Teacher Evaluation and Collective Bargaining: The New Frontier of Civil Rights

Article published in the Michigan State Law Review

Civic and Political Behavior in Mali: Constraints and Possibilities

In spite of Mali’s international recognition as a beacon of good governance in the region, decades of free and fair elections and extensive civil liberties failed to engender public support for democracy following the March 2012 coup d’état. Demonstrations against the military junta were half as large as demonstrations in support of it. What looked to be strong democratic institutions from the outside were often hollow shells that privileged the elite class and marginalized everyone else – not a system ultimately worth fighting for. This essay discusses some of the constraints to democratic accountability in Mali and what can be done to mitigate them

The Intersection of Culturally Responsive Pedagogy and Engineering Design in Secondary STEM

The instructional practices of the engineering design process and culturally responsive pedagogy have each garnered national attention and multiple decades of research. Findings from the respective literature bases call for educators and policymakers to integrate these two pedagogical approaches into K-12 classroom instruction. Scholars have argued that this integration would improve student engagement and academic achievement. There is a significant amount of research that supports the positive student outcomes associated with each approach, yet there remains a dearth of literature that addresses the integration of these two practices into the science and mathematics content areas. The movement around educational reform is rooted in teachers serving as learners; however, understanding how teachers learn and respond to reform is largely overlooked. The present research sought to examine the way in which teachers perceive and define integrated pedagogical approaches upon implementation. The authors utilized a comparative case study design to represent experiences of five secondary math and science teachers enrolled in graduate-level coursework and professional development on culturally responsive pedagogy and the engineering design process. Findings suggest that teachers’ self-reported pedagogical beliefs acted synergistically between the two pedagogical approaches. Subsequently, participating teachers expressed a strong preference towards the enactment of an integrated pedagogy of a culturally responsive engineering design process. The present research offers valuable recommendations for teacher educators, professional development providers, policymakers, and researchers who wish to integrate culturally responsive pedagogy and the engineering design process in math or science K-12 classrooms. The significance of this research underscores the importance of empowering teachers with professional development, around implementation of novel pedagogical approaches, to both shape and inform their beliefs and practices

A Signaling Theory of Distributive Policy Choice: Evidence from Senegal

A recent literature emphasizes political economy factors behind the wave of administrative splits across the developing world. While previous studies have focused on why some groups are more likely to obtain new administrative units, they do not explain why vote-maximizing incumbents use this arguably less efficient policy in the first place. We contribute to this literature by embedding administrative splits within incumbents’ broader electoral strategy of distributive policies. We develop a model in which incumbents target local public goods to groups for whom this is a credible signal of commitment, namely, those with a history of reciprocal relationship. When incumbents face increased electoral competition, however, other groups require a stronger signal, which is emitted by the costly creation of new units that reduces the cost of future transfers to those groups. We test our theory using electoral and public goods data from Senegal and find robust support for its predictions

FR2.3: Women's Voices in Civil Society Organizations: Evidence from a Civil Society Mapping Project in Mali

How does women's engagement in civil society organizations (CSOs) differ from that of men, and what factors predict women's willingness to hold the state accountable? We analyze these questions in the context of rural and urban Mali, leveraging face-to-face data collected as part of a civil society mapping project during February-March 2020 and December 2020, and an in-depth survey conducted with leaders from a randomly-selected subset of these CSOs during January -- March 2021. First, we explore the characteristics of women's groups compared to other CSOs. Second, we explore their likelihood of sanctioning a hypothetical corrupt mayor. We use an embedded survey experiment to try to understand these groups' willingness to report on the mayor. We find that women in Mali are often highly organized at the local level with great mobilization capacity than men--frequently in self-help groups or organizations related to gendered economic activities. However, they are not typically recognized by outside actors; their strong networks and group infrastructure represent untapped social capital. CSOs comprised of women have lower informational and technical capacity, including lower levels of political knowledge, and incur a higher cost of sanctioning public officials. Women are generally less willing than men to sanction, but become more likely when their CSO is less hierarchical, when their technical capacity is higher, and when their political knowledge is greater. However, priming their importance as a CSO (by telling them they were identified by well-connected citizens as influential) reduces sanctioning--perhaps by making them fear reprisals from recommenders

Teacher Evaluation and Collective Bargaining: The New Frontier of Civil Rights

Article published in the Michigan State Law Review

Effects of the Selective GSK3B Inhibitor, Tideglusib, on Ethanol Consumption, Anxiety-like Behavior, Taste Preference, and Downstream Proteins

Background: We have shown modulations in glycogen synthase kinase 3 beta (GSK3B) abundance or activity regulate ethanol consumption, suggesting potential as a therapeutic target for alcohol use disorder (AUD). Here we report the GSK3B inhibitor tideglusib’s actions on ethanol consumption, basal behaviors, and modulation of GSK3B targets. Methods: C57BL/6J males and females received i.g. 200mg/kg tideglusib, except drinking-in-the-dark (males;100mg/kg i.p.). Drinking-in-the-dark (DID): Mice given 20% ethanol 4-hours, 4-days/week x 3 weeks and then i.p. tideglusib or vehicle x 4 days in a Latin Square design with ethanol consumption measured daily. Light/Dark Box: Mice gavaged with tideglusib or vehicle and i.p. injected with 1.8g/kg ethanol or saline then tested for 10-min. Taste Preference: Mice received tideglusib x 6 days and then tested daily for saccharin or quinine taste preference. Western Blots: Mice received tideglusib or vehicle i.g. 3x/week for 2-weeks and mPFC assayed for phosphorylated and total GSK3B, Dynamin1, and PSD-95. Results: Tideglusib decreased ethanol DID consumption, transiently increased locomotion, and had no effect on anxiety-like behaviors or taste preference. Only total Dynamin1 showed tideglusib-induced modulation where females had increased Dynamin1 and decreased pDynamin1/total Dynamin1. Conclusion: Tideglusib is a promising AUD therapeutic, rapidly decreasing ethanol consumption in a binge-drinking model. Tideglusib is likely not reducing consumption by altering taste or anxiety-like behaviors. Dynamin1 is integral in activity-dependent bulk endocytosis and requires GSK3B-induced rephosphorylation. Tideglusib increased Dynamin1 levels likely represent a compensatory response to decreased GSK3B activity, providing insight to tideglusib’s mechanism in ethanol behaviors. Funded by NIAAA grant R01AA027581.https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/gradposters/1177/thumbnail.jp

Promising alternative settings for HPV vaccination of US adolescents

Vaccination in alternative settings, defined here as being outside of traditional primary care, can help address the pressing public health problem of low human papillomavirus vaccine coverage among adolescents in the United States. Pharmacies are promising because they are highly accessible and have well established immunization practices. However, pharmacies currently face policy and reimbursement challenges. School-located mass vaccination programs are also promising because of their high reach and demonstrated success in providing other vaccines, but control by local policymakers and challenges in establishing community partnerships complicate widespread implementation. Health centers in schools are currently too few to greatly increase access to human papillomavirus vaccine. Specialty clinics have experience with vaccination, but the older age of their patient populations limits their reach. Future steps to making alternative settings a success include expanding their use of statewide vaccine registries and improving their coordination with primary care providers