Principal Turnover in Illinois Public Schools, 2001-2008

Analyzes trends in turnover among public school principals in 2001-08 compared with 1987-2001, school-based and personal reasons for the moves, characteristics of their new positions, and the role of school accountability pressures. Examines implications

State Fiscal Impact of the Succeed Scholarship Program 2016-2017

This report will address the fiscal impact of the SSP for the 2016-17 school year, the first year the program is available for students. As of February 2017 there were 22 students from 13 districts using the program to attend one of the 17 accredited private schools currently participating in the program. For 20 of the students we know which public school district he/she attended in 2015-16. All students must be attending a public school, relocating from out of state, or be members of an active duty military family in order to participate in the program. To estimate the fiscal effect of the program we compare the additional funding the local district would have received from the state if the SSP did not exist and compare it to the tuition cost covered thru the SSP. The difference is the net fiscal effect on the state

Squeezing the Public School Districts: The Fiscal Effect of Eliminating the Louisiana Scholarship Program on State Education Expenditures

Eliminating the Louisiana Scholarship Program (LSP) was proposed as a way to improve the financial situation of the Louisiana Department of Education budget in the current fiscal environment. A study released by the School Choice Demonstration Project (SCDP) found that the net fiscal impact on the Louisiana Department of Education budget would likely be an overall cost increase. In this study, we consider the effects that the removal or reduction of the program would have on individual districts. Districts would receive additional revenue from the state for affected students, but districts would also incur additional costs to educate these students. For each district, we compare the additional costs incurred to the additional funding received from the state. We conclude that the overall fiscal impact on districts will be negative; in other words, the overall additional variable costs incurred by the districts will be greater than the overall additional funding provided to the districts. In fact, we find that only 2 to 7 of the 69 school districts would benefit from the elimination of the program. For the affected districts, the average outcome would be a financial loss of about $1,500 per returning voucher student in 2016. In each scenario, we find that over 80% of student transfers would result in a financial loss for the local district. While we have framed this discussion in terms of the elimination of the LSP, the same analysis would be applicable to any situation that causes students to move from private schools to public schools in Louisiana, including the current funding cap which may force some current LSP students out of the program and has already generated a waitlist of over 400 students for next year

Buffet characteristics of the F-8 supercritical wing airplane

The buffet characteristics of the F-8 supercritical wing airplane were investigated. Wing structural response was used to determine the buffet characteristics of the wing and these characteristics are compared with wind tunnel model data and the wing flow characteristics at transonic speeds. The wingtip accelerometer was used to determine the buffet onset boundary and to measure the buffet intensity characteristics of the airplane. The effects of moderate trailing edge flap deflections on the buffet onset boundary are presented. The supercritical wing flow characteristics were determined from wind tunnel and flight static pressure measurements and from a dynamic pressure sensor mounted on the flight test airplane in the vicinity of the shock wave that formed on the upper surface of the wing at transonic speeds. The comparison of the airplane's structural response data to the supercritical flow characteristics includes the effects of a leading edge vortex generator

Flight-Measured Aerodynamic Loads on a 0.92 Aspect Ratio Lifting Surface

Ventral fin loads, expressed as normal force coefficients, bending moment coefficients, and torque coefficients, were measured during flight tests of a YF-12A airplane. Because of the proximity of the ventral fin to the ailerons, the aerodynamic loads presented were the result of both sideslip loads and aileron crossflow loads. Aerodynamic data obtained from strain gage loads instrumentation and some flight pressure measurements are presented for several Mach numbers ranging from 0.70 to 2.00. Selected wind tunnel data and results of linear theoretical aerodynamic calculations are presented for comparison

Vestibular heading discrimination and sensitivity to linear acceleration in head and world coordinates

Effective navigation and locomotion depend critically on an observer\u27s ability to judge direction of linear self-motion, i.e., heading. The vestibular cue to heading is the direction of inertial acceleration that accompanies transient linear movements. This cue is transduced by the otolith organs. The otoliths also respond to gravitational acceleration, so vestibular heading discrimination could depend on (1) the direction of movement in head coordinates (i.e., relative to the otoliths), (2) the direction of movement in world coordinates (i.e., relative to gravity), or (3) body orientation (i.e., the direction of gravity relative to the otoliths). To quantify these effects, we measured vestibular and visual discrimination of heading along azimuth and elevation dimensions with observers oriented both upright and side-down relative to gravity. We compared vestibular heading thresholds with corresponding measurements of sensitivity to linear motion along lateral and vertical axes of the head (coarse direction discrimination and amplitude discrimination). Neither heading nor coarse direction thresholds depended on movement direction in world coordinates, demonstrating that the nervous system compensates for gravity. Instead, they depended similarly on movement direction in head coordinates (better performance in the horizontal plane) and on body orientation (better performance in the upright orientation). Heading thresholds were correlated with, but significantly larger than, predictions based on sensitivity in the coarse discrimination task. Simulations of a neuron/anti-neuron pair with idealized cosine-tuning properties show that heading thresholds larger than those predicted from coarse direction discrimination could be accounted for by an amplitude-response nonlinearity in the neural representation of inertial motion

