Teen Risk-Taking: Promising Prevention Programs and Approaches

To help close the knowledge gap and to help program directors, practitioners, and community leaders enlarge the network of effective programs and approaches for at-risk youth, Urban Institute researchers reviewed what is known about successful prevention interventions and their dissemination. They identified 51 problem behavior prevention interventions whose initial effectiveness has been demonstrated through scientific evaluation. A subset of 21 programs was selected on the basis of the rigor of their evaluations or the strength of their results for closer examination of the program elements and/or delivery modes that appeared to be associated with their effectiveness. The researchers also explored with the assistance of experienced prevention scientists and school-based practitioners what might be the essential elements of schools' and other community organizations' readiness to undertake research-based problem behavior prevention programming. This guidebook to promising programs and approaches offers the fruits of that research. It is our hope that it will provide a helpful starting point for the development of a larger, more sustainable network of effective prevention programs and approaches for at-risk teens.In the booklet you will find:An Update on Adolescent Risk-Taking -- what is known about the level and characteristics of teen risk-taking today and why it is both necessary and an opportune time to improve and expand the network of effective prevention programs for at-risk preteens and teens.The Common Elements of Successful Prevention Programs, briefly summarized, along with an explanation of the criteria used to select the 51 programs profiled in this guidebook.Moving from Research to Practice -- a discussion of the challenges facing practitioners seeking to replicate promising intervention programs or approaches, with some suggestions for ways to meet these challenges.A Prevention Readiness Questionnaire to help program directors and planners identify and assess factors necessary to create favorable conditions and circumstances for successful adaptation or replication of the programs or their salient components in new settings.Profiles of 51 Prevention Programs whose behavioral evaluations demonstrate their effectiveness. The profiles provide general information about the program, highlight unique features, summarize evaluation results, and give general contact information. The 21 (most) rigorously evaluated programs also have curriculum, training, and contact information included.A Handy Reference Chart for quick comparison of the 51 programs

An Evaluation Of AVID As A Supplemental Education Program At The Middle School Level

This is a study of AVID as a supplemental education program at the middle school level that includes a quantitative evaluation of the academic efficacy of AVID utilizing anonymized, longitudinal student achievement data. The second section is a qualitative evaluation of the AVID program at one middle school within a district to determine the perceived efficacy of the AVID program among stakeholders using surveys and interviews. This also includes a discussion of the necessary change in leadership determined by the evaluation portions of this project. The third portion outlines a policy change essential for satisfactory outcome as defined by AVID national criteria for the middle school to move from a Highly Certified Site to Demonstration School status

The use of the church year in religious education

This item was digitized by the Internet Archive. Thesis (M.A.)--Boston Universityhttps://archive.org/details/theuseofchurchye00bra

From transcriptional regulation to drugging the cancer epigenome

Jay Bradner discusses the opportunities and challenges for the study and therapeutic targeting of the cancer epigenome, as well as innovative approaches to drug discovery

Accelerated learning methodology applied to a corporate training program

The purpose of the study was to investigate the effectiveness of Accelerated Learning methods in a corporate training program. More specifically, the researcher wanted to know if Accelerated Learning significantly improved the employee\u27s job knowledge, skills, and on-the-job performance when compared with traditional training methods. The Accelerated Learning training involved concepts and methods originally developed by Georgi Lozanov (1978) and adapted by Don Schuster (1986, 1989, 1991), Colin Rose (1985), Lynn Dhority (1991), Allyn Prichard and Jean Taylor (1980), and others. Traditional training methods include commonly used learning activities such as case problems, role play situations, short lectures with visual aids, question-and-answer sessions, and hands-on practice;The research design was a preexperimental design with a control group which used traditional training methods (26 participants) and an experimental group which involved Accelerated Learning methods (36 participants). Participants were in a required 64-hour new employee training program in a major financial organization in a midwestern city. One in-house trainer delivered all the training programs. To minimize contamination between the two methodologies, the trainer had minimal exposure to Accelerated Learning until after the control group had been trained and tested. Three different measurements were used to gather data from participants at the end of training: a cognitive, paper-and-pencil test to determine job knowledge; a computer skills test in a job simulation to determine transfer of skills to the job; and a telephone customer service simulation to determine transfer of skills to the job. A fourth measure, on-the-job performance data, was collected one month after the end of training. Data were analyzed through the use of frequency reports, reliability tests, t-tests of two means, and ANOVA techniques;The findings of the study support the research hypotheses that the experimental group will perform at a significantly higher level (p ≤.05) than the control group on a cognitive test of learning and on a computer skills test;Although participants in the Accelerated Learning group outperformed the traditional training group, the findings do not support the research hypotheses that the experimental group will perform significantly better on a telephone customer service skills test or on actual on-the-job performance measured one month after the end of training;The findings of this study suggest that Accelerated Learning is a worthy teaching/learning method and may hold much potential for improving the effectiveness of training and development programs

