Forty Years of Fellowships: A Study of Orchestras' Efforts to Include African American and Latino Musicians

This report, commissioned by the League of American Orchestras, is the first systematic effort to review the record of those fellowships from the perspectives of the orchestras and the musicians who have participated in them. Until now there has been no single source for information about which orchestras conducted fellowships, when they were conducted, and how many musicians were fellows. This report answers important questions about what happened to fellows across all the programs after their fellowships were completed: Did they successfully compete for orchestra jobs? Did their careers take other paths? It also provides a view of their experiences as fellows: How did they benefit from the experience? What kinds of problems did they experience? Until now, no data has been collected that reflects the judgment of orchestra leaders and other experts about the dynamics of launching and managing a fellowship program. Through the frame of these fellowship programs, what can be learned about broader diversity issues for orchestras? For the first time, we are able to present the following information and analysis:* The first section of this report, "Forty Years of Fellowships," presents all available program and impact data relating to orchestra fellowships, from 1976 to the present day. It reflects documentation supplied by orchestras themselves, following a scoping survey of League members, and the results of supplemental web research. It identifies the orchestras that have had fellowships, counts the fellows, and reviews the elements that are characteristic of fellowship programs. It defines the fundamental characteristics of fellowship programs, notes three different basic models, tracks career outcomes for fellows, and explores the cost and financing of fellowship programs.* The second section, "Forty Years of Fellows," explores the perspectives of musicians who have been fellows over the years. Interviews with 21 fellowship program alumni were conducted, including one or more fellows from every fellowship program.* The third section, "Fellowship/Leadership: Voices of Experience," examines the perspectives of orchestra leaders, program managers, and a few outside experts as they reflect on the dynamics of fellowship programs, their value for orchestras, and the place of fellowships within the larger challenge of making orchestras more inclusive and diverse institutions

Seeking ‘common information’ among refugees, program workers, and academic researchers

This paper discusses three factors that contribute to a lack of ‘common information’ among refugees, academic researchers, and humanitarian program workers. The first is power differentials between refugees and many individuals who work with them. Refugees produce information agentively (especially through personal communications), but are also subjugated as targets of research, beneficiaries of humanitarian projects, and contingent recipients of legal protection. The second factor is transitoriness. Refugees often experience prolonged uncertainties about where and how they will live. Researchers and program workers, however, often spend short times ‘in the field’. They often negotiate their jobs’ learning curves in relative independence, with limited opportunities to share key basic aspects of their work with others or collaborate to explore more complex ones. The third factor is a lack of common ground around what information is valuable to share, rooted in the abovementioned factors and differences among academic disciplines. To strengthen collaborations, we propose increasing direct involvement by refugees in academic and program development; longer-term engagements and relationship development; and collaborations among all involved in the further development of theoretical frameworks

Transition to practice programs: what Australian and New Zealand nursing and midwifery graduates said. A Graduate eCohort Sub-Study

Aim: To describe what Australian and New Zealand graduates said about the Nurse Entry to Practice program. Background: The Nurse Entry to Practice is a structured programme that offers professional and educational support for graduate nurses in their first year of practice. Method: The qualitative research described and reported herein constitutes a sub-study of the Graduate e-Cohort Study. This qualitative sub-study describes the responses to one on-line survey question offered in 2013 which asked about issues around gaining employment. Only those responses related to the Nurse Entry to Practice program by 197 recently graduated Australian and New Zealand nursing and midwifery students as they transitioned into professional practice are presented. Results: Graduates looking for jobs in the year 2009 and 2010 were positive about their uptake of a Nurse Entry to Practice program. At the time the programs were a viable and plentiful option in which the graduate could take a program associated with a final undergraduate clinical placement. This resulted in these graduates remaining in the ward or organisation where the program was undertaken. This consequence was reported more widely by 2008 graduates, 2009 graduates from New Zealand but was not reported at all by 2010 graduates. Nurses or midwives looking for a job in 2011 reported less on a Nurse Entry to Practice program and when they did they indicated that the program was hard to get into. Conclusion: This research offers educators, employers and administrators insights into improving the transition experience for recently graduated nurses and midwives

