An Explanatory Sequential Mixed Methods Study of the School Leaders\u27 Role in Students\u27 Mathematics Achievement Through the Lens of Complexity Theory

Student achievement in the K-12 mathematics classroom is of concern to parents, teachers, and community leaders as complex modern technological innovations call for higher proficiency in problem solving and mathematically creative minds are necessary to fill the vital, higher-paying jobs of today and the future. School leaders are expected to make decisions that will measurably, and in some cases, dramatically, improve student achievement in mathematics. However, school leaders do not make decisions in isolation; rather, they make decisions as part of a complex adaptive system (CAS). There is limited research concerning content-specific school leadership and its effects on student achievement, particularly through the lens of complexity theory. This study focuses on the relationships between students’ mathematics achievement and the characteristics of school leaders, looks at the influences affecting the decisions and actions being made by school leaders, and then seeks to understand how a school leaders’ decisions and actions are associated with students’ mathematics achievement. A significant predictive model was found including evidence of interaction effects and multiplicative looping effects aligned with complexity theory. Distinctive patterns emerged between school leaders’ decisions and actions from schools who were performing higher than expected, about where expected, and lower than expected. Furthermore, result indicate that school leaders do play an indirect role in student mathematics achievement specifically through the ability to foster a shared vision of mathematics education in their respective schools

An Explanatory Sequential Mixed Methods Study of the School Leaders’ Role in Students’ Mathematics Achievement Through the Lens of Complexity Theory

School leaders are expected to make decisions that improve student mathematics achievement. However, one difficulty for school leaders has been the limited amount of research concerning content-specific (e.g., mathematics) school leadership and its effects on student achievement. School leaders do not make decisions in isolation; rather, they make decisions as part of a complex adaptive system (CAS), as proposed by complexity theory. The purpose of this study was to explore the role the school leader plays in students’ mathematics achievement through the lens of complexity theory. The researcher collected survey data from K-12 school leaders and conducted focus group interviews to answer the research questions. The researcher found a significant regression equation predicting the school-wide average SAGE mathematics proficiency scores based on several characteristics of the school leader and student demographics. Distinctive patterns emerged in the decisions and actions made by school leaders based on school-wide SAGE mathematics proficiency. Results suggest that the school leaders’ first role in promoting higher student mathematics achievement is to directly and indirectly facilitate a shared vision of mathematics education between stakeholders in the CAS. The school leader’s second role is to actively work to recruit and retain the highest quality teachers possible

Knowing and Not‐knowing For Your Own Good: The Limits of Epistemic Paternalism

Epistemic paternalism is the thesis that a paternalistic interference with an individual's inquiry is justified when it is likely to bring about an epistemic improvement in her. In this article I claim that in order to motivate epistemic paternalism we must first account for the value of epistemic improvements. I propose that the epistemic paternalist has two options: either epistemic improvements are valuable because they contribute to wellbeing, or they are epistemically valuable. I will argue that these options constitute the foundations of a dilemma: either epistemic paternalism collapses into general paternalism, or a distinctive project of justified epistemic paternalism is implausibl

Interdisciplinary workshop in the philosophy of medicine: medical knowledge, medical duties

On 27 September 2013, the Centre for the Humanities and Health (CHH) at King's College London hosted a 1-day workshop on ‘Medical knowledge, Medical Duties’. This workshop was the fifth in a series of five workshops whose aim is to provide a new model for high-quality, open interdisciplinary engagement between medical professionals and philosophers. This report identifies the key points of discussion raised throughout the day and the methodology employed.On 27 September 2013, the Centre for the Humanities and Health (CHH) at King's College London hosted a 1-day workshop on ‘Medical knowledge, Medical Duties’

Organized Chaos: Scatter in the relation between stellar mass and halo mass in small galaxies

We use Local Group galaxy counts together with the ELVIS N-body simulations to explore the relationship between the scatter and slope in the stellar mass vs. halo mass relation at low masses, $M_\star \simeq 10^5 - 10^8 M_\odot$. Assuming models with log-normal scatter about a median relation of the form $M_\star \propto M_\mathrm{halo}^\alpha$, the preferred log-slope steepens from $\alpha \simeq 1.8$ in the limit of zero scatter to $\alpha \simeq 2.6$ in the case of $2$ dex of scatter in $M_\star$ at fixed halo mass. We provide fitting functions for the best-fit relations as a function of scatter, including cases where the relation becomes increasingly stochastic with decreasing mass. We show that if the scatter at fixed halo mass is large enough ($\gtrsim 1$ dex) and if the median relation is steep enough ($\alpha \gtrsim 2$), then the "too-big-to-fail" problem seen in the Local Group can be self-consistently eliminated in about $\sim 5-10\%$ of realizations. This scenario requires that the most massive subhalos host unobservable ultra-faint dwarfs fairly often; we discuss potentially observable signatures of these systems. Finally, we compare our derived constraints to recent high-resolution simulations of dwarf galaxy formation in the literature. Though simulation-to-simulation scatter in $M_\star$ at fixed $M_\mathrm{halo}$ is large among separate authors ($\sim 2$ dex), individual codes produce relations with much less scatter and usually give relations that would over-produce local galaxy counts.Comment: 15 pages, 6 figures, 1 table. Accepted for publication into MNRA