Optimization of methods for culturing Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis from bovine milk and colostrum and application to samples collected from naturally infected dairy cows

Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP) is the causative agent of Johne\u27s disease (JD), a chronic granulomatous enteritis of the small intestine of ruminants, taking many years for clinical symptoms to develop. Though primarily transmitted through ingestion of contaminated feces, MAP also can be transmitted through milk and colostrum. Unfortunately, many other microorganisms are present in milk along with MAP. Therefore, a decontamination protocol must be applied to the milk before culture. The objective of this research was to optimize a decontamination and culture protocol for the recovery of MAP from milk. The optimal protocol then was applied to milk and colostrum samples obtained from naturally infected dairy cows over complete 305-day lactation cycles to evaluate whether a correlation exists between stage in JD progression or point in lactation and the concentration of MAP shed into the milk. Studies found the most efficacious decontamination and culture protocol consisted of exposing milk to a solution of N–acetyl–L–cysteine–1.5% sodium hydroxide for 15 min followed by inoculation into BACTEC 12B medium. When this protocol was applied to milk and colostrum samples collected from naturally infected dairy cows in various stages of JD, it was found that cows in more advanced stages had a higher likelihood of shedding MAP into milk and colostrum. MAP was also more likely to be isolated from milk samples taken within early lactation (0–60 days in milk). This study demonstrated that milk is a viable route of MAP transmission to calves, especially in early lactation when calves are most susceptible to infection and from cows with advanced stages of JD. Dairy producers should use this valuable information to change their calf–rearing practices to decrease the chances of disseminating MAP through their herds

Racial Inequities in New York Parole Supervision

The scope and conditions of parole supervision in New York have profound impacts for people serving supervision sentences. Numerous conditions are a constraint on their liberty, serve as trip wires to incarceration, and can disrupt the process of community reintegration needed for successful reentry after leaving prison. Parole supervision fuels mass incarceration everywhere, but particularly in New York as New York sends more people back to prison for non-criminal, technical parole violations than any state except Illinois. Nearly six times as many people are reincarcerated in state prisons for technical violations such as missing an appointment, being out past curfew, or testing positive for alcohol as were reincarcerated for a new criminal conviction. Moreover, people held on parole violations are now the only population increasing in New York City jails, threatening plans to close the notorious Rikers Island jails complex. Together, incarceration for technical violations costs New York State and localities over $600 million annually. Importantly, the harmful impacts of parole policies disproportionately fall on Black and brown communities. Black and Latinx people are significantly more likely than white people to be under supervision, to be jailed pending a violation hearing, and to be incarcerated in New York State prisons for a parole violation . This report examines these racial and ethnic inequities in New York parole supervision and revocation, and offers further context by summarizing existing research on disparities in supervision practices nationally

Have You Updated Your Toaster? Transatlantic Approaches to Governing the Internet of Everything

As Internet-connected devices become ubiquitous, it remains an open question whether security— or privacy—can or will scale, or whether a combination of perverse incentives, new problems, and new impacts of old problems like “technical debt” amassing from products being rushed to market before being fully vetted, will derail progress and exacerbate cyber insecurity. This Article investigates contemporary approaches to Internet of Things (IoT) governance through an in- depth comparative case study focusing on the European Union (EU) and the United States. Particular attention is paid to the impact on IoT security of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Network Information Security (NIS) Directive in the EU, and the influence of the U.S. National Institute for Standards and Technology Cybersecurity Framework (NIST CSF), with a focus on mitigating the risk of politically motivated attacks on civilians. We analyze reform proposals and apply lessons from major prior Internet governance debates to argue for a polycentric approach to improving IoT security and privacy in the transatlantic context