The Art of Knowledge Exchange: A Results-Focused Planning Guide for Development Practitioners

Designing and implementing knowledge exchange initiatives can be a big undertaking. This guide takes the guesswork out of the process by breaking it down into simple steps and providing tools to help you play a more effective role as knowledge connector and learning facilitator

Designing a Response to Intervention Training Tool: A Mixed Methods Approach To RTI Accountibility

Response to Intervention (RTI) is a multi-tiered approach to help struggling learners, but RTI is not federally or state funded. This poses a unique and overlooked need for supporting educators with RTI to close the achievement gap for at-risk populations. In this study, a mixed-methods, convergent parallel design was used to examine RTI quantitative and qualitative data from a Texas elementary school’s RTI database and quantitative and qualitative data from pre- and post-intervention survey responses with a pilot group of five teachers on this school’s staff. Based on the needs that surfaced from the data, the Response to Intervention Interactive Training Tool (RTI ITT) was designed and developed as the intervention for this study. Proper implementation of RTI results in meeting students’ individual learning needs. This reduces the number of students unnecessarily evaluated for special education services; essentially eliminates the disproportional rate at which ethnic, minority, and male students are referred for special education evaluations; and substantially reduces the amount of wasted time and missed learning opportunity for students who need intervention, often at-risk populations. Traditionally, RTI training is given in a PowerPoint format at the beginning of the year during teacher in-service week. The results of this study showed that we can improve the fidelity of the RTI process by supporting teachers with a specially designed, interactive training tool that takes a different approach by moving through the training with a specific student in mind – after teachers have worked with their students and become familiar with their unique needs. The RTI ITT was highly effective in supporting teachers with learning RTI process skills

TB STIGMA – MEASUREMENT GUIDANCE

TB is the most deadly infectious disease in the world, and stigma continues to play a significant role in worsening the epidemic. Stigma and discrimination not only stop people from seeking care but also make it more difficult for those on treatment to continue, both of which make the disease more difficult to treat in the long-term and mean those infected are more likely to transmit the disease to those around them. TB Stigma – Measurement Guidance is a manual to help generate enough information about stigma issues to design and monitor and evaluate efforts to reduce TB stigma. It can help in planning TB stigma baseline measurements and monitoring trends to capture the outcomes of TB stigma reduction efforts. This manual is designed for health workers, professional or management staff, people who advocate for those with TB, and all who need to understand and respond to TB stigma

Presented Abstracts from the Thirty Fourth Annual Education Conference of the National Society of Genetic Counselors (Pittsburgh, PA, October 2015)

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/147137/1/jgc41044.pd

Lifting the Burden of Addiction: Philanthropic Opportunities to Address Substance Use Disorders in the United States

Substance use disorders (SUDs), also known as substance abuse or addiction, affect an estimated 20 million or more adolescents and adults in the U.S. This guidance provides philanthropic funders with the tools & information to reduce immediate harm from substance use disorders and reduce the burden of the disorder over the long term. This includes reducing the damage the disorder causes to people with SUDs and their loved ones, reducing the overall incidence of SUDs, and reducing SUD-related costs to society. We present four strategies for philanthropic funders who want to help:- Save lives and reduce SUD-related illness and homelessness- Improve access to evidence-based treatment- Improve SUD care by changing systems and policies- Fund innovation to improve prevention and treatmen

Transdisciplinary AI Observatory -- Retrospective Analyses and Future-Oriented Contradistinctions

In the last years, AI safety gained international recognition in the light of heterogeneous safety-critical and ethical issues that risk overshadowing the broad beneficial impacts of AI. In this context, the implementation of AI observatory endeavors represents one key research direction. This paper motivates the need for an inherently transdisciplinary AI observatory approach integrating diverse retrospective and counterfactual views. We delineate aims and limitations while providing hands-on-advice utilizing concrete practical examples. Distinguishing between unintentionally and intentionally triggered AI risks with diverse socio-psycho-technological impacts, we exemplify a retrospective descriptive analysis followed by a retrospective counterfactual risk analysis. Building on these AI observatory tools, we present near-term transdisciplinary guidelines for AI safety. As further contribution, we discuss differentiated and tailored long-term directions through the lens of two disparate modern AI safety paradigms. For simplicity, we refer to these two different paradigms with the terms artificial stupidity (AS) and eternal creativity (EC) respectively. While both AS and EC acknowledge the need for a hybrid cognitive-affective approach to AI safety and overlap with regard to many short-term considerations, they differ fundamentally in the nature of multiple envisaged long-term solution patterns. By compiling relevant underlying contradistinctions, we aim to provide future-oriented incentives for constructive dialectics in practical and theoretical AI safety research

