Bus Rapid Transit: A Handbook for Partners, MTI Report 06-02

In April 2005, the Caltrans Division of Research and Innovation (DRI) asked MTI to assist with the research for and publication of a guidebook for use by Caltrans employees who work with local transit agencies and jurisdictions in planning, designing, and operating Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) systems that involve state facilities. The guidebook was also to assist to transit operators, local governments, community residents, and other stakeholders dealing with the development of BRT systems. Several areas in the state have experienced such projects ( San Diego , Los Angeles , San Francisco , and Alameda County ) and DRI wished to use that experience to guide future efforts and identify needed changes in statutes, policies, and other state concerns. Caltrans convened a Task Team from the Divisions of Research and Innovation, Mass Transportation, and Operations, together with stakeholders representing many of those involved with the BRT activities around the state. Prior to MTI’s involvement, this group produced a white paper on the topic, a series of questions, and an outline of the guidebook that MTI was to write. The MTI team conducted case studies of the major efforts in California, along with less developed studies of some of the other BRT programs under development or in early implementation phases around the state. The purpose was to clarify those issues that need to be addressed in the guidebook, as well as to compile information that would identify items needing legislative or regulatory action and items that Caltrans will need to address through district directives or other internal measures. A literature scan was used to develop a bibliography for future reference. The MTI team also developed a draft Caltrans director’s policy document, which provides the basis for Caltrans’ actions. This ultimately developed to be a project within a project. MTI submitted a draft document to Caltrans as a final product from the Institute. Task team members and Caltrans staff and leadership provided extensive review of the draft Bus Rapid Transit: A Handbook for Partners. Caltrans adopted a new Director’s Policy and published the document, BRT Caltrans. The MTI “wraparound” report presented below discusses in more detail the process that was followed to produce the draft report. The process was in many ways as much a project as the report itself

Examining Meta-Analytic Approaches For Evaluating Multi-Year Wellness Program Impact: An Example From The Health And Human Service Arena

The current investigation examines the use of meta-analysis to evaluate the impact of a community-wide health care initiative across a four-year period. This community-wide initiative began in an effort to create a “healthy community” in a small mid-western city. This multi-level, longitudinal study incorporates the use of meta-analysis in an effort to examine treatment effects across the areas of knowledge of health issues, reported healthy behaviors, and clinical measures. Issues regarding the challenges associated with the synthesis of different types of effect size measures across time, as well as concerns associated with multi-site repeated measure responses, are presented. Results of the effect size analyses are presented using odds ratios.

Assessing The Impact Of Wellness Programs Across Multiple Worksites: An Alternative To Return On Investment

The current case study looks at an innovative approach to assessing the impact of a large-scale workplace wellness program across seven different employer locations. Unlike many reports on the effectiveness of workplace wellness programs, this study does not use return on investment (ROI), which is limited in its ability to provide good estimates of insurance cost savings. The case study looks at a multi-year workplace wellness programs’ impact on clinical measures from baseline through year two data collection. As a unique approach, meta-analytic results provide estimates that are both valid and reliable. Additionally, these measures are standardized, making them assessable for comparisons across different program implementations.

A Demonstration of a Systematic Item-Reduction Approach Using Structural Equation Modeling

Establishing model parsimony is an important component of structural equation modeling (SEM). Unfortunately, little attention has been given to developing systematic procedures to accomplish this goal. To this end, the current study introduces an innovative application of the jackknife approach first presented in Rensvold and Cheung (1999). Unlike the traditional application of jackknife procedures for the purpose of identifying outliers and influential cases within a dataset, this jackknife procedure is applied for the purpose of identifying and eliminating items from a structural model. Items are identified through the jackknife procedure and eliminated from the model without altering the measurement or structural integrity of the model. The goal of this application is to create the most parsimonious model by reducing the number of items in an inventory, without altering the construct represented by the model. Accessed 10,388 times on https://pareonline.net from April 23, 2012 to December 31, 2019. For downloads from January 1, 2020 forward, please click on the PlumX Metrics link to the right

The Impact of Visual Impairment on Perceived School Climate

The current investigation examines whether visual impairment has an impact on a student’s perception of the school climate. Using a large national sample of high school students, perceptions were examined for students with vision impairment relative to students with no visual impairments. Three factors were examined: self-reported level of happiness, perception of a positive school climate, and negative school affect.  Results revealed no differences for the seeing and visually impaired students on self-reported happiness and perception of a positive school climate factors, however significant differences were found on the negative school affect factor. Additionally, gender was significantly related to the negative school affect factor

Factors of Motivation in Education: Perspectives of College Students and Their Professors

This study examines motivational factors based on college students’ and faculties’ perceptions to determine which factors are most impactful. The researchers utilized Jones’ MUSIC® Model of Motivation College Student and Professor inventories. Both are designed to determine the factors that impact student motivation (Jones, 2020). The Caring factor was the highest endorsed factor by both college students and faculty in all data collections. A paired sample t-test revealed that the Usefulness factor was rated statistically different by faculty and students. These data can be used to inform programmatic decisions and course design in the university’s education department

Measuring the Impact of a Summer Pre-Kindergarten Program on Academic Gains and School Readiness: Success by Six!

Early intervention prior to kindergarten is an effective strategy in closing the gaps in pre-readiness skills and appropriate behavior which may occur because of disparity in socioeconomic status, parenting styles, and preschool experience.  This current investigation was designed to determine if the pre-kindergarten intervention had an impact on the student success in kindergarten.  At the end of the academic year, results reveal that the achievement gap for students who were academically delayed was diminished; no significant differences exist between academically delayed students relative to students not identified as academically delayed.  Results reveal that the impact of socioeconomic status was also diminished for participants in the summer pre-kindergarten program.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.11591/ijere.v3i1.5577

Examining Effective Characteristics of Professional Development in K-12 Education Since the Inception of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002: A Meta-Analytic Investigation

With the dire financial crisis facing our national and state economy, schools are forced to reduce budgets while simultaneously improve program delivery. Professional development is the mechanism that is generally used to facilitate improving educational delivery and subsequently student achievement results. This investigation examines the influence of professional development on student achievement since No Child Left Behind. Results indicate that professional development can have a moderate impact on student achievement. A number of moderators were found to have a positive significant impact on this effect including the level of students, the duration of the professional development, the discipline area focus of professional development, attendance requirements, delivery mechanism, and strategies. The implications of these findings are discussed

The Reality of Restorative: The Impact on Discipline Disparities in a Large Urban School District

Disparities in exclusionary discipline rates persist for African American students, who often receive harsher punishments than their White peers, especially for subjective offenses. Implicit bias contributes to perceptions of African American children as older, less innocent, and more deserving of severe discipline (Gilliam et al., 2016; Lewis & Diamond, 2015; Welsh & Little, 2018). Excessive discipline correlates with negative long-term outcomes, including higher dropout rates and incarceration (Skiba et al., 2014). This study evaluates the impact of restorative justice in reducing these disparities in a large urban district. While general linear modeling indicated significant suspension rate changes for grades 9-12 students, no overall reduction in suspensions for African American students was observed

The obesity gap: An investigation using the behavioral risk factor surveillance system data for Ohio

This investigation examined potential predictors of obesity and whether an “obesity gap” is present for different demographic groups. The behavioral risk factor surveillance system (BRFSS) data was used for this investigation. This secondary data set provides self-reported and measured biometric information on residents from each state in the United State of America. Results indicated that different income level is not related to body mass index (BMI). However, BMI was significantly different if the individual had a previous diagnosis of diabetes. BMI was also found to be significantly different for different races, as well as the interaction between race and diabetes are associated with BMI