members could be functioning members of mainstream society. Gay Perspective is a cultural artifact that not only allows for the examination of gay identity in a different era, but also demonstrates the struggles social movements face in trying to gain access to media. The program provided a public voice to a radically underserved group, a group that was struggling with its own identity. By trying to build a community through radio, sharing resources and experiences, the program found some limited success in airing the GPU’s message of tolerance. Applying the analysis through 3 frames, Cultured, Diversity, and Assimilation, this article explores how segments of the LGBTQIA+ community framed the discussion of gay rights in the 1970s and discusses how those frames have (and haven’t) changed in 2018.     

IDENTIFYING STUDENTS WITH EMOTIONAL DISTURBANCE: SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGISTS’ PRACTICES AND PERCEPTIONS

From its inception as a disability category in the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, serving students under the special education category Emotional Disturbance (ED) has been a challenging task for school psychologists. In particular, the vague and ambiguous federal definition has created an environment in which inconsistent assessment practices and decision making are almost inevitable. In this study, we examined school psychologists’ (N = 214) assessment practices when determining initial eligibility for ED, as well as their perceptions regarding the language contained within the federal ED definition. Findings indicated that although school psychologists recognize the need for a multimethod, multisource assessment model when ED is a classification consideration, in many instances, their actual assessments are missing commonly recommended sources of data for making eligibility decisions, including classroom observations; parent, teacher, and student interviews; and behavior rating scales. The results from the study provide a useful overview of school psychologists’ assessment practices and are couched within the questions and confusion that have surrounded the federal ED definition since its codification into law.     

Credentialling competency based education and training: a review of the literature

This paper summarises the results of a literature review conducted in late 1993 on issues related to the credentialling of competency based education and training. The credentialling review focused on seven major issues: describing the minimum requirments for a qualification; distinguishing different qualification levels; issuing statements and qualifications gained by the recognition of prior learning; using short courses to build a qualification; recording the results of competency based assessments; responsibility for keeping the records of individual achievement; and, whether the exact competencies held should be recorded on a qualification. The recent (1993) move by the National Training Board to abandon any general criteria for the determination of qualification levels and to rely solely on the advice of the relevant Competency Standards Body when determining the level of a qualification emerges as a significant development in Australian credentialling. This abandonment of general criteria,which mirrors a development in theUK system, may yet undermine the goal of achieving a more rational qualifications system in Australia. It was clear from the review that the issues and trends in the accreditation of competency based education and training in Australia, and the problems encountered, have broad parallels in the UK experience. It was also clear that much of the story is yet to unravel, and that many issues remain unresolved.     

‘Removing the chaos from the narrative’: preparing clinical leaders for practice development

This article explores the work of a group of ward leaders who worked in a large acute NHS Trust in London in identifying the need for practice development in their clinical settings and their own leadership development needs. The ward leaders worked with a facilitator over a period of 6 months to develop knowledge, skills and experience in leading practice developments. The project was deliberately focused on helping the ward leaders become aware of the need for change and increase their potential as leaders of changes arising from the project. The ward leaders worked with the facilitator (the lead author) over a 7-month period, utilising a variety of integrated developmental and data collection techniques. The methods employed included reflection on practice, observation of practice, discussions with practitioners, 360-degree feedback and the use of a variety of creative arts. The project was based on the narrative framework of Frank (1995), and this framework was utilised to shape the interpretation of the processes and outcomes of the project. This article thus presents the combined narrative journey of the facilitator and the participants.