Making a Tough Choice: Teacher Target-Setting and Student Achievement in a Teacher Performance System Using Student Learning Objectives

The use of student learning objectives (SLOs) as part of teacher performance systems has gained traction quickly in the United States, yet little is known about how teachers select specific students’ learning goals. When teachers are evaluated—and sometimes compensated—based on whether their students meet the very objectives the teachers set at the start of the year, there may be an incentive to set low targets. SLO systems rely on teachers’ willingness and ability to set appropriately ambitious SLOs. We describe teachers’ SLO target-setting behavior in one school-district. We document the accuracy/ambitiousness of targets and find that teachers regularly set targets that students did not meet. We also find that, within the same year, a student’s spring test scores tend to be higher on the assessments for which they received higher targets. This raises the intriguing possibility that receiving higher targets might cause students to perform better than they otherwise would have

Anti-Transgender Policies and Practices in Social Work Education, Accreditation, and Licensing: A Call for Change

The social work profession is guided by the values of social justice and the dignity and worth of the person. The National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Code of Ethics requires that all social workers act in a professional manner consistent with these values. These values mandate that social workers “challenge social injustice on behalf of and in concert with vulnerable and oppressed individuals and groups.” Yet, historically, and contemporarily, the social work profession and national professional organizations (i.e., NASW, the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE), Associate of Social Work Boards (ASWB), Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR), and the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare (AASW) have failed to advocate for and work in solidarity with transgender and gender expansive (TGE) individuals and groups to advance social justice. This commentary will examine how the social work profession and its national professional organizations have not followed the NASW Code of Ethics as it relates to T E communities. Specifically, the article ill (1) unpack the ways in which explicit and implicit social work curriculum and standards in accredited US social work programs do little to equip students to effectively serve transgender clients and communities upon graduation, (2) discuss the lack of advocacy for and solidarity with TGE communities from professional social work organizations, and (3) review policies governing the licensure of social work practitioners related to culturally responsive social work practice with TGE clients and communities. This commentary provides a set of recommendations for countering and reducing transphobia in the social work profession in the areas education, practice, and policy. We conclude with a call for change for the social work profession that achieves the values of social justice and dignity and worth of TGE individuals, groups, and communities

Chronic Stress, Sense of Belonging, and Depression Among Survivors of Traumatic Brain Injury

To test whether chronic stress, interpersonal relatedness, and cognitive burden could explain depression after traumatic brain injury (TBI). Design : A nonprobability sample of 75 mild-to-moderately injured TBI survivors and their significant others, were recruited from five TBI day-rehabilitation programs. All participants were within 2 years of the date of injury and were living in the community. Methods : During face-to-face interviews, demographic information, and estimates of brain injury severity were obtained and participants completed a cognitive battery of tests of directed attention and short-term memory, responses to the Perceived Stress Scale, Interpersonal Relatedness Inventory, Sense of Belonging Instrument, Neurobehavioral Functioning Inventory, and Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale;. Findings : Chronic stress was significantly and positively related to post-TBI depression. Depression and postinjury sense of belonging were negatively related. Social support and results from the cognitive battery did not explain depression. Conclusions : Postinjury chronic stress and sense of belonging were strong predictors of post-injury depression and are variables amenable to interventions by nurses in community health, neurological centers, or rehabilitation clinics. Future studies are needed to examine how these variables change over time during the recovery process.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/72593/1/j.1547-5069.2002.00221.x.pd

Stab Injury to the Preauricular Region With Laceration of the External Carotid Artery Without Involvement of the Facial Nerve: a Case Report

BACKGROUND: Open injuries to the face involving the external carotid artery are uncommon. These injuries are normally associated with laceration of the facial nerve because this nerve is more superficial than the external carotid artery. Hence, external carotid artery lesions are usually associated with facial nerve dysfunction. We present an unusual case report in which the patient had an injury to this artery with no facial nerve compromise. CASE PRESENTATION: A 25-year-old Portuguese man sustained a stab wound injury to his right preauricular region with a broken glass. Immediate profuse bleeding ensued. Provisory tamponade of the wound was achieved at the place of aggression by two off-duty doctors. He was initially transferred to a district hospital, where a large arterial bleeding was observed and a temporary compressive dressing was applied. Subsequently, the patient was transferred to a tertiary hospital. At admission in the emergency room, he presented a pulsating lesion in the right preauricular region and slight weakness in the territory of the inferior buccal branch of the facial nerve. The physical examination suggested an arterial lesion superficial to the facial nerve. However, in the operating theater, a section of the posterior and lateral flanks of the external carotid artery inside the parotid gland was identified. No lesion of the facial nerve was observed, and the external carotid artery was repaired. To better understand the anatomical rationale of this uncommon clinical case, we dissected the preauricular region of six cadavers previously injected with colored latex solutions in the vascular system. A small triangular space between the two main branches of division of the facial nerve in which the external carotid artery was not covered by the facial nerve was observed bilaterally in all cases. CONCLUSIONS: This clinical case illustrates that, in a preauricular wound, the external carotid artery can be injured without facial nerve damage. However, no similar description was found in the reviewed literature, which suggests that this must be a very rare occurrence. According to the dissection study performed, this is due to the existence of a triangular space between the cervicofacial and temporofacial nerve trunks in which the external carotid artery is not covered by the facial nerve or its branches.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Selecting teachers and prospective teachers : a meta-analysis

The purpose of this review article was to examine the methods used for the selection of teachers for employment and prospective teachers entering initial teacher education (ITE) programs, and to assess the predictive validity of these methods. We reviewed 32 studies reporting selection methods administered in high-stakes conditions and that included an external (not self-reported) teacher effectiveness outcome measure. The overall effect size was small but significant (r = 0.12, p <.001). Moderator analyses showed that academic and non-academic predictors were both significantly associated with teacher effectiveness measures and that effect sizes were small (but significant) for selection into employment and ITE. We conclude the review by proposing a research agenda that has the potential to enhance educational outcomes by improving the selection of prospective teachers