Context and Regulation of Homeschooling: Issues, Evidence, and Assessment Practices

The article discusses salient factors that influence the current context within which homeschooling occurs. Individual states have applied various approaches to establish regulations that both preserve the rights of homeschooling parents and fulfill the state’s obligation to ensure that its residents receive the education to which they are constitutionally entitled. Case and ethnographic studies or research involving small and selected samples often appear in outlets associated with homeschool advocacy groups or in outlets that are not mainstream. The paucity of empirical evidence derived from methodologically strong research paradigms has led to little certainty about many aspects of homeschooling including its effectiveness in preparing an educated citizenry. From state to state, the understanding and definition of homeschooling varies widely, leading to equally wide variations in regulatory practices. The article documents and summarizes state-to-state variations in matters pertaining to homeschooling, and offers recommendations to help school psychologists work more effectively with students who are educated at home

Assessing Language-Minority Students

Accessed 43,863 times on https://pareonline.net from November 13, 1999 to December 31, 2019. For downloads from January 1, 2020 forward, please click on the PlumX Metrics link to the right

Strategies and Resources to Enhance Test Evaluation and Selection

Testing serves an important function for SLPs in offering an evidence base that is useful in screening, diagnosing, monitoring progress, and documenting outcomes. Tests are used to measure diverse constructs such as communication, literacy, oral and written language, receptive and expressive vocabulary, articulation, phonological awareness and processing, and auditory perception and processing. In addition, specific impairments may require specialized measures to evaluate conditions such as stuttering and orthographic competence. When using tests to diagnose language impairments, Betz, Eickhoff, and Sullivan (2013) suggest that SLPs consider carefully a test’s psychometric properties, particularly because of the “increasing emphasis on evidence-based practice, specifically, the requirement to validate clinical decisions regarding assessment and treatment” (p. 142). Kirk and Vigeland (2014) echo these sentiments in stating, “It would be helpful to have evidence-based practice guidelines that provide recommendations for determining the psychometric adequacy of norm-referenced tests” (p. 375). At the 2014 ASHA conference, Pavello and Ireland reviewed psychometric and other considerations that influence test selection. For nearly 80 years, the Buros Center has published independent reviews of commercially available English language tests in its Mental Measurements Yearbook (MMY) series, currently in its nineteenth volume (Carlson, Geisinger, & Jonson, 2014). Each volume provides reviews of tests across a wide range of categories, including Language and Speech & Hearing. Cizek, Koons, and Rosenberg (2011) observed that “the MMY series is unique in that it serves as an independent source of evaluations of specific tests . . . [and] is widely considered to be the most accurate, complete, and authoritative source of information about published tests” (p. 123). However, as the MMY editors carefully note, “The [MMY] series was developed to stimulate critical thinking and assist in the selection of the best available test for a given purpose, not to promote the passive acceptance of reviewer judgment” (Carlson et al., 2014, p. xiii). In a similar vein, Thorndike (1999) advised that MMY reviews “must be supplemented by a thorough knowledge of the situation for which a test is desired and by mature professional judgment on the part of the prospective user” (p. 50). This poster session presents a framework for test evaluation and selection to inform decisions about standardized tests used by SLPs within their practices or research. Examples of reviews of tests illustrate best practices in test evaluation. Resources to promote the application of critical thinking skills to test evaluation and selection are provided. Includes Resources handou

Undergraduate Engineers and Teachers: Can Students Be Both?

Today’s college-aged students are graduating into a world that relies on multidisciplinary talents to succeed. Engineering college majors are more likely to find jobs after college that are outside of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields, including jobs in healthcare, management, and social services. A survey of engineering undergraduate students at the University of Colorado Boulder in November 2012 indicated a desire by students to simultaneously pursue secondary teacher licensure alongside their engineering degrees: 25 percent ‘‘agreed’’ or ‘‘strongly agreed’’ that they ‘‘would be interested in earning grades 7–12 science or math teaching licenses while [they] earn [their] engineering degrees. As colleges of engineering education, how can we support the success of our students in these multidisciplinary fields post-graduation, including teaching? The University of Colorado Boulder’s College of Engineering and Applied Science in partnership with the School of Education, has developed an innovative program that results in graduates attaining a secondary school STEM teacher license concurrently with an engineering BS degree. This streamlined pathway through engineering educates and prepares a workforce of secondary teachers capable of high-level teaching in multiple STEM subjects—either engineering coupled with science (biology, chemistry, and physics), or engineering coupled with mathematics. These engineers are motivated and inspired to pursue two career routes because they find value and passion for both professions. One study showed that successful mathematics and science teachers ‘‘would have liked to be engineers’’. Teachers expressed that being comfortable and understanding engineering phenomena is a barrier to why they initially did not pursue an engineering career. We are fostering students that develop both an engineering mindset alongside a commitment to giving back through secondary teaching in this program. This research aims to discover if and how students in the engineering + teaching program identify themselves as both an engineering student and as a teaching student. We are exploring why students decided to pursue engineering and teaching and how they plan to use engineering, teaching, or both in their futures. It is important to also understand how we attract students to this program. Given the diverse student experience inherent in this degree program built around passion and desire to combine engineering and teaching, the paper addresses the questions, ‘‘How do engineering knowledge and teaching knowledge intersect for undergraduate engineering students?’’ and ‘‘What challenges exist to navigating an engineering major with a teaching license pathway?’’ Initial survey and focus group data collected this past academic year indicates that students in this degree program identify as both an engineer and a teacher. Using mixed-methods analysis informed by current education research—including quantitative and qualitative survey questions and small focus groups—we explore the ways in which students discovered this program and how they plan to incorporate the two disciplines in their future. We are interested in how engineering students will incorporate the knowledge that they learned in engineering classes into the lesson plans they design for secondary classroom students

