Teachers\u27 views of the impact of the Good Start, Grow Smart Early Childhood Initiative on Head Start programs in a western Maryland community

As the call for accountability increased, President George W. Bush signed into law the No Child Left Behind Act in January 2002 to reform the Elementary and Secondary Education Act that was reauthorized in 1994. The Good Start, Grow Smart Early Childhood Education Initiative, followed in April 2002. Both of these reform measures have significant implications for school success and achievement of all children in both childcare and public school settings as well as accountability for teachers and administrators.;The purpose of this study was to investigate and analyze the views of Head Start teachers on the impact of the Good Start, Grow Smart Early Childhood Initiative on accountability for early literacy and language skills for Head Start children in a western Maryland community.;Five research questions asked in this study were related to Head Start teachers\u27 professional experiences and background, personal characteristics, philosophical framework, strategies and methods of literacy and language practices with Head Start students and the impact of the Good Start, Grow Smart Early Childhood Initiative on Head Start teachers, administrators and students.;Data collection included the questionnaire and six one-hour long interview sessions with each Head Start teacher and administrator. Data were systematically and inductively interpreted in relation to the five research questions and with the perspectives of the administrator and teachers.;The study suggests that Head Start teachers and administrators believe that meeting the social-emotional and individual needs of Head Start students was critical in meeting the accountability requirements for language and literacy skills of the Good Start, Grow Smart Early Childhood Initiative. While the teachers generally expressed positive views about the need for the students to acquire language and literacy skill, they expressed some concerns because language and literacy were \u27pushed\u27 by the STEP training, and that might negatively impact social and emotional development of the students who are already at-risk due to their low-income background and poverty. Implications were drawn for Head Start teachers and administrators to consider possible risks of introducing young children to formal academic work prematurely. Directions for further research are suggested

Current difficulties and recent advances in bypass therapy for the management of hemophilia with inhibitors: a new and practical formulation of recombinant factor VIIa

Bypassing agents are the mainstay of treatment for patients with hemophilia with high-titer inhibitors. Whereas the availability of these agents has greatly advanced the management of bleeding episodes in this population, timely administration of bypassing agents continues to be hampered by a number of practical limitations, including the need for refrigerated storage of the agent and its reconstitution at room temperature prior to administration, among others. In this review, the importance of early treatment of bleeds and factors that influence this more timely therapeutic approach are highlighted, together with the advantages offered by the use of a new formulation of recombinant activated factor VII that permits improved storage and portability, potentially optimizing timely bypassing agent administration

An exploration of the challenges of access and retention: Reintegrating former refugee and internally displaced girls into secondary school in post-conflict Liberia

In this thesis I have endeavored to explore former refugee and internally displaced secondary school girls’ challenges of access and retention in formal school in post-war Zwedru. Using a qualitative approach supported by interviews, observations and review of official documents, I attempt to create an impression of the girls’ reintegration challenges. The perceptions of secondary school girls as well as key players in the education sector are reflected in the thesis. The education system of Liberia was a contributing factor to the 14 years of war in Liberian from 1989 to 2003. The education system which collapsed at the onset of the war is currently being reconstructed with the full participation of the international community in partnership with the Government of Liberia. In presenting the process of education reconstruction and girls’ reintegration into formal school, I identify political, economic and cultural challenges as underlying factors which slow down girls’ participation and completion of secondary school. In establishing a basic theoretical framework as lens through which the focus of this thesis is examined, I take as point of departure relevant scholarly and organizational concepts as well as socialization theories and gender theories. Berger and Luckmann’s primary and secondary socialization is applied in understanding and interpreting secondary school girls’ upbringing and overall development. Gender theories including Amarta Sen’s Capability approach are at the core of the discussions on gender and education. I use Paulo Freire’s pedagogy of the oppressed to interpret the point of view and comportment of the secondary school girls in the study. The new reforms in education in post-war Liberia as well as the educational interventions in Zwedru specifically are examined as context(s) within which girls’ educational processes are taking place. The international community’s commitment towards reinvigorating education in Liberia includes various programs and initiatives which are geared towards capacity building and construction of a sustainable education sector in contemporary Liberia. I draw attention to traditional gender roles as well as girls’ socio-economic environment as being among the challenges which hinder girls’ full participation and completion of secondary school. I also highlight that education reconstruction at the secondary level is dawdling due to various challenges faced by the Ministry of Education, this includes funding and limited human resource. In concluding I put forward that the Government of Liberia develop innovative strategies to fund education in the country in order to support the reconstruction of its education sector and complement the hard work of the international community. Girls account for more than half of the population of Liberia and their education is unquestionably needed in the process of reconciliation and rehabilitation. Girls’ participation and completion of secondary school in Zwedru is required for the attainment of the Education for All goals as well as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs.Master in International Education and Development (NOMA

