Principal Concerns in Wisconsin: Focus on Future Leaders for Rural Schools

States need, among other things, to build detailed longitudinal data systems for principals like the ones they use to track teachers and students. But in some places those types of systems are still a long way off. In the meantime, system leaders can examine the administrative data they already have to paint a basic picture of their principal workforce, one that can help prompt deeper questions and discussions about the challenges and opportunities they face.This Principal Concerns brief offers an example of this type of analysis for Wisconsin. Why should Wisconsin be concerned about its principal workforce? After all, by some measures, the state's schools are doing well. Wisconsin's NAEP scores, for example, are consistently higher than the national average.Yet there is still much work to be done to ensure that all students achieve at high levels, and strong leadership is key to that success. Under the state's recently revamped accountability system, 266 schools across the state are not meeting performance expectations. In Milwaukee Public Schools, the state's largest school system, only 21 percent of schools met or exceeded the state's expectations.Wisconsin will need to pursue a range of strategies and levers to improve results for all of its students. One important improvement strategy is to ensure that districts are recruiting, developing, and retaining good principals. Where there are many early- to mid-career principals, states need to emphasize professional development. But where there is an approaching wave of retirements, states should focus more heavily on recruiting and preparing new leaders. To identify Wisconsin's specific needs, we need to answer these questions: How many principals are near retirement eligibility? How is retirement eligibility distributed across schools and locations? How are experienced and new principals distributed across school types

Gamification in higher education and stem : a systematic review of literature

In recent years, gamification, the use of game elements in non-game contexts, has drawn the attention of educators due to the possibility of making learning more motivating and engaging; this led to an increase of research in the field. Despite the availability of literature reviews about gamification and its effects, no work to this date has focused exclusively on Higher Education (HE). Next, worldwide there is an increasing demand for skilled Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) professionals that meet the challenges related to scientific and technological innovations of the 21st Century. This lead to the need of strengthening STEM Higher Education. This brings us to the purpose of this work: presenting a systematic literature review of empirical studies about gamification STEM related Higher Education. This review study started from a systematic mapping design of 'Web of Science' articles, with following inclusion criteria: empirical gamification studies set up in HE, published between 2000 and 2016; focusing on undergraduate or graduate students; in the STEM knowledge field, and set up in authentic settings. An initial search resulted in 562 potentially relevant articles. After applying all selection criteria, only 18 studies could be retained. 12 additional articles were included by analyzing references from earlier literature reviews, resulting in 30 studies to be included. Analysis results show how a combination of game elements (e.g. leaderboards, badges, points and other combinations) positively affects students' performance, attendance, goal orientation and attitude towards mostly computer science related subjects. The analysis results also point at a lack of studies in certain STEM areas, a lack of studies that identify the particular game element associated with the positive differential impact on student performance; a lack of validated psychometric measurements, and lack of focus on student variables that could/should be taken into account as mediating/moderating variables clarifying the impact of gamification in the HE focus on STEM learning and teaching

Undergraduate Library Internships and Professional Success

This poster reports on an assessment completed of former undergraduate library interns to explore the impact their internship had on the development of career goals, acceptance to and preparation for graduate education, and their early career. Through an online survey (n= 45) and six semi-structured telephone interviews, respondents reported a positive impact on the above areas

Undergraduate Library Internships at Musselman Library, Gettysburg College

In 2015-2016, Musselman Library at Gettysburg College participated in Cohort 3 of the Association of College and Research Libraries’ Assessment in Action program. This report outlines an assessment completed of former undergraduate library interns in order to explore the impact their internship experience had on the development of career goals, acceptance to and preparation for graduate education, and their early career. Through an online survey (n= 45) and six semi-structured telephone interviews, respondents reported a positive impact on the above areas

Possible implications of hemlock woolly adelgid on forest composition and structure in southeastern Ohio hemlock riparian forests

Hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA) is an invasive, exotic insect causing widespread mortality in eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis (L.) Carr) forests of the eastern United States. Eastern hemlock is thought to be a foundation species, regulating local ecosystem structure and function (e.g., microclimate, nutrient cycling). Prior to any possible invasions by HWA, we are sampling the vegetation composition and structure of hemlock forests of the unglaciated Allegheny Plateau region of Ohio. This data will provide a baseline for planning and prevention, which may be particularly valuable to a region with a significant tourism and recreation investment in hemlock-dominated ravine systems. Initial analyses indicate that hemlock forest ecosystems in southeastern Ohio may respond to large-scale disturbance associated with HWA differently than models developed for the northeastern United States. In southeast Ohio, eastern hemlock is associated with short, steep slopes or cliffs and does not seem to be limited by aspect. Hemlock is particularly dominant at lower slope positions adjacent to streambeds, where few other woody species are found in either the overstory or sapling layers. Unlike New England and some areas of the southern Appalachians, sweet birch is not a significant forest component in the overstory or sapling layers. Rather, species such as red maple and Amercian beech (Fagus grandifolia Ehrh.) present in the sapling layer may be more likely to replace hemlock if HWA reaches these forest stands

Determining Dark Matter properties with a XENONnT/LZ signal and LHC-Run3 mono-jet searches

We develop a method to forecast the outcome of the LHC Run 3 based on the hypothetical detection of $\mathcal{O}(100)$ signal events at XENONnT. Our method relies on a systematic classification of renormalisable single-mediator models for dark matter-quark interactions, and is valid for dark matter candidates of spin less than or equal to one. Applying our method to simulated data, we find that at the end of the LHC Run 3 only two mutually exclusive scenarios would be compatible with the detection of $\mathcal{O}(100)$ signal events at XENONnT. In a first scenario, the energy distribution of the signal events is featureless, as for canonical spin-independent interactions. In this case, if a mono-jet signal is detected at the LHC, dark matter must have spin 1/2 and interact with nucleons through a unique velocity-dependent operator. If a mono-jet signal is not detected, dark matter interacts with nucleons through canonical spin-independent interactions. In a second scenario, the spectral distribution of the signal events exhibits a bump at non zero recoil energies. In this second case, a mono-jet signal can be detected at the LHC Run 3, dark matter must have spin 1/2 and interact with nucleons through a unique momentum-dependent operator. We therefore conclude that the observation of $\mathcal{O}(100)$ signal events at XENONnT combined with the detection, or the lack of detection, of a mono-jet signal at the LHC Run 3 would significantly narrow the range of possible dark matter-nucleon interactions. As we argued above, it can also provide key information on the dark matter particle spin.Comment: 17 pages, 8 figures, updated operator coefficients and figures, version accepted by PR

World History Unit Plan That Nurtures Habits of Mind and integrates Strategies Promoted by the National Urban Alliance

The research question addressed in this project was: In what ways can I develop a social studies unit plan that fosters Habits of Mind as learning outcomes and integrates strategies that will positively impact student engagement? The author began her research by investigating the topic of student engagement and instructional strategies promoted by the National Urban Alliance to enhance student engagement. The author also investigated Habits of Mind and the writings of Costa and Kallick. The unit plan was designed using the Understanding by Design Model from Wiggins and McTighe. The result of the research was a social studies unit plan comprised of three lessons designed for a high school World History course. The unit plan incorporates instructional strategies intended to enhance student engagement. The unit plan also identifies Habits of Mind as desired outcomes for student learning