Making the Most of Extra Time: The Role of Classroom Factors and Family Socioeconomic Status on Full-Day Kindergartners' Reading Achievement and Academic Engagement

This dissertation used nationally representative data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-99 (ECLS-K) to explore relationships between full-day kindergarten classroom factors, family socioeconomic status (SES), and public school children's gains in reading achievement and academic engagement over their first formal year of schooling. Specifically, the study focused on two aspects of kindergarten classroom factors that could maximize the additional time provided by full-day programs: instructional resources (i.e., class size and instructional aides) and instructional practices (i.e., time allocation across subject areas, grouping strategies, and instructional skills and activities). Two-level hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) analyses (i.e., full-day kindergartners nested within public schools) were conducted to investigate the effects of school-averaged classroom factors on children's reading and academic engagement gains over the kindergarten year, as well as possible effects of school- averaged classroom factors on the relationship between children's SES and the aforementioned outcomes. The study identified multiple classroom factors associated with overall differences in full-day kindergartners' average reading gains. Specifically, results suggested that increases in reading instructional time, decreases in class size, and a balance in the frequency of discrete literacy skills and comprehension-based skills could help to accelerate reading gains during the kindergarten year. This study did not find evidence to support concerns that full-day kindergarten programs might harm children's academic engagement because of an overemphasis on academics. Instead, full-day kindergartners' academic engagement tended to remain constant across the kindergarten year and did not vary in relation to most instructional practices. Results indicated that full-day kindergartners demonstrated increased academic engagement in schools that had instructional aides working at least one hour per day with kindergartners. This study also found that the effects of family SES did not vary between schools, so average classroom resources and practices did not influence differentially the reading achievement gains or the academic engagement gains of students from different SES backgrounds. In sum, this dissertation helps to provide some of the first evidence on how full-day kindergarten programs might structure instructional resources and time-related instructional practices in ways that increase children's reading achievement and academic engagement

The Prevalence of Evidence-Based Substance Use Prevention Curricula in the Nation's Elementary Schools

Current guidelines for school-based substance use prevention suggest that prevention efforts should begin in elementary grades, before students begin using substances. Previous research suggests, however, that the use of evidence-based curricula in these grades may be low. Using a 2005 survey of public school districts in the U.S. that include elementary grades (n=1563), we assessed the prevalence of elementary curricula use, particularly those designated as evidence-based. We found that although 72% of districts administer a substance use prevention curriculum to their elementary students, only about 35% are using one that is evidence-based and only about 14% are using an evidence-based curriculum more so than any other prevention curriculum. We present prevalence estimates for specific evidence-based curricula and conclude by discussing possible reasons for and implications of our findings

Rebuild the Academy: Supporting academic mothers during COVID-19 and beyond

The issues facing academic mothers have been discussed for decades. Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is further exposing these inequalities as womxn scientists who are parenting while also engaging in a combination of academic related duties are falling behind. These inequities can be solved by investing strategically in solutions. Here we describe strategies that would ensure a more equitable academy for working mothers now and in the future. While the data are clear that mothers are being disproportionately impacted by COVID-19, many groups could benefit from these strategies. Rather than rebuilding what we once knew, let us be the architects of a new world

The Prevalence of Evidence-based Drug Use Prevention Curricula in U.S. Middle Schools in 2008

The No Child Left Behind Act mandates the implementation of evidence-based drug prevention curricula in the nation’s schools. The purpose of this paper is to estimate changes in the prevalence of such curricula from 2005 to 2008. We surveyed school staff in a nationally representative sample of schools with middle school grades. Using a web-based approach to data collection that we supplemented by telephone calls, we secured data from 1892 schools for a response rate of 78.2%. We estimate that the prevalence of evidence-based drug prevention curricula rose from 42.6% in 2005 to 46.9% in 2008, and that the prevalence of schools that used these curricula most frequently increased from 22.7% to 25.9% over this period. In addition, the proportion of schools using locally developed curricula also rose, from 17.6% to 28.1%. This study suggests the success of efforts by the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools to increase the prevalence of evidence-based curricula, as well as the need to continue to track the prevalence of these curricula in response to any reductions in the Office’s fiscal support for evidence-based drug prevention curricula in the nation’s schools