Applying Visual Methods to Document the History of Psychological Testing: A Qualitative Approach

The history of psychological testing is critical to many areas of applied psychology. Assessment forms a mainstay of clinical practice, second only to psychotherapy (Meyer et al., 2001). In industrial/organizational psychological practice, employee selection depends on testing to assess applicant qualifications. In educational contexts, testing is central to the evaluation of academic performance and college readiness, in addition to determining eligibility for various types of special educational services. The history of testing is deeply rooted in myriad psychological specialties (Carlson & Geisinger, 2021). This fact prompted a qualitative examination and integration of three distinct historical threads identified by the proposal authors: (a) the history of psychological testing in the U.S. over the past century, (b) the work of Oscar Buros and the Institute of Mental Measurements that proved instrumental in the dissemination of reference materials concerning commercial testing products (Brayfield, 1979; Dyer, 1968; Gough, 1980), and (c) the lives of Oscar and Luella Buros who—among other things—established an enterprise that continues to provide critical evaluations of commercially available tests that protect consumers of those products (Cizek et al., 2007; Reynolds, 2010). This poster presentation examines critical events in the history of psychological testing from the 1930s to present-day through the lens of the Buros Institute/Center and the lives of Oscar and Luella Buros. The research method employed demonstrates the utility of a nascent qualitative approach to integrate three strands of history concerning psychological testing. The procedure emphasized visual methods (e.g., Ownby, 2017; Reavey, 2020) to systematically collect qualitative data, primarily photographs. Photographs (e.g., photo documentation) were gathered from archival and current sources, including the Luella Buros Collection curated by the Anthropology Department of a mid-Western university. Next, we aligned depictions of major historical events with depictions of events in the history of the Buros Institute/Center and the lives of the Buroses. The poster included images selected from a pool of more than 12,000 by consensus of the researchers. The poster displays visual representations (e.g., photographs) grouped by decades over the past century. The researchers link visual depictions (e.g., the first Mental Measurements Yearbook [MMY] in 1938, staff at work producing early MMYs, the house in NJ where the Buros Institute was established) with salient events across the histories of psychological testing. A qualitative analysis/summary demonstrates associations between and among the three specified historical strands. References & credits are in the attached supplemental file

Real-world evidence supporting Tandem Control-IQ hybrid closed-loop success in the Medicare and Medicaid type 1 and type 2 diabetes populations

BACKGROUND: The Tandem Control-IQ (CIQ) system has demonstrated significant glycemic improvements in large randomized controlled and real-world trials. Use of this system is lower in people with type 1 diabetes (T1D) government-sponsored insurance and those with type 2 diabetes (T2D). This analysis aimed to evaluate the performance of CIQ in these groups. METHODS AND MATERIALS: A retrospective analysis of CIQ users was performed. Users age ≥6 years with a t:slim X2 Pump and >30 days of continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) data pre-CIQ and >30 days post-CIQ technology initiation were included. RESULTS: A total of 4243 Medicare and 1332 Medicaid CIQ users were analyzed among whom 5075 had T1D and 500 had T2D. After starting CIQ, the Medicare beneficiaries group saw significant improvement in time in target range 70–180 mg/dL (TIR; 64% vs. 74%; P < 0.0001), glucose management index (GMI; 7.3% vs. 7.0%; P < 0.0001), and the percentage of users meeting American Diabetes Association (ADA) CGM Glucometrics Guidelines (12.8% vs. 26.3%; P < 0.0001). The Medicaid group also saw significant improvement in TIR (46% vs. 60%; P < 0.0001), GMI (7.9% vs. 7.5%; P < 0.0001), and percentage meeting ADA guidelines (5.7% vs. 13.4%; P < 0.0001). Patients with T2D and either insurance saw significant glycemic improvements. CONCLUSIONS: The CIQ system was effective in the Medicare and Medicaid groups in improving glycemic control. The T2D subgroup also demonstrated improved glycemic control with CIQ use. Glucometrics achieved in this analysis are comparable with those seen in previous randomized controlled clinical trials with the CIQ system