Utilization of Higher Education : A Review of Employment Challenges and Job Practice among Refugees in Norway

Purpose of the study: If refugees from Africa and Asia are able to use their foreign higher education in the labor market of Norway is the main topic of this study. Thus, the study explores the impact of Norwegian language training, foreign higher education recognition, NAV job seeker courses, service/job provision by employers, further higher education in Norway, etc., on the labor market outcomes of 18 refugees who fled to Norway with tertiary foreign higher education from West African, East Africa, and Asia. Methods, theories, and strategies: Qualitative interpretative phenomenology is the research paradigm adopted to focus on the participants‘ experiences, describing the different meanings and commonality of phenomena in their experiences. To answer the research questions, the section on the analysis and interpretations of the findings incorporates ‗thick descriptions‘ and direct quotations drawn from a one and a half hours semi-structured interview conducted with each participant. Results: Norwegian language deficiencies six months after their participation in a one-year Introduction Program creates initial unemployment and underemployment for about 94 per cent of the refugees with prior foreign higher education. This evidence suggests that the labor market constraints refugees with foreign higher education face initially had not changed significantly after the first 18 months in Norway to create educational-skill job-match relationships. The significance of duration of residence and undertaking relevant Norwegian education are more important for Norwegian language proficiency and finding a relevant job.Master i flerkulturell og internasjonal utdannin

The interplay between executive control, behavioral variability and mind wandering: Insights from a high-definition transcranial direct-current stimulation study

While the involvement of executive processes in mind wandering is largely undebated, their exact relationship is subject to an ongoing debate and rarely studied dynamically within‐subject. Several brain‐stimulation studies using transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) have attempted to modulate mind‐wandering propensity by stimulating the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) which is an important hub in the prefrontal control network. In a series of three studies testing a total of N = 100 participants, we develop a novel task that allows to study the dynamic interplay of mind wandering, behavioural varibility and the flexible recruitment of executive resources as indexed by the randomness (entropy) of movement sequences generated by our participants. We consistently find that behavioural variability is increased and randomness is decreased during periods of mind wandering. Interestingly, we also find that behavioural variability interacts with the entropy‐MW effect, opening up the possibility to detect distinct states of off‐focus cognition. When applying a high‐definition transcranial direct‐current stimulation (HD‐tDCS) montage to the left DLPFC, we find that propensity to mind wander is reduced relative to a group receiving sham stimulation

Head models of healthy and depressed adults for simulating the electric fields of non-invasive electric brain stimulation

During the past decade, it became clear that the electric field elicited by non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) techniques such as transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) are substantially influenced by variations in individual head and brain anatomy. In addition to structural variations in the healthy, several psychiatric disorders are characterized by anatomical alterations that are likely to further constrain the intracerebral effects of NIBS. Here, we present high-resolution realistic head models derived from structural magnetic resonance imaging data of 19 healthy adults and 19 patients diagnosed with major depressive disorder (MDD). By using a freely available software package for modelling the electric fields induced by different NIBS protocols, we show that our head models are well-suited for assessing inter-individual and between-group variability in the magnitude and focality of tDCS-induced electric fields for two protocols targeting the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex

Effects of transcranial direct current stimulation for treating depression: A modeling study

Background: Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) above the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (lDLPFC) has been widely used to improve symptoms of major depressive disorder (MDD). However, the effects of different stimulation protocols in the entire frontal lobe have not been investigated in a large sample including patient data. Methods: We used 38 head models created from structural magnetic resonance imaging data of 19 healthy adults and 19 MDD patients and applied computational modeling to simulate the spatial distribution of tDCS-induced electric fields (EFs) in 20 frontal regions. We evaluated effects of seven bipolar and two multi-electrode 4 × 1 tDCS protocols. Results: For bipolar montages, EFs were of comparable strength in the lDLPFC and in the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC). Depending on stimulation parameters, EF cortical maps varied to a considerable degree, but were found to be similar in controls and patients. 4 × 1 montages produced more localized, albeit weaker effects. Limitations: White matter anisotropy was not modeled. The relationship between EF strength and clinical response to tDCS could not be evaluated. Conclusions: In addition to lDLPFC stimulation, excitability changes in the MPFC should also be considered as a potential mechanism underlying clinical efficacy of bipolar montages. MDD-associated anatomical variations are not likely to substantially influence current flow. Individual modeling of tDCS protocols can substantially improve cortical targeting. We make recommendations for future research to explicitly test the contribution of lDLPFC vs. MPFC stimulation to therapeutic outcomes of tDCS in this disorder