Teachers\u27 Perceptions of the Sustainability of Mathematics and Science Partnership Professional Development

The sustainability of improved pedagogy gained through professional development (PD) of mathematics teachers has undergone little empirical study. In a midsized urban school district in the Northeastern United States, all high school mathematics teachers attended a 3-year mandatory PD program. Although an external evaluator studied this program immediately after completion, there had been no longitudinal study of the perceptions of its participants regarding the sustained benefits of the program. This qualitative study offered a follow-up study of the participants in the Math and Science Partnership (MSP) PD program to provide insight to administrators regarding the sustainability of benefits gained through the MSP program. The conceptual framework for the study consisted of Desimone\u27s model for evaluating PD and Kleining\u27s framework of systematic exploration and inquiry. The participants (N =7) were asked about their perceptions of the value, applicability, longevity, and efficacy of their MSP PD and their suggestions to improve the program. Data were organized and analyzed using Patton\u27s semistructured systematic framework to reveal general consensus as well as anecdotal evidence. The perceptions of the mathematics teachers provided pertinent information that administrators could use to determine the format of future PD. Teachers participating in this study indicated that having a college professor present a combination of content knowledge and pedagogy skills made the MSP program highly effective and long-lasting. Using this feedback, district leaders could institute improved PD, giving their teachers the skill and knowledge to lift their students academically. Closing the mathematics achievement gap may open employment and college opportunities to students which allow them to escape poverty and lead more successful lives

Transparency and Accountability: Empirical Results for US States

Recent formal models of accountability allow us to make different conditional predictions about how transparency affects voters’ willingness to reelect incumbents and acceptance of higher taxes. We review two models and investigate empirical implications derived from or related to them, using panel data from 1972-2000 for U.S. state budget process transparency, gubernatorial elections, and tax increases in a small structural model. We do not find that budget transparency has a direct effect on incumbent retention, but we do find clear evidence that increased transparency dampens the negative effect of tax increases on retention of incumbent governors. Independent of this, we also find that increased transparency leads to greater fiscal scale. We suggest some possible directions for future models based on our results.Governmen

Social media adoption and employability performance of Universities

This paper is part of series of papers of ongoing research proposing social media advancement in value creation in higher education institutions with a focus on the employability of students as well as employability performance of the Higher Education Institutions. The main purpose of the study was to explore the state of art practices concerning social media adoption in higher education and employability performance of universities. The study used a traditional literature review approach to conduct the exploratory study, where the literal sources selected were representative of the elements under investigation. The study established that social media is a tool that has been used in Higher Education Institutions to build the employability attributes of students. The social media adoption practices were categorized under three themes, that is, student-instructor level, faculty level, and holistic level practices. It was further identified that social media cannot be utilized solely owing to its constraining features. The study provides an argument for the advancement of social media through integration with more advanced strategic tools. The implications of these findings as well as directions of future studies are also mentioned

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MUSCLE VOLUME AND STRENGTH ASYMMETRY IN ELITE ATHLETES: INVESTIGATION OF THE QUADRICEPS FEMORIS AND HAMSTRING MUSCLES

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between muscle volume asymmetries and strength asymmetries of the lower extremity. 26 highly trained athletes underwent isometric and isokinetic strength tests at different speeds (60, 180, 0 °/s) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to analyse quadriceps femoris and hamstring muscle volume. Pearson’s correlation coefficients revealed significant correlations between both the quadriceps volume asymmetries and the maximum knee extension asymmetries (r = .60 to r = .72) as well as the hamstring volume asymmetries and the maximum knee flexion asymmetries (r = .39 to r = .52). It is assumed that bilateral differences in muscle volume in part explain the existence of strength asymmetries and that unilateral resistance training of the lower extremity could reduce strength asymmetries by increasing muscle siz