An SEA Guide for Identifying Evidence-Based Interventions for School Improvement

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) is the most recent reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and replaces the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). The law focuses on using research evidence to improve teaching and learning and at the same time passes considerable authority from federal to state policymakers. This means that responsibility largely falls on states and localities to effectively make sense of and use research evidence in their decisions around school improvement, teacher preparation, principal recruitment, and family engagement. With support from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Overdeck Family Foundation, and the William T. Grant Foundation, the Florida Center for Reading Research (FCRR) has developed Guides for Identifying Evidence-Based Interventions for School Improvement

Teaching Indigenous children : listening to and learning from indigenous teachers

This article is based on the findings of a qualitative case study that examined the professional experiences and career pathways of fifty current and former Australian Indigenous teachers. Here, we draw on data obtained from semi-structured interviews with the teachers to highlight their knowledge in three key areas: ‘Indigenous ways of knowing’, ‘Indigenous learners’ lives beyond the classroom’ and ‘Building relationships with Indigenous students and communities’. We suggest that Indigenous teachers can potentially play important roles as teacher educators and as mentors to non-Indigenous teachers and preservice teachers. We argue that it is important for schooling systems and teacher education to create and formalise opportunities for non-Indigenous teachers and preservice teachers to listen to, and learn from their Indigenous colleagues

The Relationship Between Secondary Teachers\u27 Grit and Self-Efficacy Beliefs on Classroom Management and Student Engagement

Teaching as a profession is becoming more and more difficult. School districts are facing a teacher shortage, creating greater focus on recruitment and retention efforts. The majority of these efforts focus on novice teachers (within the first five years) providing support and assistance to help keep them in the classroom. Less effort is placed upon assisting the veteran teacher in maintaining effort in the classroom and avoiding burnout. Those who experience burnout or become disheartened show a reduction in effort negatively impacting student achievement. The purpose of this correlational study was to explore the relationship between teacher passion and perseverance (grit) and teacher sense of self-efficacy in classroom management and student engagement among high school teachers. This study was grounded in Bandura’s self-efficacy theory, Deci and Ryan’s self-determination theory, and Duckworth’s grit theory. The participants included 92 teachers drawn from a convenience sample across the four high schools in a large district in central South Carolina. Data collected from the Grit-S Scale and Teacher Self-Efficacy Scale was analyzed utilizing a product-moment correlation coefficient (Pearson’s r) to answer the questions of the relationship between grit and self-efficacy in classroom management and student engagement. This study increased the body of knowledge in the research of these constructs among veteran teachers

Social Interaction: The Relationship Between Facial Attractiveness and Verbal Influence Style

The purpose of this study was to determine if male and female communicators utilize different styles of persuasion with an attractive versus an unattractive female target. Forty undergraduate students were asked to persuade a female confederate in either an attractive condition or an unattractive condition to eat M&M\u27s. Perceptions of attractiveness and personality assessments were checked by a post-experimental questionnaire. Influence attempts were rated and categorized by the use of the Social Interaction Scoring System. Individual responses were then factor analyzed to identify profiles of persuasive communication. These behavioral profiles were then statistically compared across experimental conditions by analyses of variance. No significant differences were found for sex or experimental condition. The subjects did, however, perceive the confederate as significantly more attractive when in the attractive condition than when in the unattractive condition. Further, while the confederate was perceived as more curious and perceptive when in the attractive condition, she was perceived as more indifferent and insensitive when in the unattractive condition. From the results of this study, it -was concluded that people do not necessarily alter their persuasive technique according to the attractiveness of the target person. Possible explanations for these findings are discussed, and suggestions for further research are given

A Narrative Experiment: From the Revived Oral Tradition in Haroun and The Sea of Stories to Staccato Gaming in Luka and The Fire of Life

In an attempt to represent the hybrid culture of a postcolonial India, Salmon Rushdie strives for aesthetic experiment and political assertion through his signature technique, magical realism. Compared to Rushdie’s other works, his two books for children, Haroun and the Sea of Stories (1990) and Luka and the Fire of Life (2010), seem light-hearted and fairy-tale-like, as child protagonists miraculously solve their problems through magic (the novels will hereafter be referred to as Haroun and Luka). These two novellas, written by Rushdie to entertain his sons, Zafar and Milan, illustrate how child protagonists can understand and solve problems in their world by exploring magical worlds and restoring the importance of storytelling. The two novellas also reflect Rushdie’s consistent worry about young people tasked with diversifying personal, cultural, and political discourses so as to improve society and enrich culture

Why Beginning Teachers Persist in the Profession and the Impact of Induction and Mentoring

With 46% of new teachers leaving the profession within the first five years, many states have mandated induction programs. This study sought to understand what beginning teachers in rural Maine perceive as the greatest factors impacting their persistence in education, and the perceived impact of induction and mentoring on their persistence. A mixed-methods approach yielded findings that indicated the greatest perceived factors are: working with students, collaborating with peers, and administrative support. Induction and mentoring perceptions were both positive and negative. Recommendations are directed at school leaders who must support teachers by providing time for collaboration and networking, and implementing purposeful induction and mentoring activities.(1 As cited in Andrews, Gilbert & Martin, 2012

Mitochondrial Quality Control Pathways Sense Mitochondrial Protein Import

Mitochondrial quality control (MQC) mechanisms are required to maintain a functional proteome, which enables mitochondria to perform a myriad of important cellular functions from oxidative phosphorylation to numerous metabolic pathways. Mitochondrial protein homeostasis begins with the import of over 1000 nuclear-encoded mitochondrial proteins, and the synthesis of 13 mitochondrial DNA-encoded proteins. A network of chaperones and proteases helps to fold new proteins and degrade unnecessary, damaged or misfolded proteins. Meanwhile, more extensive damage can be removed by mitochondrial derived vesicles or mitochondrial autophagy (mitophagy). Here, we review the importance of mitochondrial protein import as a sentinel of mitochondrial function that activates multiple MQC mechanisms when impaired, with a focus on mechanisms in mammalian cells

The Evolution of Active Droplets in Chemorobotic Platforms

There is great interest in oil-in-water droplets as simple systems that display astonishingly complex behaviours. Recently, we reported a chemorobotic platform capable of autonomously exploring and evolving the behaviours these droplets can exhibit. The platform enabled us to undertake a large number of reproducible experiments, allowing us to probe the non-linear relationship between droplet composition and behaviour. Herein we introduce this work, and also report on the recent developments we have made to this system. These include new platforms to simultaneously evolve the droplets’ physical and chemical environments and the inclusion of selfreplicating molecules in the droplets