Visuals and Pathways in the Agricultural Industry

Agriculture is the largest industry in California worth nearly $37.5 billion. The agricultural industry generates$100 billion in related economy (NASDA, 2017). It is imperative all students learn the importance of agriculture in their lives. For students who have a Future Farmers of America (FFA) chapter at their school, the program enables students to be exposed and embrace the value agriculture. However, there is a lack of value given to agriculture by students who do not have either an FFA chapter or agriculture related courses taught at their school. The purpose of this project is to interact with and educate young high school students about jobs offered in the agriculture industry around them on the Central Coast. Because the central coast is so rich in agriculture, it can help those who still don’t have an idea of what they want to study for after high school

Alignment of Alaska’s Educational Programs from Pre-School through Graduate Study: A First Look

Too many Alaska students leave formal education unprepared for their next steps in life. Too many drop out of high school; too few high-school graduates go on to post-secondary education; and too few of those who do enroll in post-secondary education graduate in a timely manner. Employers report that a substantial number of young people who enter the work world directly after graduating from high school (or after dropping out) lack the reading, writing, and math skills necessary for many of today’s jobs, even at entry level. Ideally, the various components of the education system would be structured so that as children or young people complete each step, they would be adequately prepared for the next. In practice, this is often not the case. Students arrive at kindergarten and again at college, vocational training, or work unprepared for the challenges they face and without the skills their teachers, professors, or employers expect. Alaska is not alone in these problems, and many states are focusing on alignment as a possible response. Policymakers and others are studying how students progress through the entire education system—from pre-school through college, graduate study, or career training. As defined above, alignment would coordinate the work of institutions providing different levels of education. Educators in K-12 and early childhood programs would agree on what children should know and be able to do when entering kindergarten (or first grade)—and on how those skills and abilities would be taught and assessed. Likewise, employers, institutions of higher education, and K-12 schools would work together to reach similar agreements on what young people need to know to enter the workforce or college. Alignment efforts bring together policymakers and practitioners from all levels of education to identify what needs to be done to achieve this coordination and to oversee the work. The first section of this report looks at alignment of early childhood programs and K-12 education. Why is it important to begin alignment at the level of early childhood education? Research has demonstrated the strong effect of quality early childhood education on later educational outcomes. Among the best-known research is the High/Scope Perry Preschool study, which followed 120 children from the time they attended that preschool in the 1960s, at ages 3 or 4, until they were age 40.1 Schweinhart, et al. (1993) looked at program participants through age 27 and estimated that the program had produced savings to taxpayers of over $7 for each dollar spent. Program participants were less likely to need special education services throughout their school careers, less likely to commit crimes, and less likely to receive welfare—and they alsoearned more and paid higher taxes than non-participants. Other studies have found that children who participate in quality early childhood education programs are less likely to be retained in grade, placed in special education, or drop out of high school (Schweinhart 1994). In Alaska, public early childhood education is limited to federally mandated special education and federally funded (with state supplemental funding) Head Start programs. These programs together enroll about 16% of 3-year-olds and 22% of 4-year-olds in the state. Many more students in urban areas are enrolled in some form of private pre-school. Head start programs exist in more than 75 Alaska communities and are run by 16 different grantees, which have varying degrees of coordination with their local K-12 districts and with each other. The second focus of this report is readiness of Alaska high-school graduates for post-secondary education or work. Alaska’s colleges and universities find that many of their entering students— even those with good grades in high school—aren’t ready for college-level work. Again, national research affirms that Alaska’s problems are not unique. Callan, Finney, Kirst, Usdan, and Venezia (2006) report “The more difficult challenge for students is becoming prepared academically for college coursework. Once students enter college, about half of them learn that they are not prepared for college-level courses. Forty percent of students at four-year institutions and 63 percent at two-year colleges take remedial education. Additionally, high-school students face an incredibly complex system of placement tests and college admissions requirements.” A national survey of 431 employers about workforce readiness found that “When asked to assess new workforce entrants, employers report that many of the new entrants lack skills essential to job success… Over 40 percent (42.4 percent) of employer respondents rate new entrants with a high school diploma as ‘deficient’ in their overall preparation for the entry-level jobs they typically fill. Almost the same percentage (45.6 percent) rate the overall preparation of high school graduate entrants as ‘adequate,’ but almost no one (less than ½ of 1 percent—0.2 percent) rates their overall preparation as ‘excellent.’ ” 2 Anecdotal information from Alaska employers indicates that many young people entering the workforce in Alaska aren’t prepared for work, either. This report brings together available data on the scope of these problems in Alaska and discusses what other states have tried and what we can tell so far about what has worked. We identify areas that need more research and where there may not even be data to conduct research. Finally, we suggest steps the state can undertake now, while conducting research, to fill in the gaps.Avant-Garde Learning Foundation. Shell Exploration and Production Alaska

