Coligações para o uso de evidências e advocacia: organizações intermediárias e filantrópicas em Denver, Colorado

The increasing involvement of philanthropists in education policy has contributed to the emergence of a dynamic sector of intermediary organizations (IOs), entities that serve a number of functions in school reform, including advocacy, consultation, policy design, alternative teacher and leadership preparation, and research. In recent years, many IOs have converged into coalitions that are pushing for incentivist educational policies like “parent trigger” laws, charter schools, vouchers, and teacher merit pay or sanctions often tied to value added metrics of teacher performance. This article draws on data from a mixed-methods, multiyear study of research use and dissemination. In this article, we examine the role of foundations in a broader advocacy coalition in Denver, Colorado, a key site for various incentivist reforms, including teacher pay-for-performance and charter schools. We find that IOs and their affiliated networks broker the production and use of research evidence, often targeting government and education policymakers, journalists, and increasingly, influential bloggers and social media communities. This brokering function positions foundations as the “hub” of research production, promotion, and utilization. La creciente participación de filántropos en el área de política educativa ha contribuido a la aparición de un sector dinámico de organizaciones intermediarias (OI), entidades que tienen un número de funciones en reformas escolares, incluyendo la promoción, consulta, diseño de políticas, formación docente alternativa y preparación de lideres y de investigación. En los últimos años, muchas organizaciones intermediarias han convergido en coaliciones que estimulan políticas educativas de incentivos como las leyes "gatillo", escuelas charter, vales educativos, y el pago por mérito docente o sanciones a menudo ligadas a métricas de valor añadido de desempeño de docentes. Este artículo se basa en datos recogidos durante varios años sobre el uso y difusión de la investigación de usando métodos mixtos. Este artículo, examina el papel de las fundaciones en una coalición de acción política en Denver, Colorado, un sitio clave para diversas reformas por incentivos, incluyendo el pago por rendimiento a los maestros y escuelas chárter. Encontramos que las OI y sus redes afiliadas intermediaban la producción y el uso de investigaciones, a menudo para orientar el gobierno y grupos de políticos, periodistas, y cada vez más, bloggers influyentes y las comunidades de redes sociales. Esta función de intermediación posiciona fundaciones como el “centro" de la producción, promoción y utilización de investigación.O crescente o envolvimento de filantropos na política educativa tem contribuído para o surgimento de um setor dinâmico de organizações intermediárias (OIs), entidades que servem um número de funções na reforma da escola, incluindo advocacia, consultadoria, formulação de política, professor alternativo e preparação de liderança e pesquisa. Nos últimos anos, muitas das OIs têm convergido em coligações que estão empurrando por incentivistas das políticas educacionais como leis de “gatilho dos pais”, escolas ‘charter’, vouchers, e pagamento de mérito ou sanções aos professores muitas vezes vinculadas a métricas de valor acrescido do desempenho dos professores. Este artigo foi baseia-se em dados de métodos mistos, estudo em vários anos sobre o uso e disseminação da pesquisa, neste artigo, examinamos o papel das fundações numa coligação de advocacia mais ampla em Denver, Colorado, um sítio-chave para várias reformas de incentivistas, incluindo remuneração pelo desempenho dos professores e escolas ‘charters’. Descobrimos que as OIs e as suas redes afiliadas fazem a intermediação na produção e uso da pesquisa baseada em evidências, frequentemente focando o  governo e decisores políticos em educação, jornalistas, e crescentemente, bloggers influentes e comunidades dos media sociais. Esta função intermediadora posicionam as fundações como o “centro” da produção, promoção, e utilização da pesquisa

Small advances and swift retreat: Race-conscious educational policy in the Obama and Trump administrations

The three terms comprising the Obama and Trump presidencies provide an opportunity to understand the evolution of race-conscious education policy in an increasingly multiracial, unequal, and divided society. Through document review and interviews with civil rights lawyers, government officials, congressional staffers, and intermediary organization personnel, we sought to understand how Obama officials envisioned and changed the role of the federal government in fostering K-12 race-conscious educational policies and what mechanisms they used to advance priorities. We also explored changes Trump administration officials made to federal civil rights policies and through which institutional means. Our findings reveal through-lines between past and present political agendas and the methods for enactment. Obama’s interagency efforts to reinvigorate civil rights oversight and enforcement in education harkened back to the mid-1960s era of bipartisan cooperation around school desegregation. Yet the decades-long legal and policy retrenchment against civil rights advances made in the 1960s constrained further progress. Trump’s administration advocated for the privatization of public education through increased choice and opposed race-consciousness in education law and policy. The reshaping of the federal judiciary under Trump presents challenges for race-consciousness in the law for years to come. Recognizing these consistent through-lines and constraints will be essential for advocates and policymakers going forward

A Civil Rights Framework for the Reauthorization of ESEA

The last several years have been trying for students, communities, and schools. As states and local educational agencies work to meet the significant health and educational needs of students, and address the vast racial and socioeconomic inequities that have been heightened by the pandemic, the federal role in education is critical. Because the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) remains the government&rsquo;s most consequential mechanism to promote equity in public education, the upcoming reauthorization of the law&rsquo;s latest version, the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), presents an opportunity to re-envision this federal role in promoting access to quality educational opportunities. In this brief, the authors describe an equitable, evidence-based, and ecological civil rights framework to guide the redesign of ESSA. It places students, staff, school systems, and cross-sector collaboration at the center of ESEA and considers the complexity of racial, socioeconomic, and other inequities along with the strengths nested within communities.</p

Erratum to: Methods for evaluating medical tests and biomarkers

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1186/s41512-016-0001-y.]