Exploring the therapeutic affordances of self-harm online support communities: An online survey of members

Background: A growing number of online communities have been established to support those who self-harm. However, little is known about the therapeutic affordances arising from engagement with these communities and resulting outcomes. Objective: To explore the presence of therapeutic affordances as reported by members of self-harm online support communities. Methods: In total, 94 respondents (aged 13 to 63 years, M=23.5 years; 94% female) completed an online survey exploring their experiences of engaging with a self-harm online support community. Respondents varied in terms of how long they had been accessing an online community, with 22.3% less than 1 year, 39.4% 1-2 years, 13.8% 2-3 years and 24.5% more than 3 years. Responses were analysed using deductive thematic analysis. Results: The results of our analysis describe each of the 5 therapeutic affordances that were present in the data, namely: 1) “connection”, the ability to make contact with others who self-harm for the purposes of mutual support and in so doing reduce feelings of loneliness and isolation; 2) adaptation”, that is, how use of online support varies in relation to the personal circumstances of the individual user; 3) “exploration” that is, the ability to learn about self-harm and learn about strategies to reduce or stop self-harming behaviour; 4) “narration”, that is, the ability to share experiences as well as read about the experiences of others; and 5) “self-presentation”, that is, how and what users present about themselves to others in the online community. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that engagement with self-harm online support communities may confer a range of therapeutic benefits for some users which may serve to minimise the psycho-social burden of self-harm and promote positive coping strategies. In addition, the online nature of the support available may be helpful to those who are unable to access face-to-face support

Why biodiversity net gain requires an ecological permission system

Emma Gardner, Adam Sheppard and James Bullock explore the planning system in the UK in the context of biodiversity net gain and argue that an ecological permission system is essential if we are to genuinely achieve biodiversity net gai

A whole-team approach to optimising general dental practice teamwork: development of the Skills-optimisation Self-evaluation Toolkit (SOSET)

Introduction Studies across the health service reveal benefits of teamwork and barriers to its optimal use. Drawing upon the established Maturity Matrix Dentistry method, the Skills Optimisation Self-Evaluation Toolkit (SOSET) was developed to enable the whole dental team to critically review how they address skill-mix in delivery of patient-centred oral healthcare in their practice. This paper outlines the development of the SOSET and explores its usefulness to general dental practice teams. Methods Research literature and interview data from general dental practice teams were coded for high-level factors (positive and negative) influencing teamwork. We used this coding to identify skill-mix domains, and within each, define criteria. The SOSET process was refined following consultations with dental professionals and piloting. Results Eighty-four papers were coded and 38 dental team members were interviewed across six sites. The SOSET matrix was developed containing nine domains reflecting the use of skill-mix, each containing six development-level criteria. The domains addressed factors such as team beliefs on skill-mix and knowledge of team members' scope of practice, patient demand, the business case, staffing and training, and the practice premises. The process was piloted in 11 practices across South Wales, and feedback was received from 92 staff members. Results showed that the SOSET process was straightforward, that the whole team could contribute to discussion and that it would be used to improve practice. Following piloting, four domains were merged into two new domains, and the number of criteria within all domains was reduced and the wording simplified (seven domains, with four criteria each). Conclusion We used a systematic and rigorous process to develop the SOSET to support dental teams to progress their teamwork practices. Its usefulness was demonstrated in the pilot. The SOSET is now being offered to general dental practices across Wales

The Grizzly, December 5, 2019

Ursinus Cancels Swimming Seasons After Hazing Investigation • Students Detail Harassment on Main Street • Summer Internship Tips with CPD • Get to Know: Spring Break Service Trip • Opinion: Ursinus\u27 Judicial System is Broken • Q&A with Senior Linebacker Jake McCain • Women\u27s Basketball Walk-on Proves She is More Than Just a Ballerhttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/grizzlynews/1597/thumbnail.jp