Impaired motor control after sport-related concussion could increase risk for musculoskeletal injury: Implications for clinical management and rehabilitation

This review presents a conceptual framework and supporting evidence that links impaired motor control after sport-related concussion(SRC)to increased risk for musculoskeletal injury.Multiple studies have found that athletes who are post-SRC have higher risk for musculoskeletal injury compared to their counterparts.A small body of research suggests that impairments in motor control are associated with musculoskeletal injury risk.Motor control involves the perception and processing of sensory information and subsequent coordination of motor output within the central nervous system to perform a motor task.Motor control is inclusive of motor planning and motor learning.If sensory information is not accurately perceived or there is interference with sensory information processing and cognition,motor function will be altered,and an athlete may become vulnerable to injury during sport participation.Athletes with SRC show neuroanatomic and neurophysiological changes relevant to motor control even after meeting return to sport criteria,including a normal neurological examination,resolution of symptoms,and return to baseline function on traditional concussion testing.In conjunction,altered motor function is demonstrated after SRC in muscle activation and force production,movement patterns,balance/postural stability,and motor task performance,especially performance of a motor task paired with a cognitive task(i.e.,dual-task condition).The clinical implications of this conceptual framework include a need to intentionally address motor control impairments after SRC to mitigate musculoskeletal injury risk and to monitor motor control as the athlete progresses through the return to sport continuum.     

Teacher adaptation of document-based history curricula: results of the Reading Like a Historian curriculum-use survey

Although most teachers adapt curriculum, we know little about teachers’ rationales for modifying materials, how these rationales align with actual modifications, nor whether any patterns exist in the modifications that teachers make. This is especially the case in history/social studies, where research on curriculum is scant and research on teacher adaptation of curriculum is virtually non-existent. This paper addresses that gap. We report the results of a large-scale survey on curriculum use with over 1900 history teachers. The online survey focused on how and why teachers use and adapt lesson materials from a free online history curriculum and prompted teachers to upload examples of curriculum materials they had modified. We found that individual differences among teachers correlated with particular types of modifications. Moreover, we found that teachers were motivated to modify materials to address their students’ needs, and that their modifications rarely affected the core structure – or theory of content – of the lessons. We argue that such alignment between teachers and curricular materials represents an example of curricular fit. We discuss what curricular design features may have contributed to the high level of curricular fit among users as well as the implications of this construct for curriculum implementation efforts across subject areas.     

Definition and Measurement of Selection Bias: From Constant Ratio to Constant Difference

Despite its intuitive appeal and popularity, Thorndike's constant ratio (CR) model for unbiased selection is inherently inconsistent in n -free selection. Satisfaction of the condition for unbiased selection, when formulated in terms of success/acceptance probabilities, usually precludes satisfaction by the converse probabilities of rejection/failure, and vice versa. This paper suggests that this inconsistency is unavoidable due to the (negative) linear relation between "percent accepted" ( P ) and "percent rejected" (1 – P ), which does not preserve ratios and, thus, invalidates the conceptualization and measurement of selection bias in ratio terms. Therefore, we propose to substitute the CR model with a constant difference (CD) model for the definition and measurement of selection bias, and show the latter's underlying rationale and its applicability in both n -free and fixed- n selection.     

Schooling and the Norming of Intelligence Test Scores

How does schooling affect the development of intelligence in children? How should the amount of schooling be considered when developing norms for turning intelligence test performance into IQ scores?     

Gender differences in school achievement: a within-class perspective

Relying on the results of the achievement tests in mathematics, science, native language (Hebrew/Arabic) and English, administered to 1430 5th-grade co-educational classes in Israel, this study examines the between-class variability of the within-class mean score gender differences and its class and school correlates. The four main results of the study are: (1) remarkable between-test stability of the within-class gender gap; (2) considerable variability of the within-class gender gap, in terms of both sign and magnitude, found for each of the four tests: children studying in different classes are exposed to different, sometimes quite opposite, gender differences and this variability is effectively masked by the aggregate-level analyses typically reported in the literature; (3) the lion’s share of the variability of the within-class gender gap lies within, rather than between schools; and (4) the relative frequency of within-class gender gaps favouring boys is positively related to school-level characteristics, which qualify as positive indicators of the school’s quality and negatively to class size. The within- and between-sector (Arab vs. Jewish) components of this relation are discussed.     

Older children have a greater chance to be accepted to gifted student programmes

Selection to programmes for gifted students in Israel, performed in the second grade, relies on raw ability and achievement test scores, irrespective of age, thereby ignoring the well-known effect of within-grade age differences on test scores. Employing the entire cohort of third graders of legal age (67,366 students, 1.4% of whom were enrolled in a gifted programme) in 2011, this study examined the relationship between chronological age and the probability of acceptance to programmes for the gifted in Israel. The results reveal an almost perfect correlation between chronological age and the probability of being selected for a gifted programme (r² = 0.92): older students have approximately 3.5 times greater chance of acceptance than younger students. Reliance on raw ability and achievement test scores, unadjusted for age, in selection to gifted students programmes is thus shown to be biased in favour of older students and to unintentionally discriminate against younger students.     

Between-context variability of the effect of schooling on cognitive development: evidence from the Middle East

This study contributes to the investigation of the variability of the schooling effect on cognitive development between educational systems and its underlying factors, by focusing on 3 cases differing in the characteristics assumed to affect the magnitude of the schooling effect (the quality of the schooling and students’ mean ability to benefit from their schooling): the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) educational system in the Palestinian refugee camps in the West Bank and the 2 sectors of the Israeli educational system: the Jewish and Arab systems. Congruent with our expectations, the highest absolute and relative effects of schooling were found in the Israeli Jewish system. In contrast, the results obtained in the 2 Arab systems, namely, the higher schooling effect found in the poorer and more oppressed refugee camps of the West Bank, are surprising and require further investigation.     

The status of sign language instruction in institutions of higher education: 1994-2004

Surveys of sign language programs in institutions of higher education in the United States, conducted in 1994 and 2004, are compared to reveal changes over time. Data are presented concerning the institutional environment of programs, program administrators, and instructors. Institutions examined in 2004 were on average 5 years older than those examined in 1994. More institutions accepted sign language for general education and foreign language requirements. Program administrators in 2004 were more likely to have primary duties as teachers rather than administrators, and to have greater understanding of the subject matter. Faculty in 2004 had more education and teaching experience. Full-time faculty showed increases in the proportion who were Deaf and the proportion who were in tenure-track positions. Program staff size increased. Overall, evidence indicates that sign language has become more accepted as an academic discipline and that programs are more entrenched at their institutions.