Understanding the relation between Zika virus infection during pregnancy and adverse fetal, infant and child outcomes: a protocol for a systematic review and individual participant data meta-analysis of longitudinal studies of pregnant women and their infants and children

IntroductionZika virus (ZIKV) infection during pregnancy is a known cause of microcephaly and other congenital and developmental anomalies. In the absence of a ZIKV vaccine or prophylactics, principal investigators (PIs) and international leaders in ZIKV research have formed the ZIKV Individual Participant Data (IPD) Consortium to identify, collect and synthesise IPD from longitudinal studies of pregnant women that measure ZIKV infection during pregnancy and fetal, infant or child outcomes.Methods and analysisWe will identify eligible studies through the ZIKV IPD Consortium membership and a systematic review and invite study PIs to participate in the IPD meta-analysis (IPD-MA). We will use the combined dataset to estimate the relative and absolute risk of congenital Zika syndrome (CZS), including microcephaly and late symptomatic congenital infections; identify and explore sources of heterogeneity in those estimates and develop and validate a risk prediction model to identify the pregnancies at the highest risk of CZS or adverse developmental outcomes. The variable accuracy of diagnostic assays and differences in exposure and outcome definitions means that included studies will have a higher level of systematic variability, a component of measurement error, than an IPD-MA of studies of an established pathogen. We will use expert testimony, existing internal and external diagnostic accuracy validation studies and laboratory external quality assessments to inform the distribution of measurement error in our models. We will apply both Bayesian and frequentist methods to directly account for these and other sources of uncertainty.Ethics and disseminationThe IPD-MA was deemed exempt from ethical review. We will convene a group of patient advocates to evaluate the ethical implications and utility of the risk stratification tool. Findings from these analyses will be shared via national and international conferences and through publication in open access, peer-reviewed journals.Trial registration numberPROSPERO International prospective register of systematic reviews (CRD42017068915).</jats:sec

Evidence synthesis to inform model-based cost-effectiveness evaluations of diagnostic tests: a methodological systematic review of health technology assessments

Background: Evaluations of diagnostic tests are challenging because of the indirect nature of their impact on patient outcomes. Model-based health economic evaluations of tests allow different types of evidence from various sources to be incorporated and enable cost-effectiveness estimates to be made beyond the duration of available study data. To parameterize a health-economic model fully, all the ways a test impacts on patient health must be quantified, including but not limited to diagnostic test accuracy. Methods: We assessed all UK NIHR HTA reports published May 2009-July 2015. Reports were included if they evaluated a diagnostic test, included a model-based health economic evaluation and included a systematic review and meta-analysis of test accuracy. From each eligible report we extracted information on the following topics: 1) what evidence aside from test accuracy was searched for and synthesised, 2) which methods were used to synthesise test accuracy evidence and how did the results inform the economic model, 3) how/whether threshold effects were explored, 4) how the potential dependency between multiple tests in a pathway was accounted for, and 5) for evaluations of tests targeted at the primary care setting, how evidence from differing healthcare settings was incorporated. Results: The bivariate or HSROC model was implemented in 20/22 reports that met all inclusion criteria. Test accuracy data for health economic modelling was obtained from meta-analyses completely in four reports, partially in fourteen reports and not at all in four reports. Only 2/7 reports that used a quantitative test gave clear threshold recommendations. All 22 reports explored the effect of uncertainty in accuracy parameters but most of those that used multiple tests did not allow for dependence between test results. 7/22 tests were potentially suitable for primary care but the majority found limited evidence on test accuracy in primary care settings. Conclusions: The uptake of appropriate meta-analysis methods for synthesising evidence on diagnostic test accuracy in UK NIHR HTAs has improved in recent years. Future research should focus on other evidence requirements for cost-effectiveness assessment, threshold effects for quantitative tests and the impact of multiple diagnostic tests

Erratum to: Methods for evaluating medical tests and biomarkers

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1186/s41512-016-0001-y.]

The Politics of Fair and Affordable Housing in Metropolitan Atlanta: Challenges for Educational Opportunity

This qualitative case study considers the politics of the coalitions that emerged to address fair and affordable housing in the Atlanta metropolitan area between 2017 and 2020 and the connections or barriers they identified to educational opportunity. It applies regional, civic capacity, and social construction of policy frameworks to explore in which arenas the two issue areas of housing and education have been linked by policymakers, and by selected civic entities, non-profit organizations, and philanthropies. The case draws on demographic data, interviews, and documents in the analysis of the barriers to, and possibilities for, coordination of housing and education policy instruments to promote educational opportunity in the region. The author found that the majority of efforts to bridge the two policy areas were developed and led by non-profit actors, and mostly took the form of place-based interventions rather than mobility programs.&nbsp; Implications of these findings for policy design are discussed

Hard Work for Good Schools: Facts Not Fads in Title I Reform

Improving educational opportunity for millions of poor children has been the basic goal of the Title I program for a third of a century. Critics say that the effort is a failure and supporters say that there were major gains. This volume presents research by many of the nation’s top experts on how to gain more from the investment. The studies raise a set of issues that have been ignored in the current debate over Title I, and call into question some of the basic assumptions underlying the education reform efforts of the last two decades. This volume contributes real evidence about educational gains and underscores the civil rights implications in this legislation. Better results from Title I are possible but they will not happen without intelligent focus on the evidence of what actually works and without vigorous administration of the law