Search for the Tunguska event in the Antarctic snow

The Tunguska explosion in 1908 is supposed to have been produced by the impact of a small celestial body. The absence of any identifiable crater together with the huge energy released by the event suggest that the impactor exploded in midair and that its material was widely spread over the Earth. The short term contribution of such exceptional events to the total accretion rate of extraterrestrial material by the Earth could be significant. Samples were chosen in a core electromechanically drilled in 1984 near South Pole Station. There, the low temperatures, preventing melting all year long, and the nearly regular snow fall rate provide good conditions for a reliable continuous record of any infalling material. In many samples Ir was below the detection limit of the instrumentation. The iridium infall averaged over 45 samples is given. In a few samples the iridium content is significantly higher than the average: the frequency and amplitude of such fluctuations can be explained by the presence on some filters of finite size cosmic particles. No significant systematic increase above the average level is observed in the part of the core corresponding to the Tunguska event. The two major results of this study are: (1) The presence of Tunguska explosion debris in the Antarctic snow is not confirmed; and (2) The estimate of the average iridium infall, is an order of magnitude lower than the Ganapathy's background but is close to the values measured in Antarctic snow and atmospheric samples by Takahashi et al. The results are also consistent with the flux of micrometeoroids deduced from optical and radar observations or derived from the study of Greenland cosmic dust collection but are lower than the flux at mid-latitude measured in paleocene-oligocene sediments from the central part of the Pacific Ocean

State-Level Fiscal Impact of the Succeed Scholarship Program 2017-2018

Arkansas created the Succeed Scholarship Program in the spring 2015 legislative session when House Bill 1552 was passed. This program allows students with disabilities to receive state funding for private school tuition up to the foundation funding amount determined by the matrix funding system used in Arkansas

Highly challenging balance program reduces fall rate in Parkinson disease

Published in final edited form as: J Neurol Phys Ther. 2016 January ; 40(1): 24–30. doi:10.1097/NPT.0000000000000111BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: There is a paucity of effective treatment options to reduce falls in Parkinson disease (PD). Although a variety of rehabilitative approaches have been shown to improve balance, evidence of a reduction in falls has been mixed. Prior balance trials suggest that programs with highly challenging exercises had superior outcomes. We investigated the effects of a theory-driven, progressive, highly challenging group exercise program on fall rate, balance, and fear of falling. METHODS: Twenty-three subjects with PD participated in this randomized cross-over trial. Subjects were randomly allocated to 3 months of active balance exercises or usual care followed by the reverse. During the active condition, subjects participated in a progressive, highly challenging group exercise program twice weekly for 90 minutes. Outcomes included a change in fall rate over the 3-month active period and differences in balance (Mini-Balance Evaluation Systems Test [Mini-BESTest]), and fear of falling (Falls Efficacy Scale-International [FES-I]) between active and usual care conditions. RESULTS: The effect of time on falls was significant (regression coefficient = -0.015 per day, P < 0.001). The estimated rate ratio comparing incidence rates at time points 1 month apart was 0.632 (95% confidence interval, 0.524-0.763). Thus, there was an estimated 37% decline in fall rate per month (95% confidence interval, 24%-48%). Improvements were also observed on the Mini-BESTest (P = 0.037) and FES-I (P = 0.059). DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study show that a theory-based, highly challenging, and progressive exercise program was effective in reducing falls, improving balance, and reducing fear of falling in PD.Video abstract available for more insights from the authors (see Supplemental Digital Content 1, http://links.lww.com/JNPT/A120). TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02302144.This study was funded by the Boston Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center (NIH 5P30AG031679). Additional support was provided by the American Parkinson Disease Association (ADPA); ADPAMA Chapter. (NIH 5P30AG031679 - Boston Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center; American Parkinson Disease Association (ADPA); ADPAMA Chapter

State and District Fiscal Effects of a Universal Education Savings Account Program in Arkansas

Legislators in Arkansas have proposed a bill to increase educational choice through an Education Savings Account (ESA) program available to every child across the state. While many studies on the financial impact of existing ESA, voucher, and scholarship programs in the United States have found overall benefits to the state and individual districts, it may not be the case for a universally-accessible ESA since most existing programs are targeted to students based on need. A universal ESA would make ESAs available to all K-12 students in the state, so the fiscal impact is expected to be less beneficial than a targeted voucher or scholarship program. We use the Arkansas state funding formula to estimate the net impact of the proposed ESA program on the state budget overall. We also use the state education expenditure report in order to estimate the impact on each public school district in the state. Using our most defensible set of assumptions, we find that a universally-accessible ESA would result in small financial benefits to the state overall and to about half of the individual public school districts. Specifically, we estimate the program to result in around $2.8 million in financial benefits to the state in the first year. Additionally, we find that 50.6 percent of districts would financially benefit, while 55.5 percent of individual student transfers would result in financial benefits to their local school districts