Labor redundancy, retraining, and outplacement during privatization : the experience of Brazil's Federal Railway

One of the most complex challenges of infrastructure privatization is its impact on employment. Often (but not always) private operators'main approach to cost-cutting is labor reduction. Private operators cannot afford the low levels of labor productivity typical in public companies if they are to be competitive and to deliver on their contractual obligations to provide cheaper, more reliable infrastructure services. But labor issues are so sensitive that government's early, direct involvement is seen as a way to address what potential investors see as a risk of privatization as well as to address the social concerns of the population, including the workers. When Brazil's Federal Railway was privatized, the team in charge of privatization made a significant effort to complement the incentive for voluntary reduction with an elaborate menu of training options. The authors describe this experience in dealing with labor redundancy problems. They discuss the design of the program, highlight the connections between its components, and assess the program's achievements. All things considered, they conclude, this staff reduction program was reasonably successful. The aimed-for improvements in productivity were achieved without major problems through a government-stimulated and -sponsored combination of early retirement and voluntary retrenchment. The concessionaire was willing to make quick decisions about the number of involuntary retrenchments it wanted to make, which helped sustain the momentum created by the government's prompt implementation of its own decisions and the fair treatment of workers. The main problems came from the underestimate of time needed to agree on the strategy for implementing the training and outplacement programs. Informal evidence suggests that most workers found new jobs before many of the training programs were available. And the strategy adopted gave workers a good incentive (one month's pay) to sign up for the courses but provided little incentive for workers to show up, since they were paid up front.Labor Policies,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Labor Management and Relations,Labor Standards,Public Health Promotion,Labor Management and Relations,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Labor Standards,Banks&Banking Reform,Municipal Financial Management

The Technical Abilities and Manipulative Skills Which Should be Taught in a High School Vocational Agriculture Farm Mechanics Program in South Dakota

The typical high school vocational agriculture teacher experiences a lack of time necessary to teach all of the technical abilities and manipulative skills that have become a part of the farm mechanics program. He may spend time teaching outdated abilities when his time could be more profitability used in teaching the abilities that are required in modern mechanized farming. Perhaps some time should also be applied to anticipating and developing those abilities required to do jobs which are now commonly referred to specialists but may be required of the student when he becomes established in farming several years hence. An example of such an ability is the adjustment of power machinery and the replacement of gears and bearings on field machinery. Some jobs like the cleaning and repair of electric motors, which are commonly referred to specialists at the present time, will likely be done on the farms by farmers 10 or 15 years hence. The term ability as used in this research is integrated to mean technical understandings and shop manipulative skills which are, or might soon be, an integral part of the mechanized farming. A bulletin published by the United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare points out that there has been more progress in farm mechanics during the past 25 years than during the previous 5,000. Recent research in the field of farm mechanics in other states has indicated that teaching farm mechanics abilities has lagged about five years. Considering the fact that the student is not usually well established in farming until about five years after graduation from high school, one finds that some of the skills learned in high school will be about ten years out-of-date by the time the student becomes an established farmer. This fallacy of teaching outdated abilities seems even more serious when the importance if such occupational competencies is considered. As farming becomes more mechanized, the need for effective teaching in farm mechanics becomes more obvious. The purpose of this research is to point out the need for bringing the farm mechanics program up-to-date and to suggest revised curriculum content for teaching farm mechanics in South Dakota. Typical questions which must be answered in determining the kind of farm mechanics program to conduct are: What are the reasons for including farm mechanics as a part of the training in farm mechanics is considered necessary by present farmers? Such questions prompted the writer to undertake this research which is aimed toward improving the vocational agriculture curriculum in agricultural mechanics