Leisure time physical activity throughout adulthood is associated with lower medicare costs : Evidence from the linked nih-aarp diet and health study cohort

Background There is limited information about the association between long-term leisure time physical activity (LTPA) participation and healthcare costs. The purpose of this study was to investigate the association LTPA over adulthood with later life healthcare costs in the USA. Methods Using Medicare claims data (between 1999 and 2008) linked to the National Institutes of Health-American Association of Retired Persons (NIH-AARP) Diet and Health Study, we examined associations between nine trajectories of physical activity participation throughout adulthood with Medicare costs. Results Compared with adults who were consistently inactive from adolescence into middle age, average annual healthcare costs were significantly lower for maintainers, adults who maintained moderate (-US$1350 (95$2009 to-US$690) or-15.9$1200 (95% CI:-US$1777 to-US$622) or-14.1% (95% CI:-20.9% to-7.3%)) and increasers, adults who increased physical activity levels in early adulthood (-US$1874 (95$2691 to-US$1057) or-22.0$824 (95% CI:-US$1580 to-US$69 or-9.7% (95% CI-18.6% to-0.8%)). For the four trajectories where physical activity decreased, the only significant difference was for adults who increased physical activity levels during early adulthood with a decline in middle age (-US$861 (95$1678 to-US$45) or-10.1% (95% CI:-19.7% to-0.5%)). Conclusion Our analyses suggest the healthcare cost burden in later life could be reduced through promotion efforts supporting physical activity participation throughout adulthood

Lost in translation: A disconnect between the science and Medicare coverage criteria for continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion

Numerous studies have demonstrated the clinical value and safety of insulin pump therapy in type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes populations. However, the eligibility criteria for insulin pump coverage required by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) discount conclusive evidence that supports insulin pump use in diabetes populations that are currently deemed ineligible. This article discusses the limitations and inconsistencies of the insulin pump eligibility criteria relative to current scientific evidence and proposes workable solutions to address this issue and improve the safety and care of all individuals with diabetes

Differences in trauma history and psychopathology between PTSD patients with and without co-occurring dissociative disorders

Wabnitz P, Gast U, Catani C. Differences in trauma history and psychopathology between PTSD patients with and without co-occurring dissociative disorders. European Journal of Psychotraumatology. 2013;2013(4): 21452.Background: The interplay between different types of potentially traumatizing events, posttraumatic symptoms, and the pathogenesis of PTSD or major dissociative disorders (DD) has been extensively studied during the last decade. However, the phenomenology and nosological classification of posttraumatic disorders is currently under debate. The current study was conducted to investigate differences between PTSD patients with and without co-occurring major DD with regard to general psychopathology, trauma history, and trauma-specific symptoms. Methods: Twenty-four inpatients were administered the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale for DSM-IV (CAPS) and the Mini-Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Dissociative Disorders (MINI-SKID-D) to assess DD and PTSD. Additionally, participants completed questionnaires to assess general psychopathology and health status. Results: Symptom profiles and axis I comorbidity were similar in all patients. Traumatic experiences did not differ between the two groups, with both reporting high levels of childhood trauma. Only trauma-specific avoidance behavior and dissociative symptoms differed between groups. Conclusion: Results support the view that PTSD and DD are affiliated disorders that could be classified within the same diagnostic category. Our results accord with a typological model of dissociation in which profound forms of dissociation are specific to DD and are accompanied with higher levels of trauma-specific avoidance in DD patients

C-reactive protein, interleukin-6, and prostate cancer risk in men aged 65 years and older.

Inflammation is believed to play a role in prostate cancer (PCa) etiology, but it is unclear whether inflammatory markers C-reactive protein (CRP) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) associate with PCa risk in older men. Using Cox regression, we assessed the relationship between baseline concentrations of CRP and IL-6 and the subsequent PCa risk in the Cardiovascular Health Study, a population-based cohort study of mostly European American men of ages >64 years (n = 2,234; mean follow-up = 8.7 years; 215 incident PCa cases). We also tested associations between CRP and IL-6 tagSNPs and PCa risk, focusing on SNPs that are known to associate with circulating CRP and/or IL-6. Neither CRP nor IL-6 blood concentrations was associated with PCa risk. The C allele of IL-6 SNP rs1800795 (-174), a known functional variant, was associated with increased risk in a dominant model (HR = 1.44; 95% CI = 1.03-2.01; p = 0.03), but was not statistically significant after accounting for multiple tests (permutation p = 0.21). Our results suggest that circulating CRP and IL-6 do not influence PCa risk. SNPs at the CRP locus are not associated with PCa risk in this cohort, while the association between rs1800795 and PCa risk warrants further investigation