The Prevalence of Evidence-Based Drug Use Prevention Curricula in U.S. Middle Schools in 2005

Since the promulgation of its Principles of Effectiveness in 1998, the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools of the U.S. Department of Education has promoted the use of evidence-based drug prevention programs in the nation’s schools. We report the results of a survey, conducted in 2005, of a nationally representative sample of 1,721 schools with middle school grades. Respondents comprised the staff member in the school identified as most knowledgeable about the school’s drug prevention programs. The total response rate was 78%. Respondents answered questions concerning which drug use prevention curricula they used, and, if they used more than one, which one they used the most frequently. Three federally-sponsored registries were used to specify which curricula were considered evidence-based. Findings from 2005 were then compared to earlier estimates based on a similar 1999 survey. We found that 42.6% of the nation’s schools with middle school grades were using an evidence-based curriculum, an increase of 8% from our 1999 estimate. The two most prevalent curricula in use, at 19% each, were Life Skills Training and Project ALERT. We note, however, that only 8% of Life Skills Training users and 9% of Project ALERT users reported using those curricula the most, and that only 23% of respondents overall reported that they used an evidence-based curriculum the most. More information is needed as to why over three-quarters of the nation’s schools with middle school grades continue to administer curricula that have not been identified as effective

The Prevalence of Effective Substance Use Prevention Curricula in the Nation’s High Schools

Despite a substantial proportion of high school students who initiate substance use following middle school, the implementation of universal evidence-based prevention curricula appears to be scant. We report data collected in 2005 from 1392 school-district based drug prevention coordinators, from a national, representative study of school-based substance use prevention practices. Altogether, 10.3% of districts that included high school grades reported administering one of six such curricula that were then rated as effective by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s National Registry of Effective Programs and Practices or Blueprints for Violence Prevention, and 5.7% reported that they used one of these curricula the most. Only 56.5% of the nation’s districts with high school grades administered any substance use prevention programming in at least one of their constituent high schools

5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) cellular sequestration during chronic exposure delays 5-HT₃ receptor resensitization due to Its subsequent release

The serotonergic synapse is dynamically regulated by serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT)) with elevated levels leading to the down-regulation of the serotonin transporter and a variety of 5-HT receptors, including the 5-HT type-3 (5-HT(3)) receptors. We report that recombinantly expressed 5-HT(3) receptor binding sites are reduced by chronic exposure to 5-HT (IC(50) of 154.0 ± 45.7 μm, t(½) = 28.6 min). This is confirmed for 5-HT(3) receptor-induced contractions in the guinea pig ileum, which are down-regulated after chronic, but not acute, exposure to 5-HT. The loss of receptor function does not involve endocytosis, and surface receptor levels are unaltered. The rate and extent of down-regulation is potentiated by serotonin transporter function (IC(50) of 2.3 ± 1.0 μm, t(½) = 3.4 min). Interestingly, the level of 5-HT uptake correlates with the extent of down-regulation. Using TX-114 extraction, we find that accumulated 5-HT remains soluble and not membrane-bound. This cytoplasmically sequestered 5-HT is readily releasable from both COS-7 cells and the guinea pig ileum. Moreover, the 5-HT level released is sufficient to prevent recovery from receptor desensitization in the guinea pig ileum. Together, these findings suggest the existence of a novel mechanism of down-regulation where the chronic release of sequestered 5-HT prolongs receptor desensitization

Responses to positive results from suspicionless random drug tests in us Public School Districts: Research article

Little is known about the context in which school-based suspicionless or random drug testing (SRDT) occurs. The primary purpose of the current study is to describe school districts’ responses to students’ first positive result in districts with SRDT programs

The Effects of No Child Left Behind on the Prevalence of Evidence-Based Drug Prevention Curricula in the Nation's Middle Schools*

Concerns have been expressed that No Child Left Behind (NCLB) may be reducing the amount of classroom time devoted to subjects other than those for which students are tested. The purpose of this article is to explore whether NCLB legislation has affected the provision of evidence-based drug prevention curricula (EBC) in the nation’s middle schools, a subject area that is not assessed by standardized tests