Judicial Litigation Reforms Make Comprehensive Patent Legislation Unnecessary as Well as Counterproductive

The patent system provides the necessary incentives for continuing investments in invention, fostering economic growth, creating new jobs and increasing America\u27s competitiveness in the global marketplace. In fact, innovation is now our only competitive advantage. Intellectual property, particularly patents, now constitutes nearly 80% of the value of most corporations. But the innovation eco-system is under heavy stress due to five converging hurricane-force winds, all intersecting in just the last two or so years: the impact of the new reviews authorized by the America Invents Act, invalidating most challenged patents; six landmark Supreme court decisions, particularly three casting doubt over the validity of countless patents that may now be deemed ineligible to even have been considered for patentability; the Judiciary\u27s changes last December in the Rules of Civil Procedure on pleadings and discovery; vigorous case management procedures in local patent rules and individual judge\u27s standing Orders; and the Patent Pilot program for volunteer judges to specialize in patent cases. Although the system is struggling to adjust and recover, investment incentives, patent values, patent licensing and patent sales are all down. Can company stock values be far behind? Will growth stagnate? Nevertheless, Congress, concerned about abuses by some irresponsible patent owners known as trolls , threatens to impose a series of new restrictions on the enforcement of all patents, no matter how clearly valid and infringed. They would make defending patent rights still more expensive, more difficult, more disruptive, slower, and less certain. If enacted, these bills would further impair an already weakened patent system, further depressing investments and progress in science and the useful arts , which the Constitution mandates Congress to support with the patent system. Small businesses, start-ups, universities, research institutes, hospitals and individual inventors would be hardest hit. Yet, these very institutions create most new jobs and most new technologies. But their interests and those of 99% of the companies in America go largely unheard in a Congress besieged by a few dozen very large, very rich and very angry companies, mostly Silicon Valley mega IT companies, demanding relief from patent suits. How did this tragedy happen and what you can do about it is the subject of this address

Forecasting Retention Among At-Risk College Freshmen Students Through Completion of a STEM Intervention

Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) areas are one of the fastest-growing majors in the nation, engineering, is projected to add the second largest number of new jobs from 2016 to 2026 with 140,000 new jobs (Torpey, 2018). Unfortunately, there is a disparity between enrollment and graduation rates (Chen, 2015; Lucas & Spina, 2022). According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) (2017) despite all the research done throughout decades to improve the issue of retention in STEM areas about half of the students who pursue a degree in Science, Technology, Engineering, or Mathematics (STEM) will either leave or change majors. There are still high attrition rates and underrepresentation of Hispanics, minorities, women, and those vulnerable populations in STEM education and the workforce. The STEM labor force represents 23% of the total U.S. labor force, with higher proportions of men (Chen, 2012, 2013; Lukas & Spina, 2022; National Science Board, 2020). There are few studies done on STEM interventions for at-risk college freshmen students (Hite & Spott, 2022; Reena, 2018; Tomasko et al., 2016). This study aims to sample at-risk college freshmen students from the College of Engineering & Computer Science, to describe and explain the association between retention after the first year of at-risk college freshmen students in a STEM program and completion of a STEM intervention. The second purpose of this study is to identify find the reasons STEM students decided to stay in the program after completing a STEM intervention. The third purpose is to identify how to improve the STEM intervention. This study consists of mixed methods of data collection. The quantitative part of the research study will consist of a group of students who have completed a STEM intervention. A Chi-square test of independence (X2) will be used to find if there is an association between the completion of a STEM intervention and the retention rate of at-risk freshmen students. The qualitative part of the research study consists of the perceptions of at-risk college freshmen students who completed the STEM intervention shared in a focus group interview. These students will be asked to provide information about why they decided to continue in the STEM program after completing the STEM intervention. They will also be asked to provide information about how to improve the STEM intervention. The qualitative approach will provide an opportunity to develop a deeper understanding of the impact of the STEM intervention and how to improve its construction. Additionally, the qualitative information will better inform the development of a sense of belonging to comprehend what motivates students to remain in the STEM program. The hypothesis of this study is to identify if there is an association between students who completed the STEM intervention and retention in the engineering program. This hypothesis uses an alpha of 0.05 to determine whether to reject it or fail to reject it