Predicting Kindergarten Success: Use of the Lens Model Methodology to Determine Factors Which Predict Success in the Kindergarten Classroom.

Recent developments, including and especially the passage of legislation such as P.L. 99-457, have led to a call for more sophisticated technology to accurately assess at-risk preschool children. In addition, there is an urgent need for well trained professionals to perform these assignments. The purpose of the present study was to utilize the Lens Model methodology to examine variables professionals believe are important predictors of successful kindergarten functioning. In addition, the study also explored which variables would actually predict successful kindergarten functioning. Four major findings emerged from the study. First, results indicated that, for the professionals, Social Skills and Cognitive functioning were the variables most utilized in making predictions of kindergarten performance. Second, professionals (i.e., psychologists, assessment teachers, etc.) made predictions which were less accurate for actual kindergarten functioning than preschool teachers. Third, professionals were inconsistent in their decision-making and frequently made different decisions regarding kindergarten functioning when presented with the same data at two different points in time. Finally, professionals did not appear to be aware of their policy (i.e., which cues they used) for making decisions regarding kindergarten functioning. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for best practices in preschool assessment and decision-making

Child Abuse and Neglect: A Primer

The purpose of this specialty paper is to present an overview of child abuse and neglect in the United States. This accomplished by researching previously published literature. Topics investigated include the epidemiological factors, personality characteristics of children and adults, etiology, diagnose and assessment procedures, intervention and treatment options and early identification and prevention. Sexual abuse, foster care and the legal problems associated with a diagnoses of child abuse/neglect are treated, briefly, as separate topics. In addition, critical comments in research methodology and findings and suggestions for further research can be found throughout the body of the paper

A survey of the remedial reading programs in the elementary schools of Massachusetts

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit

Comparison of Four Cognitive Screening Tools: Clinical Utility in a Skilled Nursing Setting and Relationship to Discharge Location

A systematic review of 34 articles was conducted to answer the following clinical questions posed by Joette Jindra, the Director of Rehabilitation, at ManorCare of Tacoma: “Which cognitive screen, out of the four we are currently using, most accurately measures a patient\u27s functional cognitive performance?” and “How well do cognitive tools and measures predict a client’s discharge setting from a skilled nursing facility (SNF)?”. Results indicate the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) to be the most clinically useful tool for detecting mild cognitive impairment (MCI) as it demonstrated the greatest sensitivity across studies and diagnoses. The evidence did not support the use of the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) as it has low sensitivity to detect MCI across diagnoses. There is limited psychometric data available regarding the St. Louis University Mental Status Exam (SLUMS) and Allen Cognitive Level Screen (ACLS). Additionally, the research suggests a relationship between clients’ cognitive functioning and their discharge location. It is recommended that ManorCare change their cognitive screening protocols, requiring all patients to be screened using the MoCA as opposed to the MMSE, SLUMS, or ACLS based on the available evidence. This will ensure client safety and detection of mild to severe cognitive impairment when present. New research pertaining to the SLUMS and ACLS should be monitored as this may affect the current recommendation. To translate knowledge and support the implementation of evidence-based practice, a 30 minute in-service was delivered during which the research process and findings were presented to a team of 15 rehabilitation professionals. Additionally, an informational MoCA resource packet was provided and discussed. Pre- and post- in-service surveys were conducted to determine the impact of the in-service presentation. Analysis of survey responses indicated the in-service and informational resource packet to be effective knowledge translation activities. It is recommended that a follow-up implementation study be conducted by graduate students at the University of Puget Sound to determine the extent that policy changes are adopted by ManorCare and to develop a chart review research project to examine the connection between patient MoCA scores and discharge settings